Screen Media Vets Amanda Sherwin, Mike Messina and Seth Needle Launch Blue Harbor Entertainment (EXCLUSIVE)

It’s a cool indie weekend when the new album by André 3000, New Blue Sun, has morphed into a “cinematic listening experience.” Variance Films is putting the experience, directed by Terence Nance, into three theaters in NYC (IFC Center), LA (Cinepolis Inglewood) and Atlanta (Tara).

EXCLUSIVE: More than a hit song, “Stand By Me,” by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and Ben E. King, has transcended the notion of a “standard”—it’s been recorded more than 1,000 times and has made more appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 chart than any other song.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Distribution platform Gathr and documentary distribution agency Roco Films have teamed to create Roco Voices, a new speakers bureau. Roco Voices, launching Nov.

Music icon Beyoncé will be bringing her hugely-anticipated concert film to UK cinemas in December - and tickets are now on sale.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Tucker Tooley Entertainment has acquired the TV rights to a pair of books about First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis with plans to develop them into a limited series. Variety has learned exclusively that the company has acquired the rights to the books ““Jackie: Public, Private, Secret” and “Jackie, Janet and Lee,” both written by by J. Randy Taraborrelli.

BreAnna Bell United Talent Agency has partnered with longtime TV executive Nick Emmerson, investing in his newly launched unscripted studio, Headers and Volleys Entertainment, Variety has learned exclusively. UTA continues to rep Emmerson in the US. Based in Brighton and London, UK, HAVE will focus on creating and producing unscripted content for the UK, the international SVODs and the US market, with several projects currently in development.

BtoB and Hongseok of PENTAGON have left long-time agency CUBE Entertainment.CUBE Entertainment announced today (November 6) that all six members of K-pop boyband BtoB would not be renewing their contracts, with the agency saying that it was “mutually decided”, as translated by Koreaboo.The news comes just days after it was reported that the contracts of five BtoB members had ended, with CUBE Entertainment saying that it and the K-pop idols were “working through this situation with an open mindset, looking at various options”.According to a new report today by Sports Chosun, BtoB had decided to leave CUBE Entertainment as early as last week over the trademark of the group’s name. Meanwhile, the K-pop agency told Dispatch that it is “positively discussing trademark rights with the BTOB members”.“We cannot provide details about the trademark rights discussions,” CUBE Entertainment added.

Ellise Shafer A film starring Russell Peters will be the first project under a new $100 million, five-year, 10-picture production deal between Beacon Media and Daljit DJ Parmar’s Parmar Entertainment. The new partnership will focus on action and comedy projects in the $10 million to $25 million range, with full financing from Beacon Media. The agreement also includes a seven-figure development fund in order to source and foster new projects.

It took more than three weeks and many attempts, but the Republican Party finally elected a new Speaker of the House, Louisiana representative Mike Johnson. The three-term former attorney for far-right causes has the least political and executive experience of any Speaker in a century. But he checked all the far-right boxes for the increasingly more extremist GOP while also being a “nice” guy, so elected he was.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Archstone Entertainment has acquired worldwide sales rights to “Don Q,” a comedic tribute to mafia movies that stars Armand Assante, no stranger to the genre from his work in HBO’s “Gotti” and “American Gangster.” It was written and directed by Claudio Bellante. Sales for the film kicked off this week at AFM. The film follows Assante’s character, who thinks of himself as a Don Corleone but is really more of a Don Quixote.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Leading anti-piracy body Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has shut down two major illegal streaming services in Georgia. Considered the two largest illegal streamers in the former Soviet republic, adjaranet.com and imovies.cc have amassed about 140 million and 64 million visits, respectively, over the last two years.

Naman Ramachandran Signature Entertainment has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to horror thriller “Don’t Move” from Capstone Global. The film follows a seasoned killer as he injects a grieving woman with a paralytic agent.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Selena Gomez informed her 430 million Instagram followers that she is currently taking a break from social media due to the “horror, hate, violence and terror that’s going on in the world.” The pop star and “Only Murders in the Building” actor did not directly reference the Israel-Hamas war by name, but it’s clear posts about the Hamas terrorist attack and the subsequent destruction in Gaza factored into her decision to break from social media platforms. “I’ve been taking a break from social media because my heart breaks to see all of the horror, hate, violence and terror that’s going on in the world,” Gomez wrote on her Instagram story. “People being tortured and killed or any act of hate towards any one group is horrific.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent REinvent International Sales has boarded Howard J. Ford’s “River of Blood,” a psychological thriller that’s about to start shooting in Thailand. The company will unveil the project to buyers at the American Film Market.

EXCLUSIVE: UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance are co-repping North America whilst Protagonist Pictures has come on board to handle international rights to Summer Camp starring Academy Award-winners Diane Keaton (First Wives Club, Annie Hall)and Kathy Bates (Titanic, Misery), as well as Golden Globe-winner Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave, The Book of Clarence).  Rounding up the ensemble cast are Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek, American Pie), Golden Globe nominee Dennis Haysbert (Far from Heaven, 24), Nicole Richie (Great News) and Josh Peck (Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer).

EXCLUSIVE: Todd Slater of Convoke Media and Brandon Evans of Brick Lane Pictures have launched Brick Lane Entertainment. The production, sales and financing partnership based in LA and Dublin will be taking When We Collided, starring Laura Marano and directed by her sister Venessa, to AFM.

Emily Longeretta SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from the series premiere of Showtime’s “Fellow Travelers,” now streaming on Paramount+. The first episode of “Fellow Travelers” may have made you blush. The premiere of the historical miniseries features several explicit sex scenes between Tim Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) and Hawkins Fuller (Matt Bomer), two very different men who meet in 1952 in Washington, D.C., in the middle of the McCarthy Era. While Hawk, working behind the scenes in politics, avoids anything emotional with his conquests, that changes upon meeting Tim, a religious man struggling to find his place.

William Earl In this week’s political cold open, President Biden, played by Mikey Day, hangs Halloween decorations around the Oval Office and welcomes some drop-ins, as well as topical humor. Biden starts his decoration chat by musing that the world is now a scary place: “Wars, shooting, climate change, everything in the new Britney book,” the latter referring to the litany of revelations that came from Britney Spears‘ bestselling new memoir.

Jay-Z and Beyonce shocked the world when the singer announced her pregnancy at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. And they were again taken aback by her unique name when she arrived five months later on January 7, 2012.Now, the proud dad is revealing what the couple initially were going to name the 11-year-old.“It was supposed to be Brooklyn,” Jay-Z, 53, told Gayle King during a “CBS Mornings” clip, which was released on Friday.The moniker would have been a special nod to the New York City borough where the record producer was born. The pair, however, ultimately went for Blue because they called her “Blueberry” when the “Drunk in Love” musician was still pregnant.“You know, it was like a nickname,” he told King, 68.

Here’s something to provide a spark to an AFM hindered by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA guild strike. Deadline reports that Lionsgate will launch sales for their reboot of the “Highlander” franchise at the LA event, looking for a budget of over $100 million.