Vinnie Hacker, TikTok Creator and Star of Netflix’s ‘Hype House,’ Signs With CAA

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix is continuing its push to bring out a diverse set of games — ranging from casual puzzle titles to AAA games — included for no extra cost with its streaming plans, on the theory that it will help drive up and retain subscribers. Since bowing its first games globally in November 2021, the company has released 55 games. About 40 more are slated for later this year, which would bring the lineup to 95. In addition, Netflix Games has around 70 titles in development with partners, plus 16 games currently being developed by its in-house game studios, which include one in Southern California built around Chacko Sonny, the former Activision Blizzard executive producer behind “Overwatch.”

EXCLUSIVE: CAA has signed Hacks actor Johnny Sibilly for representation.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Emmett Shear, longtime CEO of video game-centric livestreaming platform Twitch, announced that he’s leaving effectively immediately. Dan Clancy, currently Twitch’s president, will succeed Shear as CEO, effective immediately. In a blog post Thursday announcing the decision, Shear said he will continue to work at Twitch in an advisory role. Shear said he was stepping down as Twitch CEO following the birth of his first child. “With my first child just born, I’ve been reflecting on my future with Twitch. Twitch often feels to me like a child I’ve been raising as well,” Shear wrote. “And while I will always want to be there if Twitch needs me, at 16 years old it feels to me Twitch is ready to move out of the house and venture alone. So it is with great poignancy that I share my decision to resign from Twitch as CEO. I want to be fully there for my son as he enters this world and I feel ready for this change to tackle new challenges.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The White House has told TikTok that parent company ByteDance, the Chinese internet giant, must sell its ownership position in the popular video app or face a ban in the U.S., TikTok said on Wednesday. The U.S. government made the demand citing national security concerns. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), which is an interagency group oversees national security risks led by the Treasury Department that has the authority to block foreign transactions involving U.S. entities, “recently” demanded that ByteDance divest TikTok, per the Journal. 

BreAnna Bell Jerah Milligan has signed with CAA for representation. A multi-hyphenate creative artist, Milligan co-created and starred in Netflix’s “Astronomy Club,” which was executive produced by Kenya Barris and Dan Powell, and co-wrote, executive produced, and starred in an original presentation of “Sherlock Homies” for HBO Max. As a director, he recently directed the sketch segments of Yvonne Orji’s latest HBO Special “A Whole Me.” Milligan’s short film “Mahogany Drive,” which he directed and co-wrote, was recently screened at the Slamdance Film Festival. His additional directing credits include Showtime’s “Desus & Mero” and MTV’s “Wild ‘N Out.” Milligan is a product of Viacom’s Viewfinder: Emerging Directors Program.

EXCLUSIVE: Writer, producer and director Florian Sigl, the filmmaker behind the recent movie version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, has signed with CAA for representation.

EXCLUSIVE: CAA on Tuesday announced its signing of Allison Janney — the Academy Award-winning actress who has also been recognized over the course of her career with six Emmys, a Golden Globe, 7 SAG Awards, 2 Critics’ Choice Awards, a BAFTA, an Independent Spirit Award and other accolades.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix picked up big wins at the 95th Academy Awards, including the international feature film Oscar for “All Quiet on the Western Front” and its first animated feature film Oscar for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.” Overall, Netflix won six Oscars on Sunday, after receiving 16 total nominations this year. “All Quiet on the Western Front,” directed by Edward Berger, won four Oscars (on nine nominations), picking up the trophies for international feature, cinematography (James Friend), original score (Volker Bertelmann) and production design (Christian M. Goldbeck, Ernestine Hipper). The film — a grim, disquieting adaptation of the famous World War I novel — had dominated the U.K.’s BAFTA Awards with a record-breaking seven wins, including best film, director (Berger), adapted screenplay, cinematography, sound, original score and non-English language film.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After nearly 10 years on Netflix, comedy “New Girl” will be leaving the streaming service to get a new dual home on Hulu and Peacock. “New Girl” will be available on Hulu and Peacock beginning April 17, 2023. Under a shared agreement between Disney and NBCUniversal, Peacock and Hulu will share streaming rights to all seven season of the show, comprising 146 episodes in total. “New Girl,” starring Zooey Deschanel, first began streaming on Netflix in the U.S. in the summer of 2013. The show’s ensemble cast includes Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield, Lamorne Morris and Hannah Simone. “New Girl” originally aired on Fox from 2011-2018.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Verizon and Netflix — both looking to reel in new subscribers — are relaunching their special promotional offer giving the telco’s customers 12 months free of Netflix’s Premium plan. Starting March 12, Verizon wireless, 5G Home and LTE Home customers can get one year of Netflix’sPremium plan for no extra charge through Verizon’s +play subscription hub. In the U.S., the Premium plan is regularly priced at $19.99/month; it includes up to four simultaneous streams and access to Ultra HD content. The offer, which represents a $240 annual value, will be available for a limited time, according to the telco. Verizon previously launched the same limited-time Netflix deal in December.

Angelique Jackson Emma D’Arcy, star of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” has signed with CAA for representation. D’Arcy stars in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel series as Rhaenyra Targaryen, the firstborn child of the king and his heir apparent. The show follows the events leading to the war of succession, known as the “Dance of the Dragons,” which begins the fall of House Targaryen. “House of the Dragon” has been a massive success for HBO, with 9.3 million viewers watching the Season 1 finale, marking the network’s biggest audience since “Game of Thrones.” The series has also garnered critical acclaim, winning best drama series at the 2023 Golden Globes. For their commanding performance, D’Arcy was singled out with a nomination for best actress in a drama series. According to HBO and HBO Max content CEO Casey Bloys, Season 2 is expected in 2024.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Daniel Brühl (“All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Captain America: Civil War”) is set to star as late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld in “Kaiser Karl,” the anticipated Disney+ original series which Gaumont (“Lupin”) is currently producing. The show is currently shooting in France, Monaco and Italy. The six-part series will chronicle the rise of Karl Lagerfeld through the world of 1970s Parisian high fashion. In 1972, a 38-year-old Karl Lagerfeld aspired to become the most famous French fashion designer, at a time when Yves Saint Laurent reigned supreme. Lagerfeld went on to become the head designer and creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his own label.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok is opening up a new monetization spigot for creators on the popular short-form video app. The Chinese-owned app announced Series, a new way for creators to sell their stories as premium content. With the Series feature, available initially only to select creators, users can post Collections of premium content behind a paywall that viewers can purchase. Each individual Series can include up to 80 videos, each up to 20 minutes long, giving the TikTok community “a new, longer format to watch their favorite creators and content,” the company said. TikTok creators can select the price for their Series. The content can be purchased via direct in-video links or through a creator’s profile page. The company noted that, like all content on TikTok, Series videos must adhere to its community guidelines standards.

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Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As former The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz gets back into the production business, he has sign on with CAA for representation, the tenpercentary announced on Thursday. Pedowitz has revived his shingle, Pine Street Entertainment, which is represented by CAA as part of the arrangement. Pedowitz announced his departure from The CW in October, following Nexstar Media Group’s acquisition of the network from its previous joint operators CBS and Warner Bros. (Those two entities maintain minority stakes in The CW, but Nexstar is now the majority owner and operator.) In reviving Pine Street Entertainment, Pedowitz is bringing back his independent production company that produced CBS’ “The Crazy Ones” (starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Robin Williams), as well as a number of development projects.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media is launching a podcast featuring one-on-one conversations between the production company’s execs and key creative partners — with Coogler sitting down with longtime partner Michael B. Jordan for the first episode. The “In Proximity” podcast promises listeners a deep dive into the creative process of making movies, TV, music and podcasts, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Proximity’s projects and future titles. The show premieres with Coogler and Jordan’s episode on Sunday, March 12, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms as well as proximitymedia.com, with new episodes to be released weekly.

CAA has signed Grammy-winning Nigerian singer-songwriter Temilade Openiyi, known as Tems, in all areas worldwide. In recent years she has collaborated with Beyoncé, Rihanna, Drake, Future, Wizkid, Davido and Brent Faiyaz, among many others, and won her first Grammy for her feature on Future and Drake’s hit “Wait for U.” She is also the first Nigerian artist to be nominated for an Academy Award for her work on Rihanna’s song “Lift Me Up,” form Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” soundtrack. She is set to release her debut album through Sony/RCA and will embark on her first worldwide headline tour later this year. She is managed by Wale Davies and Muyiwa Awoniyi at the Leading Vibe.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok, in an effort to show it’s being a good internet citizen, introduced new features to cap the time kids spend on the video app. In the next few weeks, every TikTok account belonging to a user under the age of 18 will automatically be set to a 60-minute daily screen time limit. If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a passcode in order to continue watching, “requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time,” Cormac Keenan, TikTok’s head of trust and safety, wrote in a blog post. For TikTok users under 13, the daily screen time limit will also be set to 60 minutes, and for these accounts a parent or guardian will need to set or enter an existing passcode to enable 30 minutes of additional watch time.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Khaby Lame, the Senegalese-born Italian social media personality who is the world’s most followed content creator on TikTok, has joined “Italia’s Got Talent” as a juror. Lame is a former factory worker in Italy who after being laid off from his job in March 2020 launched a TikTok channel in which he performed absurdly comic skits that went wildly viral. The TikTok star whose comedy bits started with ironic takes on “life hacks” relies on iconic facial expressions and body language in videos delivered without speaking so that the humor is understood universally. The short-form comedy video virtuoso, who has more than 154 million followers on TikTok, will now be making his debut as an Italian TV personality on the hit talent show.

EXCLUSIVE: Brendan Fraser, an Oscar Best Actor nominee this year for A24’s The Whale, has signed with CAA. He had been represented by the agency several times in the past, including in the early 2000s and early 2010s.