Selwyn Seyfu Hinds Signs Overall Deal With UCP, Will Adapt Graphic Novel ‘The Sixth Gun’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAntoine Fuqua has signed an overall television deal with Paramount and MTV Entertainment Studios, Variety has learned.The deal comes after Fuqua served as executive producer on the Paramount Plus series “Mayor of Kingstown.” The first season of that series concluded in January with a second season on the way. Fuqua returns as an EP on Season 2.Fuqua and his Hill District Media will focus on developing original scripted and unscripted content under the deal.

MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount want to stay in business with the Emmy-winning Antoine Fuqua and his Hill District Media banner. The executive producer of the Paramount+ drama Mayor of Kingstown has signed overall deal with the studios that will focus on original scripted and unscripted content for TV.

Meghan Markle is set to launch her podcast series this summer, over a year after she and husband Prince Harry signed an £18million deal with Spotify to produce content.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed the deal with the streaming giant in 2020 with the service "looking forward to a full-scale launch of shows" through their production company Archewell Audio.There has so far only been a "holiday special", which featured both Meghan, 40, and Harry, 37, which was 35 minutes long and was released shortly after the deal was made public. Now, Meghan has announced the podcast will release new content from this summer onwards.The couple's Archewell Foundation also opened up about their conversations with Spotify in a statement to the media as part of the announcement.

Netflix is developing a live-action feature take of the bestselling Boom! Studios comic series Irredeemable and its sister title Incorruptible with BAFTA-winning The Harder They Fall filmmaker Jeymes Samuel directing, Oscar-nominated scribe Kemp Powers writing and producers Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter and James Lassiter on board.

Skydance Animation has landed another major talent.Rich Moore, director of “Zootopia,” “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” is joining the team in an exclusive, multi-year overall deal. Under the new pact, Moore will create, develop and produce original animated features for the studio.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterABC Signature has signed a two-year overall deal with Tony McNamara, the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated writer who created Hulu’s “The Great” and penned films “The Favourite” and Disney’s “Cruella.”Under the pact, McNamara will develop and supervise projects for the Disney Television Studios-owned division.“Tony’s work on ‘The Great’ and ‘Cruella’ is sly, subversive and delicious, and we made it our mission to get this spectacular talent to our studio,” ABC Signature president Jonnie Davis said in a statement Wednesday. “Thankfully, he said ‘yes.’ We’re so excited to support him in whatever he wants to do next.”McNamara is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated series “The Great” on Hulu, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which is based on his stage play.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterWarnerMedia has been owned by telco giant AT&T for less than four years and it will soon have a new parent company — likely by the end of next month.Discovery’s shareholder vote on the acquisition of WarnerMedia is set for today during a special meeting of stockholders set for 10 a.m. ET. The deal is expected to get an easy thumbs-up given the approval already bestowed by Discovery’s oldest and most influential holders, investor John Malone and Advance/Newhouse Co.

EXCLUSIVE: Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire will release her first graphic novel, Amelia Aierwood: Basic Witch, in partnership with Z2 Comics in August.

NEW YORK -- Saul Williams' latest project is a blend of words and pictures.The rapper, actor and poet is working with illustrator Paul Davey (otherwise known as “mattahan”) on a graphic novel, “Let There Be Dark,” which publisher First Second Books calls a “high wire dance” that “mixes free verse and short personal essays and interrogates darkness.” The book is scheduled for the fall of 2023.“Through his words and Davey’s visionary art, the reader is taken on a dreamlike journey of ideas and questions that seek to root out white supremacist norms while it enchants the eyes and transports the mind,” according to a statement released Thursday by First Second Books, a Macmillan imprint.Williams, known for the film “Slam” and such albums as “Volcanic Sunlight,” said in a statement that he was excited to explore “the boundless mystery and beauty that connects deep sea, deep space, dark skin, and why we close our eyes when we kiss.”

Jade Thirlwall has officially signed a solo record deal with RCA Records. 

Alicia Keys is turning her creativity to the world of comics.

EXCLUSIVE: Margaret Atwood and Ken Steacy’s historical graphic novel War Bears will come to televison. WOW! Unlimited Media has optioned the 2019 graphic novel for an animated series adaptation.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe Scott Foley-led drama “The Big Leap” has been canceled after just one season at Fox, Variety has learned.A modern tale about second chances, chasing your dreams and taking back what’s yours,”The Big Leap” revolves around a group of diverse, down-on-their-luck characters attempting to change their lives by participating in a potentially life-ruining reality dance show featuring a modern reimagining of “Swan Lake.”“The Big Leap” starred Scott Foley, Teri Polo, Piper Perabo, Simone Recasner, Kevin Daniels, Ser’Darius Blain, Jon Rudnitsky, Mallory Jansen and Anna Grace Barlow.The drama from creator/executive producer Liz Heldens (“The Passage,” “Friday Night Lights”), director/executive producer Jason Winer (“Modern Family,” “Perfect Harmony”) and executive producer Sue Naegle (“Soundtrack,” “The Plot Against America”) premiered as part of Fox’s fall lineup. It averaged a 0.4 rating among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic and 2.8 million multiplatform viewers throughout its 11-episode run in Nielsen’s Live + Same Day data, which counts a week’s worth of delayed viewing where available.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterKal Penn has joined the “Santa Clause” limited series at Disney Plus, Variety has confirmed.The series, which was announced on Jan. 14, will see Tim Allen once again play Santa Claus/Scott Calvin and Elizabeth Mitchell reprising her role as Scott’s wife, Carol Calvin, a.k.a. Mrs.

Charley and Vlas Parlapanides, the dynamic duo of writer/producers behind Immortals and hit Netflix animated series Blood of Zeus, have tapped Oscar-nominated screenwriter Dan Gordon (The Hurricane) and New York Times bestselling writer and artist John Stanisci (Batman Beyond) to develop a new property based on the bloody gladiator battles of 5th century Rome with Gladiatrix, in simultaneous development as an original graphic novel and television series!

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Celebrity Book Club” podcast host and Apple’s “The Problem With Jon Stewart” head writer Chelsea Devantez has signed a multi-year overall deal at Disney’s 20th Television.Under the pact, Devantez will write and produce her own comedy projects for the studio, as well as supervise others.Devantez began her TV writing career on Stewart’s writing staff on his never-released and untitled HBO show. Her other TV credits include Tina Fey and Meredith Scardino’s Peacock comedy “Girls5Eva” and Liz Meriwether and Lake Bell’s ABC comedy “Bless This Mess.” Last year, Devantez sold her pilot, “This Is Our Year,” to 20th Television and CBS.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has greenlit a UK crime thriller adaptation of Si Spencer’s mind-bending graphic novel Bodies, Deadline can reveal, about four detectives in four different London eras who find themselves investigating the same murder.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterFox’s animation house Bento Box Entertainment has signed a development deal with former TruTV executives Chris Linn and Marissa Ronca, and their consulting firm Contrast Media.Under the pact, Linn and Ronca will work closely with Bento Box’s development department, advising on creative strategy, packaging and development of animated projects for Fox Entertainment and ad-supported streaming service Tubi, as well as third-party platforms.Additionally, the WarnerMedia alums — Linn the former president of TruTV and Ronca the cable network’s former executive vice president and head of original programming and development — “will offer support” regarding Bento Box’s NFT studio, Blockchain Creative Labs. “Chris and Marissa are fantastic executives whose work we’ve admired for quite some time,” Scott Greenberg, co-founder and CEO of Bento Box Entertainment, said.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAT&T and Discovery are expecting to close Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia to create new company Warner Bros. Discovery as early as mid-April, Variety has learned.According to two people familiar with the matter, with Discovery’s shareholder vote on the deal — which has already received regulatory approval from the DOJ — set for March 11, the two companies are preparing for a close between April 11-April 28.