EXCLUSIVE: British producer Rabia Sultana (Sour Milk) has announced the launch of her production company, Sultana Film, unveiling details on two projects that she has in development.
11.08.2022 - 13:17 / deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Rebecca Ferguson, series producer on BBC hits including The Responder and The Trial of Christine Keeler, has been snapped up by the new-look BBC drama commissioning team, Deadline can reveal.
Ferguson effectively replaces This is Going to Hurt commissioner Mona Qureshi, who moved to Netflix several months ago.
She has been freelancing with the team since May and became a permanent Drama Commissioning Editor last month.
The former Film4 and Broadchurch indie Kudos exec has a lot on her plate already, working across huge BBC shows including The Capture, Happy Valley and Doctor Who. Deadline revealed on Tuesday that Heyday Television deepfake thriller The Capture’s second season has been promoted to the coveted August Bank Holiday slot.
Ferguson, who series-produced the Martin Freeman-starring police drama The Responder and The Trial of Christine Keeler, will also develop her own slate. The Responder, which aired on BritBox in the U.S., was written by former Police Officer Tony Schumacher and starred Freeman as a Policeman undertaking a series of night shifts in his hometown of Liverpool.
Ferguson joins BBC Drama at a time of change for the commissioning department.
Director Piers Wenger recently left to head up A24’s international department with former BBC Film boss Rose Garnett, and Wenger’s place will soon be taken by Netflix UK Scripted Commissioner Lindsay Salt. In the interim, Sherwood commissioner Ben Irving has been overseeing the team.
Broadcast networks’ fall lineups and schedules
New and returning series on broadcast, cable and streaming
Series that made it or didn’t make it in 2021-22
EXCLUSIVE: British producer Rabia Sultana (Sour Milk) has announced the launch of her production company, Sultana Film, unveiling details on two projects that she has in development.
Tessa Thompson (Westworld) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Super Pumped) are are attached to star in the sci-fi thriller Ash, which the Grammy-winning musician and filmmaker Flying Lotus — otherwise known as Steven Ellison — will direct as his sophomore feature, as we first reported in January. Neill Blomkamp (District 9) has since then come aboard to exec produce the pic, which its financier XYZ Films will rep for worldwide sales at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.
Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has revealed that he composed the soundtrack for the second season of BBC drama The Capture.The first episode of the six-part season aired last night (August 28) with the second coming tonight (August 29), following on from a first season in 2019.Sharing the news of his score, Rowntree tweeted: “Watching the new series of The Capture tonight with friends. Hope you are too! Score by lil ol me and [Ian Arber].”A synopsis of the new season reads: “Escalating from the CCTV thriller of season one, this brand new six-part series sees DCI Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) in the middle of a new conspiracy – with a new target, MP Isaac Turner (Paapa Essiedu).“‘Invisible’ assassins, the terrifying rise of deepfake technology, the ever-growing tension between government and Big Tech and corruption at the heart of the British media… don’t miss the return of one of the year’s most anticipated dramas.”Watching the new series of The Capture tonight with friends.
BBC are set to bring back the classic game show Gladiators next year. The popular game show originally aired on ITV between 1992 and 2000 and drew huge audiences in every Saturday evening.
EXCLUSIVE: Hot off the success of its record-breaking Netflix film Purple Hearts, Alloy Entertainment has unveiled four new features in development, three of which are based on books that the company has developed in-house.
EXCLUSIVE: Camila Mendes (Riverdale) and Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone) will lead the cast of Gulfstream Pictures’ romantic comedy Upgraded, from actor-director Carlson Young (The Blazing World), which has entered production in the UK.
EXCLUSIVE: Ace Entertainment has launched production in Yorkshire, England on A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow—a new film based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Laura Taylor Namey, which will star Maia Reficco (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin), Kit Connor (Heartstopper) and Kate del Castillo (La Reina del Sur).
BBC's new drama, Marriage, made its debut on Sunday night and viewers have been enthralled by Sean Bean and Nicola Walker's incredible performances. MORE: Marriage: Viewers make same complaint about new BBC dramaWritten and directed by Stefan Golaszewski, the series follows married couple, Ian and Emma, as they negotiate the ups and downs of their 30-year marriage.
NME can exclusively share the trailer for Netflix film I Used To Be Famous, starring Ed Skrein (Game Of Thrones, Deadpool) as a struggling musician.Directed by Eddie Sternberg in his debut feature, the synopsis for the new music drama reads: “Vince (Ed Skrein) used to be in the hottest boy band around. Now he’s alone and desperate.
EXCLUSIVE: Carla Gugino (The Fall of the House of Usher), Liza Soberano (Alone/Together), Joe Chrest (Stranger Things) and Henry Eikenberry (The Crowded Room) will star alongside Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse in the horror-comedy Lisa Frankenstein, which actor-filmmaker Zelda Williams is directing for Focus Features, in her feature debut.
EXCLUSIVE: Maria Bakalova (Bodies Bodies Bodies) has joined the casts of Andrew Durham’s feature directorial debut Fairyland for American Zoetrope, and Jerry Seinfeld’s first film Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story for Netflix. Details as to the roles she’ll be playing in the features have not been disclosed, though we hear she’ll only be making a cameo in the latter.
EXCLUSIVE: Skeet Ulrich is set as a lead opposite Giancarlo Esposito in The Driver, AMC’s remake of the British drama series that is set to launch next year on AMC and AMC+.
VFX Firm DNEG Promotes Chas Jarrett to Creative DirectorDune and Tenet VFX firm DNEG has promoted Chas Jarrett to Creative Director. Jarrett, who is based out of London, joined DNEG as a Senior VFX Supervisor in 2019 and is an industry veteran with credits on films such as Aladdin (2019), Logan, Sherlock Holmes, and Sweeney Todd. He will take over the reins from incumbent DNEG Creative Director and two-time Oscar-winning VFX Supervisor Paul Franklin, who will continue on at the company as a Visual Effects Consultant. In a statement, DNEG Group President, VFX, and Stereo, Josh Jaggars said: “Congratulations to Chas on his well-deserved promotion to Creative Director of DNEG. He is an outstanding leader and a fine role-model for our creative teams, with a talent for developing strong relationships with filmmakers. Chas is an important addition to DNEG’s executive leadership team, and I am looking forward to working closely with him to ensure that our creative output remains second-to-none.”
EXCLUSIVE: Bonnie Mbuli (Invictus) has been cast as a series regular opposite Giancarlo Esposito and Paula Malcomson in The Driver, AMC’s remake of the British drama series that is set to launch next year on AMC and AMC+.
This Morning to show off her results after going under the knife, but presenters Rochelle Humes and Vernon Kay asked if she was "happy". The 39-year-old was said to never have been "comfortable in her own skin" and after dozens of surgeries she became known as the "human Ken doll". However, in 2020 she announced her "biggest change yet" as she announced her new ambition to become a human Barbie.