Syco’s Lee McNicholas Joins ITV Studios’ Lifted Entertainment; Sky Bags ‘Wellington Paranormal’; Changes At Tokyo FF — Global Briefs

EXCLUSIVE: Lia McHugh (Songbird) is set as a lead in A House on the Bayou, the first of eight standalone horror and genre films under a deal with Epix and Blumhouse Television. Production is scheduled to begin late spring for a December 2021 premiere.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has given a series order to drama Our Kind Of People, from writer/executive producer Karin Gist (Star, Mixed-ish) and executive producer Lee Daniels (Empire, Star). This marks the first new Fox drama series ordered for the 2021-22 season and the first series to come out of the network’s script-to-series model introduced last summer, which involves the opening of a writers room.

Jamie Lang In today’s Global Bulletin, Netflix announces July 23 Season 2 release date for “Sky Rojo”; Mexican animated feature “Cranston Academy: Monster Zone” sells in key territories; Tern Television hires David Marshall as head of entertainment; Channel 7’s Australian Ivan Milat docu-series heads abroad; ITV preps for the 100th anniversary of Poirot’s first appearance; and Channel 5 commissions “Wonderful Wales with Michael Ball” from Wildflame Productions.Netflix Spain has announced that

Wellington Paranormal, a New Zealand horror mockumentary based on Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s What We Do in the Shadows film, is coming to the U.S.

Kate Aurthur editorIn the first co-acquisition partnership between The CW and HBO Max, the broadcaster and streamer have acquired Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s “Wellington Paranormal,” a spinoff from their 2014 movie “What We Do in the Shadows.” The horror comedy will premiere on The CW sometime this summer, and episodes will then be available the next day to stream on HBO Max (as well as on the ad-supported CW app and CWTV.com).The show follows the police characters from “What We Do in

ITV are planning a new celebrity food competition, 'Cooking With The Stars'. The channel's bosses have been looking to fill the gap left by 'The X Factor' this year with Simon Cowell's singing competition on hiatus, and the programme is being hailed as the 'Strictly Come Dancing' of food shows.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJason Kothari, Hong Kong-born entrepreneur and film producer who was an executive producer on Vin Diesel-starring  “Bloodshot,” has acquired all rights to The Silent Flute, the spiritual martial arts project co-written by martial arts icon Bruce Lee in 1970.

Amazon Hiring Head Of UK Originals Amazon is on the hunt for a UK head of originals, according to a job advert posted by the streaming giant. The successful candidate will report to Georgia Brown, the director of European originals at Amazon Studios. Amazon’s UK slate includes The Grand Tour and James May: Oh Cook, but the company has made clear that it is not planning a giant Netflix-style push into the British market. UK trade Broadcast first spotted the job ad.

Naman Ramachandran ITV Studios Entertainment has rebranded as Lifted Entertainment, and Syco Entertainment’s Lee McNicholas is joining as creative director, north.ITV Studios Entertainment is the label behind blockbuster shows “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!,” “Love Island,” “Dancing On Ice,” “The Voice,” “Countdown,” “University Challenge” and “Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.”Similarly, Simon Cowell’s Syco is behind hit brands “The X Factor” and the Got Talent franchise.

EXCLUSIVE: ITV Studios was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, which wiped out 230 of its shows and slashed profits by 43% to £152 million ($212M). But Maarten Meijs, the president of ITV Studios’ global entertainment division, is looking on the bright side and said the crisis has brought with it “silver linings.”

EXCLUSIVE: Emma Meisel (American Horror Story: 1984) is set as a series regular opposite Peyton Elizabeth Lee in Disney+’s upcoming comedy series Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.

EXCLUSIVE: Ronny Chieng, one of the correspondents on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, is going scripted.

Natalie Oganesyan editorMegan Thee Stallion has partnered with NACC Disaster Services and U.S. Rep.

Matthew Sato is set as a series regular opposite Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Jason Scott Lee and Mapuana Makia in Disney+’s upcoming comedy series Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.

COVID-related deaths.Olympic gold medalist McKayla Maroney is feeling better after her recent hospitalization for kidney stones, but she's not out of the woods yet.

Cops are investigating an attempted break-in that took place at Sandra Lee's Malibu, Calif. home. According to an incident report obtained by People magazine, a masked intruder attempted to break into Lee's property shortly after midnight on Feb.

EXCLUSIVE: Nzingha Stewart, who most recently directed the Netflix film Tall Girl, has been tapped to co-write and direct Badass Biker Chicks of Marrakesh, a film that is being developed by Wayfarer Studios and Ethos Entertainment.

Naman Ramachandran ITV Studios has acquired a controlling stake in Apple Tree Productions, the Danish production outfit founded by BAFTA-winning producer Piv Bernth.ITV Studios previously had a 25% stake in the business, which has now risen to 51%.