Woke Gen Z is out to destroy entertainment

Joe Otterson TV Reporter ABC Entertainment has hired Felicia Joseph to serve as senior vice president of casting, Variety has learned. Joseph joins ABC from MRC, where she most recently served as the independent studio’s senior vice president of casting. In her new role, she will report to Sharon Klein, the executive vice president of casting for Walt Disney Television. She will oversee casting for all ABC pilots and series as well as unscripted casting for Hulu and other WDTV brands. The role marks a homecoming for Joseph, who began her career in the casting department at ABC. “I’ve had the good fortune of collaborating with Felicia in the past and know how well she cultivates relationships with talent who are at the top of their craft,” Klein said. “Her passion, instinct and deep understanding of our business make her ideal for this role and, quite frankly, the only person I wanted for the job. We’re overjoyed to be welcoming her back to ABC, where she started her career.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired domestic distribution rights to “Sweetwater,” a recently completed feature about Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, the first African American to land an NBA contract. The drama is written and directed by Martín Guigui and stars newcomer Everett Osborne as Clifton. The ensemble includes veteran actors such as Kevin Pollak, Cary Elwes, Jeremy Piven, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Ri’chard. There are also special appearances by Gary Clark Jr., Jim Caviezel and NBA champion Bobby Portis Jr.  The film follows Clifton (Osborn), who is the star attraction of the Harlem Globetrotters, led by owner/coach Abe Saperstein (Pollak). When New York Knicks executive Ned Irish (Elwes) and Knicks coach Joe Lapchick (Piven) decide it is time for the Knicks to integrate, with the support of NBA President Maurice Podoloff (Dreyfuss), they come together with the other team owners of the league to make history. Briarcliff will give the film a wide theatrical release on April 14, 2023. 

EXCLUSIVE: Backstreet’s back — in Cannes.

Emmerdale actress Sally Dexter has told how she and the soap's producers were moved to tears after the husband of late Britain's Got Talent contestant Tina Humphrey detailed her tragic death to help with a storyline. Dog trainer Tina - who wowed television audiences with her dancing blue merle collie Chandi and finished fifth in the final of the 2010 series - fought the aggressive form of cancer, metastasised melanoma, for more than a year before she died at the age of 45 in 2017. And her photographer partner Steve, 66, who met Tina in November 2015, recalled for ITV bosses how she made the heartbreaking decision to end her life by swallowing a toxic cocktail of drugs to honour her in an upcoming plot involving Sally's character Faith Dingle.

EXCLUSIVE: Tommy Dorfman is making her directorial debut with the upcoming feature I Wish You All The Best. The project is based on Mason Deaver’s bestselling novel of the same name which Dorfman optioned in 2019. Dorfman is writing the screenplay and will also produce the feature.

Pledis Entertainment has shared a notice outlining fan etiquette rules after what it describes as “multiple cases of violation” of SEVENTEEN’s personal information and space.On October 6, Pledis Entertainment uploaded a notice regarding fan etiquette on the group’s official Weverse page. In it, the agency highlighted several examples and instances where SEVENTEEN’s privacy and safety had been violated by fans, followed by a list of fan etiquette rules and consequences of violating them.“Recently when SEVENTEEN leaves and enters Korea and other countries, there have been repeated activities threatening artists’ safety, such as excessive physical contact and taking photography or videos up close,” it stated.Pledis added that some fans had used “improperly acquired information” to end up on the same flights as the boyband, as well as causing discomfort and inconveniencing fellow passengers at airports and on flights by taking photos in unauthorised areas and rowdy behaviour.“There also have been multiple cases of violation of the fan etiquette by selling or buying artists’ personal information or invading artists’ privacy by visiting a personal space such as their houses,” said the agency.Pledis then outlined its official fan etiquette rules dissuading fans from visiting the group’s unofficial engagement avenues and private spaces, stalking, selling and purchasing their personal information and more.

replaces Charlie Collier, who announced his surprise exit to join Roku last month.Wade most recently served as president of alternative entertainment and specials at the company, where he oversaw the network’s unscripted content and development slate.“Since the formation of FOX Entertainment, Rob has been an integral part of the leadership team responsible for delivering on its long-term strategy of creating an independent media company built on broadcast, developing an owned content portfolio and maintaining a disciplined in-house infrastructure,” Murdoch said in a statement. “Given Rob’s sharp creative instincts and proven operational acumen, he is well-suited to lead FOX Entertainment in what promises to be an exciting next chapter in its rich history.”Fox Entertainment includes an expanding portfolio of content studios, including animation house Bento Box Entertainment, TMZ, MarVista Entertainment and Studio Ramsay Global.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) today announced the establishment of its first LED virtual production stage, located at Sony Innovation Studios in Culver City. With LED virtual production transforming the way film and television are made, the new stage is the world’s largest using Sony’s high brightness and wide color gamut Crystal LED display panels. The panels were created in collaboration with top engineers at SPE for use in virtual production. The establishment of this LED stage allows Sony Innovation Studios (SIS) to expand its virtual production workflow across various entertainment platforms and seamlessly merge the real and virtual worlds with its Atom View technology and proprietary stage-integration software.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Rob Wade has been promoted to CEO of Fox Entertainment following the exit of former chief Charlie Collier. “Since the formation of Fox Entertainment, Rob has been an integral part of the leadership team responsible for delivering on its long-term strategy of creating an independent media company built on broadcast, developing an owned content portfolio and maintaining a disciplined in-house infrastructure,” Fox Corp. executive chief and CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement Thursday. “Given Rob’s sharp creative instincts and proven operational acumen, he is well-suited to lead Fox Entertainment in what promises to be an exciting next chapter in its rich history.”

YG Entertainment has announced that it will be taking legal action against people “illegally” distributing BLACKPINK member Jennie’s “private” photos.In a statement issued to the press earlier today (October 3), the girl group’s management agency announced that it has enlisted the help of police to investigate those responsible for circulating “private” photos of Jennie that have been the subject of recent tabloid coverage.“We have refrained from mentioning the matter or making an official statement in order to minimize any further damage,” the agency’s statement read, per Korea JoongAng Daily. “However, there have been indiscriminate rumours, criticism, personal attacks, sexual harassment and violations of personal life sparked by those private photographs.”The statement claims that the agency has already taken legal action against online users who have made “malicious posts, or those which repeatedly upload unconfirmed claims,” and is currently looking into lodging additional penalties for other damages caused by the leak.“The photos [of Jennie] distributed online were made public illegally, without Jennie’s consent.

A group of authors and other creative professionals are lending their names to an open letter protesting publishers’ lawsuit against the Internet Archive Library, characterizing it as one of a number of efforts to curb libraries’ lending of ebooks.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Julia Franz, senior vice president and head of comedy development for Fox Entertainment, is exiting the broadcaster. Cheryl Dolins is joining Fox to take her place.

Day6 have renewed their contracts with longtime agency JYP Entertainment.On the morning of September 26, JYP Entertainment told Sports DongAh that all four members of the act — Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil and Dowoon — had renewed their exclusive contracts with the agency.“We plan to continue our meaningful journey together based on the foundation of deep trust between Day6, a group with a signature sound, and JYP Entertainment, which has a lot of experience in band management,” said the agency, as translated by Soompi.It later added: “We will become a dependable pillar for Day6’s future, and we will be unsparing in our strategic support so that Day6 can fly even higher in the future.”The news comes just weeks after the band marked their seventh anniversary since their debut in September 2015. Although Day6 are currently inactive with members Young K, Wonpil and Dowoon serving their respective compulsive military terms, Sungjin had held a face-to-face fan event commemorating the occasion.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran producer Richard Salvatore has been appointed Head of US Film Production and Distribution at Iervolino & Lady Bacardi Entertainment (ILBE) as the Italian company looks to grow its stateside footprint.

EXCLUSIVE: Francesca Eastwood (Old) and Milo Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge) have been tapped to star in Clawfoot — a cat-and-mouse thriller from Yale Entertainment, which is currently in production in Los Angeles.

Fox Entertainment is re-entering the international distribution business by launching a sales unit ahead of Mipcom Cannes next month.