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Exclusive: Red-hot comic Nate Bargatze is in negotiations to star in Christmas in Paradise, a holiday family comedy from Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists’ Scott Stuber that’s in the early stages of development.

The film will have him playing a beloved small-town doctor (Bargatze) who finds himself with a unique bounty on his head just a week before Christmas, in a town where everything is not as it seems. It’s the second he’s signed on to in the last few months, on the heels of The Breadwinner, a TriStar comedy based on his and Dan Lagana’s original pitch, on which he’ll also serve as a producer.

Jeff Tomsic (Tag) is on board to direct from a script by Johnny Rosenthal (Bad Santa 2). UA’s Stuber and Nick Nesbitt will produce alongside Tom McNulty (The Spectacular Now) and Nathan Reimann (Mr. Woodcock), who developed and...

The Television Academy today revealed its 2025-26 Board of Governors, who will begin serving their two-year terms on New Year’s Day. The organization notes that this is its most inclusive board ever.

Here’s a list of the 13 newly elected governors, and their fields, who will serve their first two-year term: Kevin Blank (Special Visual Effects), John Boyd, Allison Dorenbosch (Children’s Programming), Megan Galizia (Television Executives), Trayce Gigi Field (Costume Design & Supervision), Phil Gurin (Producers), Shana Hagan (Cinematographers), Siddhartha Khosla (Music), Vicki Lemar (Sound), Joseph Litzinger (Reality Programming), Angela Moos (Makeup Artist/Hairstylists), Sean Presant (Writers) and Megan Sleeper (Casting Directors).

Another 15 governors were re-elected to serve a second two-year term: Wendy Aylsworth (Science & Technology), Eva Basler (Daytime Programming), Bobbi Banks (Sound Editors), Mary Lou Belli (Directors), Hillary Bibicoff (Professional Representatives), Megan Chao (Documentary Programming), Yvette Cobarrubias (Commercials), David Hartle (Production Executives), Christina Lee...

The Television Academy today announced its newly-elected Board of Governors, who will serve two-year terms.

The new members will begin serving their terms on January 1, 2023, running through December 31, 2024. According to the Academy, more than half of those elected are new to the boardroom and represent diverse talent and professions across the industry.

The 16 newly elected governors who will serve their first-ever term are: Bobbi Banks (Sound Editors), Eric Becker; Mary Lou Belli (Directors);Hillary Bibicoff (Professional Representatives); Patrick Cady, ASC (Cinematographers); Lamb Chamberlin (Animation); Megan Chao (Documentary Programming); Tessandra Chavez (Choreography); Yvette Cobarrubias (Commercials); David Hartle (Production Executives); Christina Lee (Public Relations); Robert M. Malachowski Jr., Ace (Picture Editors); Lynn Renee Maxcy (Writers); Eddie Perez (Stunts); Gloria Ponce (Children’s Programming); and Kimberly Wannop (Art Directors/Set Decorators).

Twelve governors are returning to serve a second term. They are: Wendy Aylsworth (Science & Technology); Nikki Carbonetta (Makeup...

The Television Academy announced Friday the 16 members newly elected to its Board of Governors for the 2023–’24 term.

Additionally, 12 governors are returning for a second term, while two governor-elects are returning members to the board after several-year absences.

The announcement indicates that over half of those elected to the Academy’s Board of Governors this year are new to the boardroom and represent a diverse slate of talent and a variety of professions across the industry.

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Per the Academy’s release Friday, the 16 newly elected governors who will serve their first-ever term are: Bobbi Banks (Sound Editors), Eric Becker; Mary Lou Belli (Directors);Hillary Bibicoff (Professional Representatives); Patrick Cady, ASC (Cinematographers); Lamb Chamberlin (Animation); Megan Chao (Documentary Programming); Tessandra Chavez (Choreography); Yvette Cobarrubias (Commercials); David Hartle (Production Executives); Christina Lee (Public Relations); Robert M. Malachowski Jr.,...

There’s a new Board in town. The Television Academy is set to reveal the names of the newly-elected governors who will serve a two-year term. Many are first-timers. The approximately 70 board members include two representatives from each of the Academy’s approximately 31 peer groups, as well its officers.

The members announced on Friday will serve two-year terms between Jan. 1, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024. Per the Academy, “More than half of those elected are new to the Academy’s boardroom and represent diverse talent and professions across the industry.”

Here are the returning Board of Governors members, back for a second term, and the peer group they represent: Wendy Aylsworth (Science & Technology); Nikki Carbonetta (Makeup Artists/Hairstylists); Tony Carey (Producers); Jill Dickerson (Reality Programming); Jo Disante (Television Executives); Joe Earle, Cas (Sound); Christie Lyn Lugo Leigh (Los Angeles Area); Luke Reichle (Costume Design & Supervision); Jeff Russo (Music); Derek Spears (Special Visual Effects); Kim Taylor-Coleman,...

Exclusive: Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman will rewrite and direct the science fiction feature Sid for Amazon Studios from an original spec screenplay written by Travis Milloy (Pandorium), Deadline has learned. The storyline is being kept under wraps.

Ahern & Loughman’s feature directorial debut, Extra Ordinary, premiered in competition at last year’s SXSW to rave reviews, notching 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. The supernatural comedy follows Rose (Maeve Higgins), a mostly sweet and mostly lonely small-town driving instructor who must use her supernatural talent to save the daughter of Martin (Barry Ward), also mostly sweet and lonely, from a washed-up rock star (Will Forte) who is using her in a satanic pact that will reignite his fame.

Davis Entertainment and Zoic Studios are producing Sid. Producers are John Davis and John Fox via Davis Entertainment. EPs include Davis Entertainment’s Jeremy Stein and Zoic Studios’ Chris Jones, Samantha Shear and Loni Peristere.

FX has given a pilot order to Kindred, an adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s influential novel, from writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Watchmen), Courtney Lee-Mitchell (The Reluctant Fundamentalist), Darren Aronofsky and his Protozoa Pictures, Joe Weisberg (The Americans) and Joel Fields (Fosse/Verdon). FX Productions, where Weisberg and Fields are under an overall deal, is the studio.

The rights first were acquired by Lee-Mitchell in 2008 from the author’s agent, Writers House LLC, on behalf of Butler’s estate.

The novel, which sold over a million copies, has been hailed as a visionary work of science fiction since it was first published more than four decades ago in 1979.

FX’s adaptation is centered on Dana, a young Black woman and aspiring writer who has uprooted her life of familial obligation and relocated to Los Angeles, ready to claim a future that, for once, feels all her own.

FX has ordered a pilot adaptation of Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction novel “Kindred.” The pilot is written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins of “Watchmen.” Courtney Lee-Mitchell and Darren Aronofsky are also among the executive producers.

Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields of “The Americans” are also executive producers. Ernestine Walker and Merrilee Heifetz are co-executive producers on the FX Productions pilot.

The highly influential “Kindred” was first published in 1979. Lee-Mitchell got the rights in 2008 from Butler’s estate.

FX’s adaptation of “Kindred” is centered on Dana, a young Black woman and aspiring writer who has uprooted her life of familial obligation and relocated to Los Angeles, ready to claim a future that, for once, feels all her own, according to the Disney-owned cable channel. But, before she can get settled into her new home, she finds herself being violently pulled back and forth in time to a nineteenth-century plantation with...

Exclusive: Netflix has given a 10-episode order to a multi-camera comedy series from Jack Dolgen, Doug Mand and Doogie Kamealoha, MD creator Kourtney Kang.

Emily Osment and Gregg Sulkin are set to star in the show, with veteran comedy helmer Pamela Fryman (Call Your Mother) on board to direct.

Created and written by Dolgen and Mand, the Untitled Dolgen/Mand/Kang Project centers on a snooty, self-proclaimed intellectual (Osment) forced to move in with her carefree sister and her sister’s lovably eccentric friends, one of them played by Sulkin.

Osment’s Chelsea is an Ivy league educated intellectual who is book-smart and quick witted but lacks the real world skills she needs to have a functional life. She finds herself living in LA without any...

Exclusive: Bryce and Jackie Zabel’s Stellar Productions is teaming with fledgling La production and management firm Alta Global Media on TV series Captured, based on the landmark 1961 alien abduction case of Betty and Barney Hill.

The project will chart the story of the interracial couple from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who said they were captured by a UFO on the night of September 19, 1961. The story of the black postal clerk and white social worker who claimed to have met extraterrestrials became a media sensation, and culminated in a 1975 made-for-tv film starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons.

The project was previously set up by Zabel (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) with Gotham Group as a film but now has new life with Steven Adams (A Huey P. Newton Story) and Theo Dumont’s Alta, which launched earlier this year with clients including Pedro Alonso (Money Heist), Gary Dourdan (CSI), Tamara Tunie...

Fox Entertainment has brought on SideCar, its content development accelerator, and writer and executive producer Rob Long to develop the multi-camera comedy, “The Texanist.”

Variety exclusively learned in January that Fox was in the very early stages of developing the series, which is based on a long-running advice column from writer David Courtney. According to Texas Monthly, The Texanist — which “has taught many a well-intentioned Texan how to properly conduct him- or herself,” says the magazine — is its most-read feature.

The comedy will focus on Dave, an Austin-area radio show host who doles out advice to Texas natives and newcomers on “the true Texas way.” But as Texas evolves and changes, “it’s Dave’s job, with the help of his wife and family and co-workers, to figure out which changes to embrace and which to reject,” per Fox.

“I’m a longtime reader of Texas Monthly and a huge...

Fox has set Cheers alum Rob Long to write and the Gail Berman-run SideCar Content Accelerator to produce The Texanist, a multi-camera comedy inspired by David Courtney’s Texas Monthly column. The project had been on fast-track off-cycle development since the broadcast network in January acquired the IP and launched a search for a writer to adapt it.

Penned by Long, The Texanist tells the story of Dave, host of a popular Austin-area radio show that dispenses advice to Texas natives and newcomers alike on what, exactly, is the true Texas way. But the “Texas way” is changing — in good ways and not-so-good ways — and it’s Dave’s job, with the help of his wife and family and co-workers, to figure out which changes to embrace and which to reject.

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Exclusive: How I Met Your Mother director Pamela Fryman and actress Ashley Williams, Margin Call producer Neal Dodson and producer Alan Grossbard are teaming up on an adaptation of the Penguin Random House-published memoir Killing It: An Education.

Fryman, who directed all but 12 of the 208 episodes of Fox’s hit comedy How I Met Your Mother, will direct the feature adaptation of Camas Davis’s memoir, which is due to star Williams.

The memoir follows Davis’s journey from unemployed journalist to France where she entrenches herself in the world of an artisan butcher community and then back to Portland, Oregon which was in the throes of a food revolution.

The team has also acquired screen life rights to Davis who will serve as a producer and consultant on the project.

The book inspired actress Williams to write, direct and star in Sundance short Meats which centers on a vegan...

Exclusive: Amazon Studios has struck a first-look deal with Brightstar, the London-based production company founded by The Crown producer Tanya Seghatchian and Cold War producer John Woodward.

It is the latest first-look deal by the Svod service revealed this week and one of its first with British production talent. Earlier this week at TCA, the company announced first-look deals with Blake Lively, Connie Britton and her production company Deep Blue, Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi’s Significant Productions and an overall deal with Lena Waithe.

Under the deal, Brightstar will work with Amazon Studios to develop TV series for Amazon Prime Video’s service in over 200 countries and territories.

Seghatchian (left) and Woodward are currently exec producing Netflix’s Kaos, the darkly comic reimagining of Greek mythology from The End of The F***ing World’s Charlie Covell. Seghatchian has served as an exec producer on Netflix’s The Crown...

Imagine Entertainment is continuing to build out its kids and family division with the addition of a new Nickelodeon project.

Variety has learned exclusively that Imagine Kids & Family is developing an untitled scripted space series with the children’s’ network.

“Working with Brian, Ron and all the creative voices at Imagine to create this project for Nickelodeon is a dream come true,” said Brian Robbins, president of Nickelodeon. “They have an insatiable love for storytelling and content creation that resonates globally, and we’re excited to explore this new adventure together for kids and families.”

In the series, an almost-finished spaceship is about to launch into space with the world’s leading scientists to investigate a mysterious asteroid passing by earth. After a dare gone wrong, a group of kids accidentally launch the ship, putting them in the path of an asteroid. Without any proper training, they embark on a...

Foresight Unlimited CEO and chairman Mark Damon, Voltage CEO and president Nicolas Chartier, Myriad president and CEO Kirk D’Amico and Nu Image/Millennium co-chairman Avi Lerner will take part in the 2014 Ifta Production Conference.

The sales, production and financing experts will participate in a panel entitled Straight To… Theatrical moderated by Kathy Morgan International president Kathy Morgan and Pierre David, chief strategy advisor to Reel One Entertainment.

Other confirmed panelists include K5 International CEO Daniel Baur, Gfm Films partner Michael Ryan, Screen Engine CEO Kevin Goetz, and Holmes Weinberg attorney Hillary Bibicoff.

The panel will explore the new paradigm for producing and distributing independent theatrical films and takes place in Century City on April 25.

Foresight Unlimited CEO and chairman Mark Damon, Voltage CEO and president Nicolas Chartier, Myriad president and CEO Kirk D’Amico and Nu Image/Millennium co-chairman Avi Lerner will take part in the 2014 Ifta Production Conference.

The sales, production and financing experts will participate in a panel entitled Straight To… Theatrical moderated by Kathy Morgan International president Kathy Morgan and Pierre David, chief strategy advisor to Reel One Entertainment.

Other confirmed panelists include K5 International CEO Daniel Baur, Gfm Films partner Michael Ryan, Screen Engine CEO Kevin Goetz, and Holmes Weinberg attorney Hillary Bibicoff.

The panel will explore the new paradigm for producing and distributing independent theatrical films and takes place in Century City on April 25.

Hillary Bibicoff is leaving her partnership at Greenberg Glusker for a place at the boutique law firm of Holmes Weinberg PC. “I had the pleasure of working with Hillary at the beginning of her career. I’m delighted with her success and look forward to working with her again. I have great confidence that she will thrive within the client-focused boutique team environment Steve [Weinberg] and I have created,” said Henry Holmes in a statement today. Bibicoff had been at La powerhouse Greenberg Glusker for the last 12 years, and she specialized in talent deals in the entertainment practice. Bibicoff has repped James Cameron, Kathy Bates, How I Met Your Mother producer-director Pam Fryman, Carnivale creator Dan Knauf and Mike Nichols among others. In 2005, she represented the two largest investors in the $500 million film finance deal between Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros; she also repped Godzilla rights owner Toho in 2010 in the...

Four new members have been elected to the board of Women in Film, Los Angeles: Susanne Daniels, media consultant and former president of entertainment at Lifetime Networks; Diana Derycz-Kessler, president and CEO of the L.A. Film School and L.A. Recording School; Iris Grossman, Icm talent agent and president emeritus of Wif, L.A.; and producer Cathy Schulman, president of Mandalay Pictures and Mandalay Independent.

The group's president, Jane Fleming, who is entering her third consecutive year at the head of Wif, L.A., said: "With Susanne, Diana, Iris and Cathy joining our already exceptional board of directors, Women in Film is perfectly positioned to support our membership -- and the entertainment industry at large -- in the unique challenges and opportunities we all face."

In addition to Fleming, the organization's officers are Nicole Katz, Cfo; Hillary Bibicoff, secretary; Glen Alpert, Cfo; Robert Nieto, vp technology; and Pamela Rodi,...