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Exclusive: In a competitive situation, Jessica Rhoades’ Pacesetter and Alexander Tsekalo’s Sreda Global have secured the rights to David Hill’s praised 2020 book The Vapors for television, with The Loudest Voice executive producer/showrunner Alex Metcalf attached to pen the series adaptation.

A lifelong personal passion of Metcalf’s, The Vapors tells the unknown story of Hot Springs, Arkansas – America’s forgotten capital of vice. Home to healing waters, dozens of churches, and America’s original national park as well as illegal gambling, countless backrooms and brothels, and some of the country’s most bald-faced criminals. For decades, Hot Springs was a pocket of sin in the buckle of the Bible Belt. This is the story of gangsters gone good, believers gone bad and the growth of Black Broadway, supported by a burgeoning African-American middle class in the center of the Jim Crow South.

Metcalf, Rhoades, and Hill will...

Jessica Rhoades’ Pacesetter Productions has sold two one-hour projects to NBC – dramedy Matched from writer Rohit Kumar (13 Reasons Why) and The Village creator Mike Daniels and drama Sidekicks, from NCIS: Los Angeles Co-Executive Producer Jordana Lewis Jaffe. Both will be produced by Universal Television. The network sales come as the company expands its executive team, hiring former Chelsea Handler Productions exec Rachel Polan as SVP. In her new role, Polan will help identify and foster development for the company and add support to the current productions.

“I’ve been a fan of Rachel’s for some time,” said Rhoades. “She’s got fantastic taste and is a champion of creators. I know how supported and connected the writers who work with her feel. Nothing matters more to me. As we continue to build Pacesetter, finding team members who share my commitment to writers and their vision is paramount, and I...

Rachel Polan has joined Jessica Rhoades’ Pacesetter Productions as senior vice president.

In her new role, Polan will help identify and foster development for the company and add support to the current productions. In addition, Dana Echt has been named manager at Pacesetter. Echt started as Rhoades’ assistant, and was previously at WME.

“I’ve been a fan of Rachel’s for some time. She’s got fantastic taste and is a champion of creators,” said Rhoades. “I know how supported and connected the writers who work with her feel. Nothing matters more to me. As we continue to build Pacesetter, finding team members who share my commitment to writers and their vision is paramount, and I look forward to expanding with Rachel on board.”

Prior to joining Pacesetter, Polan served as vice president of scripted development for Chelsea Handler Productions. Before that, she was an executive at Lionsgate, where...

This The Walking Dead: World Beyond review contains spoilers.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Episode 5

When the Endlings left Campus Colony, they were four kids who didn’t really know each other. Even Hope and Iris, the two sisters, had secrets from one another. Silas kept the secret of why he ended up at Campus. And Elton, the quirky little fellow in the corduroy suit, had secrets of his own. On a show littered with traumatic stories, perhaps none is quite as traumatic as Elton’s, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond puts that trauma, as well as his mother’s manuscript, to great use in explaining Elton’s current character.

One of the things Dan Liu does with his direction, particularly the montage towards the middle of the episode of everyone coming together to build a boat, is get over the importance of pulling together as a team. The kids have been mostly divided,...