Spotify Names New Heads of Gimlet, Parcast Podcast Studios

Manchester City footballer Bernardo Silva has welcomed a “new family member” with his girlfriend Ines Degener Tomaz.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Things get supernaturally weird in Spotify’s scripted original podcast drama “Case 63,” starring Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac, set to debut later this month. All 10 episodes of “Case 63” will drop on Oct. 25, exclusively on Spotify. In the show, Dr. Eliza Knight (Julianne Moore), a New York psychiatrist, begins treating a patient registered only as Case 63 (Isaac) — who claims to be a time traveler from the year 2062. What Dr. Knight first believes to be a routine therapeutic case rapidly unfolds into a story that threatens the boundaries of reality. (Listen to the trailer below.) The series is an adaptation of “Caso 63,” Spotify’s most-listened-to scripted original podcast in Latin America, produced in Santiago, Chile — the first non-English podcast the company has adapted into multiple languages for multiple markets. The conclusion to the original story of Pedro Roiter and Dra. Aldunate in “Caso 63” arrives Oct. 18, 2022, as the series returns for its third and final season in its Spanish and Portuguese versions.

EXCLUSIVE: Parul Agrawal, a longtime drama executive at Warner Brothers Television, has been promoted to SVP and head of drama development. Reporting to Clancy Collins White, EVP and Head Of Development, she succeeds Leigh London Redman, who left in July to become President of Berlanti Productions.

Manori Ravindran International Editor New York’s South Asian International Film Festival has appointed Chayan Sarkar as its new president. A filmmaker, entrepreneur and festival director, Sarkar is also the founder of the Indian International Film Festival of Queensland in Australia. He takes over from SAIFF founder Shilen Amin, who will step down as president, but will remain a member of the festival’s board of directors. Sarkar joins SAIFF as the festival enters its 19th year as a leading film festival in the U.S. for new cinema from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, and within the Indian diaspora. In recent years, SAIFF has become increasingly influential as a platform for South Asian cinema, both in the U.S. and internationally. Fourteen of India’s submissions for the international feature film Oscar have had their North American premieres at the festival.

Spotify has named new managing directors for its Gimlet and Parcast podcast studios the day after news that it plans to cancel a combined 11 original podcasts and eliminate about 5% of its podcast headcount.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Bethenny Frankel says she’s had enough of scammers on TikTok using her voice, image or content to sell counterfeit products. The entrepreneur and star of “The Real Housewives of New York” filed a federal lawsuit against ByteDance’s TikTok, the hugely popular short-form video app, alleging that TikTok has ignored her requests to remove unauthorized content that misappropriates her likeness. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, demands unspecified monetary damages and a permanent injunction barring TikTok from misusing the “personas, voices, content and/or likenesses” of Frankel and other potential members of the class. “Despite demands on TikTok to remove and police this corrupt conduct, TikTok has ignored such demands, and even taken countervailing positions,” Frankel’s lawsuit says. “Aside from not being compensated, the reputation and brand of Ms. Frankel and Class Members are being damaged and tarnished through unauthorized associations with counterfeit goods and other products that they do not support.”

Universal Pictures Wins Big At 2022 BASE AwardsThe British Association for Screen Entertainment hosted the 42nd annual BASE Awards at Camden’s Roundhouse Thursday night and Universal Pictures led the winner’s list, taking home five awards, including Outstanding Innovation for Streaming ‘Live’ to Your Living Room: Stand-Up Comedy with Eddie Izzard and Dylan Moran, and Best in Class Packaging for Inglourious Basterds: Total Basterds Edition. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery followed close behind with four awards each. Sony Pictures Entertainment took home Campaign of the Year for New Release Film – Over 15m Box Office for Spider-Man: No Way Home, while Warner Bros. Discovery won Home Entertainment Campaign of the Year – TV for Game of Thrones: The Iron Anniversary.

Richard Linklater’s latest film Hitman has started production in New Orleans and ShivHans Pictures and Monarch Media have boarded the project as co-financiers, AGC Studios announced today. 

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Sex and relationship talk show “Call Her Daddy,” hosted by Alex Cooper, shot to the top of Spotify’s podcast charts following last week’s debut of Season 2. The premiere episode, released as a video podcast, featured an in-depth interview with Hailey Bieber. After the Season 2 premiere of “Call Her Daddy” on Sept. 28, the podcast hit No. 1 on the Spotify charts in English-speaking countries worldwide. As of Tuesday (Oct. 4), it’s the top Spotify podcast in the United States, Canada, U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. In the U.S., Cooper’s show is currently ahead of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the perennial chart-topper on the streaming service.

Essendon is facing backlash from some fans over the appointment of Andrew Thorburn, the chairman of a conservative Christian church that preaches homosexuality is wrong and that abortion is “legal murder”, as the club’s new CEO. Trigger Warning: This story discusses homophobic comments, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.Essendon President Dave Barham announced the appointment and described Thorburn as “a man of great integrity and exceptional vision.”On its website, the City on a Hill church claims that “practicing homosexuality is a sin, but same-sex attraction is not a sin”. In a 2013 article, the church says “God has designed sex to be enjoyed within marriage between one man and one woman” and adds “a Christian who is same–sex attracted should not identify with being gay”. The Church is much more strident in its views against abortion rights, equating it to Nazi “concentration camps”.A 2013 sermon about abortion says: “Whereas today we look back at sadness and disgust over concentration camps, future generations will look back with sadness at the legal murder of hundreds of thousands human beings every day through medicine and in the name of freedom.” A 2022 sermon reaffirms the church’s opposition to abortion, even in cases of rape. I've made the difficult decision to resign my Essendon FC membership, and those of my children, due to the Essendon board's decision to appoint the chair of a homophobic and anti-health care church to the position of CEO.

Maggie Haberman has faced a lot of criticism for her new book about Donald Trump — but it wasn’t for not getting the goods!

Beyoncé stars in an irresistibly energetic new ad campaign for Tiffany & Co.

Long-serving Studiocanal exec, Anna Marsh, has been appointed Deputy CEO of Canal+ Group. Marsh joined the company’s production, distribution and international sales subsidiary, Studiocanal, in 2008 where she held such titles as Head of International Sales and Managing Director of Studiocanal UK, before being appointed CEO of Studiocanal in 2019. 

Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver are stepping out to promote their new movie.

BreAnna Bell NBCUniversal’s Mac Budill has stepped down from his role as president of content distribution after 10 years, an NBC spokesperson tells Variety. Matt Schnaars, the current content distribution SVP, has been promoted to Budill’s position and will assume his duties beginning in November. The news of Schnaars’ appointment was delivered to NBC employees via memo from NBCU content distribution chairman Matt Bond. “Matt Schnaars is a well-respected leader with the clear vision and right relationships across our industry to guide our team as we continue to grow our streaming footprint, build on new capabilities like FAST channels and continue our longstanding network partnerships,” wrote Bond. “I also want to thank Mac Budill for his undeniable leadership over the past decade. His impact is felt throughout the distribution landscape, and we wish him the best on whatever he chooses to tackle next.”

Allan Haldeman, whose 18-year career at UTA has traced a familiar arc from mailroom to partner, has been named the head of the company’s New York office.

United Talent Agency has appointed veteran literary agent and UTA partner Allan Haldeman as the head of it’s New York office, the company announced Wednesday. Haldeman began his career with UTA in the mail room and has been with the agency for 18 years, rising to co-head of UTA’s literary department.

‘The Rogue Ones: A Star Wars Andor Podcast’ returns with hosts Mike DeAngelo and The Playlist’s Editor-In-Chief, Rodrigo Perez. As with the previous episodes, each week, our hosts will recap and review the latest “Andor” episode and welcome cast members and creatives from the show to discuss all things “Andor” and maybe a few other “Star Wars” properties.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Marcus Mabry, a six-year veteran of CNN, has been promoted to SVP of digital editorial and programming at the news outlet. In the role, Mabry will lead CNN’s digital global programming, features and visuals teams, including Opinion, CNN Style and CNN Travel. He will report to CNN’s chief digital officer — a role that has remained vacant after Andrew Morse exited the company earlier this year, following the shutdown of the CNN+ subscription streaming service. Mabry comes aboard amid other high-level exits from CNN Digital, the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery. Those include Courtney Coupe, most recently SVP of content strategy and operations for CNN Digital, who exited to join LinkedIn, and CNN Digital editor in chief Meredith Artley.

An upcoming unauthorized biography takes a look inside the final painful days leading up to Anthony Bourdain’s death.