Robin French Dies: Former Paramount Production Chief & Talent Agent Was 84

George Frayne, aka pioneering alt-country rocker Commander Cody, died earlier this week at his Saratoga Springs, N.Y. home of esophageal cancer. He was 77 and his death was confirmed by former bandmate John Tichy.

Raven-Symoné and Issac Ryan Brown will return as the somewhat psychic Raven Baxter and her son Booker, who has inherited his mom’s gift to catch glimpses of the future. According to Disney Channel, the new season follows the duo's relocation from Chicago to San Francisco as they care for Raven's dad Victor after he suffers a mild heart attack.Rondell Sheridan has joined the cast as a new series regular to reprise his role from  as the titular character's easygoing and loveable dad, Victor

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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe first two episodes of Thai language series “Forbidden” have been selected to premiere as part of the Busan International Film Festival’s new On Screen section.The supernatural thriller is targeted at young adults. It is produced as an eight-part HBO Asia Original and will pay on regional streaming service HBO Go and HBO later this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Haroon Saleem, who was President of Production at Trevor Noah’s production company Day Zero Productions, has left the company.

Melissa Yandell Smith, who helped steer San Francisco’s esteemed American Conservatory Theatre for 25 years and made a notable late-career film debut opposite her longtime friend Frances McDormand in the Oscar-nominated 2020 film Nomadland, died of cancer September 7 at her home in San Francisco. She was 64.

George Ferencz, a longtime mainstay of the Off Broadway scene who directed premieres and revivals of plays by Sam Shepard, Aishah Rahman and Amiri Baraka, died Sept. 14 following a long illness. He was 74

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorWelcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”It sounds like Michelle Obama will appear on the final season of “Black-ish.” After star Anthony Anderson teased the possibility when I caught up with him at the Television Academy’s pre-Emmy party for performer nominees, sources tell me that the former first lady’s appearance isn’t a done deal just yet, but they’re close to finalizing the details any day now.Anthony Anderson teases a possible

Matt Fechter has joined Hyperion to launch their Comedy Department. Fechter comes from CAA where he worked as an agent in both the comedy and talent departments working closely with such actors, directors, and comedians as Aristotle Athiras, Courtney Parchman, Jim Rash, Jeff Garlin, Laura Terruso, Madelaine Petsch, Maddie Phillips, Michael Cimino, Mike Cabellon, Miles Brown and Nat Faxon.

EXCLUSIVE: Johnny Gould, who was previously chief creative officer at Craig Piligian’s Pilgrim Media Group, has set up his own unscripted production company, backed by 3BMG.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaChris Petrikin has stepped down from his role as executive vice president of global communications and corporate branding at Paramount Pictures. His exit comes on the heels of the announcement this week that ViacomCBS is replacing studio chief Jim Gianopulos with Nickelodeon head Brian Robbins.

Metallica played their first full concert in 2021 with a surprise show in San Francisco last night (September 16).The metal veterans played a 16 song set spanning hits across their entire back catalogue at The Independent venue including the likes of ‘Sad But True’, ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Moth Into The Flame’, ‘One’, ‘Master Of Puppets’ and ‘Seek And Destroy’, the latter of which you can view below.

Selome Hailu editorYasmine Pearl has joined UTA as an agent in the talent division.Based in Los Angeles, Pearl will report to Chris Hart and Jay Gassner, UTA’s partners and co-heads of motion picture talent. She comes to UTA from WME, where she had been an agent since 2018.“Yasmine is a highly respected agent with a fantastic eye for talent,” said Hart and Gassner.

Yasmine Pearl has joined UTA as an agent in the Talent division, the agency announced on Monday.Based in Los Angeles, she will report to Chris Hart and Jay Gassner, partners and co-heads of Motion Picture Talent.“My job as an agent is to believe in my clients’ dreams and to help them come true,” Pearl said in a statement.

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Making a documentary chronicling the events of the infamous Thai cave rescue mission was no easy feat for filmmakers E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, especially because they hadn’t been on the ground to capture what was transpiring after 12 kids were stuck in a flooding cave in 2018.