EXCLUSIVE: The Butcher & The Wren, the crime novel written by Alaina Urquhart, co-host of the hit podcast Morbid, is set for a small screen adaptation.
EXCLUSIVE: The Butcher & The Wren, the crime novel written by Alaina Urquhart, co-host of the hit podcast Morbid, is set for a small screen adaptation.
Netflix have confirmed the release date for a new thriller series starring British actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
Netflix has unveiled the cast joining Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw in upcoming thriller Black Doves.
K.J. Yossman Dorothy Street Pictures, the production company behind documentaries including “Pamela, a Love Story” and “Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story,” have tapped Lily Kaplan as their new head of development. Kaplan joins the company’s New York office from Imagine Documentaries, where she will lead Dorothy Street’s transatlantic operation with a focus on growing their portfolio of high-end documentary films and series.
EXCLUSIVE: The first call Stephen Garrett made after acquiring the rights to suspense-fuelled book Culprits: The Heist Was Just the Beginning was to writer and director J Blakeson, who he hailed as “the real deal.”
In Cindy Holland‘s first executive hire since she joined Sister as Global CEO in July, the former Netflix head of original content has brought in another former exec at the streamer, Efrain Miron.
EXCLUSIVE: Jane Featherstone and Liz Murdoch‘s Sister has invested in Stephen Curry‘s Unanimous Media.
EXCLUSIVE: Jane Featherstone and Liz Murdoch‘s Sister saw revenues skyrocket by $100M last year, although the This is Going to Hurt and Chernobyl producer failed again to turn a profit.
EXCLUSIVE: Film and TV adaptations of works by the likes of Evelyn Waugh and Langston Hughes could be incoming following a deal struck between Artists, Writers & Artisans (AWA) and International Literary Properties (ILP).
Brent Lang Executive Editor Cindy Holland has been named the CEO of Sister, the production company started by media mogul Elisabeth Murdoch and “Chernobyl” producer Jane Featherstone. The veteran executive oversaw Netflix’s move into producing its own in-house content until she left the streamer in 2020. At Sister, she will oversee the company’s strategic direction and production output. “I am delighted to join Sister at this exciting stage. The future is bright for well-positioned independent companies, and I love to build and support successful teams,” said Holland. “For years I’ve admired Jane Featherstone, and I am passionate about the artist-forward ethos that Liz has fostered at the Sister entertainment group.”
Former Netflix TV boss Cindy Holland has joined Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone’s Sister as Global CEO.
Following a four year focus of launching and overseeing the growth of company, Sister co-founder Stacey Snider is stepping down as CEO of the company and stepping into a creative advisor role for the company as well as an independent producer. Having served four years in the role and led the company through its launch and initial growth phase, Snider will remain a shareholder and creative leader in the business and will shift to a creative and advisory role for the Group.
Brent Lang Executive Editor In a leadership shakeup, Sister Global CEO Stacey Snider is stepping down from her role at the media company. It’s a surprise move given Snider’s high profile, her extensive relationships throughout the entertainment industry and the fact that she was prolific in getting projects off the ground during her nearly four years (many of them overlapping with the pandemic). But Snider will remain involved as a creative advisor to the company. As part of that arrangement, she will also serve as an independent producer and will remain in charge of the Los Angeles office’s TV and film slate. She will continue to be a shareholder in Sister. The change is effective immediately. Elisabeth Murdoch, who is also the company’s executive chair, will assume CEO duties on an interim basis until Sister hires someone to take over Snider’s operational role.
Netflix has greenlit a Keira Knightley-starring thriller, the latest series from The Crown producer Left Bank and a Bank of Dave sequel.
K.J. Yossman Keira Knightley is set to star in Netflix series “Black Doves,” the streamer unveiled today. Written by “Giri/Haji” showrunner Joe Barton, the drama will see Knightley star as Helen, a woman with a secret identity who embarks on a passionate affair. When her lover falls victim to London’s shadowy underworld, Helen’s employers send an old friend, Sam, to protect her. The two of them soon embark on a high octane adventure set against a backdrop of diplomatic tension and Christmas. “‘Black Doves’ is the story of two old friends coming back together, finding trust in one another in a world where trust can get you killed and, ultimately, changing the course of each other’s lives forever,” reads the logline.
MipTV 2023 is coming to an end, with many international execs and stars having jetted in for the 60th edition of the sales confab and Canneseries events. Despite large portions the Croisette being dug up as construction work went on before the Cannes Film Festival next month, there was a positive feel. That will please organizer RX France, which has faced down of ongoing talk of the event’s reduced status in the post-Covid 19 era. Footfall was notably lighter than pre-pandemic, but a less frenetic pace isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Read on for our key takeaways.
K.J. Yossman Sister co-founder and chief creative officer Jane Featherstone spoke about how difficult it is to back original IP – as opposed to the relentless stream of reboots and spin-offs – in the current climate. “We have to hold our nerve,” Featherstone said. “As producers, we have to try and [walk] that tightrope of kind of giving people what they think they want but surprising people. And I don’t think audiences always do know what they want until they see it, and you can’t always emulate. So we have to be bold and brave.” Featherstone was speaking in Cannes during a keynote speech at MipTV as she accepted Variety’s 2023 International Achievement in Television Award on behalf of Sister, the production company known for original fare such as “Chernobyl” and divorce drama “The Split,” which she runs with Elisabeth Murdoch and Stacey Snider.
Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International When former HBO executive Kary Antholis convinced veteran British producer Jane Featherstone to board a project about the Chernobyl disaster, the prospect of such an undertaking was far from a “slam dunk.” “It had to be pushed over the line,” says Featherstone, “and that was with everybody supporting it.” But in the end, the historical drama from “The Last of Us” showrunner Craig Mazin was, as the producer puts it, a “lucky, lucky call” — and one that richly paid off. The 2019 HBO and Sky miniseries about the 1986 nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine starring Jared Harris and Emily Watson won multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Awards, and put Featherstone’s new venture, Sister Pictures, on the map.
Naman Ramachandran SISTER, the media group co-founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Jane Featherstone and Stacey Snider, has unveiled a creative partnership with and taken a significant stake in new TV and tech entertainment company Yes Yes Media. Yes Yes, an unscripted entertainment venture, is founded by broadcaster and format developer Richard Bacon, who has presented “The Big Breakfast” and “Top of the Pops” and created formats “The Hustler,” hosted by Craig Ferguson (ABC), “This Is My House” (BBC1) and “I Literally Just Told You,” hosted by Jimmy Carr (Channel 4). The deal allows Yes Yes to leverage access to the SISTER’s global network of creative companies and investments spanning television and film, podcasting, publishing and live events.
William Earl Powerhouse producer SISTER has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Variety International Achievement in Television Award, to be presented at global content market MipTV in April. The award is presented in recognition of leadership and innovation in the international television marketplace with co-founder and chief content officer Jane Featherstone accepting the award in Cannes for all three founders, including executive chair Elisabeth Murdoch and CEO Stacey Snider, and the wider company. Featherstone is a pioneering producer responsible for some of the U.K.’s most ground-breaking and beloved TV shows. As the former chief executive of Kudos and co-chairman of Shine U.K., Featherstone helped to grow the company into one of the country’s most recognized independent outfits. Under her leadership, Kudos produced such acclaimed shows as “Broadchurch,” “Life on Mars,” “Spooks,” “The Hour” and “Utopia’, to the breakout BAFTA- and Golden Globe-winning drama sensation “Chernobyl” for HBO and Sky Atlantic with Sister Pictures, the scripted production company Featherstone founded in 2015.
EXCLUSIVE: FX is getting back into espionage.
Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Sony Pictures has won global distribution rights to the hot comedy package “My Ex-Friend’s Wedding,” a script co-written by buzzy author Taylor Jenkins Reid starring a murderers’ row of funny women. Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, “Saturday Night Live” breakout Chloe Fineman, Amanda Seyfried and Megan Stalter are set as the core ensemble. The film follows four childhood best friends who receive a drunken voicemail from a former BFF on the eve of her wedding day — confessing that she thinks she’s making a mistake. The group sets out to stop her wedding and rekindle the friendship they once shared. Comedy vet Kay Cannon, whose 2019 feature directorial debut “Blockers” over-performed at the box office, is directing. The script is from Ashley Rodger and Jenkins Reid. The latter could not be hotter at the moment, as the series adaptation of her novel “Daisy Jones & The Six” is about to hit Amazon Prime Video. Additional Jenkins Reed books are headed to the screen at Hulu (“Malibu Rising”) and Netflix (“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo”).
EXCLUSIVE: Chicago Fire star Jeff Hephner has boarded Abi Morgan’s Benedict Cumberbatch-starring Netflix UK series Eric.
Way back in 2019, it was announced that filmmaker Reed Morano, a cinematographer turned director (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Rhythm Section”), would adapt, along with Jane Featherstone, the book “The Power” from novelist Naomi Alderman. The book centered on a central premise of women developing the ability to release electrical jolts from their fingers, thus leading them to become the dominant sex.
Benedict Cumberbatch is to lead and EP Netflix’s Eric, playing a puppeteer whose son goes missing in 1980s Manhattan.
Deadline has confirmed that Hustlers director Lorene Scafaria is taking on Paramount’s Bee Gees movie as John Carney steps back.
Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone’s Chernobyl producer Sister has partnered with the Royal Court Theatre to seek the next generation of TV and theater scribes.
EXCLUSIVE: Elisabeth Murdoch, Jane Featherstone and Stacey Snider’s Chernobyl producer Sister has posted a near-$20M loss due to continued disruption caused by the Covid pandemic and expansion investment, with CFO Chris Fry stating that the transatlantic indie has “laid the foundations for future growth.”
EXCLUSIVE: Timewasters creator Daniel Lawrence Taylor has boarded Netflix Greek mythology reimagining Kaos.
EXCLUSIVE: Netflix’s Kaos has its Medusa.
J.J. Abrams Behind BBC Christmas Adaptation; Idris Elba, Tom Hollander Aboard
Naman Ramachandran Transatlantic production powerhouse Sister (“Chernobyl”) has optioned the rights to adapt BAFTA and Emmy winning screenwriter and longtime collaborator Abi Morgan’s (“The Split”) “This is Not a Pity Memoir.” Morgan will adapt her book for screen, and also direct and executive produce, with Sister co-founder and chief creative officer, Jane Featherstone (“Landscapers”). The memoir follows Morgan’s family life after a tragic change in her family circumstance.Morgan said: “Working with Jane and Sister over the last few tumultuous years, they have been my running partners, given a unique birds eye view on the unfolding drama.
EXCLUSIVE: Aurora Perrineau (Prodigal Son) has been cast as a lead in Netflix’s upcoming show Kaos from creator-writer Charlie Covell (The End of the F***ing World).
Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone’s indie studio Sister has entered a first-look deal with the new production company Wychwood Media, from Harry Potter filmmaker David Yates and his producing partner, Lewis Taylor. Under the pact, the pair will develop and produce both scripted and unscripted film, television and documentary content for Sister’s offices in both the U.S. and UK. Yates will also have the option to direct projects coming together through the deal.
Sister, the independent studio founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone, has entered into a first look deal with Wychwood Media, a new production company from Lewis Taylor and “Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts” director David Yates.Under the pact, Yates and Taylor will develop and produce both scripted and unscripted film, television, and documentary content for Sister for both its U.S. and UK offices.
BAFTA-nominated I Hate Suzie star Leila Farzad and Broadchurch’s Andrew Buchan are to lead BBC One’s Better, the latest drama from prolific Chernobyl producer Sister.
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