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Veteran TV producer Jeffrey M. Hayes, who oversaw development of “MacGyver” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” as executive VP of Paramount Pictures, has died from an illness unrelated to Covid. He was 68.

Hayes started his career as a producer, writer and director with Aaron Spelling Productions, where he worked on memorable series including “Vega$” and “T.J. Hooker.”

In the late 1980s, Hayes went to Australia’s Gold Coast where he began to build the infrastructure for a longstanding operation that would produce over 300 hours of international television. He later served as president of Village Roadshow Pictures Television, where he executive produced “Sahara,” “In Pursuit of Honor” and the TV remake of “Mission Impossible.”

In 2000, Hayes started his own production company, Coote/Hayes Productions, and served as executive producer for projects such as “Salem’s Lot,” “Starter Wife” and “Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King,” where he first met director-producer Brian Henson.

Jeffrey M. Hayes, a veteran producer and a former executive VP with Paramount Pictures Network Television who oversaw the development of “MacGyver” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” has died. He was 68.

Hayes died peacefully on March 9 in Los Angeles from an illness unrelated to Covid-19.

Hayes began his career as a producer, writer and director with Aaron Spelling Productions and worked on the series “Vega$” and “T.J. Hooker.” He then left Spelling and joined Paramount, overseeing “MacGyver” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” He also later worked as president of Village Roadshow Pictures Television and executive produced “Sahara,” “In Pursuit of Honor” and the TV remake of “Mission: Impossible.”

In 2000, Hayes formed his own production company Coote/Hayes Productions and executive produced television features, series and miniseries including the remake of “On The Beach,” “The Lost World” series, “Salem’s Lot,” “Starter Wife” and “Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King,...

Jeffrey M. Hayes, a longtime producer whose executive tenure at Paramount Pictures Network Television saw him overseeing the development of series including MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation, died March 9 in Los Angeles from an illness unrelated to Covid-19. He was 68.

His death was announced by Michelle Orsi of Three.Sixty Marketing & Communications.

Hayes’s career in producing, writing and directing began at Aaron Spelling Productions, where his projects included Vega$ and T.J. Hooker. From there, Hayes became Executive VP of Paramount Pictures Network Television.

In the late 1980s, Hayes moved to Australia’s Gold Coast to help build a production operation that would span over 25 years and produce over 300 hours of US/International television. As President of Village Roadshow Pictures Television he executive produced Sahara, In Pursuit of Honor, the remake of the television series Mission Impossible and The Thorn Birds – The Missing Years with The Wolper Organization.

After years in development, it looks like viewers will finally get to see a darkly comedic take on the world of puppets in The Happytime Murders. Taking place in a world where puppets and humans live together, the film will feature a grisly murder mystery that must be solved by a pair of detectives, one human and one puppet. The movie is now finally moving forward with Melissa McCarthy set to star and produce, Brian Henson (son of the legendary Jim Henson) on board as the director, and filming expected to begin this August.

Press Release: (Burbank, CA, May 2, 2017) — STXfilms, whose Bad Moms was 2016’s highest grossing R-rated comedy, teams with comedic genius Melissa McCarthy in The Happytime Murders, directed by Brian Henson. The announcement was made today by STXfilms Chairman Adam Fogelson and Sam Brown, President of Production for STXfilms, a division of Stx Entertainment.

The comedy is set...

Comedy takes place in world where humans and puppets co-exist.

STXfilms and Melissa McCarthy are teaming up on The Happytime Murders, which is scheduled to go into production in August.

McCarthy and Ben Falcone’s On The Day Productions will produce the buddy comedy set in the underbelly of Los Angeles where humans and puppets coexist.

Two detectives – one from each species – must work together to solve the slaying of a former cast member on beloved puppet show The Happytime Gang.

The project hails from The Jim Henson Company’s Henson Alternative label, On The Day Productions, and Stx films. Brian Henson will direct and produces alongside Jeffrey Hayes, McCarthy and Falcone. Lisa Henson and John W. Hyde will serve as executive producers.

Todd Berger wrote the screenplay from a story he co-created with Dee Robertson.

“Melissa McCarthy is the reigning queen of comedy and we believe she will make The Happytime Murders the kind of hysterical...

Exclusive: Indie drama Showing Roots is bringing one star of Alex Haley’s Roots full circle – just as the Emmy-winning landmark miniseries eyes a fast-tracked TV remake on the History Channel.

Set in a small Southern town circa 1977, the film stars Taken’s Maggie Grace as Violet and Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba as Pearl, two women who work in a local beauty parlor. They see the town’s balance turned upside down when the slavery miniseries Roots hits the airwaves and are inspired to integrate their community, only to see pent-up racial tensions erupt in the process.

Adam Brody will play Bud, an engineer who comes to town to fix a local bridge. Downton Abbey’s Elizabeth McGovern has been cast as Shirley, the beauty shop’s owner. Filming is underway in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Coming full circle with the project is Oscar-nominee Cicely Tyson, who...

Exclusive: Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba and Taken 3 star Maggie Grace will lead the cast of feature drama Showing Roots, about a small Southern town in 1977 whose balance is turned upside down when the slavery miniseries Roots hits the airwaves. Aduba and Grace will play two denizens of a local beauty parlor who are inspired by the Alex Haley adaptation to integrate their community, only to see pent-up racial tensions erupt in the process.

Filming is set to begin this month in Baton Rouge, Louisiana under veteran stage helmer Michael Wilson (The Trip to Bountiful), directing from a script penned by One Life to Live actress Susan Batten. Michael Mailer, Batten, and Nick Thurlow are producing and Bill Haber, Jeff Hayes, Alan Helene, and Jennifer Gelfer will serve as executive producers.

“I find that the subject matter has only gotten more relevant in this country,” said Mailer,...

Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Entertainment and Universal Cable Productions with sibling Matchbox Pictures will shoot Hunters, a 13-episode aliens crime drama, in Melbourne next year.

Based on Whitley Strieber.s novel Alien Hunter, the series will follow a decorated Philadelphia police officer whose wife disappears. This leads the protagonist to a secret government unit assembled to hunt a group of ruthless terrorists - shadowy figures that may or may not be from this world.

The vast majority of the cast and crew is expected to be Australian.. Natalie Chaidez (Heroes) is writing the screenplay and will executive produce with Hurd.

The executive producer of The Walking Dead and The Terminator trilogy, Hurd was in Melbourne for the Screen Forever conference.

The series, which will premiere in the Us on the SyFy Channel in 2016, will shoot at Docklands Studios and other locations around Melbourne. A mid-2015 start is likely..

Film...

After starring as a gifted but troubled computer hacker in ABC.s The Code, Ashley Zukerman is set to play a guy whose children have psychic powers in Childhood.s End.

Zukerman joins Charles Dance and emerging star Osy Ikhile in the miniseries for the Us Syfy network, based on a classic Arthur C. Clarke novel, which begins filming in Melbourne next month.

Published in 1953, Clarke.s novel details life on Earth while it is under the benign control of a race of aliens, the Overlords. From their hovering UFOs, the Overlords spend decades turning Earth into a Utopia, which in the process also destroys humanity's identity.

Dance, who plays Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones and starred in Mark Hartley.s Patrick, is cast as an Overlord named Karellen, who is an ambassador for his species on Earth.

Zukerman will play Jake Greggson, an American production designer with artistic...

This fall, Lifetime will take an uncharacteristic trip into horror lit with Big Driver, an adaptation of Stephen King’s same-named short story from his 2010 collection Full Dark, No Stars. Maria Bello stars in the grim and brutal pic, about an author who is brutally raped and assaulted by a truck driver, only to survive and return seeking vengeance.

The project is an unusual one for Lifetime, though the network has been branching out in recent years with increasingly dramatic original series like Witches of East End and The Lottery. Big Driver is also, like many of Lifetime’s programs, a tale of female empowerment led by a particularly steely protagonist.

Now, the suitably dark first trailer for the movie, which also stars Olympia Dukakis, Joan Gett, Ann Dowd and Will Harris, has arrived online. Check it out below, along with the official synopsis for the adaptation.

From a story by Stephen King,...

Childhood's End, a Us science fiction mini-series based on a classic Arthur C. Clarke novel which begins filming in Melbourne on December 1, will be a great gig for Australian cast and crew and, most probably, VFX houses.

A high percentage of the cast and crew will be Australian, according to Brett Popplewell, who is partnered with Jeff Hayes in HayPop, the service company contracted by Universal Cable Productions.

Popplewell and Hayes were approached by NBCUniversal executives in February/March to assess whether the six-hour series could be made in Australia and, if so, to work out a creative and financial structure.

The Docklands Studios and Melbourne locations won out thanks to a number of factors including the Victorian government.s financial assistance, the location rebate, cast and crew availability, locations and a weakening of the local dollar versus the greenback.

Film Victoria CEO Jenni Tosi .really drove [the project] and helped push it over the line,...

We're closing in on the October 18th premiere date of Lifetime's upcoming "Big Driver" adaptation, and on tap today we have the film's official poster art to share plus over a dozen new stills. Check 'em out, and look for more soon!

About "Big Driver" on Lifetime:

From a story by Stephen King, "Big Driver" marks the first collaboration between Lifetime and King. This dark story of a young novelist hell-bent on revenge after falling victim to a brutal crime stars Golden Globe nominee Maria Bello (A History of Violence).

Bello's co-stars include Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis (Steel Magnolias), Grammy nominee Joan Jett, film and television veteran Ann Dowd ("The Leftovers"), and Will Harris ("NCIS").

In "Big Driver" Tess Thorne (Bello), a famous and revered mystery and thriller writer, faces a long drive home following a book-signing engagement. But while driving on a lonely stretch of New England road,...

Childhood's End,. a Us science fiction mini-series based on a classic Arthur C. Clarke novel, will begin filming in Melbourne in November.

HayPop Pty Ltd.s Jeff Hayes and Brett Popplewell will produce the six-part series adapted by Matthew Graham (creator of BBC's Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes), for Universal Cable Productions. The director is Brit Nick Hurran, whose credits include Doctor Who and Sherlock.

Published in 1953,. Clarke's novel details life on Earth while it is under the benign control of a race of aliens, the Overlords. From their hovering UFOs, the Overlords spend decades turning Earth into a Utopia, which in the process also destroys humanity's identity..

The executive producers are Mike DeLuca (Captain Philips, Moneyball, The Social Network) and Akiva Goldsman (Lone Survivor, Paranormal Activity, I Am Legend).

The 13-week shoot will take place at Docklands Studios and at locations around Melbourne, and the series will debut...

From the looks of this effective new teaser trailer for its upcoming "Big Driver" film adaptation, Lifetime really seems to be trying to change its image and appeal to the horror crowd. Will it work? We'll find out October 18th.

About "Big Driver" on Lifetime:

From a story by Stephen King, "Big Driver" marks the first collaboration between Lifetime and King. This dark story of a young novelist hell-bent on revenge after falling victim to a brutal crime stars Golden Globe nominee Maria Bello (A History of Violence).

Bello' co-stars include Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis (Steel Magnolias), Grammy nominee Joan Jett, film and television veteran Ann Dowd ("The Leftovers"), and Will Harris ("NCIS").

In "Big Driver" Tess Thorne (Bello), a famous and revered mystery and thriller writer, faces a long drive home following a book-signing engagement. But while driving on a lonely stretch of New England road, her tire blows out,...

A couple of months ago we learned that Lifetime was adapting Stephen King's "Big Driver" short story from his Full Dark, No Stars collection, and now the network has released some stills and revealed the film's premiere date.

About "Big Driver" on Lifetime:

From a story by Stephen King, "Big Driver" marks the first collaboration between Lifetime and King. This dark story of a young novelist hell-bent on revenge after falling victim to a brutal crime stars Golden Globe nominee Maria Bello (A History of Violence).

Bello' co-stars include Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis (Steel Magnolias), Grammy nominee Joan Jett, film and television veteran Ann Dowd ("The Leftovers"), and Will Harris ("NCIS").

In "Big Driver" Tess Thorne (Bello), a famous and revered mystery and thriller writer, faces a long drive home following a book-signing engagement. But while driving on a lonely stretch of New England road, her tire blows out,...

There's already one film on its way based on a story from the Stephen King collection Full Dark, No Stars, and now joining A Good Marriage is Big Driver on Lifetime, which will star Maria Bello, Olympia Dukakis, Joan Jett(!), and Will Harris.

From the Press Release:

From best-selling author and master of suspense Stephen King, comes the Lifetime Original Movie Big Driver, starring Golden Globe nominee Maria Bello (pictured; A History of Violence), Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis (Sex & Violence, Steel Magnolias), Grammy nominee Joan Jett, and Will Harris (Sky High).

Set to premiere this fall, Big Driver was first published as a novella within King’s critically-acclaimed collection Full Dark, No Stars and tells the story of a young novelist hell-bent on revenge after the core of her psyche is broken following a brutal crime. The film marks Lifetime’s first collaboration with America’s foremost horror authority and begins production in Halifax,...

By Darren Allison

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"The Next Alfred Hitchcock" was how director Brian De Palma was being celebrated by some back in 1973. It was largely in praise of his latest film, the thriller ‘Sisters’. There is little doubt that ‘Sisters’ is not only homage to Hitchcock’s Psycho, but also a huge nod towards Hitchcock’s entire body of work. As the saying goes - ‘You only borrow from the best’ and of course, it was no secret that De Palma was a huge admirer of Hitchcock’s work.

‘Sisters’ was inspired by a Life Magazine article read by De Palma, about the Russian Siamese twins Masha and Dasha. The film begins with a model named Danielle (played by Margot Kidder), who appears on the local TV game show, Peeping Toms (the film’s first example of its voyeuristic theme). Danielle goes out to dinner with the winning contestant,...

Scream Factory has been continually bringing the goods, and their final list of extras for the Sleepaway Camp Blu-ray is no exception! Not only will it feature a new 2K scan of the original camera negative, which is the uncut version, but there will be new commentaries as well. One with actors Felissa Rose and Jonathan Tiersten and one with writer/director Robert Hiltzik. This amazing special collectors edition hits shelves on 5/27. Read on for a complete list of these brand new extras!

• New 2K scan of the original camera negative. Uncut version!

• New Commentary with actors Felissa Rose (“Angela”) and Jonathan Tiersten (“Ricky”)

• New Commentary with writer/director Robert Hiltzik, moderated by SleepawayCampMovies.com webmaster Jeff Hayes

• Original Audio Commentary with writer/director Robert Hiltzik and star Felissa Rose

• At the Waterfront After the Social: The Legacy of Sleepaway Camp – new interviews with Robert Hiltzik, Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten,...

Production is currently underway in Atlanta on a television adaptation of Tony-nominated Broadway revival The Trip To Bountiful. It’s set to premiere on Lifetime in 2014. Original cast members Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams star along with Blair Underwood (In Treatment) and Keke Palmer (CrazySexyCool). Trip To Bountiful tells the story of a woman’s quest to reconnect with her past in order to ensure her family’s future. Set during the final years of the Jim Crow South, it is the best-known work by Oscar-, Pulitzer- and Emmy-winning author Horton Foote. Michael Wilson, who directed the play, makes his television directorial debut with the project. Pic is produced by Ostar. Tyson, Bill Haber (The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not A Fairy Tale), Hallie Foote (Paranormal Activity 3) and Jeff Hayes (Rizzoli & Isles) are exec producers.

Robert Hughes. epic account on the birth of Australia, The Fatal Shore, will be turned into a dramatised six-hour television series next year.

ScreenCorp.s James M. Vernon has taken an option on the rights and has attached Scottish historian and TV presenter Neil Oliver to host the series.

Vernon told If the production will be faithful to Hughes. book but set in the modern day, with CGI-created re-enactments of the epic events during the country.s settlement by England.

The screenplay is being written by Drew Lees, with Vernon as story editor. Vernon had been working on the project with Hughes until the author.s death last August.

The docudrama will be an Australian-uk co-production and Vernon will seek to pre-sell it to broadcasters in both countries with the expectation that it will also be attractive to North American networks. Vernon envisions hiring high-profile directors from Australia and UK but none is signed yet.

A Day Late And A Dollar Short is a Lifetime original movie based on the novel by Waiting To Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back writer Terry McMillan. Whoopi Goldberg has signed on to executive produce and star as an irascible matriarch who learns that her next asthma attack is likely to kill her, and she sets out to fix her fractured family before she dies. Production begins this summer for a 2014 premiere. Goldberg co-starred opposite Angela Bassett in the 1998 movie adaptation of How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and also exec produced the Lifetime drama series Strong Medicine and the 2001 original movie What Makes a Family. Stephen Tolkin will direct Dollar from a script by Shernold Edwards, and Tolkin exec produces with Goldberg, Tom Leonardis, Jeffrey Hayes and Bill Haber.

I hear Cinemax is finalizing the deals for a 13-episode order to Chemistry, a half-hour dramedy for late night that is executive produced by CAA co-founder Bill Haber. Richard Christian Matheson and Norman Steinberg have written all 13 episodes of the series, about the complexity of the relationship between Liz and Michael, who have strong physical attraction bordering on erotic madness. The series, said to have overtones of Last Tango in Paris and an upscale, sophisticated Red Shoe Diaries, is executive produced by Haber and Jeff Hayes, with Matheson and Steinberg serving as co-executive producers. In anticipation of a series greenlight, Chemistry has already started casting. Cinemax has been making a big push in original programming with three recent primetime action series orders: Strike Back, The Transporter and The Sector. Unlike those series, which are bigger-budget, mainstream entertainment, in its late-night scripted efforts, including Chemistry, the network is staying closer to...

Here's an old Paramount Pictures memo that was in the archives of Paramount, or maybe they found it behind a desk while moving offices. The memo was written on April 13th 1987 to the head of Network Television. It gives us a look at the actors who were being considered for certain roles in the series. One of the most interesting names on the list is Wesley Snipes being considered for the role of Georgi! He was actually the frontrunner for the part. Could you imagine!

Check out a transcript of the list below and let us know what you think.

Transcript:

To: John Pike

Date: April 13, 1987

From: John Ferraro

Subject: Star Trek/Casting

Per your request, following is a list of actors who are being considered for their respective roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Picard

Patrick Stewart

Mitch Ryan

Roy Thinnes

Yaphet Kotto

Patrick Bauchau

Tasha

Lianne Langland...

Crusoe5.jpg" alt="" />BuddyTV recently previewed the new NBC series, Crusoe, which debuts October 17 at 8pm. Our very own John Kubicek described the show as something that “looks and feels like a movie,” adding that it “has far more in common with HBO's Rome or Showtime's The Tudors than it does with other major network dramas.” Recently, the star of Crusoe spoke to Deadbolt to share his thoughts on the new series, which exude action scenes such as that of the Pirates of the Carribean.

Philip Winchester, who stars as the titular character, admitted that one of the biggest challenges he had to overcome was “he physical and emotional stamina, because we’ve been [shooting] in such a short amount of time and...there’s been a lot of physical demands on everyone.”

He points out that it was a collaborative effort by everyone to pull of such a production, saying...

In a David Blaine inspired effort to promote their newest series Crusoe, NBC will build a giant treehouse in Midtown Manhattan in anticipation of the show's October 17 debut. The treehouse will be located on Broadway and 51st Street.

Variety reports that NBC is funding a 24-hour webcam stream capturing the goings-on in the treehouse. The feed will be available at www.savecrusoe.com. During the event, polls and contest giveaways will take place, and series stars Philip Winchester (Crusoe) and Tongayi Chirisa (Friday) will make appearances.

Crusoe is the latest adaptation of Daniel Defoe's classic novel about a British man shipwrecked on a deserted island. Crusoe is accompanied by native friend Friday, and the two team together against cannibals, wild beasts, militias and the forces of nature. On the island, Crusoe builds a breathtaking treehouse in the forest to evade his enemies.

In addition to the island events, the...