Wattpad Webtoon Studios Expands With New Animation Division, Multiple Hires

Sound stage and production services provider Quixote Studios has sold itself to LA-based Hudson Pacific Properties, owner/operator of the Sunset Studios group, for $360 million

EXCLUSIVE: Matthew Horrocks has been appointed as manager of Screen Auckland, New Zealand’s largest regional film office.

William Earl Variety will host three parties, in addition to its interview and portrait studio, at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. To kick off the festival, Variety will celebrate its Billy Eichner cover story with a cocktail party for his film “Bros” on Sept. 9. Universal’s romantic comedy, featuring an all-LGBT cast, will premiere at TIFF. Skyy Vodka is the premier partner of the party and will provide a custom cocktail for guests to enjoy. On Sept. 10, Variety and Chanel will bring back their celebration of female filmmakers with a private, invite-only dinner with top talent, filmmakers and executives. Chanel has partnered with TIFF to create the Chanel Women Writers’ Network, an alumnae program and extension of Share Her Journey’s annual TIFF Writers’ Studio. The Chanel Women Writers’ Network reinforces the brand’s commitment to championing women in the arts and creating opportunities for their artistic and professional development.

Discussions stalled once again between the Motion Picture Association and Hollywood labor unions following a bid for a new law to protect cast and crew on production sets with firearm safety requirements following the fatal "Rust" shooting in October. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on the New Mexico set of the Western film and director Joel Souza was wounded by a bullet when live ammunition was accidentally loaded into a weapon fired by Alec Baldwin while rehearsing a scene in a church.The actor has since denied he pulled the trigger of the gun that killed Hutchins.

Peacock continues to expand its offerings in the reality show space and recently added the British series Made in Chelsea. The NBCUniversal streaming service released Season 18 through Season 22 on August 25 of the E4 reality series produced by Monkey Kingdom.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Talks between the Motion Picture Association and the Hollywood labor unions have failed to produce an agreement on a new law that would address firearm safety on movie sets. The two sides backed competing proposals earlier this year in Sacramento in response to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in New Mexico last October. Both bills would have established a training standard for film armorers — a job that is currently almost entirely unregulated. The union proposal would have been more sweeping, however, establishing the role of a “set safety supervisor” who would have the power to shut down productions. Both bills stalled in the legislature in May, but the two sides continued to talk in hopes of reaching an agreement before the Aug. 31 legislative deadline.

The Senate Majority PAC is debuting a new spot that attacks Mehmet Oz as “Hollywood’s celebrity doctor,” using the inevitable theme of Wizard of Oz to skewer the GOP candidate’s collection of homes, among other things.

Christopher Vourlias Producer Ilya Stewart has launched an independent studio based in Europe that will operate on a global scale, working with international talent and focusing on English-language feature films and television series, Variety can exclusively reveal. Hype Studios is the new venture from Stewart, the formerly Moscow-based producer who in recent years has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival, where his collaborations with Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov, including “Petrov’s Flu” and “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” have premiered in competition. Among the co-productions with American and European partners currently on Hype Studios’ slate is Zach Wigon’s “Sanctuary,” starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott, which premieres as a Special Presentation next month at the Toronto International Film Festival and was produced with Rumble Films and Mosaic Films, along with Charades. Also on the slate is Pietro Marcello’s French-language “Scarlet,” produced in partnership with CG Cinéma’s Charles Gillibert, which opened this year’s Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and will receive its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival.

BreAnna Bell RespectAbility has teamed up with Netflix to create a new Children’s Lab for disabled TV creators, which will provide education and training for disabled writers, animators, and creative executives looking to focus on preschool and children’s content. The training program, funded by Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity, will include a five-week course featuring programming by New York-based production partners 9 Story Media Group and Silvergate Media. As part of the lab, participants will each be assigned a mentor as they join in-person and virtual workshops, trainings, panel conversations, networking events, and a talent showcase with table reads of each writer’s project performed by disabled actors. The Children’s Content Lab will also provide a week of career development training with industry experts.

Snoop Dogg has launched a new animated children’s TV series called Doggyland.The show, formally titled Doggyland – Kids Songs & Nursery Rhymes, is available to watch on YouTube and YouTube Kids. It sees Snoop partnering with Emmy-nominated creator of kids’ franchise Hip Hop Harry, and singer-songwriter October London.Doggyland is led by a cast of dogs that teach kids up to eight years old about social and emotional skills through dance and song.In a statement about the show, Snoop Dogg said: “As a father, grandfather and longtime youth football coach, it’s always been important to me to build positive and educational environments for all children.

EXCLUSIVE: Oren Uziel, the co-screenwriter of Paramount’s spring hit The Lost City, is giving 20th Century Studios’ Clue movie a big reworking.

In this newly-created role, Ghee will help AMG’s senior advertising and marketing executives to strategically work with brands for significant partnerships with the AMG portfolio, including theGrio digital, broadcast, and television network platforms, as well as the HBCU GO streaming app and the global HBCU GO sports network. Ghee is based at the AMG offices in New York City.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAuckland, New Zealand-based financier Hillfarrance Venture Capital is backing a team of former Weta Digital staff in their new VFX venture Wellington-based Floating Rock Studios. Founded in 2020 by Laurent Herveic, Lukas Niklaus, Stephanie Parker and Garrick Rawlingson, Floating Rock Studios bills itself as a high-end animation and VFX provider for movies, commercials and video game cinematics.

local listings.While “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” will not be streaming upon its initial release, it will eventually be streaming on Crunchyroll.The latest installation of the “Dragon Ball” institution sees the return of Red Ribbon Army, an evil organization that Goku previously destroyed. Since its destruction, the army has been reformed with new and mightier Androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 and is back for vengeance against Goku and his family.

EXCLUSIVE: Wattpad Webtoon Studios has made a number of hires including a global head of television and launched an animation division.

Bravo’s “Real Housewives” will be expanding in another continent.

Amber Heard has now hired David L. Axelrod and Jay Ward Brown of Ballard Spahr to represent her in her appeal of the Johnny Depp defamation trial verdict.

Amber Heard is replacing most of her legal team and leaning into the Constitution as she prepares to appeal a multi-million defamation verdict awarded to Johnny Depp.