Netflix, European Producers Club Reveal Series Pitch Contest Winners at Venice

EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of Jackass Forever this year, director Jeff Tremaine has found a new set troublemakers to focus on as they cause havoc at the Happiest Place on earth. Tremaine is producing Stolen Kingdom, a documentary film chronicling the 30-year history of wrongdoing and debauchery at Walt Disney World Resort, and how it led to the theft of an audio-animatronic valued at almost $500,000 on the black market.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Netflix has unveiled first look images of Darren Star’s Emmy-nominated hit show “Emily in Paris” season three. The show’s third and fourth seasons are currently filming in France. Netflix will be unveiling some special news on “Emily in Paris” on Sept. 24 during its virtual Tudum event. The third season brings back producer and star Lily Collins also returns Lily Collins, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Lucien Laviscount, Lucas Bravo, Ashley Park and Camille Razat, among others. Season three follows Emily as she finds herself at a crucial crossroads in every aspect of her life. Faced with two very different paths, Emily will have to decide exactly where her loyalties lie — at work and in her romantic life — and what those decisions mean for her future in France, all while continuing to immerse herself in the adventures and surprising twists and turns that life in Paris provides.  The first images unveiled today suggest Emily will reunite with her British boyfriend, played by Laviscount.

EXCLUSIVE: Truly Original, the production company behind Ink Master and a number of The Real Housewives shows, is stepping up its presence on the west coast.

“The Midnight Club” series, and death abounds in the next show from “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “Midnight Mass” creator Mike Flanagan.The show is based on the beloved Christopher Pike novel of the same name and takes place at a hospice with a mysterious history, where the eight members of the Midnight Club (all of whom are terminally ill) meet each night at midnight to tell sinister stories – and to look for signs of the supernatural from the beyond.Mike Flanagan executive produces and directs the show alongside Trevor Macy through their Intrepid Pictures and Leah Fong. Flanagan and Fong are the show’s creators, while Pike serves as an executive producer.The first season spans 10 one-hour episodes and stars Iman Benson, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Annarah Cymone, Chris Sumpter, Adia, Aya Furukawa, Sauriyan Sapkota, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan, with Zach Gilford and Heather Langenkamp.This is the latest horror-tinged Netflix series from Flanagan, who also directed the Warner Bros.

Mike Flanagan has built an impressive recent resume with his horror miniseries on Netflix. It all started with 2018’s “The Haunting Of Hill House,” with its follow-up, “The Haunting Of Bly Manor” coming two years later.

ECAM alum, she participated in this year’s Incubator, Madrid’s prestigious development program that catapults emergent Spanish talent. Spain’s Goya Award-Winning director Enrique Urbizu (“No Rest For The Wicked”) acted as mentor, and with that helpful nudge, Tara finalized a version of the script she’s happy to advance.

Emily Longeretta “Love Is Blind” is back! The Netflix reality series, produced by Kinetic Content and hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, will return for its 12-episode third season on Oct. 19, the streaming service announced on Wednesday. Once again, the experiment will follow singles looking for love — this time in Dallas — as they are hopeful to fall for The One without ever having seen them. The pairs who choose to get engaged then get to meet and love in the real world, and attempt to plan their weddings and decide if they will stay married. Chris Coelen, Ally Simpson, Eric Detwiler, Brent Gauches, Brian Smith and Heather Crowe executive produce. The first four episodes of Season 3 will be released on Oct. 19. Episodes 5-7 will debut Oct. 26, followed by episodes 8-10 on Nov. 9. The finale and the reunion will drop on Nov. 9.

Nicolas Winding Refn says that the characters in his upcoming Netflix series Copenhagen Cowboy, are a “female evolution” of characters from previous projects such as Valhalla Rising, Drive and Only God Forgives.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix announces production of upcoming Japanese series “House of Ninjas,” set for release in 2024. Ninjas are the legendary Japanese heroes of the shadows, known for their ambush attacks and ferocious fighting style. But they remain figures of mythology or, at least, the past. Set in modern-day Japan, “House of Ninjas,” tells the story of the Tawara family, the last ninja clan. It had abandoned its roots after an incident in the past, but now the family must take on the greatest crisis in Japanese history, one that threatens to shake the nation to its core.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterVince Staples is heading to Netflix with his own scripted comedy show, Variety has learned.The streaming giant has given out a series order for “The Vince Staples Show,” loosely based on the real life of the rapper and actor. Staples will star in the show as himself. The show will be set in Long Beach, CA, where Staples grew up.Staples will executive produce in addition to starring. Kenya Barris is also executive producing via Khalabo Ink Society. Ian Edelman, Maurice Williams, Corey Smyth and Calmatic also executive produce. Edelman and Williams are co-showrunners on the series. Barris, Edelman, and Williams also executive produced Kid Cudi’s animated Netflix show “Entergalactic.” Calmatic will direct the first two episodes of “The Vince Staples Show.”

Christopher Vourlias The journey to the Lido has been longer than most for Ukrainian director Antonio Lukich, whose sophomore feature, “Luxembourg, Luxembourg,” has its world premiere Sep. 7 in the Horizons strand at the Venice Film Festival. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Lukich’s life has been upended. Forced to flee Kyiv at the start of the war, the director spoke to Variety from Sweden, where he’s among four Ukrainian filmmakers who were granted a residency with the support of the Göteborg Film Fund. It is, he acknowledges, a world removed from the one he left behind. “It’s a great opportunity to develop Ukrainian stories when you cannot develop them right now in Ukraine,” he said.

Sweden’s SVT Orders ‘Whiskey On The Rocks’ From Skyverse Nordic

Call it third time lucky.

Since 2017’s “Darkest Hour,” for which Gary Oldman nabbed an Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill, Joe Wright has had a rough go of it. His follow-up, “The Woman In The Window,” was first delayed, then shunted to Netflix because of the COVID-19 pandemic to negative reviews.

Gregg Goldstein Becoming Nicholas Sparks’ literary agent and then film production president might not seem like the best preparation for making a romantic drama about cannibalism, but Per Capita Prods. founder Theresa Park is transitioning to a wider, edgier range of projects with ease.  Park is producing an animated children’s show based on Michael Buckley’s bestselling fantasy novel series “The Sisters Grimm” for Apple TV+. And she arrives in Venice for the Sept. 2 world premiere of “Bones and All,” Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of Camille DeAngelis’s novel about a couple (Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell) whose tastes run more towards hand eating than the hand holding found in Sparks’ works. The MGM/UA feature follows two other offbeat projects in Per Capita’s first year of releases: A24’s robot drama “After Yang” starring Colin Farrell and the Apple TV+ female-centered series “Roar” with Nicole Kidman. 

Manori Ravindran International Editor Don DeLillo’s debut novel, “Americana,” is set to be adapted 51 years after it was first published. “White Noise” producer Uri Singer (“Tesla,” “The King of Oil”) has bought the rights to the 1971 novel, continuing his streak of adapting a string of DeLillo works that have been deemed “unadaptable.” “Americana” tells the story of David Bell, an out-of-touch television executive who sets off on a road trip with his female colleague, Sullivan, to make an avant-garde film. The book explores the intricacies of corporate culture and examines how we create realities, whether they are true or not.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Directing Penélope Cruz in Venice competition title “L’immensità,” Italy’s Emanuele Crialese is teaming with Argentina’s Nicolás Gil Lavedra to produce “Rona,” the second feature by Emiliano Torres, writer-director of San Sebastian Special Jury Prize winner “The Winter.” Produced by Crialese’s Italy-based Now and Buenos Aires Gamán Cine, set up by Lavedra and Torres, “Rona” is being structured as a majority European production and will shoot mainly in English. Lavedra, whose recent production credits include Paz Encina’s Rotterdam Tiger Award winner “Eami,” will oversee production.  “Rona” is one of the highest-profile of 14 titles at this year’s San Sebastian Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, one of the Spanish festival’s centrepiece industry events.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer A producer behind the hit Netflix series “Narcos” has filed a lawsuit claiming he is owed more than $1 million in unpaid profits on the show. José Padilha sued fellow producer Eric Newman, claiming that Newman has breached an agreement to split all profits on the show 50-50. The complaint alleges that Newman and his company have received “several millions of dollars in revenues arising from or connected with ‘Narcos’ that have not been reported to Plaintiffs.” The suit seeks to recoup 50% of all unreported revenues, as well as punitive damages. Newman has a longstanding relationship with Netflix. He is currently producing “Rebel Moon,” the streamer’s mega-budget sci-fi epic from director Zack Snyder. In addition to “Narcos,” his other Netflix projects include “Bright,” with Will Smith, and “Hemlock Grove,” which was the second show the streamer ever produced.

K.J. Yossman SRAB Films, producer of Ladj Ly’s 2019 Cannes effort “Les Misérables,” which was picked up by Amazon Studios, has been acquired by Asacha Media Group (AMG), according to reports.

EXCLUSIVE: Timewasters creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor has boarded Netflix Greek mythology reimagining Kaos.