MRC Names Jenna Santoianni President Of Television As Elise Henderson Exits

EXCLUSIVE: Thruline Entertainment has promoted longtime talent manager Ashley Franklin to Partner.

Tottenham Hotspur have shortlisted on-loan Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson as a potential replacement for Hugo Lloris, according to reports.

Thania Garcia Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist protest music and performance art group, will be accepting the 2023 Woody Guthrie Prize on May 6 in Tulsa at Cain’s Ballroom. The evening will conclude with Pussy Riot’s first-ever U.S. performance of “Riot Days,” a multi-media show that showcases the group’s music with documentary footage and political commentary. Members Maria “Masha” Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova will accept the prize on behalf of Pussy Riot, which also will be represented by founders Olga Borisova and Diana Burkot. Following the presentation by Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie’s daughter, the group will be interviewed by Robert Santelli, executive director of the Bruce Springsteen Archive and Center for American Music.

BFI Distribution has picked up Tilda Swinton and Joanna Hogg’s latest collaboration, The Eternal Daughter, for theatrical release in the UK and Ireland.

Naman Ramachandran BFI Distribution has acquired Joanna Hogg’s gothic ghost story “The Eternal Daughter,” starring Tilda Swinton in a dual role, for theatrical release in the U.K. and Ireland and will release in cinemas this fall. In the film, an artist and her elderly mother confront long-buried secrets when they return to a former family home, now a hotel haunted by its mysterious past. The film had its world premiere at Venice in 2022 and also screened at the London and Toronto festivals. Alongside its wider distribution, it will also screen at London’s BFI Southbank as part of a complete Hogg retrospective season, which will run alongside a program of films that have influenced her work.  The film is the BFI’s second acquisition from A24, following “God’s Creatures” earlier this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Ben Browning is returning to FilmNation Entertainment as President of Production. He comes aboard at month’s end.

Tom Cruise is the hunkiest movie star, according to the world's biggest experts… mums. The Top Gun actor pipped funnyman Robin Williams to the No 1 spot in a poll for Mothering Sunday.

The first “Big Brother Canada” season 11 housemate has been evicted.

EXCLUSIVE: Jesús I. Valles’ play Bathhouse.pptx has been awarded the prestigious 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize, with the honor’s judge Jeremy O. Harris calling the new work an exploration of “a queer history that is quickly being erased.”

The Price Is Right is on the move. The popular CBS daytime game show, produced by Fremantle, will leave Television City, where it has taped since its 1972 launch, and relocate to a new facility in Glendale, Haven Studios, in which Fremantle is the investor with a long-term lease.

Independent TV and film studio MRC has named Jenna Santoianni its president of television.MRC CEO Scott Tenley made the announcement Tuesday morning. Santoianni will oversee MRC’s current programming, its development slate, joint ventures, production partnerships, operational unites, business, legal affairs and production finance.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer MRC has set Jenna Santoianni as the studio’s new president of television, following the exit of former president Elise Henderson. In her new role, Santoianni will oversee MRC’s current programming, its full slate of development, all joint ventures and production partnerships, as well as all of the television studio’s operational units, including production, business and legal affairs and production finance. Reporting to recently named MRC CEO Scott Tenley, Santoianni is expected to begin this week. She joins the studio amid a restructuring that saw Tenley elevated, while co-founders Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu assumed the new roles of chairmen. Jonathan Golfman and Brye Adler remain co-presidents of film and Amit Dey as head of non-fiction.

Carol Vorderman wowed her fans as she rocked a look that Elvis Presley would have been proud of during an outing at Sandown Races Grand Military Gold Cup. The former Countdown presenter attended the event in Esher, in South-East England, with her son.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was named Favorite Movie at the 2023 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards tonight. Other big winners include Wednesday as Favorite Family TV Show, and its star Jenna Ortega as Favorite Female TV Star (Family), along with kid-fave SpongeBob Squarepants as Favorite Animated Show and Stranger Things alum Millie Brown Brown, who scored the Favorite Movie Actress award for Enola Holmes, and Enola Holmes 2. The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder landed the top Favorite Kids TV Show honor. See the full list below.

EXCLUSIVE: MRC has made a deal to develop Pornsak Pichetshote’s Eisner Award-winning graphic novel bestseller The Good Asian into a series. James Wan, Michael Clear and Rob Hackett are producing for Atomic Monster. Will Rowbotham and Luke Maxwell are producing for 3 Arts. 

Michael P. O’Leary will be appointed the president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners beginning May 1.

Independent entertainment studio MRC has promoted longtime exec Scott Tenley to CEO.

The National Association of Theatre Owners has appointed Michael P. O’Leary as President and CEO of the Association beginning May 1, 2023. He takes over for outgoing NATO Boss John Fithian, who announced his retirement back in October after working with the exhibitor trade org for three decades.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Michael P. O’Leary, an executive who has straddled the worlds of government, lobbying and media, has been named as president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners. He will take over from John Fithian, whose retirement after decades at the exhibition industry advocacy group was announced last year. O’Leary will begin the transition into his new role at NATO in April. He officially takes the reins from Fithian in May. NATO said that O’Leary has served in senior positions at The Entertainment Software Association, 21st Century Fox, the Motion Picture Association, on Capitol Hill and at the Department of Justice.

Jordan Moreau Scott Tenley, chief business officer at entertainment studio MRC, has been promoted to CEO, the company announced Thursday. As part of the new executive structure, MRC founders Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu will become chairmen. Tenley’s elevation comes seven months after he successfully negotiated MRC’s separation from Valence Media, reconstituting the company as a premier independent film and television studio. In his new role, Tenley will oversee the studio’s film, TV and non-fiction divisions, strategic partnerships, as well as all shared service functions of the company, including finance, legal, and HR.