Morcombe baby joy, how a little girl is healing their hearts

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor About six years ago, Imagine Entertainment went on a diversification push to add top-shelf documentary and nonfiction content to the company’s roster, as well as kids and family entertainment and branded creative marketing, among other content-related businesses. The timing was spot-on. Imagine has been able to grow along with the boom in demand for original content from platforms, not just in the U.S.

Savannah Chrisley continues to shed light on her parents' ongoing legal battle and offer a glimpse into life behind bars for Todd and Julie Chrisley. Savannah speaks with one of Todd and Julie's lawyers, Alex Little of Burr & Forman, in a new episode of her podcast titled «Talk to My Lawyer.» As the interview delves into the process of appealing Todd and Julie's fraud conviction, Savannah takes aim at the tabloid headlines and inside sources that are speculating on her parents' experiences behind bars.«It's hilarious because one of them was like, 'Oh, he's let himself go,'» she says of one story about her father.

Jennifer Lopez is taking fans inside her sun-soaked birthday celebration, sharing new photos and videos of a pool party hosted by Ben Affleck in the couple's new home. «Thank you for all the birthday love. Here's a lil peek into my party,» the 54-year-old superstar wrote Monday in her On the JLO newsletter.

Addie Morfoot Contributor While corporate consolidation has led to smaller documentary production budgets and fewer indie doc sales, the demand for true-crime docus has skyrocketed over the last few years. That’s good news for documentary production companies like Dan Cogan and Liz Garbus’ Story Syndicate.

The Chase's Paul Sinha has come clean on his former gambling addiction in a breathtakingly honest interview - and also revealed how he gets his new ‘high’.

Trying to keep up with this week’s new music? Every Friday, we collect new albums available on streaming services on one page. This week, check out Babyface Ray's Summer's Mine, Blur's The Ballad of Darren, NewJeans' Get Up EP, and more.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor There was a large crowd in the room when SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s major studios and streamers formally began contract bargaining negotiations on June 7. About 80 participants from both the labor and management sides gathered at the Sherman Oaks headquarters of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for the first day of what everyone knew would be a difficult negotiation for the performers union, which has been on strike since July 13. One big presence in the negotiations process who was not there in person on Day One was Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA. But Drescher had no trouble making herself heard that day. She addressed the gathering via video conference call from Paris – and she definitely got management’s attention.

A company behind a planned luxury apartments development in Castlefield owed over £50m as it entered administration.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Sabrina Wu’s family and friends didn’t really comprehend that they were starring in the raunchy comedy “Joy Ride” alongside Ashley Park, Stephanie Hsu and Sherry Colauntil until the movie hit theaters. Before then, the stand-up comic’s only Hollywood job was as a writer on Disney+’s “Doogie Kameāloha, M.D.” “I remember calling my dad and telling him I got the part,” Wu tells me. “This is verbatim what he said: ‘Sabrina, I can’t wait to show you my new car.’ It went right over his head because it was too bizarre.” Like their character Deadeye, the 25-year-old Wu uses “they/them” pronouns. They asked that Deadeye not have a big coming-out scene about their gender identity. “I definitely begged them to do it that way because I don’t think this R-rated comedy needed a moment where I’m like, ‘Hey, guys, I’m nonbinary.’ The level of care that kind of scene needs is not one that is for this genre,” Wu recalls.

Gina Yashere, who plays Kemi in the CBS sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, is breaking down the reasons why actors and writers have gone on strike.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis held a packed union meeting at their Beverly Hills home. Desi Arnaz poured his heart out in an open letter to the industry while Lew Wasserman worked the numbers quietly behind the scenes. And it was none other than future Oval Office occupant Ronald Reagan who led the Screen Actors Guild through the war in 1960, the last time that Hollywood experienced such a season of labor strife with actors and the Writers Guild of America on strike at the same time. And it was already a tumultuous time for the industry. In 1959, Congress and the Justice Department were deep into their investigation of “payola” corruption involving music labels and radio station owners. Congress also held hearings that year on the notorious TV quiz show scandals (see 1994’s “Quiz Show” for a primer).

Thania Garcia Ahead of Lil Baby‘s “It’s Only Us” tour start date in Texas next week, the Atlanta-based rapper has removed 10 cities from the original 32-stop lineup with little explanation. The Kid Laroi has also been pulled as a supporting act, though GloRilla, Gloss Up, Rylo Rodriguez and Hunxho are still set to perform. The nationwide arena tour, produced by AG Entertainment Touring and Mammoth, will no longer be hitting Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Denver, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Louisville — all of which were a part of the tour lineup that was announced earlier this year. (Tickets for those dates went on general sale on April 13.)

McKinley Franklin editor Laird Koenig, who wrote “The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane,” died in Santa Barbara on June 30, Jamie Dixon, the son of Koenig’s collaborator Peter L. Dixon, told Variety. He was 95. Koenig was an American author and screenwriter whose novel was adapted into the 1976 Jodie Foster-led horror movie “The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.”  He was born on Sept. 14, 1927, in Seattle, and would go on to attend the University of Washington. Koenig worked in advertising before being approached by Peter L. Dixon, whom he would collaborate with extensively throughout his career, and went on to write for the adventure television series “Flipper.” 

EXCLUSIVE: The UK has a new South Asian-focused film talk show.

Patrick Wilson is looking back at Watchmen and praising director Zack Snyder for being “ahead of the curve,” which he says ultimately led the way for films like The Avengers.

Sir Rod Stewart has helped to make a little girl’s dream come true after learning that she watches her mum go without food to feed her family.The legendary rocker said his 'heart broke' after reading the plight of schoolgirl Sophia McKenzie in the Daily Record. He has now offered to donate £2500 to help Sophia's mum Heather Griffiths with her financial struggles.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The movie comedy “Theater Camp” is one of those dreams-come-true success stories that sometimes emerge from the Sundance Film Festival: Scrappy indie movie debuts in Park City, the audience falls in love with it, and overnight the movie is picked up for a multimillion distribution deal. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Buckle up for a busy 72 hours. SAG-AFTRA’s already-extended contract talks will come to a head one way or another by the July 12 midnight PT expiration deadline. And as goes SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with the major studios and streamers goes the rest of Hollywood’s year. By multiple accounts, progress in the negotiating room has been negligible since SAG-AFTRA granted a 12-day extension of talks hours before the contract expired June 30. The mood across town is grim with the expectation that Hollywood will soon endure its first “double strike” in more than 60 years. The Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike since May 2, stands ready to help SAG-AFTRA execute its first industry-wide work stoppage since Jimmy Carter was in the White House. SAG-AFTRA’s move would bring a burst of energy to the WGA’s public efforts at a time when union members privately acknowledge that strike fatigue is setting in. With little diminution in the resolve of WGA members to back their union, polite discussions of “what’s the endgame” are nonetheless rising among writers and showrunners who were busy juggling multiple projects for 2023 and 2024 before scribes went pencils down.

Sam Smith is rounding out the Barbie soundtrack!

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for Lionsgate’s “Joy Ride,” now playing in theaters. Lionsgate’s latest release, “Joy Ride,” is messy, fun, flirtatious and bold. It’s exactly the type of film writers Teresa Hsiao (“Family Guy”), Cherry Chevapravatdumrong (“Family Guy”) and Adele Lim (“Crazy Rich Asians”) wanted to see when they were kids growing up. The comedy revolves around Stephanie Hsu, Sherry Cola, and Sabrina Wu, who follow Ashley Park’s Audrey across the world on a business trip to Asia, where she has to track down her birth mother to close a huge business deal. From a drug-induced train ride to orgies to impersonating a K-Pop group, Brownie Tuesday, to a genital tattoo reveal, the film pushes the limits in the R-rated comedy space with Lionsgate and Point Gray’s blessing.