ScreenSkills Invests £10M In UK High-End TV; Mo Abudu Series Mania Gong; HBO Max Euro Launches; Big Deal Diverse Animation; BBC Studios Academy – Global Briefs

French hip-hop series Le Monde de Demain has scooped the Grand Prize at the Series Mania International Competition.

Amazon Studios Europe Boss Georgia Brown has revealed how the streamer “completely turned storymaking on its head” for upcoming hybrid grime/drill musical Jungle. 

Paramount International boss Raffaele Annecchino has talked up the streamer for “launching quicker than others” in key European markets, as he unveiled a tied-up with global Lupin and Narcos production house Gaumont and set titles from France, Argentina and Germany.

HBO Max EMEA Boss Anthony Root has set out his team’s stall to “broaden the appeal” of the streamer “beyond the die hard Euphoria fan.”

The Tudors and Vikings creator Michael Hirst has branded his upcoming big budget Billy the Kid drama a “new kind of western.”

EXCLUSIVE: Call My Agent! and Marianne writer Quoc Dang Tran has struck a first-look deal with Universal International Studios, becoming the first French writer to sign such a deal with a major studio.

Prince William and Kate Middleton stand atop a landing while touring an archaeological site in Chiquibul, Belize on Monday (March 21).

What happens after you blow up your entire life to be with the person you love? The second season of “Starstruck” explores the question that rom-coms generally leave unanswered after their happy endings, wisely acknowledging that a big romantic gesture doesn’t erase all the obstacles present between two people getting — and staying — together. On its surface, the British import on HBO Max seems like a standard wish-fulfillment fantasy à la “Notting Hill”: a “normie” finds unlikely romance with a star.

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Studios has started drumming up interest internationally for The Birth of Daniel F Harris, the latest young adult drama from End of the F***ing World producer Clerkenwell Films.

HBO Max Unveils ‘The Thaw’ Trailer

What happens when people with very different paths find romance? The concept was explored in season one of HBO Max’s “Starstruck.” Now, the series is back to continuing the story of Jessie (Rose Matafeo) and Tom (Nikesh Patel). Picking up where the first season left off, Jessie is coming to terms with the decision to stay with her movie star boyfriend instead of pursuing a path she planned.

Wilson Chapman editorHBO Max is putting together an all-star cast for the upcoming original film “The Parenting.”On Wednesday, the streamer announced that Brian Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Edie Falco and Dean Norris had been cast to star in the horror-comedy, which focuses on a young queer couple who rent a countryside cottage to host a weekend getaway with their parents, only to discover that it is inhabited by a 400-year-old poltergeist. The roles that Cox, Kudrow, Falco and Norris will be playing have yet to be announced.“The Parenting” is directed by Craig Johnson (“Alex Strangelove,” “The Skeleton Twins”), and written by Kent Sublette.

EXCLUSIVE: Meg Ryan is set to direct a feature adaptation of well-received novel A Lady’s Guide To Selling Out for Netflix.

LIFE have announced plans to release new album ‘North East Coastal Town’ and have shared a taster from it with frenetic single ‘Big Moon Lake’.The Hull band will release their third LP on June 10, via Liquid Label. You can pre-order the record here.They also shared the video for their new single, which the band said “pays homage to 1980s Top Of The Pops“.“We wanted ‘Big Moon Lake’ to acknowledge the lyrical social commentary that was littered throughout our first two records whilst expanding the experimental and personal sound that you will hear throughout the new record,” says frontman Mez Green.“The track is playful and teases everyday themes of missing out, numbness, drinking, smoking and eating badly and generally wanting more for yourself in life. Its resolve being that in hindsight everything is in front of you, it’s on your doorstep and in this case that’s the wondrous county of Yorkshire.”It follows previous single ‘Friends Without Names’, which was released last November.Speaking about their new album, Green added: “Hull and the surrounding area runs through our DNA and has shaped us, weathered us, empowered us, embraced us and made us feel accepted.“‘North East Coastal Town’ is our love letter to the city.

A Royal Affair, 2012 (HBO)Ballet 422, 2014 (HBO)Best Man Down, 2012 (HBO)Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey, 1991 (HBO)Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure, 1989 (HBO)Blindness, 2008 (HBO)Blood Father, 2016 (HBO)Broken City, 2013 (HBO)Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer, 2010 (HBO)Darkness Falls, 2003 (HBO)Dinner For Schmucks, 2010 (HBO)Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 1988 (HBO)Dr.

After selling out in just 10 days, the Chicken Big Mac is returning to McDonald's - and you'll be able to get your hands on it this week.