Universal International Studios’ Beatrice Springborn & Roma Khanna Talk Post-Strike Dealmaking, Quality Over Quantity & ‘Prestigurals’

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor There was a time when streamers — led by Netflix, burning a hole in its balance sheet with annual negative cash flow in the billions — were banking on double-digit subscriber growth. And they were spending on content like there was no tomorrow. Well, tomorrow came.

Princess Beatrice is spending the festive period with family by her side, attending Kate Middleton's carol concert last night to kick things off.The Princess of Wales held the third annual Together At Christmas Carol Service and plenty of Royal and famous faces joined the party. Beatrice, 35, turned up at Westminster Abbey with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, and her 7-year-old stepson, Christopher Woolf. She held hand with her stepson, who is affectionately known as Wolfie, as they made their way into the festive event.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Les Arcs Film Festival, the European equivalent to the Sundance Film Festival, has unveiled the list of projects which will be presented during its competitive Work-in-Progress showcase. Curated by Tribeca and Les Arcs’ artistic director Frederic Boyer and Lison Hervé, the selection will present a broad range of movies in post-production seeking a sales agent, festival slots and international distribution.

U.S. employment rose in November as the jobless rate dipped. Labor settlements in both Hollywood and Detroit helped boost total non-farm payroll jobs by 199,000 last month.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rising Saudi Arabian star Yaqoub Alfarhan, who is known for playing the titular drug trafficker and serial killer in hit MBC TV series “Rashash,” plays a very different role in the drama “Norah” by pioneering Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, which is set in 1990s Saudi Arabia when conservatism was at its height and all forms of art and painting were banned for religion-related reasons. In “Norah,” which world premiered at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Alfarhan plays an artist named Nader who has given up painting and moved to a remote village to be a schoolteacher. There he intersects with this film’s titular character, played by Saudi newcomer Maria Bahrawi.

Hollywood dealmaking is becoming more reliant on the international market. That’s the word from production execs from Universal International Studios, Fremantle, Anonymous Content and Studiocanal talking on an Asia TV Forum & Market panel in Singapore today. 

Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi looked loved up as they posed for pictures at the premiere of James Blunt: One Brit Wonder. The 35 year old Royal was a picture of elegance as she attended the event in a teal velvet blazer, navy jumper and skirt - all from Jigsaw - teamed with a pair of Zara lace-up boots.

Dead Man’s Shoes and This is England director Shane Meadows used his BAFTA David Lean Lecture to discuss impostor syndrome and Paddy Considine‘s improvizational skills.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Succession” star Hiam Abbass will play a role that is the polar opposite of Marcia Roy in French-Lebanese director Danielle Arbid’s age-gap drama “Love Conquers All.” The Palestinian actor — who in the HBO series played the third and final wife of billionaire Logan Roy — will next star as Susan, a 65-year-old impoverished widow living in Beirut. There, she meets Osman, a young Sudanese immigrant worker without papers. They instantly fall in love.

Hilary Duff and Matthew Koma are stepping out for a bite to eat.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Following in the footsteps of U.S. guilds, French TV crew members are poised to go on strike amid a battle with producers over minimum wages. Labor union CGT-SPIAC has sought a 20% increase on basic salaries for crew members working in production and post-production of TV shows, documentaries and unscripted content in France.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding Telfaz11 Studios has announced the genre-bending epic “Al-Gaid” (working title), set to be the first feature to go into production under its exclusive nine-picture deal with Neom, the sprawling production hub in Saudi’s northwestern corner. Set against the backdrop of the 19th-century wintery northern Arabian desert, “Al-Gaid” is penned by Saudi novelist and writer Ahmed Alhokail and blends the revenge genre with Bedouin soap opera tropes, “crafting a unique narrative tailored for an Arab audience,” according to a Telfaz11 statement.

Martin Dale Contributor Moroccan director Hicham Lasri (“The End,” “Headbang Lullaby”) is presenting the world premiere of his seventh feature film, “Moroccan Badass Girl,” at the Marrakech Film Festival, and also participating in the Atlas Workshops with “Happy Lovers.” He describes both as dark comedies about antiheroes in the Arab world, “a bit in the vein of the Coen brothers.” “Moroccan Badass Girl,” starring Fadoua Taleb, is a contemporary low-budget pic about a headstrong, unpredictable young Moroccan woman in Casablanca. “Happy Lovers” features a clumsy French writer who accepts a mission to kill a well-known author, with a fatwa on his head. Both projects mark a major change from Lasri’s previous six feature films, which have all been set in Morocco in the 1980s, at the end of the so-called “Years of Lead,” during the reign of King Hassan II.

Princess Beatrice and husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi were spotted in London on Tuesday night and appeared more loved-up than ever as they showed support for a festive carol concert.The 35 year old smiled for the cameras and leaned into Edoardo as she donned a cosy grey wrap coat with a checked pattern. While her property developer husband, 40, opted for a black jacket and navy trousers. Beatrice also paired her Temperley coat with suede black boots and wore a low ponytail and minimal make-up.

A slew of shows are scheduled to resume production today following the end of a six-month production shutdown due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent After skipping Venice due to the actors’ strike, a busy Willem Dafoe is back on the festival trail, attending the 20th edition of the Marrakech Film Festival with his wife, filmmaker and actor Giada Colagrande. He spoke to Variety about his ties to Morocco, why he’s “happy to be promoting and starting to work again” now that the strike is over, and his role in Tim Burton’s upcoming “Beetlejuice 2.” How does it feel to be back in Marrakech? I’m happy to be back. Morocco for me is “The Last Temptation of Christ,” a film that was a beautiful experience.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Marrakech Film Festival’s 20th edition kicks off on Friday with Richard Linklater’s action comedy “Hit Man” as its gala opening, Mads Mikkelsen being feted, and a rich roster of stars and top talents supporting a panoply of cinema from the African continent and the Arab world. The event will run Nov. 24-Dec.

Ben Croll Following on the heels of a 2022 U.K. ScreenSkills report, the British production industry has sought to bulk up, responding to an urgent decree that urged local players to ready 21,000 new technicians for 2025.

Princess Beatrice is set to join the Royal Family at Sandringham this Christmas along with the rest of the Yorks but there is one problem – how best to blend her family. Sources have told OK! that the princess, her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and their daughter Sienna could be joined by two outsiders this festive season in the guise of Edo’s ex Dara Huang and their son Christopher, nicknamed Wolfie. “Beatrice is very keen to have her entire family at Sandringham this Christmas and that includes Wolfie,” the source said.

Nearly four decades after playing Frasier Crane in the third season of Cheers and thirty years since Frasier Crane got his own show, Kelsey Grammer is back with a Frasier revival, currently streaming on Paramount+.