‘Miss Juneteenth’ Writer-Director Channing Godfrey Peoples Inks First-Look Deal With UCP

Universal Pictures has signed a first-look production deal with Dan Lin and Rideback, the production company behind the billion dollar-grossing live-action remake of Aladdin and Oscar-nominated drama The Two Popes. Details of the deal were not disclosed but it is understood that Lin, who runs Rideback’s movie arm with film president Jonathan Eirich, will bring to the table his ability to produce across various genres.

Synchronicity Films, the company behind BBC One’s Jenna Coleman series The Cry, has signed a first-look deal with All3Media International for all upcoming scripted television projects.

Angelique Jackson Universal Pictures announced a first-look production agreement with producer Dan Lin and his Rideback production banner.In a statement announcing the partnership, Universal Pictures President Peter Cramer said, “Dan and his team at Rideback have an exceptional track record producing major franchises, animation and prestige films.”“Additionally, with Rideback Ranch, he has created a groundbreaking filmmaking community, and his commitment to cultivating talent across the

Universal Pictures has entered into a first-look production agreement with Dan Lin and his Rideback production banner.  Lin has produced films grossing more than $5 billion worldwide, including the successful The LEGO Movie, Stephen King’s It and Sherlock Holmes franchises, as well as Disney’s live-action Aladdin.

Lin added: “As a 22-year-old kid, I started my entertainment career at Universal and was thrilled to walk the hallowed halls of the Black Tower every day. Twenty-five years later, I’m returning to Universal and feel that same excitement about partnering with Donna, Peter and the entire Universal film team.

Netflix has slated an official premiere date for Eric Heisserer’s new series Shadow And Bone, inspired by Leigh Bardugo’s bestselling Grishaverse novels.

Sony Pictures TV has signed 88rising, the emergent company that spotlights modern global Asian culture, to a first-look deal. The two will partner to develop scripted series centering Asian and Asian American culture, across all platforms, and 88rising has hired former Imagine and NBC exec Alex Lin to serve as its first development executive for film and television.

EXCLUSIVE: Blumhouse has made a first-look deal for television with writer/producer Michael Seitzman (Code Black, Quantico) and his Maniac Productions company.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Television has signed a first-look deal with 88rising to develop scripted television series angled around Asian and Asian-American culture.

EXCLUSIVE: Wes Ball and his Oddball Entertainment banner are moving into a first-look deal at Paramount Pictures. It reunites him with Emma Watts, the Paramount Motion Pictures Group President who gave Ball his start when she headed Fox and he directed the Maze Runner trilogy for the studio.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaAaron Ryder, the Oscar-nominated producer of “Arrival,” is launching a new production company, Ryder Picture Company. In addition, the Ryder Picture Company has entered into a first-look feature film deal with MGM.In an interview with Variety, Ryder said the deal with MGM came about because of his friendship with the film group’s chairman, Michael De Luca.

Riz Ahmed's Left Handed Films has signed a first-look TV production deal with Amazon Studios. The move comes as Ahmed is enjoying rave reviews for his starring role in the Amazon film Sound of Metal.

Most know her as Rachel Robinson in “42,” opposite the late, great Chadwick Boseman, and Abbie Mills on “Sleepy Hollow,” but Nicole Beharie is ready to take center stage with her turn as Turquoise Jones in Channing Godfrey People‘s “Miss Juneteenth.” Thanks to this film, Beharie, a graduate of Julliard, gets a chance to inject some life into a career that faced some hurdles after she spoke out about her working conditions during “Sleepy Hollow.” In “Miss Juneteenth,” Beharie plays Turquoise

EXCLUSIVE: Tessa Thompson is moving into production in a major way with a new production company, a first-look deal at HBO and HBO Max and exec producing two big book adaptations – Who Fears Death and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.

MGM has signed a first look film production deal with Queen & Slim director and producer Melina Matsoukas and her production company De La Revolución Films. The two-year pact reunites Matsoukas with MGM Film Group president Pamela Abdy, who collaborated on the feature debut where 'Get Out' star Daniel Kaluuya and big-screen newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith play Ohioans whose lives are upended after a deadly encounter with a bad cop.

Director and producer Melina Matsoukas, through her production banner, De La Revolución Films, has signed a two-year first-look film production deal with MGM. The new deal reunites Matsoukas with MGM Film Group President Pamela Abdy, who worked with Matsoukas on her directorial debut Queen & Slim. Released in 2019, Queen & Slim, written by Emmy winner Lena Waithe, earned Matsoukas a DGA nom for first-time feature films.

Also Read: Is MGM Really for Sale or Just Testing the Market?“It is rare to find a partnership that is rooted in empowering and elevating underrepresented filmmakers and narratives. I look forward to collaborating with Pam and Mike on creating unique films that give space to the powerful and diverse voices of the world,” Matsoukas said.Melina Matsoukas in 2019 was nominated for a DGA Award for First-Time Feature Film for “Queen & Slim” and also received the Franklin J.

In Miss Juneteenth, from first-time director Channing Godfrey Peoples, Nicole Beharie plays Turquoise Jones, a young, hard-working single mother and ex-beauty queen who enters her teenage daughter in the Miss Juneteenth pageant in hopes of preventing her from making the same mistakes she herself once made. The pageant is part of a larger celebration of the Juneteenth holiday on June 19th, which commemorates the official end of slavery in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.