Sony Pictures Classics Sets Summer Launch For Sundance Music Doc ‘Kneecap’

EXCLUSIVE: Wednesday and Elvis producer Gail Berman, founder and CEO of The Jackal Group, has signed a three-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. Under the pact, which starts today, the industry veteran will develop and produce scripted series for cable and streaming platforms.

EXCLUSIVE: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice writers and creators of the smash hit Netflix series Wednesday, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, have signed a first-look deal with Sony Pictures to develop films through the duo’s Millar Gough Ink banner, Deadline has learned.

Lily Moayeri While the United States continues to debate how and when hip-hop lyrics can be used in court, dissident Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death on April 24 for lyrics that criticized the Islamic Republic’s ruling regime. The sentence, handed down by the ruling Republic Court of the Islamic Republic, overturns a decree from the higher Supreme Court which, according to the New York Times, found issues with the original ruling that sentenced Salehi to six years imprisonment and banned him from making music or singing for two years. The reason given for Salehi’s execution, which the Islamic Republic administers by hanging, is his involvement with Iran’s 2022 protests through his music.

Sony’s SVP of Corporate Communications for the Motion Picture Group, Tahra Grant, has been upped to EVP, Chief Communcations Officer for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

“I mean, there’s just nothing that can prepare you for the experience of Drag Race, because it is an experience of its own,” Season 16 queen Q said during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders TV: Documentary + Unscripted awards-season event.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a nice one. Emmy nominee Adam Scott (Severance) is set to star in and direct his first feature, Double Booked, alongside Oscar nominee Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction), Zazie Beetz (Atlanta), and Alexandra Daddario (The White Lotus).

Sony Pictures Entertainment has hired Jill Ratner as their EVP and General Counsel, overseeing all of the studio’s legal functions, compliance and labor relations, SPE music affairs, government/external matters, and corporate social responsibility teams. 

William Earl Variety and Sony Pictures Television will host an invite-only FYC Showcase in Los Angeles on May 7 featuring activations and three panel conversations with creatives from “Gen V,” “For All Mankind,” “Justified: City Primeval,” “Platonic,” “Twisted Metal,” “Outlander” and “The Wheel of Time.” All conversations will be moderated by a Variety editor and available on Variety.com following the event. Programming includes: Building a Television Universe A conversation between showrunners and key below-the-line talent on how to successfully build a universe in the competitive television landscape.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney deputy general counsel Jill Ratner has exited the Mouse House to join Sony Pictures Entertainment as executive vice president and general counsel. Beginning in her new role May 28, Ratner will be overseeing all SPE’s legal functions, compliance and labor relations, SPE music affairs, government/external affairs and corporate social responsibility teams. She will report directly to CEO Tony Vinciquerra.

EXCLUSIVE: The new 28 Years Later trilogy from director Danny Boyle and Sony Pictures is gaining momentum, and some serious star power. Sources tell Deadline that Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes have boarded the first pic, a sequel to the original 28 Days Later.

The sold-out, twice-extended Off Broadway comedy Oh, Mary! will transfer to Broadway this summer, producers announced today.

ZEROBASEONE have dropped the music video for their new single, ‘Sweat’, a cut off their upcoming mini-album, ‘You Had Me At Hello’.In the music video for ‘Sweat’, the members of ZEROBASEONE perform the song and its energetic choreography on a stage that’s right in the middle of a water park. Footage of the members by the pool, enjoying the summer heat are also featured in the clip.“Oh baby I’ll make you sweat, sweat, sweat, sweat, sweat / You toward me, burn it up / With your touch, turn it up / Oh baby I wanna sway, sway, sway, sway, sway / Me toward you, dive into you / Following me, like this everyday,” they belt on the chorus.‘Sweat’ will appear on their upcoming mini-album ‘You Had Me At Hello’, which is set to drop in full on May 13 at 6pm KST.

EXCLUSIVE: Charades and New Europe Films are joining forces to co-sell Oscar-winning Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes’ long-awaited new feature Orphan, as the production gears up to commence shooting in and around Budapest this June.

EXCLUSIVE: Nina Lederman, Sony Pictures Television’s (SPT) global scripted boss, is exiting amid the slowdown.

Clue is set to get another crack at the remake treatment.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The already-complicated battle over control of Hipgnosis Songs Fund grew even more so on Saturday, as the private equity firm Blackstone bid $1.5 billion to the troubled fund — which includes the rights to catalogs by Neil Young, Shakira, Blondie, Journey, Lindsey Buckingham and others — pushing aside Concord’s $1.4 offer made earlier in the week. Blackstone already owns two other elements of Hipgnosis — the investment fund Hipgnosis Songs Capital and the advisor Hipgnosis Song Management — and the move reflects founder Merck Mercuriadis’ determination to retain control of the company.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management are considering a possible joint bid for Paramount Global. News of the discussions was first reported by the New York Times. Sources close to the situation confirmed the conversations but cautioned that there are numerous obstacles that would need to be overcome before the sides could formally submit an offer.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has begun the countdown for its Ryan Gosling starring, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller directing space adventure movie, Project Hail Mary for March 20, 2026. No other wide entries are on that weekend.

EXCLUSIVE: Comedy Dynamics has locked in plans to release Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan‘s latest special, Tomfoolery, on platforms worldwide on April 30.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korea’s second largest generalist film event the Jeonju International Film Festival has set eight fiction films by first or second-time feature directors, for its main competition. They are “Cu Li Never Cries,” by Pham Ngoc Lan; “Junkyard Dog,” by Jean-Baptiste Durand, “La Palisiada,” by Philip Sotnychenko; “My Endless Numbered Days,” by Shaun Neo; “Oxygen Station,” by Ivan Tymchenko; “Practice,” by Laurens Perol; “The Major Tones,” by Ingrid Pokropek; and “The Permanent Picture,” by Laura Ferres. Additionally, two documentary features also compete: “After the Snowmelt,” directed by Lo Yi-Shan and “Kix,” by Balint Revesz and David Mikulan. The COVID-pandemic continues to affect filmmaking and festival selection, organizers said. “Even films planned to be made beforehand had to extend their production period due to the pandemic, and many works highlighted the limitations of the production environments, such as smaller cast numbers and minimal locations,” said chief programmer Chun Jinsu. The festival runs May 1-10 in Jeonju, a major town on South Korea’s west coast.