Livestream Platform Mandolin Creates Venue and Promoter Network to Foster ‘Turnkey’ Hybrid Streaming Concerts (EXCLUSIVE)

Martin Hibbert, who was left paralysed after the Manchester Arena bombing, was surprised by Manchester United stars who gifted him a signed first team shirt on BBC Breakfast this morning (Thursday 18 May).

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFrancois Ozon, whose latest film, “Peter von Kant,” opened the Berlinale, is already shooting his next movie, “Madeleine,” with a flurry of stars including Isabelle Huppert, Dany Boon and Fabrice Luchini.The project, which is believed to be his most ambitious since “8 Women,” is being introduced to buyers at Cannes by Playtime and has already sparked strong interest. The plot is being kept under wraps, but Playtime is presenting the script to select buyers.Ozon is one of the few bankable European directors whose films have opened at major festivals and traditionally sell around the world, including in the U.S.“Madeleine” reteams Ozon with his regular producers, Eric and Nicolas Altmayer at Mandarin Cinema.

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, proclaimed the merged company as essentially the fifth broadcast network, and repeated his vow that the company would overcome any skepticism about its prospects.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSofia Vergara will lend a hand as Spanish-language media giant TelevisaUnivision moves deeper into the world of streaming.The popular actor, recognized for her turns in ABC’s “Modern Family” and NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” will create an animated series for the company’s new ViX streaming services, which has an ad-supported tier as well as a premium subscription level. Vergara will create and lend her voice to “Koati, The Series,” an original animated program based on the recent movie centered on a family of exotic animals who live in the rainforests of Latin America.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterChip and Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Network has ordered four new original series as part of its Summer/Fall 2022 slate, including a new edition of “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home” set at the couple’s Cottonland Castle in Waco, Texas and a baking competition hosted at their own Silos Baking Co., Variety has learned exclusively.Additionally, the Magnolia Network, which is a co-venture with Warner Bros. Discovery, has picked up a renovation series starring Annie Hawkins and Brittany Baker, a Casey Corn-hosted family-recipe docuseries and new seasons of “The Lost Kitchen,” “Restoration Road With Clint Harp” and “Zoë Bakes.”While “Silos Baking Competition” is the only food competition on the new lineup, Variety is told it is planned as the first of many at Magnolia Network with more coming later this year.

It’s getting serious! Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard‘s relationship is showing no signs of slowing down — and the Summer House couple just revealed the new milestone in their romance.

EXCLUSIVE: French distributor ARP Selection has just acquired Cannes Competition movie EO by Polish veteran Jerzy Skolimowski.

Daniel Pemberton composed the music for Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Lord and Miller then hired him for their Apple TV+ series The Afterparty, but the job was exponentially more complicated.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticDiscogs, the website that has become the primary online spot for the buying and selling of collectable physical music, might be thought of by many as being part of a move away from traditional music retail. But the site is emphasizing how many of its sellers are, in fact, traditional brick-and-mortar stores by starting up International Record Store Month, an initiative that will roll out on Discogs.com in June.The month-long event is described in an announcement as “a series of virtual events connecting music fans to independent record stores across the globe and recognizing the importance of independent brick-and-mortar shops and their contribution to vinyl culture.”Most of what the initiative aims to do will continue on a year-round basis, including creating a global directory of ma-and-pa record stores that the site’s habitues can visit in the flesh if they aren’t getting their fix via mail order.

David Foster and Katharine McPhee enjoyed a night out this weekend!

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticStagecoach has revealed the full lineup and schedule for the livestream that will go out this weekend on the country music festival’s YouTube channel, and it includes a number of artists that weren’t previously announced for the stream, offering couch sitters a nearly comprehensive view of what will be going down live in the California desert.The lineup includes the headliners — Thomas Rhett on Friday, Carrie Underwood on Saturday and Luke Combs on Sunday — as well as other marquee names that were named as part of the lineup earlier this week, like Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, Margo Price, Cody Johnson, Yola, Lainey Wilson and the Black Crowes.It also now is revealed to have a substantial number of artists that weren’t previously included in the livestream announcement, including Tanya Tucker, Smokey Robinson, Jordan Davis, Lee Brice, Ingrid Andress, the Marcus King Band, Ryan Hurd, Charley Crockett, the Mavericks and Mitchell Tenpenny. Most of the lineup is now included, in fact, save for some of the artists who are appearing in the early part of the afternoon, including Americana artists such as Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Molly Tuttle and Waylon Payne.Brandi Carlile is off the bill, having disclosed in a social media video late Wednesday night that she has contracted COVID and won’t be making it.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticCountry music fans have come to accept that the Stagecoach Festival in the California desert each late April will not be livestreamed in the same way that Coachella is from the same location in the preceding weeks. But that changes with the 2022 edition.

Bonding with her boyfriend! Ashley Hebert showed her two children adorably bonding with Yanni Georgoulakis after debuting their relationship.

Manori Ravindran International EditorUniversal International Studios has promoted Ed Havard to lead its unscripted efforts as senior VP of creative, unscripted programming.Based in London and reporting into head of studio David O’Donoghue, Havard will be responsible for leading the studio’s unscripted strategy in the U.K., and building on strategic partnerships with creators, producers and on-screen talent to source shows with global scale and appeal. Havard most recently served as VP of creative partnerships.In the new role, Havard will be tasked with tapping further into NBCUniversal’s talent roster and IP library, identifying new opportunities to build on the company’s unscripted brands, and fostering more creative partnerships between production subsidiaries Monkey, Matchbox Pictures, the studio’s formats division and Universal Television Alternative Studio.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Criticare a few artists who’ve been flagship artists for Record Store Day in its 15 years of existence — among them, the Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band and David Bowie, all of whom have had multiple exclusive LP releases for RSD — but maybe none have seemed quite so synonymous with the day as jazz piano great Bill Evans. And Resonance Records, the archival label that has been behind the wave of live Evans releases, is doubling down on the legend this weekend with twin titles, “Morning Glory” and “Inner Spirit,” both recorded in Buenos Aires in the 1970s but never officially released until now.As with all the previous Resonance Evans titles before them, this pair of double-LPs is not likely to last a full day in stock at most of the indie music shops that have ordered it.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music CriticA Record Store Day 15th anniversary program at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los Angeles this week was meant to be a celebration of vinyl and music retail first and foremost. But if it turned into a Metallica lovefest as well, that was understandable.

Love after the final rose. Ashley Hebert started dating Yanni Georgoulakis following her divorce from J.P. Rosenbaum.