VFX Biz Gains Big Boost from New French Production Policies

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMike Minogue, Naomi Ferry and Tim Foley have launched Frank Management, a new creative talent agency in New Zealand.Frank Management is open to representing clients across all disciplines, including acting, writing and filmmaking. The company aims to fill gaps they see across the industry, by offering an alternative for all creatives seeking representation.Minogue is best known to the public in the on-screen role of Officer Minogue in Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s TV series “Wellington Paranormal.” He is also successful writer and producer, having recently produced the 2021 Sundance hit “Coming Home In The Dark.” He is designated as head of development at the new agency.

EXCLUSIVE: Marking her first feature since she won a Best Actress Oscar for The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, Jessica Chastain and Dopesick and The Batman star Peter Sarsgaard have just wrapped on Michel Franco’s (New Order) new film, which we can reveal is called Memory.

Naman Ramachandran Paris and Mumbai-based production service company La Fabrique Films is looking forward to a further surge in business in the wake of new Indian filming incentives that were announced in Cannes.International productions filming in India can be reimbursed up to 35% of qualifying production spend in the country.La Fabrique, which specializes in European films shooting in India, has been operational since 2013 and films they have provided production services for include “Les Cowboys,” “The Best Is Yet to Come” and “And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead.” La Fabrique has just wrapped work on Laetitia Colombani’s “The Braid” and company principals Déborah Benattar and Javed Wani are currently attending the Cannes Film Market. The initial reimbursement for international shoots in India is 30%, which can go up by an additional 5% for productions employing 15% or more manpower in India.“The incentives will be a great advantage for foreign producers who decide to come and shoot in India also, because there is this bonus of 5%, they may want to employ more Indian technicians, because, from our experience, we have amazing technicians in India.

Scotland's tourist board is hoping the £4 million film industry in the Outer Hebrides will attract more visitors to mark the release of new movie The Road Dance.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorAidan Gillen, who played Littlefinger in “Game of Thrones,” and Sandrine Bonnaire, a best actress winner at Venice for “La cérémonie,” have joined Gabriel Byrne in Samuel Beckett biopic “Dance First,” directed by Oscar-winner James Marsh.Film Constellation has closed pre-sales on the film in Australia/New Zealand (Icon), Italy (Bim Distribuzione), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Audiovisuais), Greece (Filmtrade), Hungary (Vertigo Media), former Yugoslavia (Discovery) and Taiwan (Cai Chang). Pay TV outlet Sky developed the film as a Sky Original in the U.K.Marsh, best-known for “The Theory of Everything,” for which Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar, and Oscar-winner “Man on Wire,” will start shooting the film on May 30 in Budapest.

election.Jennifer Hudson, who is starting a syndicated talk show this fall for the company's Telepictures division, did an awkward onstage sample of it with two HGTV stars, rapper Lil Jon and designer twin Jonathan Drew.The company tried to tie it all together by saying it will offer "live events that thrill us, the headlines that define us, the real-life stories that connect us.“There's now one place where it all awaits us.”Along the way, the company made some programming news. Discovery+ is working on a two-part documentary looking at the roots of the toxic divorce between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, and another that gives a behind-the-scenes look at snowboarder Shaun White's last competition at the Winter Olympics.

Kendrick Lamar just dropped his new album and he has more great news for fans – he’s going on tour!

Kendrick Lamar‘s new album is finally out!

Welcome to the Ton! While Ruby Stokes left midway through Bridgerton season 2 amid other commitments, the Netflix series has officially cast another star to take over the sixth sibling’s role.

Financial Times.Per Reuters, the deal is reportedly worth upwards of $4 billion.The deal establishes new company FL Entertainment, with a value of about $7 billion, a figure that includes debt. It totals out to nearly $4 billion in equity value, according to executive Francois Riahi.The new company will also include Betclic, an online gambling company.

James Franco is set to star in action thriller Mace from The Singing Detective helmer Jon Amiel.

Audrey Diwan’s opened to an estimated $34k on four screens in NY and LA this weekend for a PTA of $8,500. The locations on both coasts — IFC Center/AMC Lincoln Square and The Landmark/AMC The Grove — while limited showed the abortion drama set in 1968 France competing successfully in commercial crossover multiplexes as well as arthouses.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details about tonight’s Blue Bloods Season 12 finale.

Zack Sharf Once you’re done streaming “The Batman” on HBO Max for the umpteenth time, it’s time to direct your attention to all of the new offerings on streaming platforms this month. Perhaps the biggest debut is “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” on Paramount+, which should keep children and families glued to the television well into the summer.

It keeps getting messier. Amber Heard took the stand for the second time amid her ongoing defamation case against ex-husband Johnny Depp, this time focusing on the actor’s alleged jealousy issues.

Amber Heard is painting a not-so-pretty picture of Johnny Depp’s jealous side during the second day of her testimony.

Amber Heard took the witness stand for the second consecutive day on Thursday and claimed Johnny Depp hated James Franco, to the point that Depp allegedly berated — and allegedly kicked — her for taking a role in a film starring Franco.The 36-year-old actress claimed that Depp was already suspicious that she and Franco had a thing going on after they filmed. But things allegedly escalated to the point of violence after Heard accepted a role in the 2015 drama , starring Franco, Ed Harris, Christian Slater, Timothée Chalamet and Cynthia Nixon. When the topic about Franco came up, Heard visibly struggled to detail the alleged incident.«That's a nightmare,» an emotional Heard said.

K.J. Yossman “Magic Mike” star Alex Pettyfer and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s” Maria Bakalova are set to star in “Branded.”Tom Hopper (“Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City”) and Frank Grillo (“Kingdom”) will also appear in the film.Kieron Hawkes (“Power”) is set to direct the feature, which is based on New Yorker article “The Brand” by longform journalist David Grann, whose book “Killers of the Flower Moon” has been adapted in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film of the same name.