Night, Inc. Launches Night Studios; Signs YouTube Head Of Unscripted Originals Alex Piper To Oversee

Fremantle has appointed a Group Head of Strategy to support growth after striking a range of partnerships and buying up labels over the past year.

A new era of “True Detective” is on the way as HBO has recruited Mexican filmmaker Issa López (“Tigers Are Not Afraid”) to write/direct the pilot for “True Detective: Night Country” with Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight,” “The Underground Railroad”) set to produce. The anticipated project has landed a high-profile actor to the cast as Deadline reports that Oscar-winner Jodie Foster has nabbed a lead role in ‘Night Country,’ marking the actress’ first major adult television role (Foster hasn’t appeared on the small screen since 1975).

A new era of “True Detective” is on the way as HBO has recruited Mexican filmmaker Issa López (“Tigers Are Not Afraid”) to write/direct the pilot for “True Detective: Night Country” with Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight,” “The Underground Railroad”) set to produce. The anticipated project has landed a high-profile actor to the cast as Deadline reports that Oscar-winner Jodie Foster has nabbed a lead role in ‘Night Country,’ marking the actress’ first major adult television role (Foster hasn’t appeared on the small screen since 1975).

The support acts for one of the most anticipated gigs of the year have been announced: the Rolling Stones anniversary concerts. This summer marks a full 60 years since the foundation of the iconic rock band, and the Stones are celebrating with two massive gigs in London’s Hyde Park. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood will return to the Great Oak Stage for British Summer Time in Hyde Park this summer for not one, but two dates.

Naman Ramachandran The European Genre Film Foundation (EGFF), aimed at restoring and raising awareness of classic genre films in Europe and globally, launched at Cannes on Tuesday.The non-profit organization, headquartered in Stockholm, will work with film libraries, archives, rights holders, academics, film festivals and other institutions. It is modelled on Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation and the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) in the U.S.Among the first projects of the EGFF will be an academic study of historic female genre film makers in Europe and raising funds for a 4K film scanner set-up dedicated to digitizing and restoring genre films and related material that is languishing in archives.

Fashion-savvy parents! Tan France and Gigi Hadid bonded over their stylish careers and parenthood while filming Netflix’s Next In Fashion together.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeFormer NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy has launched a new shingle with his cousin, Berlin-based advertising exec Stefan Telegdy, and they are pitching their first TV project, a 10-episode series about the Falklands/Malvinas War of 1982.The Telegdys’ The Whole Spiel production company has partnered with Lone Wolf Pictures and Infinity Hill to produce “The Islands,” which tells the story of that 1982 war, from the perspective of the soldiers and civilians on both sides of the 74-day conflict.Argentine writer Sebastian Rotstein (“El Presidente” Season 2, “Morir de Amor”) is writing the screenplay for the show, which will employ writers and directors from both the U.K. and Argentina to tell the full story.

We’re getting the first look at three of ABC’s new series for the 2022-23 broadcast season. The network has released teaser trailers for fall dramas Alaska and The Rookie: Feds and midseason comedy Not Dead Yet. Check them out below.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAfter nearly six years at Snap, head of originals Vanessa Guthrie is leaving the company.Guthrie will depart Snap at the end of June 2022. At that point, Anjuli Millan, head of production for Snap Originals for the past three years, will step into the role as head of original content.“During her time with us, Vanessa has been a trailblazer for women in tech and has played an integral role in launching content for the mobile-first generation,” Snap said in a statement.

ABC has made its new series orders.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterABC has picked up “The Rookie” spinoff starring Niecy Nash-Betts as well as the drama “Alaska” starring Hilary Swank and the comedy “Not Dead Yet” starring Gina Rodriguez for the 2022-2023 broadcast season.“The Rookie” spinoff aired as a two-part backdoor pilot during “The Rookie’s” fourth season. The spinoff is titled “The Rookie: Feds.” Nash-Betts stars as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy.

USA Network has ordered a slew of series including a bar competition series from Blake Shelton and Carson Daly, a social experiment fronted by former American Idol mentor Bobby Bones and an Alaska-set survival competition from the producers of Deadliest Catch.

Sony Music Publishing has signed a global deal with songwriter Ashley Gorley, in partnership with Domain Capital Group. The agreement encompasses Gorley’s complete catalog of songs, as well as future compositions.Gorley has written 59 Country No.

EXCLUSIVE: Alec Baldwin has partnered with veteran actor and producer Anjul Nigam (Grey’s Anatomy) to form film and TV production company Persona Entertainment, whose first project will be on sale at the upcoming Cannes market.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAlex Piper, formerly YouTube’s head of unscripted originals, is moving on from the video giant for a new gig leading Night Studios, the newly created content division of talent-management company Night Inc.At Night, whose clients include massively popular YouTube creator MrBeast, Piper will be in charge of unscripted, scripted, animated and documentary programming.Piper’s departure from YouTube comes after it wound down the original content group earlier this year. His boss at YouTube, Susanne Daniels, global head of original content, left the company in March.