Mimi Leder Signs Multi-Year, Overall Deal With Apple TV+

Joe Otterson TV ReporterPat McAfee is staying in business with WWE.The sports entertainment giant has announced that McAfee has signed a multi-year extension of his contract. He will continue to serve as a member of the commentary team on “SmackDown Live” alongside Michael Cole. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.“Very few can transition from professional athletics to entertainment the way [Pat McAfee] has,” Paul “Triple H” Levesque wrote on Twitter.

came out as gay.“I rebelled against it my whole life,” he said at the time. “I thought I’d never, ever come out.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterGet Lifted Film Co. has entered a multi-year overall deal for scripted content at UCP.

BET has signed comedian, actress and producer Patricia “Ms. Pat” Williams to a multi-year overall deal under which she will produce, write and perform in new series and other projects—both scripted and unscripted— across BET and Paramount Global.

EXCLUSIVE: After parting ways for a brief time, Michael Bay and Brad Fuller are teaming back up with Fuller returning to Platinum Dunes and the producing duo signing an overall deal with Universal Pictures. With more than $2.7 billion in box office grosses since its founding in 2001, the Company’s credits include some of the most iconic genre films in recent history: the reinvigorated Texas Chainsaw Massacre series; the critically and commercially-acclaimed A Quiet Place: Parts I & II; as well as Universal Pictures’ successful The Purge and Ouija franchises. Today’s announcement was made by Universal Pictures President, Peter Cramer.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterMelissa Benoist and her Three Things Productions banner have renewed their overall deal with Warner Bros. Television.In addition, Benoist has officially signed on to star in and produce the upcoming HBO Max-WBTV series “The Girls on the Bus.” She was first reported as being in talks for the series back in February.Under the terms of the overall deal, Benoist and Three Things will continue to develop and produce programming across all platforms for WBTV. Benoist runs three things with Sahar Kashi, the company’s vice president of development.“The Girls on the Bus” is inspired by a chapter in Amy Chozick’s book “Chasing Hillary.” Benoist will play Sadie McCarthy, a journalist who romanticizes the original “Boys on the Bus” and who scrapped her whole life for her own shot at covering a presidential campaign for the paper of record.

Melissa Benoist and her production banner Three Things Productions has renewed its overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group as the former Supergirl star officially joins HBO Max series The Girls on the Bus.

previous one with WBTV, signed back in 2020.Thede’s current projects include the acclaimed “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” which was renewed for a fourth season earlier this month. Starring, created, showrun, executive produced and written by Thede, the historic sketch series is made entirely by and for Black women, whose skits touch on topics like sex, relationships, religion and social norms.

Following her work on “The Morning Show,” Apple TV+ is locking up Emmy Award-winning director and filmmaker Mimi Leder to a multi-year overall deal. Under the pact, the growing streaming service will have a first-look on streaming features, as well as an exclusive deal for series developed by Leder, who currently serves as executive producer and director on the star-studded “The Morning Show.” The deal comes shortly after Apple TV+ renewed “The Morning Show” for a third season.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterRobin Thede has signed a three-year overall deal with HBO.Under the deal, Thede will develop content exclusively for HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. Television.

Robin Thede is staying in the Warner Bros. Discovery family.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterMimi Leder has signed a multi-year overall deal with Apple, Variety has learned.Leder is currently an executive producer on the Apple drama series “The Morning Show.” She has also directed multiple episodes of the series, including the pilot. The show was renewed for a third season earlier this year, which is currently in production.

EXCLUSIVE: Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz, executive producer/showrunner of Gordita Chronicles, is extending her overall with Sony Pictures Television, the studio behind the coming-of-age HBO Max comedy series, which premieres today.

Manori Ravindran International Editor“Sex Education” star Mimi Keene has signed with UTA in all areas.Keene stars in Netflix comedy “Sex Education” as Ruby Matthews opposite Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson and new “Doctor Who” star Ncuti Gatwa. Keene’s Ruby is one of the main characters on the show, and rules over fictional high school Moordale with an iron fist, but goes on a journey in the show’s later seasons, eventually striking up a relationship with Butterfield’s Otis Milburn.“Sex Education,” one of Netflix’s biggest shows out of the U.K.

Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground production company is heading to Amazon’s Audible platform.Following the end of a three-year deal with Spotify, the Obamas have reportedly inked an exclusive multi-year, first-look deal with the Amazon-owned platform.While firm details surrounding the Obamas’ new deal with Audible remain unclear at this time, comments from Michelle Obama hint at the possibility of their content with Audible being released on multiple streaming platforms.The Audible deal will see the Obamas “keep striving to tell compelling, provocative, and soulful stories — while doing everything we can to make sure they reach the folks who need to hear them,” Michelle Obama told The Hollywood Reporter.A Higher Ground spokesperson also told The Hollywood Reporter that the two companies “plan to make the Audible Originals available to the widest possible audience”.The newly signed deal with Audible comes after the Obamas’ three-year deal with streaming giant Spotify ended earlier this year. The Spotify deal saw them “develop, produce and appear” on select podcasts through their Higher Ground production company.The Obamas’ contributions to Spotify notably included the eight-part podcast series Renegades: Born In The USA with Bruce Springsteen.

EXCLUSIVE: SEAL Team showrunner/executive producer Spencer Hudnut is expanding his relationship with CBS Studios, the studio behind the military drama series, with a new overall deal. SEAL Team is currently in production on its sixth season at Paramount+. SEAL Team, along with Evil, relocated to the ViacomCBS streaming service from CBS in May 2021, where it has ranked among the streamer’s most-watched dramas.

Michael Colton and John Aboud, creators of ABC comedy Home Economics, are doubling down with Lionsgate Television.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentTying up one of TV animation’s most consistent talents over the last three decades, Cartoon Network Studios (CNS) and Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) have inked an exclusive multiyear cross-studio overall deal with Emmy Award-winning creator, producer and director Genndy Tartakovsky.Tartakovsky’s relationship with Cartoon Network stretches back over 25 years to Cartoon Network’s very first series, the seminal “Dexter’s Laboratory,” launched in 1996.

Emmy-winning creator, producer, and director Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack) has signed an exclusive multiyear cross-studio overall deal with Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Bros. Animation.

EXCLUSIVE: Zahir McGhee has signed with CAA for representation. Additionally, the Queens creator/executive producer has extended his existing overall deal with ABC Signature for an additional two years.