News

Exclusive: Lifetime has set two new original movies to premiere in the spring, starring Keshia Knight Pulliam, D.B. Woodside and Claire Qute.

Woodside and Qute will star in Taken at a Basketball Game, premiering Saturday, March 15 at 8/7c. Inspired by real events, the movie follows a father desperately searching for his teenage daughter after she is abducted while at a basketball game.

Logline: Desperate to bond with his estranged 18-year-old daughter Robyn (Qute), Wayne Edwards (Woodside) gets them tickets to a basketball game where he envisions them cheering on their favorite team while they reconnect. However, when Robyn goes to the restroom and doesn’t return, Wayne’s worst fear is confirmed when he realizes she’s been kidnapped.

On a mission to find her in a stadium filled with thousands of people, he races against the clock and will stop at nothing...

Exclusive: Lifetime has set six new original films to premiere this fall as part of its “Ripped from the Headlines” movie slate starring Heather Locklear, Ana Ortiz, Lyndsy Fonseca, Jackie Cruz, Sheila E. and Karrueche Tran. The new movies will air on Saturdays at 8 p.m./7 c.

These films join the previously announced movies, Buried Alive and Survived (Sept 21) starring Eva Marcille, and He Slid into Her DMs (Sept 28) with Courtney Thorne Smith.

Learn more about the films and when they will premiere below.

The Girl Who Wasn’t Dead

Starring Lyndsy Fonseca, Emma Tremblay and Kyle Clark

Premieres October 5th at 8/7c.

Inspired by true events, The Girl Who Wasn’t Dead tells the story of 15-year-old Erica (Tremblay) who vanishes without a trace. Authorities believed Erica might be the victim of a local serial killer, but her mother, Carrie (Fonseca) refused to believe the worst. In an incredible turn of events,...

Former America’s Next Top Model and The Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member Eva Marcille and Harlem and P-Valley’s Tyler Lepley will star in Lifetime’s Buried Alive and Survived. The project is a part of the network’s fall slate of Ripped from the Headlines Movies inspired by true-life stories.

In the made-for-tv movie based on a story by Nigel Campbell, Marcille, who currently appears in the lead role of Marilyn “Madam” DeVille in BET’s All the Queen’s Men, will portray Alicia, a woman fighting to protect herself and her son Malcolm from her ex-husband Victor (Lepley) after he’s released from prison. When Alicia turns down Victor’s attempts at reconciliation, he buries her alive. Yet Alicia proves resilient when she manages to claw her way out of the grave before suffocating. Thus begins her final struggle, as she begins searching for her son, attempting to...

Lifetime has revealed its ripped from the headlines slate of movies for the fall that it has dubbed the “Truly Unbelievable Movie Event.” The seven flicks are inspired or based on true events – all of which were filmed prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Included in the slate is the network’s 500th original flick called Murdaugh Murders: The Movie that stars Bill Pullman and will air Oct 14-15. Other new titles include Stolen Baby: The Murder of Heidi Broussard with Emily Osmet (Sept 23); Amish Stud: The Eli Weaver Story, from EP and star Luke McFarlane with Kristen Vangness (Sept 30); Bad Romance: The Vicky White Story, from EP and star Wendi McLendon-Covey (Oct 21); Would You Kill for Me: The Mary Bailey Story, from EP and star Melissa Joan Hart with tiktok star Celina “Spooky BooBoo” Myers (Oct. 28); the previously announced How She Caught a Killer, from EP and star Sarah Drew...

Exclusive: Jennifer Grey is the latest actress to don the big hair to play cult-like figure Gwen Shamblin on television.

The Dirty Dancing star will play the controversial religious leader and Christian diet guru in a Lifetime movie – Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation.

It comes after Deadline revealed that Sarah Paulson is also attached to star as Shamblin in a scripted adaptation of docuseries The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin, which is in the works at HBO Max.

Shamblin, who rose to fame with her Weigh Down Workshop, a Christian-based diet program, and founded the Remnant Fellowship Church. She was a charismatic figure with a carefully curated image who was accused of emotional, psychological and physical abuse and exploitation for the church’s alleged cult-like practices.

Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation will launch on Lifetime on Saturday February 4 2023.

Shamblin, who had a larger-than-life public persona...

Exclusive: Lifetime has given a green light to The Gabby Petito Story (working title) movie, with Emmy-nominated Thora Birch attached to co-star and direct in her helming debut. The movie, part of Lifetime’s Stop Violence Against Women public affairs initiative, comes as the anniversary of Gabby Petito’s disappearance and murder approaches this fall.

The Gabby Petito Story will explore Gabby and her fiancé Brian Laundrie’s complicated relationship and what may have gone wrong during their cross-country trip that resulted in Gabby’s tragic murder. The movie will film in Utah this summer and premiere later this year.

Birch will play Gabby’s mom, Nichole Schmidt.

The disappearance of Gabby Petito captured America’s attention, setting off a nationwide search for the 22-year-old travel blogger after her parents reported her missing in September 2021, when she failed to return home following her cross country...

Exclusive: Lifetime has greenlit the next two movies from the T.D. Jakes‘ Seven Deadly Sins anthology with Wrath and Greed. The films will debut on back-to-back Saturdays starting April 16.

Based on the series of books by Victoria Christopher Murray, Wrath: A Seven Deadly Sins Story stars Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child), Tina Knowles-Lawson (Profiled: The Black Man), Romeo Miller (Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection), and Antonio Cupo (Blood & Treasure).

Wrath follows single lawyer Chastity Jeffries (Michelle Williams) as she meets Xavier Collins (Antonio Cupo), a man who seems to be everything she is looking for in a partner—handsome, smart, and a lawyer as well. As his affection turns to obsession, Chastity realizes that she has been swept up by Xavier’s passion and abandoned her principles. When Xavier’s jealousy and wrath lead to suspicious actions and dangerous threats, Chastity confides in her mother Sarah (Tina...

Michelle Obama and Lin-Manuel Miranda are set to appear on NBC’s “Roll Up Your Sleeves” vaccination special, which will air April 18 at 7 p.m.

The special is designed to educate audiences on the importance of getting vaccinated and will also feature Matthew McConaughey interviewing Dr. Anthony Fauci, comedy acts, real-life stories and heartwarming surprises.

“The ability to get people back to work and kids back in school, getting us reunited with family and friends and attending concerts, sporting events and many other activities we hold dear is contingent upon people getting vaccinated,” said Matthew Segal, the co-founder of Attn, which created the special in partnership with Walgreens and Civic Nation.

Alongside Segal, Valerie Jarrett, Tom Werner, Jarrett Moreno, Taye Shuayb, Jessie Surovell, Mike Vainisi, Audrey Morrissey, Ivan Dudynsky and Chad Hines serve as executive producers on the special.

Also in today’s TV news roundup, Lifetime announced its first annual “Summer of Secrets,...

Exclusive: Lifetime has revealed its 2021 summer slate, consisting of a lineup of six original titles and four acquired inspired by true stories. Following the Summer of Secrets theme, the original Lifetime films will take on true stories of secrecy and deception, and premiere every Saturday and Sunday night from May 31 to June 27.

Lifetime will kick off Summer of Secrets on Memorial Day with double feature of acquired films A Party Gone Wrong and The Secrets She Keeps. A Party Gone Wrong stars Shellie Sterling as a woman who finds herself in the middle of a dark money-making scheme. Emily Miceli and Zoe Cramford stars in The Secrets She Keeps as a mother-daughter duo.

The additional acquired titles are Reel One Entertainment’s Cradle Did Fall and Picture Perfect Lies.

Gone Mom, starring Annabeth Gish and Warren Christie, will be the first Lifetime original film of the Summer of Secrets slate.

Exclusive: Lifetime has set its summer Ripped from the Headlines slate, which kicks off with an Ann Rule movie weekend, starting with Sleeping With Danger on August 1. A Murder to Remember will air August 2, followed by companion documentary special Elizabeth Smart: Finding Justice (new title) hosted by kidnapping survivor and advocate Elizabeth Smart, with a behind-the-headlines look at the real-life case that inspired the movie.

The network also unveiled casting for the films, which were shot earlier this year and executive produced by Kim Raver, Manu Boyer, Conor Allyn and Benjamin Anderson. Sleeping with Danger stars Elisabeth Röhm and Antonio Cupo; and A Murder to Remember stars Carolyn McCormick (Law & Order), Maddie Nichols (The Outsider) and Tc Matherne (Godzilla: King of the Monsters). Leslie Hendrix (Law & Order) stars in both films. A Murder to Remember also...

Lifetime has greenlit five new movies for its “Ripped from the Headlines” slate, all from best-selling true crime author Ann Rule, Variety has learned exclusively. Additionally, Ashley Williams and Robin Givens will make their small-screen directorial debuts with two of these films.

These five films come from Rule’s books “Danger in the Dorm,” “Mortan Danger,” “Practice to Deceive,” “Bitter Harvest” and “Empty Promises” and are being prepped for a summer launch. As part of Lifetime’s Broader Focus Initiative, four out of the five directors of these films are women, and three out of the five films were written by women.

“Bitter Harvest” tells the story of a brilliant doctor and mother who had the epitome of a picture perfect life with three children, an adoring husband and a beautiful house in an opulent neighborhood — but behind the curtain was a rocky marriage that takes a terrible turn and leaves her family in ruin.

Lifetime saw V.C. Andrews’s Casteel Family movie series ranking as cable’s #2 new drama series among W25-54* for 2019. Now, the network will expand its footprint within the writer’s universe by greenlighting a five movie series based on the Ruby Landry novels.

The first of the five new original movies, V.C. Andrews’ Ruby, will star Australian twins Raechelle Banno as “Ruby” and Karina Banno as “Giselle.”

Watched over by her loving Grandmère Catherine, Ruby Landry is filled with hope as love blooms with her high school sweetheart Paul Tate. But lingering thoughts of her mysterious father and her mother’s death often creep into Ruby’s mind. As dark family secrets begin to reveal themselves when Paul’s parents forbid him from seeing Ruby, Ruby is further devastated when her beloved Grandmère passes away.

Forced to flee to New Orleans from the Bayou, Ruby searches for her estranged father,...

Lorena Bobbitt’s story is getting the biopic treatment.

Lifetime has greenlit “I Was Lorena Bobbitt,” a feature about the woman who became a household name and made tabloid headlines when she cut off her husband’s penis with a knife in 1993 after years of abuse.

Bobbitt was the subject of a Jordan Peele-produced Amazon docuseries which came out less than a year ago, and this new retelling has Bobbitt herself on board as an executive producer. Casting on the project is underway and production will begin later this month. The film, announced by A+E Networks president of programming Rob Sharenow at Lifetime’s Television Critics’ Association winter tour press day, will follow Bobbitt’s “journey from a wide-eyed, immigrant bride to a battered wife into an unlikely media sensation.”

“I Was Lorena Bobbitt” hails from Cineflix International and executive producers Andy Streitfeld, Jeff Vanderwal and Charles Tremayne. Barbara Nance...

There was once a time that weeks or months or even years would pass between an incident and the movie made about it. But in a modern TV world of instant gratification, apparently now a story can be put on film before its climax has even happened in real life.

On May 8, a jury in Maricopa County, Ariz., returned a verdict of guilty on the charge of first-degree murder in the case of 32-year-old Californian Jodi Arias, a high-school dropout who pursued photography while working at a restaurant and in sales at PrePaid Legal Services.

On Saturday, June 22, Lifetime airs "Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret," a TV movie inspired by the case, which was in production during the latter phases of the trial. Tania Raymonde ("Lost," "Death Valley") stars as Arias, with Jesse Lee Soffer ("The Mob Doctor") as the victim, Travis Alexander.

David Zayas ("Dexter") plays Detective Esteban Flores,...

Phoenix — A made-for-television movie on Jodi Arias is scheduled to air this weekend.

"Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret" is set to be shown Saturday on Lifetime, but the movie won't be about the trial.

Screenwriter Richard Blaney wrote the script with Gregory Small. Blaney told The Arizona Republic ( ) the project was in the works more than a year ago. He says they completed the script in December. http://bit.ly/19NmBq4

That was the same month that Arias' televised trial started in the brutal 2008 slaying of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, a Mesa motivational speaker.

Small says they didn't anticipate the trial getting as much attention as it did.

A jury convicted Arias of first-degree murder in May but couldn't reach a decision on whether she should live or die.

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com...

Lifetime is reportedly considering Tania Raymonde for the role of Jodi Arias in "Dirty Little Secret: The Jodi Arias Story," according to TVLine.

The "Lost" alumna is said to be in final negotiations for the role, along with "The Mob Doctor's" Jesse Lee Soffer, who would play Travis Alexander, the ex-boyfriend Arias is accused of killing in 2008.

According to a casting breakdown, the producers were searching for someone "coquettish, head-turning, with a palpable sexy allure and well aware of the affect she has on men" for the role of Arias. The notice reportedly continues, "Jodi is a single-minded, head-strong, quick-tempered young woman. She is hell-bent on emotionally suffocating and controlling Travis Alexander, a handsome young Mormon and motivational speaker who soon falls prey."

Deadline reports that the end of the movie will be written after the conclusion of the Jodi Arias trial. The project is being directed by Jace Alexander...

Lost alumna Tania Raymonde is in final negotiations and Jesse Lee Soffer (The Mob Doctor) is set for the leads in Dirty Little Secret: The Jodi Arias Story, Lifetime‘s original movie about the tragic couple. Directed by Jace Alexander from a script by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small, Dirty Little Secret tells the story of 32-year-old photographer Arias (Raymonde), who is standing trial for the 2008 murder of her boyfriend Alexander (Soffer), accused of stabbing him 27 times, slitting his throat and shooting him in the head in his apartment. She has pleaded not guilty, contending that she killed Alexander in self-defense. After 2 1/2 months of testimony, the defense in the case rested yesterday. The trail has drawn national attention and given its own nightly series by Hln, Hln After Dark: The Jodi Arias Trial. According to the breakdown for Dirty Little Secrets, Arias is described as a single-minded, head-strong, quick-tempered...

Atlantis 7

Joe Ballarini has been hired to rewrite the graphic novel adaptation "Atlantis 7" for Walden Media which Dean Parisot is attached to direct and Shawn Levy to produce. Adam F. Goldberg and Robert Nelson Jacobs already worked on the screenplay.

The story follows a military code breaker in search of his absentee father and an elite military Navy Seal force who're in search of the mythical city of Atlantis. [Source: Deadline]

Playing Dirty

Image/Millennium has acquired Richard Blaney and Gregory Small's spec script "Playing Dirty". The story follows a young law student who learns to let loose after meeting a sexy and mysterious stranger.

Things go awry when he finds himself the target of her psychotic plans. [Source: Deadline]

P.O.V.

Millennium Films and Dobré Films are teaming up for Ric Roman Waugh's action-oriented psychological thriller "P.O.V."

Tony Mosher has been hired to do a re-write on Christian Parkes...

Here's the thing ... when you meet someone in your life that allows you to come out of your shell to really start living, hold on to them and never let them go. Unless of course they turn out to be a nefarious psychopath. That kind of shit never works out.

Deadline is reporting that Nu Image/Millennium has acquired Playing Dirty, a spec script written by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small. Mandalay Pictures’ Cathy Schulman and Adam Stone will produce, and they closed the deal with Millennium’s Mark Gill.

In Playing Dirty, a young law student learns to let loose and explore his adventurous side after meeting a sexy and mysterious stranger. After some exhilarating nights of debauchery, car chases and threesomes, things go awry when the student finds himself the target of her psychotic plans.

More as it comes.

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You have your name on a huge festival hit, and any creative move you make — no matter how small it may be — gets documented and reported. That’s only fair, right? On that note, Deadline informs us that Beasts of the Southern Wild co-writer Lucy Alibar has sold a new script to Escape Artists — which, though said to be an original idea, found root in her play Christmas and Jubilee Behold the Meteor Shower. Some quick Googling around brings no results as to what the project may be about, unfortunately, but we’ll find out in good time.

Some more substantial screenplay news also comes from Deadline, who report that Nu Image/Millennium are getting into the business of Playing Dirty, a spec script crafted by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small. The basic logline gives the immediate, obvious hint that we’ve got a thriller on our hands, since the...

Exclusive: Nu Image/Millennium has acquired Playing Dirty, a spec script written by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small. Mandalay Pictures’ Cathy Schulman and Adam Stone will produce, and they closed the deal with Millennium’s Mark Gill. Millennium and Mandalay recently collaborated on the indie hit Bernie. In Playing Dirty, a young law student learns to let loose and explore his adventurous side after meeting a sexy and mysterious stranger. After some exhilarating nights of debauchery, car chases and threesomes, things go awry when the student finds himself the target of her psychotic plans. Blaney and Small previously wrote Someone In The Dark, a teenage Body Heat which is at DreamWorks with Carlos Brooks attached to direct. Original Artists made the deal for the writers, who are also repped by 59 Management. The film will be fast-tracked by Millennium, which has several plum titles at Cannes with the Lee Daniels-directed The Paperboy premiering tomorrow,...

Marc Haimes is 2-for-2.

The DreamWorks executive-turned-screenwriter has sold his original screenplay "Jitters" to Paramount. The sale comes seven months after he sold his first screenplay, the thriller "Elevator Men," to Summit Entertainment after leaving DreamWorks.

CAA- and Management 360-repped commercial director Fredrik Bond has come aboard to helm "Elevator."

Benderspink, which manages Haimes, is attached to produce "Jitters," a creepy family film in the early-'80s Amblin mold (think "Gremlins").

At DreamWorks, Haimes shepherded such movies as "Hotel for Dogs," "Collateral" and "She's the Man." He also oversaw the thriller "Red Eye," which Benderspink produced.

Haimes, also repped by Wme, is working on the screenplay for the adventure film "Family History" at Fox. And he's in negotiations to produce Richard Blaney and Gregory Small's original thriller script "Someone in the Dark," which DreamWorks just picked up.

Benderspink is producing the Spyglass/Universal romantic comedy "Leap Year"; the Warner Bros. remake of "Arthur,...

Do you remember those books that R.L. Stine wrote for those kids that thought they were a little too old for .Goosebumps. ? Or anything out of the library of V.C. Andrews? Those are the stories that the term .teen thriller. stirs up in my head and it looks like Dreamworks is headed down the same dark and scary path of angsty teen spookiness. Variety reports that Someone in the Dark was picked up by Dreamworks on spec from no-name writers Richard Blaney and Gregory Small, and immediately attached an almost as no-name director Carlos Brooks, whose latest film's star power is a guy everyone knows as .Bitch tits. and is named after a sub par meat entree. However, Gavin Polone is signed onto Someone as producer, whose most recent success was Zombieland, a brilliant film in all respects from a relatively unknown director. The pairing of Polone and ...

By the Hollywood Reporter

DreamWorks Studios has purchased the original screenplay "Someone in the Dark," written by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small.

Writer-director Carlos Brooks, who came to the scribes with the idea, is attached to helm and executive produce. The script is described by the studio as a teen thriller, but they are keeping details under wraps.

Read more at the Hollywood Reporter.

DreamWorks Studios has purchased the original screenplay "Someone in the Dark," written by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small.

Writer-director Carlos Brooks, who came to the scribes with the idea, is attached to helm and executive produce. Gavin Polone and Marc Haimes, a former DreamWorks exec, are in negotiations to produce.

DreamWorks exec Jonathan Eirich brought the script in to the studio, and production co-president Mark Sourian picked it up preemptively.

The script is described by the studio as a teen thriller, but they are keeping details under wraps.

DreamWorks has been active in the new material market lately, picking up the Will Beall comic-book adaptation pitch "Xombie," the Michelle McGrath and Hayes MacArthur pitch "Substitute Husband" and the Aaron and Matthew Benay pitch "Wicked," an adaptation from a series of young-adult novels.

Blaney, Small and Brooks are repped by Original Artists and 59 Management.

Brooks wrote and directed the 2008 Sundance feature "Quid Pro Quo,...

DreamWorks Studios has purchased the original screenplay Someone in the Dark , written by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small. Writer/director Carlos Brooks, who came to the scribes with the idea, is attached to helm and executive produce. The script is described by the studio as a teen thriller, but they are keeping details under wraps. Brooks wrote and directed the 2008 Sundance feature Quid Pro Quo , and directed the forthcoming thriller Burning Bright .

Carlos Brooks has struck up a deal with Dreamwork Studios and will be directing a teen thrilled called Someone in the Dark . Brooks previously helmed Quid Pro Quo . Someone is based on an idea by Brooks but was penned by Richard Blaney and Gregory Small. Plot details are being withheld at this time. In addition to the aforementioned Quid , Brooks recently wrapped Burning Bright starring Briana Evigan. Film pits the actress in a house, during a hurricane, with a hungry tiger. We got a chance to talk to the writers of that film; read the interview here !