News

Sarah Boscarino plays a Gen Z-er girlbossing an exclusive country club, but her charisma and comic timing can’t overcome the glaring implausibilities

From its faux female-empowerment storyline to its you-go-girl ethos, so much of Jeannette Godoy’s romantic comedy feels planted firmly in 2010s millennial culture. Given a membership by her millionaire uncle to his exclusive country club, our scrappy protagonist Ariana (Samantha Boscarino) spends the whole movie girlbossing her way to the top. She even manages to find love on the way.

Centring its comedy around the clash between Ariana’s rebellious nature and the snobbery of the private club – which manifests in the terrifying form of posh queen bee Skyler (Caitlin Carver) – Diamond in the Rough attempts to update the mean-girl trope with a painfully superficial dose of class consciousness. The positioning of Ariana as an underdog is quite ludicrous, considering how her family connections land her...

After breaking out as part of a TikTok collective, Griffin Johnson now the leading man in a feature film. Johnson, who is perhaps best known as a member of Sway House, is the star of Diamond In The Rough, which is now available via production and distribution platform Creator+.

Diamond in the Rough, first announced last November, is a golf comedy for Generation Z. Johnson stars alongside Samantha Boscarino with Jeannette Godoy directing. The film premiered on June 29 in L.A. at an event attended by Amanda Diaz, Alan Chikin Chow, Ben of the Week, and several other high-profile TikTokers.

The film is available as an 11.99 rental through Creator+'s SVOD platform. The production company raised 12 million last year to provide an online-video-to-film pipeline for creators. Though Diamond in the Rough is not the first film Creator+ has announced, it is the first one to see a wide release. The psychological thriller Jane,...

Exclusive: Gersh has signed actor, writer and producer David Koechner (Anchorman) for representation.

Koechner is perhaps best known for his turn as Michael Scott’s pal Todd Packer on NBC’s The Office, and as the Anchorman films’ Champ Kind. He currently co-hosts A&e’s America’s Top Dog and plays Bill Lewis on ABC’s The Goldbergs, having recently appeared on ABC’s Bless This Mess, CBS’s Superior Donuts, Showtime’s Twin Peaks, Comedy Central’s Another Period and IFC’s Stan Against Evil. Koechner voices recurring characters on Fox’s American Dad, as well as on Netflix’s series F is for Family and The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants. Recent projects on the film side include the dramedy Then Came You with Asa Butterfield, Maisie Williams and Nina Dobrev; Sean McEwen’s dramatic comedy Braking for Whales with Tom Felton and Wendi McLendon-Covey; Roman White...

Samantha Boscarino (Good Luck Charlie), Griffin Johnson (Ridiculousness), David Koechner (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy) and Rizwan Manji (Schitt’s Creek) have signed on to star in Diamond in the Rough, the second feature financed and produced by Creator+, which will enter production in Los Angeles this week.

They’ll be joined in the ensemble by Caitlin Carver (Dear White People), Natasha Behnam (American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules), Essence Stiggers (the upcoming Bosch spinoff), Kirstin Leigh (Hawaii Five-0), Carolyn Hennesy (True Blood), Wayne Wilderson (The Mick), Andy Cohen (Ray Donovan), Pat Finn (The Middle) and Carlos Lacamara (The Garcias).

The film directed by Jeannette Godoy (The Garcias) centers on Ariana Alvarez (Boscarino), who is lost after the death of her parents and can’t hold down a job because corporate life is so not her. To help her navigate post-college life, her doting Tío Jorge gets her a seasonal membership...

Creator Plus, a movie studio and distribution startup centered on digital influencers, has greenlit its second feature-length film: Country-club comedy “Diamond in the Rough,” starring Samantha Boscarino (Disney’s “Good Luck Charlie”) and TikTok star and entrepreneur Griffin Johnson (MTV’s “Ridiculousness”).

Production is slated to begin this week in Los Angeles. Creator Plus expects to release the movie on its digital sell-through platform in the spring of 2022.

The film joins the startup’s first film project, “Jane,” starring Madelaine Petsch (“Riverdale”), who is also producing, singer-songwriter Chlöe Bailey (part of sister duo Chloe x Halle), Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”), Ian Owens and model Chloe Yu. “Jane,” which has run into Covid-related production delays, is slated for an early 2022 release.

Creator Plus, formed earlier this year, finances in-house production and development and promises to give its talent partners creative approval and to share profits. “Creators can participate evenly with us in shared revenue and,...

Updated with semifinalists, 10:15 Am: Sony Pictures Television has announced the 15 semifinalists in its 2018 Diverse Directors Program. The shortlisted folks for fifth annual initiative are Amir Farhang, Charissa Sanjarernsuithikul, Darien Sills-Evans, James Sims, Jeannette Godoy, Kim Nguyen, Leena Pendharkar, Lynda Reiss, Maria Burton, Mel Rodriguez III, Nora Kirkpatrick, Ryan Richmond, Stephanie Martin, Tiffanie Hsu and X. Dean Lim.

Previous Exclusive, June 18: Sony Pictures Television has begun accepting applications for its fifth annual Diverse Directors Program, aimed at providing opportunities to talented artists of diverse backgrounds.

Fifteen semi-finalists will participate in the Diverse Directors Program’s episodic directing workshop consisting of six evenings of discussion and instruction from working directors, production personnel and entertainment professionals. About five finalists will then be chosen to work closely with established TV directors on episodes of hour and half-hour scripted Spt series. Last year’s program finalists worked on such shows as The Blacklist,...