Yellow Bird Producer Eiffel Mattsson Joins Nordic Drama Queens

SPOILER ALERT: This post includes spoilers for the latest episode of Billions.

Director Brad Bird is returning to animated feature films, but won’t be heading back to Pixar. Bird previously worked with the Disney-owned animation house leading two Best Animated Feature Oscars for his work on “Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.” According to Deadline, Bird is teaming up with disgraced former Pixar head John Lasseter and Skydance Animation for an original feature film, “Ray Gunn” that the filmmaker will direct from a script he co-wrote with Matthew Robbins.

Pixar no more.Brad Bird, the Academy Award-winning director of such Pixar favorites as “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille,” is reteaming with his former boss John Lasseter at Skydance Animation, on a new/old project “Ray Gunn.” Skydance Animation announced today.“Ray Gunn,” which Bird and Matthew Robbins wrote when Bird was at Warner Bros. Animation in the 1990s, is a retro-futuristic detective story set in “the sprawling, magnificent city of Metropia,” according to a 1996 script’s forward, written by Bird.

EXCLUSIVE: Skydance Animation has scored a major coup by acquiring the rights to make Ray Gunn. That will be the next animated film by writer/director Brad Bird, the Oscar-winning Pixar fixture who made The Incredibles films, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant, as well as the live action Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. He will direct and produce the film from an original story by him. Bird wrote the script with Matthew Robbins.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaHillary Rodham Clinton has done a lot in her long career. But until now none of the tomes written by the former secretary of state, U.S. senator, first lady and winner of the 2016 popular vote have gotten the big screen treatment.

Following a competitive bidding situation, Gigi Pritzker’s indie production company Madison Wells has acquired rights to develop a feature film adaptation of “State of Terror,” a thriller novel by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and author Louise Penny, the company announced on Thursday.“State of Terror” centers on novice Secretary of State Ellen Adams, who is unexpectedly brought into the administration by a newly-elected president, her political and personal adversary.   Events soon erupt that sweep her into a world of global intrigue and diplomacy where the stakes could not be higher and the potential consequences, both personal and global, could not be greater.  Both Clinton and Penny will serve as executive producers as well as consultants on the film. Clinton will produce via her HiddenLight Productions banner founded by Clinton, Sam Branson and Chelsea Clinton.

Keri Russell is linking up with Netflix.

Ryan Michelle Bathe on her toes — and guessing along with everyone else where her character, no-nonsense FBI agent Val Turner, is headed next on the NBC drama, premiering Monday (Feb. 21) at 10 p.m.“I have to say that Val doesn’t have much of a character evolution,” Bathe, 45, told The Post. “We’re shooting the seventh episode now … and literally hours have ticked by since we met her.

Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorAn eight-hour drama inspired by Carolyn Arnold’s “Madison Knight” detective novels is being developed by Muse Entertainment and Pop Fiction Entertainment.Hélène Joy (“Durham County,” “Murdoch Mysteries”) will star as Madison Knight, a daring detective who works to investigate criminals throughout the series. Orion Lee (“First Cow”) will portray Knight’s work partner, Detective Steven Hung.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterABC has ordered a drama pilot from Kay Oyegun.In the untitled one-hour series, five therapists in Philadelphia find unique ways to solve problems in their patients’ lives while grappling with their own. Ellen Roman, the owner of the practice and a brilliant therapist, has her life shockingly turned upside down when she begins working with a sociopathic patient who may hold the key to the disappearance of her sister five years earlier.Oyegun will serve as the writer and executive producer on the pilot.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates made headlines over the past week with their exciting and dramatic performance during the Team Figure Skating Event at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, and they’re about to take the ice again for the Rhythm Ice Dance competition today (February 12).

Komplizen Film, the German indie run by Janine Jackowski, Maren Ade and Jonas Dornbach, has joined The Creatives, an alliance of independent production companies that has a three-year partnership for developing and funding series with Fremantle.

Who wore it better? Madison LeCroy‘s date night with fiancé Brett Randle took an interesting turn when fans caught her possible dig at ex-boyfriend Austen Kroll.

EXCLUSIVE: The production company behind Netflix’s The Kissing Booth franchise is developing a TV drama series inspired by the real life exploits of notorious French opera singer Julie Maupin.

Arielle Kebbel is set for a major recurring role opposite Oliver Stark in Fox drama series 9-1-1.

Written by Lynn Harrod who serves as co-showrunner with Wilson, Concepción follows the lives of an Asian-American kingpin and his extended crime family that lords over Historic Filipinotown (“HiFi”) in Los Angeles. The series is set across 28 years, alternating between the eras of 1992 and 2020. At the center of the series is Paulo “Pepe” Concepción, aka “Lolo Pepe,” who built a vast criminal empire through small-business extortion, gambling, racketeering and most of all the street sales of “Shabu” (Filipino meth). Over the span of the story, Lolo and his family live and work within the underworld of HiFi. Their morals, ethics and loyalties continually are tested as they struggle to revitalize HiFi and expand the power of their empire.

Endeavor Content-backed Scandinavian indie Nordic Drama Queens has hired the producer behind Netflix’s upcoming The Playlist (Spotify Untold).

Chris Willman Music WriterIn advance of the upcoming 2022 Brit Awards, it was revealed Friday that Inflo has been named producer of the year, with his honors set to be given out on the red carpet preceding the live ceremony at the O2 Arena in London Feb. 8.Besides having recently won plaudits for working with Adele on three tracks on her smash album “30” (“Woman Like Me,” “Hold On” and “Love Is a Game”), Inflo is best known for his own acclaimed R&B collective, Sault.“As the first Black music producer to ever win a Brit for best producer, I feel honored to be a part of change,” said Inflo, aka Dean Josiah Cover, in a statement.