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Exclusive: The Writers Guild of America East has a new class of Showrunner Academy graduates.

The 2024 class includes Radha Blank, Eleanor Burgess, Dominic Colón, Grainger David, Gerry de Leon, Kate Erickson, Gina Gionfriddo, Eliot Glazer, Eric Anthony Glover, Leah Gotcsik, Joseph Hampton, Christina Kallas, Nambi E. Kelley, Greg Lisi, Ted Malawer, Tim Mason, M Raven Metzner, Nathan Min, Adam Whitney Nichols, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu, Charlie Oh, Celeste Parr, Jacquelyn Reingold, Dan Perlman, Katie Rich, Zach Smilovitz, Lauren Ashley Smith, Iturri Sosa, Jim Strouse and Mfoniso Udofia.

The Wgae’s Showrunner Academy is a training program that is designed for upper-level writers to hone their skills “to become successful showrunners and leaders in today’s television industry.”

The Academy is also “specific to the unique landscape and needs of the East Coast” in the instruction that it provides.

The full list of graduates and their bios are below.

Radha Blank is a Director,...

• Jason Biggs and Ashley Tisdale have been cast as the leads of Drive, She Said. The story follows an unconfident, expectant father (Biggs) who takes a job chauffeuring prostitutes (Tisdale, Janet Montgomery, Bria Murphy). Husband and wife team Joe Syracuse and Lisa Addario wrote and directed the film, which was inspired by Syracuse's experience driving call girls around La. Jenny Mollen, Adrian Voo, and Steven Weber also star. [THR] • Chris Pratt is in early negotiations for Magnificent Seven. Antoine Fuqua is directing the remake, which stars Denzel Washington. The 1960 film for which its based followed seven gunmen who defend a Mexican village from outlaws.

Exclusive: Burn Notice, Cult, and Supernatural alum Alona Tal has joined the cast of Topher Grace’s movie musical One Shot. Grace stars as a failed star turned stage manager who must wrangle the eccentric cast and crew of a new production to save the show’s opening night. Tal will play KT, the ex-girlfriend and star of the show. Taye Diggs, Jc Chasez, and Broadway thesp Lesli Margherita also star in the backstage musical, which director Isaac Rentz is shooting in Mexico City from a script by Gerry De Leon and Greg Lisi. Daniel Posada and Jason Tamasco are producing for Mexico-based Dark Factory Entertainment with Alex Garcia of Ag Studio.

Tal next stars in Amazon Studios’ upcoming Hand of God from helmer Marc Forster. She recently hit the big screen in Broken City opposite Mark Wahlberg. She’s repped by Innovative Artists and McKeon Myones Entertainment.

Johnny Ray Gill and Alona Tal are joining Topher Grace in One Shot, a musical about a failed Broadway singer. The indie film, shooting this month in Mexico City, is helmed by music video director Isaac Rentz from a script by Gerry De Leon and Greg Lisi. The comedy centers on a failed Broadway singer who works as a production manager (Grace). On opening night, he must save the production by wrangling his eccentric cast and crew before they cause havoc. Taye Diggs and J.C. Chasez also star. Tal will play KT, the ex-girlfriend and co-worker of Chasez’s character,

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Exclusive: Topher Grace’s musical comedy One Shot has added another crooner to its cast. Singer-songwriter and record producer Jc Chasez, a founding member of the seminal boy band *Nsync, will join Grace and Taye Diggs in the film about a failed Broadway performer turned stage manager who must wrangle the eccentric cast and crew of a new play to save the show’s opening night.

Grace is starring as said stage manager in addition to producing the indie film, which shoots next month in Mexico City. Chasez will play Grace’s nemesis, the star of the musical play within the movie who sleeps with his ex-girlfriend. Isaac Rentz is directing from a script by Gerry De Leon and Greg Lisi. Daniel Posada and Jason Tamasco are also producing One Shot for Mexico-based Dark Factory Entertainment with Alex Garcia of Ag Studio.

Chasez dabbled in acting with guest starring roles...

• Penelope Cruz will star opposite Ben Stiller in Zoolander 2. Stiller is directing from a script by Justin Theroux, and will produce alongside Stuart Cornfeld for Red Hour. Will Ferrell and Owen Wilson are rumored to be reprising their roles as Mugatu and Hansel, respectively. [Deadline] • Mel Gibson and Andrew Garfield are in talks for the World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge. Gibson would direct the film with Garfield in the role of Private First Class Desmond T. Doss, a war hero who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, two Bronze Stars, and three Purple Hearts. Doss saved 75 men during the Battle of Okinawa,...

Taye Diggs will join Topher Grace in a new film musical comedy titled "One Shot," for Brillstein Entertainment, Dark Factory Entertainment and Ag Studios. To be directed by music video director Isaac Rentz, from a script penned by Gerry De Leon and Greg Lisi, the story centers on a failed Broadway singer-turned-production manager (played by Grace) who, on opening night, must save the production by wrangling his eccentric cast and crew before chaos ensues. Diggs will play a character named Malcolm, a flamboyant actor. That's all we know about the character thus far. Grace is co-producing the film, by the way. Production is set to begin in December in Mexico City. And if...

Topher Grace’s backstage musical comedy One Shot is getting a Broadway vet in Taye Diggs. The singer-actor has joined the cast of the indie film, about a failed star turned stage manager (Grace) who must wrangle the eccentric cast and crew of a new production to save the show’s opening night. Isaac Rentz is directing from a script by Gerry De Leon and Greg Lisi; Grace, who’s currently in theaters in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, is also producing.

Diggs will play Malcolm, a flamboyant member of the production. Diggs of course got his start originating the character of Benny in 1996′s Tony-winning Rent, a role he reprised in 2005 when the musical was adapted into a film by Sony and Chris Columbus. By then he was well into a film and TV career with How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Wood, The Best Man, and a run...

Topher Grace and Taye Diggs are tuning up to star in the musical One Shot. The film, packaged by Brillstein Entertainment’s Jai Khanna, will be fully financed by Dark Factory Entertainment and Ag Studios, and will begin production in December in Mexico City. Music video director Isaac Rentz will helm from a script by Gerry De Leon and Greg Lisi. The comedy centers on a failed Broadway singer turned production manager (Grace) who, on opening night, must save the production by wrangling his eccentric cast and crew before they cause havoc. Diggs will play the role of Malcolm, a flamboyant

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