Mark Ruffalo to Executive Produce ‘Natives’ Docuseries (TV News Roundup)

Award-winning producer Ben Feigin, who served as an executive producer on Schitt’s Creek, died Monday of pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

EXCLUSIVE: Maya Penn, the 22-year old award-winning animator, environmental activist and multi-hyphenate, has set her first directing project: the animated short film Asali: Power of The Pollinators. The short is an original project from Penn’s purpose-driven animation studio Upenndo! Productions and is set to be executive produced by Viola Davis, Julius Tennon and their JuVee Productions.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Cody Ryder has joined Park Pictures as senior executive producer for commercials and co-head of film and television. Ryder is the first executive producer at the company to serve in a dual capacity across its commercial and feature film divisions. Ryder previously served in the TV and branded content department at Plum Productions. There, she developed pitches and produced branded content until becoming a freelance line producer based out of New York. Ryder has been freelance ever since until she decided to join the ranks at Park in its Los Angeles office.   Ryder’s projects include the recently released Kendrick Lamar short film “We Cry Together”and the “We Matter Too” PSA produced with Common’s Imagine Justice organization. She has worked with brand clients including Coca-Cola, Old Navy, Verizon, McDonald’s, Chevy, Reebok, Instagram,and Kia, to name a few; and artists like LCD Soundsystem, Kanye West, Haim, Brandi Carlile and Questlove. Her feature film work includes “The Art of Self Defense,” “The Clovehitch Killer,” “Other People,” “Cop Car” and “Robot and Frank.”

Netflix has announced that it will be launching a new game development studio which will be led by Overwatch executive producer, Chacko Sonny.During the TechCrunch Disrupt 2022 event yesterday (October 18), Netflix’s vice president of games Mike Verdu shared the news of the new California studio, which is currently unnamed (via VGC).“We are starting another organic new studio in Southern California, this time around Chacko Sonny, who oversaw production on God of War Ascension for Santa Monica and oversaw a portfolio of their games, and then was executive producer of a little game franchise called Overwatch,” Verdu said.“He could have gone anywhere, he could have raised money, he could have done anything and he chose to come here. We are building a team around him and looking to him to reinvent what games can be.”Chacko Sonny left Blizzard Entertainment in September 2021 in order “to take some time off.” He worked at the company for five years from 2016 but didn’t become an executive producer on the Overwatch franchise until 2018.

television adaptation of Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite.In a recent interview with Variety, the actress confirmed that she is no longer part of the HBO project.“I don’t think I’ll be a part of it, but I’m very happy to be a cheerleader,” she said.Swinton has been linked with the series since February 2020, where she was set to play the female lead opposite Mark Ruffalo. It’s currently unclear who will replace her.Korean direct Bong Joon Ho, who helmed the film version of Parasite, has been working closely with Adam McKay to develop the series, which will consist of six, hour-long episodes.Released in 2019, Parasite won the Academy Award for Best Picture, becoming the first ever foreign language film to do so.

EXCLUSIVE: Comcast NBCUniversal is excited to announce the exclusive premiere of the documentary film The Return from record-breaking film and Emmy-nominated TV producer Will Packer.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Six-time Primetime Emmy award-winner Frank Doelger, whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “The Swarm,” “John Adams” and “Rome,” and Intaglio Films, a joint venture between Beta Film and ZDF Studios, have started production on surveillance drama thriller “Concordia,” set in an experimental utopian community. ZDF, MBC, France Télévisions and Hulu Japan have signed up as partners for the six-part series, shot in English and directed by Barbara Eder (“The Swarm,” “Barbarians,” “Cop Stories”). Doelger helms as executive producer and showrunner, alongside the executive producers Ute Leonhardt, Rafferty Thwaites, Jan Wünschmann and Robert Franke. Shooting takes place at various locations in Rome, Northern Italy, and Leipzig in Germany.

Ramy Youssef may not be the same person as the titular character in his Hulu series Ramy, but the Golden Globe-winning, multi-Emmy-nominated creator and star certainly relates to the New Jersey Millennial Arab-American man at the heart of his show.

“House of the Dragon” executive producer Sara Hess is going to continue developing original projects for HBO. The network announced Friday that Hess, who is also a writer on the “Game of Thrones” prequel series, is extending her overall deal for another two years.

Elliot Page has his next project lined up.

Charles Yu’s “Interior Chinatown” is headed to the small screen as a 10-part series with the author acting as showrunner and executive producer alongside Taika Waititi, who will direct the pilot episode for Hulu.“Silicon Valley” and “Crazy Rich Asians” actor Jimmy O. Yang is set to star.

The Mosquito Coast,” a drama series adapted from the novel of the same title, starring Justin Theroux, Melissa George, Logan Polish and Gabriel Bateman. Based on Paul Theroux’s best-selling novel, “The Mosquito Coast” Season 2 picks up on the family after barely escaping Mexico with their lives, venturing deep into the Guatemalan jungle to meet up with an old friend and her community of refugees. This creates trouble when they become entangled in a conflict between a local drug lord and his family. The show is executive produced by Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, Stefan Schwartz, Evan Katz, Rupert Wyatt, author Theroux and series star Theroux. Bob Bookman, Alan Gasmer and Peter Jaysen serve as executive producers for Veritas Entertainment Group. The series is created for television and executive produced by Neil Cross. Developed by Cross & Tom Bissell, the series is a Fremantle Production for Apple TV+.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Troy Kotsur, the Oscar-winning actor of “CODA,” has joined Mounia Meddour’s uplifting drama “Houria” ahead of its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival. Meddour’s follow-up to her Cesar-winning film “Papicha” tells the story of Houria, a gifted dancer with dreams of joining the Algerian National Ballet. To make ends meet, she bets in clandestine fights overnight. However after winning a final, Houria is violently assaulted by a man determined to get his money back. When she wakes up in a hospital, she no longer is able to speak and will certainly never dance again. Refusing to abandon her dream, she throws herself, heart and soul, into her physical recovery and meets at a rehab center other women damaged by life. Houria resolves to help them transcend their wounded bodies and stand tall by teaching them how to dance through a choreography inspired by sign language.

K.J. Yossman Jemima Khan (“What’s Love Got to Do With It?”) and Jaime Ray Newman (“Dopesick”) have boarded Seemab Gul’s Oscar-qualifying short film “Sandstorm” as executive producers. A coming of age story, centering around a Pakistani schoolgirl called Zara, “Sandstorm” navigates the “tricky terrain of internet dating in a conservative Muslim society,” according to the logline as well as questions “the objectification of the female body and its relationship to honor in Pakistani culture.” In the short, Zara sends her virtual boyfriend a “sensual dance video” which he then uses to blackmail her. “Caught between his manipulative behaviour and the desire to experience love on her own terms, Zara searches for the strength to reject the confines of a patriarchal society,” reads the synopsis.

The co-executive producer of popular US comedy series Scrubs has been charged with 18 counts of sexual assault. Eric Weinberg, 62, is said to have “relied on his Hollywood credentials” to lure young women to photo shoots where he is alleged to have assaulted them, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney.The charges stem from alleged incidents involving five different women in the years between 2014 and 2019.

Acapulco,” which will drop its first two episodes on Oct. 21. Starring Eugenio Derbez, the series follows 20-something Máximo Gallardo (Enrique Arrizon), who earns his dream job as a cabana boy at the hottest resort in Acapulco, Las Colinas. Along with Derbez and Arrizon, returning stars include Fernando Carsa, Dambián Alcázar, Camila Perez, Chord Overstreet, Vanessa Bauche, Regina Reynoso, Raphael Alejandro, Jessica Collins, Rafael Cebrián and Carlos Corona. “Acapulco” is produced for Apple by Lionsgate Television, 3Pas Studios, Zihuatanejo Productions and The Tannenbaum Company. The series is executive produced by creators Austin Winsberg, Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman, with showrunner Chris Harris. Jay Karas serves as executive producer and director. In addition to starring in the series, Derbez executive produces alongside Ben Odell and co-executive producer Sonia Gambaro on behalf of 3Pas Studios. The Tannenbaum Company’s Eric and Kim Tannenbaum and Jason Wang also serve as executive producers.

Refresh for more details: Rust Productions and its star and producer Alec Baldwin have reached a settlement with the estate of slain cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. As part of the peace, the DP’s husband Matthew Hutchins will executive produce Rust, which will return to production in January 2023 with the original cast.

Naman Ramachandran Malala Yousafzai, who heads her own film and TV production company, Extracurricular Productions, is joining “Joyland,” Pakistan’s Oscar submission in the international feature category, as an executive producer. The film had its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year where it won the Queer Palm and the jury prize at the festival’s Un Certain Regard strand. It subsequently had its North American premiere at Toronto. It is currently playing at both the BFI London Film Festival, where it is competing for the Sutherland Award, which recognizes the most original and imaginative directorial debut, and the Busan International Film Festival, where it is in the A Window on Asian Cinema strand.