Storytelling Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

William Earl Executives from TikTok, TheSoul Publishing, Roku, Hulu, and NBCUniversal join Variety President and Chief Media Analyst of Variety Intelligence Platform Andrew Wallenstein in the Variety Streaming Room for an exploration into how platforms are developing and producing content that will connect with modern audiences on a large universal scale. Victor Potrel, VP Platform Partnerships, TheSoul Publishing; Tedd Cittadine, Head of Content Partnerships, Roku; Reagan Feeney, SVP Live Content Programming and Partnerships, Hulu; Bryan Thoensen, Head of Content Partnerships, TikTok; and Val Boreland, EVP Content Acquisitions, NBCUniversal, sit down for a conversation about what is crucial in building popular content for modern viewership.  Find out what video categories — long-form, short-form, comedy, family-friendly and more — are widely engaging to audiences of all ages. Panelists will also talk about how mastering content curation and discovering strategies are important to break through in a competitive media landscape. The session will also explore how programmers are developing loyal audiences by extending the footprint of favorite IP and content brands across various channels and platforms. “As our video content has more social views than any other publishing studio in the world, TheSoul Publishing is thrilled to collaborate with Variety to spark a timely conversation around modern storytelling as audiences are continuing to stream their entertainment at massive levels,” said Victor Potrel, VP of Platform Partnerships, TheSoul Publishing.

Patrisse Cullors Black History Month has always been about abolition for me.I may not have known the word abolition as a young girl, but I understood abolition in my spirit. At my core, I witnessed a community ravaged and decimated by police and prisons, and I wanted more for us.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorWomen have always been in the center of Pedro Almodovar’s films, driving his narrative. For the past few years, a woman has also been in the editing chair. For years, José Salcedo Palomeque was his go-to editor, until Palomeque died in 2017.

Gregg Goldstein What brings documentaries to life? For an increasing number of them, it’s colorful characters — literally. Animation is making docs more accessible to a wider audience, allowing filmmakers to dramatize scenes that can’t be shown with footage and bringing them into once-unimagined awards categories.No film has demonstrated this more clearly than Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s refugee saga “Flee.” The Neon/Participant release made Oscar shortlists for both documentary feature and international feature film, won a Gotham Award for documentary and Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.

Today star Sheinelle Jones has made her executive producer debut in an important new documentary close to her heart.MORE: Sheinelle Jones celebrates incredible achievement live on TodayStories We Tell: The Fertility Secret, is a powerful upcoming program featuring Sheinelle's sister-in-law and five other women, who discuss their individual journeys surrounding fertility.

David Benedict At a moment of the highest possible tension, a character shoots a puppet. What makes that not just exciting, but truly extraordinary, is that you feel the entire audience shudder.

A Christmas storytelling event will be entertaining families across Falkirk this year.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorSterlin Harjo is a Native filmmaker and a name you might recognize — he’s directed an episode of “The Magicians” and he’s the mastermind behind FX’s popular “Reservation Dogs.” Harjo is a Native creative bringing Indigenous stories to life.It’s something he’s always been doing, though Hollywood hasn’t always held its doors open for filmmakers like Harjo… until recently, thanks to the advent of streaming.As part of Native American Heritage Month, Harjo spoke with

Denise Downer. Children’s animated television is her playground, where she can blend impactful messages with energetic fun.I had the opportunity to speak with Denise about what it means to be an animation writer, her experience working on the hit show Stillwater, and the joys of creating television for young audiences.Denise Downer grew up with an intense love of storytelling.

EXCLUSIVE: As his House of Gucci cast premiered the awards season entry in Europe in concert with the 100th anniversary celebration of the fashion brand, Ridley Scott stayed back in Los Angeles. Glimpsed through the limited lens of a Zoom call, Scott obviously lives well.

Katie Song The Association of National Advertisers’ SeeHer initiative has created its first #WriteHerRight storytelling guide, focused on Latinas, to be released today as part of its annual Multicultural Marketing and Diversity Conference in San Diego, Calif.The guide, developed partnership with Telemundo and NBCUniversal, is intended to be a resource to encourage authentic portrayals of Hispanic women and girls in marketing, media, advertising and entertainment.

Mark Cuban, billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner, Shark Tank star and early Internet entrepreneur, is announcing the launch of his latest media venture, a mobile interactive storytelling platform called Fireside.

EXCLUSIVE: The Black List, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Redford Center  along with the CAA Foundation have chosen three recipients of the group’s inaugural Climate Storytelling Fellowship.

Jennifer Yuma editorSundance Institute and Sandbox Films announced 12 filmmakers who will be in the next batch to receive support for their projects, along with eight films selected to receive unrestricted and non-recoupable grants totaling $255,000, through the Sandbox Fund.The Sandbox Fund aims to elevate the voices of independent artists working in the realm of science and nonfiction storytelling as they produce and promote work and discourse the highlights that overlap science and art in

Ariana Grande is one of the hardest-working people in the entertainment industry, but now the 28-year-old is putting a pause on making music as she pursues other passions. Grande — whose last album,, was released in 2020 — opened up in new issue about exploring “new versions of storytelling," which include her new makeup line, her work as a coach on the upcoming season of, and even working with an acting coach. Grande's brand, r.e.m.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefKorean entertainment-tech giant Kakao took to the stage of media conference APOS on Wednesday to tout the firm’s growing story-telling skills and particular strength in webtoons. The same day, the company’s shares plunged by 8%, as politicians from the ruling party called for regulations that would halt the dominance of platform economy leaders Kakao Inc.

Greta Thunberg says there is a “big lack of storytelling when it comes to the climate crisis” and urged decision-makers in the film and television industries to support writers willing to tackle the issue. The Swedish climate change activist was joined by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Tuesday afternoon where the two spoke about issues surrounding the lack of attention the entertainment industry gives the worldwide crisis.

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Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorSpire Animation Studios, the newly formed feature animation studio co-founded by award-winning producer Brad Lewis (“Ratatouille”) and industry entrepreneur P.J.

Zoe Hewitt Title sequences are road maps to shows for viewers. In mere seconds, audiences decide if they’re going to keep watching or look for something better.

Clayton Davis One year after “Sound of Metal” made a significant impact at the Oscars, Sian Heder’s “CODA” shows itself as an outstanding example for representation in the disability community, and could be one of the heartwarming family films of the year that finds its way to Academy attention.Distributed by Apple TV Plus, which bought the film at the Sundance Film Festival for a record-breaking $25 million, “CODA” is bowing in theaters and on the streaming platform.

Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh is making her return to the small screen in the new Netflix series “The Chair”.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe Peabody Awards is expanding its domain to include honors for storytelling in interactive, immersive and new media categories. As part of the expansion — which comes a week after Peabody announced its 30 winners for 2021 — an additional board of ten newly appointed jurors has been named.

early reviews, has been held up as far simpler, more modest and yet still full of charm, compared to the more ambitious existential themes of “Soul” or the grand set pieces of “Incredibles 2.” One critic compared it to Pixar doing its take on Studio Ghibli, “evoking the low-stakes seaside magic of ‘Ponyo’ in particular” — and sure enough, sitting on Casarosa’s bookshelf is a small Totoro figurine from one of Studio Ghibli’s classic animated fantasies.

Several Hollywood stars and top companies are joining forces with the mental health expert community and the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative to hold virtual conversations with visionaries and thought leaders across TV, film and music as part of a three-day virtual summit tied to Mental Health Awareness Month.

Ethan Shanfeld Regina Hall, H.E.R., Trevor Noah, Michael Imperioli, Margaret Cho, Andy Cohen, Rachel Bloom and Tig Notaro are among the industry notables lined up to participate in a virtual summit on how mental health is portrayed in media.The event is being pulled together by MTV Entertainment Group, Disney, NBCUniversal, WarnerMedia, Amazon Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment and other media companies, as well as the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and a host of mental health experts.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla It’s always hard to recount and reveal truths about the life of a widely-recognized celebrity in a biopic format.

Cartoon Network Studios has drawn up a new shorts program, Cartoon Cartoons, focused on showcasing diverse stories, centering new voices and mentoring the next generation of animators.

Designing the costumes for Emma, the Autumn de Wilde-directed adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic period novel, was a balance between staying true to the era (the early 1800s) while leaving room for some creativity and artistic license, says Oscar-nominated costume designer Alexandra Byrne.

A group of leading media companies and medical experts have created the Mental Health Storytelling Coalition, a partnership to address the national rise in depression, anxiety and suicide — particularly in young people and exacerbated by Covid-19 — and how the entertainment industry can help.

Guy Lodge Film CriticA bright, watery cornflower blue may lead the palette of “The Spine of Night,” an adult animated fantasy indebted in equal part to Ralph Bakshi and Gerald Potterton, but that doesn’t mean a lot of crimson blood isn’t spilled for contrast. Extreme, skeleton-snapping ultraviolence is a key selling point of this first collaboration between animator Morgan Galen King and filmmaker-comics writer Philip Gelatt.

Asian representation in mainstream storytelling and what fans can expect when they tune in to the series in less than two weeks.

Priyanka Chopra has made headlines recently with her recent achievements. The diva made history by becoming the first-ever Indian to announce Oscar nominees along with her husband Nick Jonas.

Tim Dams Ireland has long been known as a nation of storytellers, home to giants of literature and theater such as Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce.In recent years, Ireland’s storytelling tradition has started to thrive in the screen industries too.

The coronavirus pandemic has obviously changed how movies are being made, with the extra costs involved in testing and implementing strict hygienic regimes, and the constant threat hanging over every shoot that a local outbreak or lockdown could shut things down.

Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas is partnering with Howard University and Instagram to help amplify and support the stories of aspiring Black storytellers through the newly launched Instagram x Share Black Stories “Future First” Reels Challenge.