Village Roadshow Launches New Sports Division And Taps Brian Gilbert To Oversee

Simon Cowell is on the hunt for brand new musical talent as he launches a new show with a social media twist.

The BFI today published the full details of its new National Lottery Audience Projects Fund, a £15m ($17 Million) pool of cash available over three years to support growth in the UK exhibition and distribution sector to cultivate audiences for UK independent film and XR/broader screen work.

Emily Ratajkowski has declared herself single — and now she's mingling! The 31-year-old model-actress was recently spotted out and about with 35-year-old DJ Orazio Rispo, and the two weren't shy about showing a little PDA.For their date night, Ratajkowski was dressed in an off-the-shoulder black sweater, skintight black pants and red boots, while Rispo sported a green jacket, gray pants and black sneakers. The two were seen sharing a big kiss on a New York City street before hopping on a motorcycle.The evening out with Rispo comes on the heels of the actress addressing her relationship status following her split from husband Sebastian Bear-McClard and amid Brad Pitt dating rumors.«I’m newly single for basically the first time in my life ever, and I just feel like I’m kind of enjoying the freedom of not being super worried about how I’m being perceived,» she told in a recent interview. As for Pitt, a source recently told ET that the 58-year-old actor is «hanging out» with Ratajkowski.«Brad and Emily have spent time together, but it's very casual. They're friends,» the source said.

Sky has launched a TV box which plugs into the back of the television and will operate using the household WiFi.

The UK wing of Universal Music’s distribution and artist services division, that being Virgin Music, has launched a new unit called Parachute specifically for dance and electronic music with crossover appeal.“The growth of dance music over the past year has been undeniable, and at Virgin Music UK we’re proud to launch a new choice for artists and producers alike”, says Virgin Music UK MD Vanessa Bosaen.The new unit is aiming to put out one release per month and has actually already put out one track pre-launch – Melle Brown’s ‘Feel About You’ – with a Sean McCabe remix now set for release on 4 Nov. Parachute’s first official single, ‘Don’t Walk Away’ by Essel, will be out on 21 Oct.“Having an independent spirit is fundamental to me at this stage in my career as an artist, allowing me to release music with an open mind and experiment whilst developing my sound”, says Brown.

Emily Ratajkowski is basically putting those Brad Pitt rumors to rest thanks to new paparazzi photos.

EXCLUSIVE: International sales firm MSR Media is launching four film titles at this week’s Mip market: action film The Island, the mystery thriller Ocean Deep, the sci-fi/action feature Black Noise and the mystery drama Strictly Confidential.

Kentucky has launched a new food safety website where people can report foodborne illnesses, Gov. Andy Beshear said.

It's not very often you'd get the likes of Keith Lemon, Big Narstie and footballer John Stones in the same place - but it appears McDonald's managed it as the stars of TV, music, YouTube and sport headed out to Salford for the fast-food chain's latest launch.

Emily Ratajkowski is getting into the podcasting game.

Britney Spears was released from her conservatorship. As the subject of “Toxic,” one of Ratajkowski’s most pointed pieces about growing up as an object of lust and scrutiny, Spears has long been a preoccupation for the 31-year-old model, author and mother. Almost a year later, Ratajkowski is thinking about the world’s many reactions to how a newly freed Spears has expressed herself — especially in her ongoing Instagram series of cheeky, defiant nudes, a genre Ratajkowski knows well.  “She’s gone through things that affect you for the rest of your life,” Ratajkowski says, “and she has this public stage where we will continue to watch her. It just makes me sad. And the way people are like, ‘Come on, you’re a mother!’ has really fascinated me. It’s Britney Spears! I’m sure she has a very complicated relationship to being sexualized. But she’s now doing it on her own terms. So why are we ripping her apart for that and bringing into the conversation that she’s a mother?” She pauses, then adds with a sigh, “I don’t know why we hate women so much. It still shocks me all the time.” 

Cyndi Lauper has launched Girls Just Want To Have Fundamental Rights, a new fund dedicated to financially supporting organisations that “advance women’s rights and health”.The donor-advised fund – a play on the title of Lauper’s 1983 song ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ – is being housed by the Tides Foundation. In its first year, it will primarily give grants to organisations ensuring access to abortion and reproductive health services, in light of the overturning of Roe v.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Village Roadshow Television has acquired the rights to Lana Harper’s novel “Payback’s a Witch” with the intention of developing it onto a TV series, Variety has learned exclusively. The book is the first installment in Harper’s “Witches of Thistle Grove” novel series, with the planned show set to take that name as well. Per the official logline, “Witches of Thistle Grove” is “a show about Emmy Harlow, a young woman with big dreams who abandoned her charming but podunk hometown to prove herself in the big city. When she’s suddenly called home nine years later to fulfill a family obligation — which, okay, happens to be arbitrating a centuries-old gauntlet — she’s forced to confront family rifts, broken friendships, and Gareth Blackmoore — a detestable but Hot AF ex who broke her heart and, it turns out, also screwed her friends: Her childhood bestie Linden Thorn, and the sexy, dangerous Talia Avramov, a bad-ass that Emmy always crushed on from afar. Reframing old friendships, reconciling with family, and enacting revenge are things Emmy used to hide from. But if she can face her fears, she can take her power back. And that’s critical. Because Emmy Harlow is a witch.”

EXCLUSIVE: In what marks a high-profile return to filmmaking for John Waters, Village Roadshow Pictures has optioned his new novel Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance. Waters will write the script and direct.

If you are beginning to feel the financial pressure due to the rising cost of living and increase to energy bills, a quick way to boost your income is to get paid for switching your bank account and Nationwide has just dropped the biggest cash incentive to date.

Chris Cuomo debuted his new NewsNation show on Monday with a pledge that his nightly hour “won’t be typical.”