Sheryl Underwood Inks Multi-Year Renewal at ‘The Talk,’ Development Deal With CBS Studios (EXCLUSIVE)

Angelique Jackson Taraji P. Henson’s TPH Entertainment has signed a new overall deal with BET Studios.Under the new pact, Henson and TPH Entertainment will partner with the studio venture, which supplies content to Paramount Plus, Showtime, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET Plus and BET, as well as select third-party platforms.

Wilson Chapman editorSkydance Animation announced Tuesday that it has finalized a multi-year partnership with children’s entertainment company Spin Master to develop toys and merchandise based on their properties.“We are thrilled to be partnering with a company like Spin Master that is as committed to quality and attention to detail as we are,” Luis Fernández, head of consumer products at Skydance, said in a statement. “As we ramp up production on our slate of animated features, we could not imagine a better partner to bring our visually stunning and epic animated worlds to life.”The first Skydance Animation film included in the deal will be the upcoming Apple TV Plus original film “Spellbound,” which will receive a product line from Spin Master encompassing fashion dolls, mini-dolls and vehicles.

Julia Garner is going into business with Tomorrow Studios. The Ozark star — who formed Alma Margo with producing partner Rowan Riley — has signed a first-look deal with the company founded by CEO Marty Adelstein.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterJulia Garner has signed a first-look television deal with Tomorrow Studios, Variety has learned.Under the deal, Garner and her producing partner, Rowan Riley, will develop scripted series via their Alma Margo production company for Tomorrow Studios, an ITV partnership.“Above all else, Alma Margo is looking for bold and original content, so we thought it only natural to partner with a studio that also fits that description,” said Garner and Riley. “We are incredibly proud to be working with Tomorrow Studios who exhibit every quality that we’re looking for in a partner: intelligence, drive, experience and passion.”Garner is perhaps best known for her role in the critically-acclaimed Netflix series “Ozark,” which will release the second half of its fourth and final season in April.

EXCLUSIVE: Wrestler Brandi Rhodes has been hosting cooking show Shot of Brandi on YouTube for the last four years. Now, she’s looking to step up to television and has partnered with Scream and Teen Wolf producer DIGA Studios to achieve that.

Naman Ramachandran Future Studios and women’s destination Marie Claire are teaming for digital true crime series “On the Record with Marie Claire.”The seven-part anthology series will feature female-focused stories of women seeking justice, told from the viewpoint of a central character directly linked to the case in question. Each episode, which is 7–12 minutes long, features archive film and stills and evidence from an individual case, alongside Marie Claire’s storytelling and investigative reporting.

Filmmaker Judd Apatow has hammered a multi-year production film and TV pact across NBCUniversal including Universal Pictures and Universal Studio Group. The parties’ working relationship began with the 2005 $177M-plus grossing comedy blockbuster The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Apatow’s movies have grossed close to $3 billion around the world, the studio’s most successful original comedies.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterUniversal will continue to be in the business of Judd Apatow.The company’s film and television studios announced on Wednesday that they have entered into multi-year production agreements with Apatow and his company Apatow Productions.Apatow’s relationship with Universal Pictures began in 2005 with “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and has continued to be mutually successful. His films, including “Knocked Up,” “Trainwreck” and most recently “The King of Staten Island,” have grossed nearly $3 billion at the global box office.

's epic season finale cameo was kept secret — even from the cast! ET's Cassie DiLaura spoke with the cast of the Hulu series about how alum Cobie Smulders' appearance was kept quiet among their group.Smulders, who played Robin Scherbatsky on , popped up on the finale as her past character, eager to offer some much-needed advice to Hilary Duff's Sophie, amid Jesse's (Chris Lowell) early declaration of feelings, and his love triangle with her and his ex, Meredith (Leighton Meester).«I think there's no better person than Cobie to give Sophie that boost of confidence that she needs in that moment,» Duff told ET. «She's iconic, all the cast is, so for her to jump on board and just be there for us, it really was a dream come true.

K.J. Yossman Film Mode Entertainment has inked a multi-project distribution deal with Australian director/producer Luke Sparke’s company Sparke Films.Among the titles Film Mode will represent worldwide are Sparke’s upcoming projects “Weapons of Choice,” a television adaptation of John Birmingham’s World War Two trilogy “Axis of Time” and “Primitive War,” a horror feature franchise based on Ethan Pettus’ book series.Film Mode will also handle worldwide sales rights for “Occupation: Rainfall 2” and “Occupation: Rainfall 3” – the third and fourth films in Sparke’s franchise – as well as a number of other projects still in development.

EXCLUSIVE: Hallmark veteran Brennan Elliott is expanding his relationship with Crown Media Family Networks, with an exclusive, multi-picture overall deal.

It was only a matter of time before celebrity pickleball became a TV thing, and here we are. Stephen Colbert’s Spartina, Funny or Die and CBS Studios are lobbing up Pickled, a two-hour primetime special to air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Former Grown-ish co-showrunner Jeni Rice-Genzuk Henry has signed an overall deal with BET Studios, the venture launched last year by Paramount and BET to generate premium content from Black creators for Paramount+, Showtime, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET+ and BET, as well as select third-party platforms.

Emmy-nominated producer Stephanie Allain has signed a new first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television Group and HBO. The new agreement continues Allain’s relationship with the Studio, where she and her Homegrown Pictures production company has been under a first-look pact since February 2020. Allain and her Homegrown Pictures team, including Director of Development Gabrielle Ebron, will develop original scripted programming to be produced by Warner Bros. Television for HBO and HBO Max, external streaming services, cable, and broadcast.

Addie Morfoot ContributorRory Kennedy and Mark Bailey’s Moxie Films has partnered with Imagine Documentaries to develop and co-produce a slate of new nonfiction fare.The partnership with the nonfiction division of Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and Moxie Films is a multi-year agreement.Headed by Sara Bernstein and Justin Wilkes, Imagine Documentaries recently co-produced Kennedy’s “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing,” which Bailey wrote and produced. The Netflix docu, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is an investigation of two Boeing 737 Max crashes that occurred within five months of each other in 2018 and 2019 that killed a combined 346 people.

Kate Aurthur editorMarielle Heller has set a new first-look deal with Paramount Television Studios for her company, Defiant by Nature. Along with producing partners Havilah Brewster and Leah Holzer, Heller will develop premium television shows for the studio across its platforms.Heller came to prominence as a writer-director for 2015’s “Diary of a Teenage Girl,” for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for best first feature.

Underwood and CBS Studios, which produces The Talk, have also entered into new two-year first look deal.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterKristen Campo has renewed her first-look deal with Endeavor Content. In addition, Campo has launched the new production shingle Campout Productions.“The longstanding relationship I’ve had with Endeavor Content is truly meaningful, and I couldn’t ask for better partners,” said Campo. “I’m excited to continue developing compelling premium programming for years to come.”Campo has hired Hannah Getts to lead Campout as vice president of development and production.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios has inked its first major factual multi-year content deal in Italy with Mediaset, the country’s top private generalist TV network. The BBC’s long-term agreement with Mediaset covers first-window exclusive pre-sales in Italy of its natural history shows including its upcoming “Frozen Planet II,” “Dynasties II” and “Planet Earth III.” The Mediaset package deal also comprises providing an additional annual 25 hours of content for Mediaset’s Focus Channel, for an unspecified number of years.

EXCLUSIVE: Lucifer exec producer Sheri Elwood has struck a first-look deal with Blink49 Studios, the Endeavor Content-backed studio founded by John Morayniss.