Funding Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Taiwan Creative Content Fest kicked off in Taipei today with organizer, Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), emphasizing its soft power ambitions and growing international cooperation activities, in particular with France, South Korea and Japan. 

Ed Meza @edmezavar Tom Tykwer’s first feature film since 2016, “Das Licht” (“The Light”), is set to start rolling this month at Studio Babelsberg near Berlin. The X Filme Creative Pool production, about a troubled family who take in a Syrian immigrant as their new housekeeper, is one of a number of projects heading to the renowned studio as business picks up following a lull this year stemming from the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

This year’s Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF) has three Japanese filmmakers playing in competition — a haul that TIFF programming director Ichiyama Shozo told Deadline is a welcome high for the fest. 

Megan Thee Stallion is getting real about paying out of pocket for her own career!

Megan The Stallion has revealed that she is working independently for the first time since she was unsigned and managed by her mother. Speaking in an IG Live hosted on her producer LilJuMadeDaBeat's account this week, Megan revealed that she is funding the recording of a new album herself. She also hinted that her plan was to sign a record deal eventually, though she could stick to working as an independent artist, too.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed Nepalese filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar has wrapped principal photography on his next feature “Rajagunj” (“The Sky is Mine”). The film is also one of nine projects to receive funding from the Norwegian Film Institute’s Sorfond. It received NOK625,000 ($57,600).

Blade Runner is the latest big-budget product to announce changes to its shooting schedule this year, with the TV series no longer set to be filmed in Northern Ireland.

A four-year-old took her fight for better funding for disabled children to the Scottish Parliament and managed to unite opposition parties.

Falkirk Council will make a desperate plea to both Scottish and UK Governments for more funding as they reluctantly accepted a financial strategy that will mean cuts to services and council tax rises.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Martin Scorsese revealed in an interview with GQ magazine that Warner Bros. wished to turn his Oscar winner “The Departed” into a franchise, much to his disagreement. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a Massachusetts State Police officer and Matt Damon as a Boston gang member who go undercover to infiltrate each other’s organizations.

Stretford Public Hall is to get vital repairs as part of a huge funding drive from the government to 'secure' the future of pubs, museums and sports clubs across the UK.

The appeals of two bereaved mums may lead to millions of pounds in extra funding to head off a homelessness crisis in Scotland’s biggest city.

A pair of Fair City students have received a financial boost to help move their musical careers forward.

Loch Ken Trust is celebrating a double funding boost worth more than £100,000.

An Antiques Roadshow expert who has an incurable brain tumour is calling on the UK Government to increase funding to study the disease. Scots TV ace Theo Burrell, 36, started suffering horrific migraines that left her unable to bend over or lie down in December 2021.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Ten documentary projects from eight countries have been selected as grantees of Project: Hatched, a Chicken & Egg Pictures program designed to support directors as they develop and launch strategic impact campaigns. Many of the selected projects had prestigious premieres at film festivals, including Sundance and IDFA.

Perth and Kinross Conservatives have claimed essential council services are under pressure due to Scottish Government funding cuts.

Naman Ramachandran BBC director general Tim Davie and acting chair Elan Closs Stephens answered searching questions from the U.K. Lords Communications and Digital Committee on Tuesday on the corporation’s funding model. The BBC’s main source of revenue is annual license fee of £159 ($202). The BBC annual report, which was published last week revealed that the number of people who bought a license fee fell by 500,000 to 24.3 million. Consequently, BBC revenues dipped from £3.8 billion to £3.74 billion. The license fee, which is currently frozen for two years, is set to rise significantly in April 2024. It emerged on Tuesday morning that a review into the BBC funding model could be ordered this fall. “The evidence that there is a growing unwillingness to pay is shown by figures each year. The licence fee model is becoming unsustainable,” the London Times said, quoting a government source.

An ambitious project to transform a derelict Perth church building into a multi-level hub for young people has received a major funding injection.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief

K.J. Yossman A report has laid bare the challenges faced by Elstree Film Studios, best known as the home of the original “Star Wars” films. The studio, which is owned and operated by Hertsmere Council, requires a cash injection of £150-200 million (up to $255 million) to “replace life expired buildings and ensure its competitiveness beyond the 21st century.” Last summer, during the replacement of some studio doors, asbestos was found in three soundstages as well as other buildings, which required remediation work. During that work, the contractor reported that some of the roof structures and walls were in a “dangerous” state, with some concrete beams dating back to the 1960s and ‘80s having already snapped.

Sir Rod Stewart has an estimated wealth of over £240 million and hasn't wasted any opportunity over recent years to put his healthy pay packets to good use in the form of giving back to the community and charities by gifting money.

An Ayrshire charity has celebrated its fourth anniversary with a milestone funding announcement.

A funding programme which catapulted a unique alpaca trek experience in the stunning South Ayrshire countryside has launched for its second year and is open to applicants.

Frameline, the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival concluded its 47th iteration on Saturday, June 24, with a screening of Taylor Mac’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music, directed by Oscar-winning duo Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (The Celluloid Closet). The documentary feature about the titular performer’s singular spectacle was preceded by the Festival’s annual Award Ceremony, which reaffirmed the dynamic future of queer cinema.

Delays to decisions on Scottish Government funding to replace two run-down primary school buildings in Livingston have been criticised by West Lothian Council’s Conservative group leader.

Work on a new 131-space car park at Burrs Country Park in Bury is to be scaled back after the council failed to secure funding. Last year Bury Council, in response to a huge increase in visitors to the park and related issues with parking, agreed plans to formalise the current overspill car park to create new off-road car parking spaces and a surfaced pavement along Woodhill Road giving pedestrian access into the park.

The viability of South Korea’s KBS is under threat due to government plans to alter its funding mechanism, according a public service media advocacy group.

A group aiming to spark community-led regeneration in Kilmarnock is to close.

Extra funding for the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere is set to be approved next week.

UPDATE: Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has signed a Las Vegas stadium funding bill into law, marking yet another step forward for the Oakland A’s to move to Las Vegas.

The boss of ITV has confirmed that the broadcaster is funding Phillip Schofield's counselling after he requested the help after he resigned from ITV and was dropped by his talent agency YMU after admitting to an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a younger male colleague.

Ben Croll Fueled in no small part by an across-the-board 30% tax rebate for international productions, with an additional 10% bonus to projects that partner with local VFX houses, the French production industry has surged in recent years. As part of the wider France 2030 investment plan, the recently implemented Great Image Factory initiative should have an all the more galvanizing effect, bolstering the Gallic production infrastructure with $376 million in public support and an additional $2.15 billion in private funds.   And if that rising tide will lift very many boats, its overall effects should be uniquely pronounced within the country’s booming animation and VFX sectors, which altogether account for 25% of the projects supported by the improvement project.

Heather Olander knew she would be taking on a challenge when she joined The CW as its first Head of Unscripted Programming.

The long-running saga of a potential move by Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas has another milestone. A bill introduced late Friday in the Nevada legislature would provide up to $380 million in public funding for a potential 30,000-seat, $1.5 billion retractable-roof stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Semafor, the digital new startup launched last fall, announced that it has raised $19 million in a new financing round, bringing its total raised to $34 million. The New York-based company was co-founded by Ben Smith, previously media columnist for the New York Times and editor in chief of BuzzFeed News, and Justin B. Smith, former CEO of Bloomberg Media Group. (The two are not related.) Semafor said the additional investments are an extension on the same terms of the company’s previous financing round. The new total also takes into account the repurchase of the approximately $10 million in funds from Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency company FTX whom federal prosecutors have charged with fraud, money laundering and campaign finance offenses. The funding from Bankman-Fried will be returned to FTX creditors as directed by officials, according to Semafor.