‘Lupin’ Star Omar Sy Signs First-Look TV Deal With HBO Max

Warner Bros. Television Group adds to its growing roster of talent by signing a new first-look deal with writer/producer Bill Prady and Chris Sanagustin’s Pine Tree Entertainment. Under the terms of the deal, Pine Tree Entertainment will develop new scripted programming — including dramas, multi- and single-camera comedies, genre series, and more — for all platforms, including HBO Max, external streaming services, cable, and broadcast networks.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJon Bernthal has played cops, criminals, and everything in between. But his role in the HBO limited series “We Own This City” presented a new challenge for the celebrated actor.The series is based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Justin Fenton.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBill Prady and Chris Sanagustin’s Pine Tree Entertainment has set a multi-year first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television.Prady is best known for co-creating the hit WBTV series “The Big Bang Theory” with Chuck Lorre, while Sanagustin got her start as a production assistant on a WBTV series.

Bill Prady, co-creator of The Big Bang Theory, is heading back to Warner Bros. Television.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Warner Bros. Development Executive Paul Perez has inked a production deal at the Burbank, CA lot.

K.J. Yossman 101 Studios, the company behind series including “Yellowstone” and “Mayor of Kingstown,” has inked a first-look deal with PZAJ, Variety can exclusively reveal.PZAJ, a global film and television production label formed by Phillip Glasser, Jason Brown, and Ash Greyson, is owned by Nasdaq-listed Vinco Ventures Inc. Vinco Ventures is currently merging with Zash Global Media.Already in development under the new partnership are a feature film adaptation of LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke’s “Paradise Found,” a story about a small California town ravaged by fires that finds new hope in a football team that rises from the ashes of the devastation.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Dead Boy Detectives” series at HBO Max has brought on Beth Schwartz to serve as co-showrunner and executive producer, Variety has learned exclusively.Schwartz will now co-showrun the series with Steve Yockey. This is not the first time Schwartz has been at the helm of a show based on a DC property, as she served as the showrunner on the final two seasons of “Arrow” at The CW.

“The Internet Must Go.”“Oscar and Elvira are both uniquely talented storytelling powerhouses who care deeply about the impact the work they do has on the audience and on the cultural conversation,” said Konstantinakos. “I could not be more thrilled to be continuing the journey we started together on The Letter Room, now with the support of the brilliant team at Endeavor Content.

Jordan Moreau Their first joint production received an Academy Award nomination. Now Oscar Isaac and Elvira Lind are ramping up Mad Gene Media under a first-look deal with Endeavor Content, hoping to build on the success of “The Letter Room” with a wide array of future projects. The married couple, who are raising two children together, are building this banner while Isaac stars in high-profile offerings such as “Moon Knight” and “Scenes From a Marriage.”“We’re not always on 24/7; I’d say 23/7,” Isaac says.“We never sleep,” Lind adds.The couple launched Mad Gene Media in 2019, and recently hired Gena Konstantinakos as head of development and production, after working with her on their Oscar-nominated short film.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAllison Williams has boarded the upcoming Showtime limited series “Fellow Travelers” alongside Matt Bomer, Variety has learned exclusively.The series was picked up at Showtime back in April with an eight-episode order. It is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon.The show is described as an epic love story and political thriller, chronicling the volatile romance of two very different men who meet in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington.

As 2022 coasts into the summer months, it’s time for studios to decide which of their new TV series get axed and which ones live on for another season or more. And it looks like two of this spring’s most critically acclaimed shows just had their lives extended.

You’d think it’d be near impossible for Olivier Assayas to add any more meta-textual layers to his 1996 masterpiece, “Irma Vep,” which followed a fictional film crew in their attempts to remake the (real) 1916 movie serial “Les Vampires” by Louis Feuillade. Assayas’ solution? To remake his own remake, but this time as a limited series.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterDanielle Macdonald has been cast in the Natasha Lyonne-led Peacock series “Poker Face,” which hails from creator Rian Johnson.Macdonald is the latest addition to the growing cast. In addition to Lyonne, previously announced cast members include Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Benjamin Bratt, Stephanie Hsu, and David Castañeda.

HBO Max is getting into business with Omar Sy.

EXCLUSIVE: MVD Entertainment Group has acquired worldwide rights to the autobiographical coming-of-age comedy 5-25-77, from writer-director Patrick Read Johnson (Spaced Invaders), slating it for release in North American theaters this fall, with an unveiling on digital and VOD to follow.

K.J. Yossman “The Repair Shop’s” Jay Blades has struck a first look deal with BBC Studios via his production company Hungry Jay Media.Hungry Jay is a joint venture between Blades and production company Hunrgy Bear (“Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel”), which was founded in November 2020 by Dan Baldwin and Juliet Denison Gay.The 1-year deal will mean BBC Studios has first dibs on Hungry Jay’s factual entertainment slate.

Angelique Jackson Prolific producer Debra Martin Chase has re-upped her multi-year first-look deal with Universal Television.The news comes as the two parties celebrate continued success for “The Equalizer,” starring Queen Latifah, which was renewed for a third and fourth season earlier this month.“I’m thrilled that this partnership with Debra continues to thrive to this day,” stated Universal Television president Erin Underhill. “It has been phenomenal to work with Debra and her team on ‘The Equalizer.’ She is a true inspiration, pioneer and friend.”With the extension, Chase will develop and produce new projects for network, cable and streaming services under her Martin Chase Productions banner.