‘The Company You Keep’ Drama Pilot at ABC Rounds Out Cast

EXCLUSIVE: United States Of Al star Parker Young has been tapped as a lead opposite Michaela McManus in Criminal Nature, ABC’s drama pilot from Rashad Raisani, 20th Television and A+E Studios. The network snagged Young quickly after he became available following CBS’ cancellation of the Chuck Lorre comedy series after two seasons.

Christopher Vourlias Ariztical has taken North American rights to “All Our Fears,” a gay drama based on the life of Polish artist Daniel Rycharski that won the top prize at last year’s Gdynia Film Festival. Variety has been given exclusive access to the film’s international trailer.“All Our Fears” tells the story of Daniel (Dawid Ogrodnik), a young artist torn between his small village community, urban art galleries, the Catholic Church and his gay identity.

Charlie Amter As the war in Ukraine rages on, recently marking a grim 100-day milestone, some of the country’s music stars are banding together to raise funds abroad in an effort to aid their countrymen, and women, still fighting in the east of the now war-torn nation.Ivan Dorn, one of Ukraine’s most eclectic and best-known music names, just finished a string of European tour dates and he now will be joined by Ukrainian artists The Hardkiss, ONUKA, and Artem Pivovarov in a small American “Stand Up For Ukraine” tour this summer. The trek is set to begin in Miami later this month, with shows to follow next month in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.For Dorn, the gigs are a chance to play for Ukrainian fans currently living in the United States, as well as for liberal Russian expatriates and curious Americans who are sympathetic to Ukraine’s current predicament.

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Primetime Emmy nominee David Oyelowo will star opposite Kaley Cuoco in the Studiocanal and Picture Company high-concept thriller Role Play, which we hear will roll cameras in four weeks in Berlin. We also hear that Amazon Prime Video is in final talks to take the US and several major offshore territories.

EXCLUSIVE: Toheeb Jimoh is feeling wistful. The actor who plays star mid-fielder, Sam Obisanya  for AFC Richmond , the fictional soccer club at the heart of ‘Ted Lasso’ on AppleTV+ ,is now filming season 3, well aware it could be the show’s last.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorReligion of Sports, the sports media production company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra, announced $50 million in Series B funding.With the new investment, which brings the company to about $63 million raised to date, Religion of Sports plans to develop new intellectual property — including expanding into areas beyond sports like entertainment, business and music — as well as scale its creator network and increase global strategic partnerships.The Series B round was led by Shamrock Capital, with participation from Cerro Capital and previous investor Elysian Park Ventures (the investment arm of the L.A. Dodgers).

Out in the jungle, no one can hear you dragging a body around. Mind you, nobody notices much what you do in the city, either. Colombian director Andres Ramirez Pulido’s debut feature, La Jauria, screening in Critics’ Week at Cannes, opens with a grab-bag of images familiar from current Latin American cinema — a couple of teenage boys in neon-lit urban darkness, some elaborate sniffing and nose-wiping, a bike that shouts “stolen” as they careen down a highway — but soon detours into stranger and much more remote territory. One thing you can be sure of: wherever they are, these boys are going to be in trouble.

Rise Films is nearing the end of what has been a monumental month for the London-based production outfit. Last week, HBO Max launched the company’s two-part documentary George Carlin’s American Dream, which chronicles the life and five-decade career of the comedian with Judd Apatow in the director’s seat.

A few years ago, as filmmaker Roger Ross Williams contemplated founding his own production company, he experienced a Field of Dreams kind of vision: “If you build it, they will come.”

Sarah Wayne Callies, James Saito, Tim Chiou, Freda Foh Shen and Felicia Terrell are set as leads in ABC drama pilot The Company You Keep, starring Milo Ventimiglia and Catherine Haena Kim, from 20th Television.

Nick Jonas is enjoying a day on the golf course!

EXCLUSIVE: Michaela McManus (The Village) is set as the female lead in ABC’s national parks drama pilot from Rashad Raisani and A+E Studios.

The BBC’s Platinum Party At The Palace concert to mark the Queen’s 70 years on the throne will see a huge range of musicians perform including rock band Queen with American pop star Adam Lambert opening. The performance comes 20 years after Queen guitarist Brian May performed God Save The Queen on Buckingham Palace’s roof during a show marking the Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe NBC drama pilot “Found” has cast Kelli Williams, Variety has learned exclusively.Williams joins previously announced series lead Shanola Hampton in the project along with fellow cast member Mark-Paul Gosselaar.The show is built around the fact that, in any given year, more than 600,000 people are reported missing in the U.S. More than half that number are people of color that the country seems to forget about. Public relations specialist Gabi Mosley (Hampton) — who was once herself one of those forgotten ones — and her crisis management team now make sure there is always someone looking out for the forgotten missing people.

Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie as well as host Ryan Seacrest are all expected to be back on American Idol next season.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentJapan’s Tokyo Broadcasting System network is partnering with Naver Webtoon, South Korea’s leading digital comics platform, and Tokyo-based manga production house Shine Partners to launch a new webtoon company. Called Studio TooN and based in South Korea, the joint venture will plan and make webtoons with Japanese and Korean creators for the global market. One of TBS’s aim in launching the company, its first such venture in Korea, is to produce TV dramas, anime and other content from the webtoons.  Studio TooN will begin operations in June of this year with Shine Partners president Keita Iwamoto serving as CEO.     “When webtoon works are visualized, there is a synergy effect as the number of readers increases,” said Naver Webtoon CEO Kim Junkoo.

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy-nominated filmmakers Alex Fumero and Kareem Tabsch are partnering to form the production company Trojan Horse. The company will be based in Los Angeles and Miami.

Amber Tamblyn is celebrating her 39th birthday by fighting for reproductive freedom.

Pat Saperstein Deputy EditorSpeakers including Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, mayoral candidate and congressperson Karen Bass, attorney Gloria Allred and actors including Ricki Lake and Christine Lahti urged people to fight for reproductive freedom at the “Bans Off Our Bodies” rally in downtown Los Angeles Saturday.“I can’t work in Texas anymore,” said “Abbott Elementary” star Lisa Ann Walter, who stated that she is working with SAG-AFTRA to inform members of the reproductive health laws in each state. “We won’t quit until women are guaranteed autonomy all over this country.”Thousands of people turned out for the Los Angeles event in front of City Hall, while more than 380 rallies were planned across the United States.