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‘Blue Jean’, ‘My Old School also among awarded films.

Aftersun was the big winner at the 2023 Bafta Scotland Awards, taking three prizes for best actor for Paul Mescal, best director (fiction) for Charlotte Wells and best writer (film and television) for Wells.

Aberdeen-based Hassan Nazer’s Iran-set family drama Winners, produced by Nadira Murray and Paul Welsh, received the feature film award; while Lucy Halliday took the actress film prize for her role as a gay girl in 1980s northeast England in Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean.

The director factual award went to Jono McLeod for My Old School, a...

Frankie Corio becomes youngest-ever Bafta Scotland nominee.

Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun leads the nominations for the Bafta Scotland Awards 2023, recognised in five categories: actor film, actress film, director fiction, feature film and writer film/television.

The UK-us co-production has acting nominations for Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio, with Corio becoming the youngest-ever nominee at Bafta Scotland.

Scroll down for the full list of nominations

Wells receives the other three nominations, with producers Mark Ceryak, Amy Jackson, Barry Jenkins and Adele Romanski nominated alongside her for feature film.

Aftersun previously received four nominations at the Bafta Film Awards earlier this year, winning...

Sophie Heldman will direct the real-life Lgbtqi+ drama.

Charlie Murphy and Flora Nicholson will lead the cast of Miss Pirie And Miss Woods, a true story Lgbtqi+ drama from director Sophie Heldman and Winners producer Paul Welsh.

Based on historian Lilian Faderman’s book Scotch Verdict, it tells the 1810 story of a scandal when a Scottish student accused two of her teachers of having an affair. The producers expect to close finance this week in Cannes, ahead of a shoot in Scotland and Germany in autumn 2023.

Having co-written the film with Nicholson, it will be a second feature for German director Heldman,...

Projects include ‘Orange World’, the latest from ’Sunlight’ filmmaker Claire Dix.

Katie Holly’s Irish production company Blinder Films, the outfit behind Extra Ordinary, Mr Malcolm’s List, Love And Friendship and Dublin premiere Sunlight, has re-launched as Keeper Pictures, with an expanded team and a bustling slate of development projects.

Long-standing Keeper Pictures producer Yvonne Donohoe has been promoted to a newly created role, head of creative. Evan Horan, who was associate producer on Mr Malcolm’s List, has been promoted to producer. Amy Carroll has joined as development executive, previously working at South of the River and Kudos,...

It was a great night for Charlotte Wells' father-daughter drama Aftersun at the British Independent Film Awards on Sunday evening, as the film—– already a favourite going into the evening after 16 nominations, won seven, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Other films scoring several awards included Blue Jean, and The Origin, about a nomadic tribe that faces a terrifying ancient threat that comes when night falls.

The BIFAs continued non-gender-specific main performances categories and added one, the Joint Lead Performance, awarded to Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright for their roles as extraordinary real-life siblings who communicated only with each other in The Silent Twins.

Here is the full list of winners…

Best British Independent Film

Aftersun – Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson – Winner

Blue Jean – Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre

Good Luck To You, Leo Grande – Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski

Living – Oliver Hermanus,...

It has been a stellar year for British talent, as is evidenced by the amazing line up of films celebrated and championed by BIFA this evening. The British Independent Film Awards were handed out this evening in London and we were there to talk to the presenters and nominees on the red carpet.

A full list of winners follows the interviews. Colin Hart and Ethan Hart were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

The 2022 BIFAs Red Carpet Interviews

The full list of winners is below.

Best British Independent Film

Aftersun Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson (Winner)

Blue Jean Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski

Living Oliver Hermanus, Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen

The Wonder Sebastián Lelio, Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Ed Guiney

Best Director,...

The awards ceremony takes place today (December 4), starting at 8pm UK time.

The 2022 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) ceremony is taking place today (December 4) at London’s Old Billingsgate.

The show starts at 8pm UK time, finishing at approximately 10pm.

Screen will be posting all the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates).

Leading the pack for nominations is Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, with 16 mentions – the second-most ever for a film at the Bifas, behind only Saint Maud’s record 17 from 2020. The feature has already won three of those awards,...

A release is set for early 2023.

Modern Films has picked up the UK entry for the Oscars’ international feature film category, Winners, for UK-Ireland distribution.

It is written and directed by Aberdeen-based Iranian director Hassan Nazer, and produced by Scotland’s Paul Welsh of Edge City Films and Nadira Murray of Sylph Productions, with backing from Screen Scotland.

The drama, shot entirely in Iran using Farsi dialogue, premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it won the audience award, ahead of clinching the best UK feature prize at Raindance. It boasts two Bifa nominations, including breakthrough producer for Murray, and...

Charlotte Wells’ indie breakout “Aftersun” continues to build momentum in the indie awards race.

After receiving four Gotham Award nods, “Aftersun” leads the 2022 British Independent Film Awards nominations in 16 categories, followed by 12 for “Blue Jean” and “The Wonder,” respectively. “Living” earned nine nominations and “Flux Gourmet,” “God’s Creatures,” “Men,” and “The Origin” each landed five nods.

The 25th annual BIFAs introduces new performance, first-time documentary feature, and music categories, with female filmmakers dominating the performance, writing, and directing categories for this year’s batch of nominees, recognizing 36 British features. The 2022 BIFA ceremony takes place December 4.

Hosts Sam Claflin and BIFA winner Kosar Ali announced the 2022 BIFA nominations, including former BIFA recipients Emma Thompson, Jessie Buckley, Florence Pugh, and Alice Birch among them. Two Paul Mescal films, “Aftersun” and “God’s Creatures,” are among the top-nominated films, with Mescal in the running for both Best Joint Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance for the respective films.

Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells’s debut feature Aftersun leads the nominations for this year’s British Independent Film Awards with a sweeping 16 nods, including Best Director and Best film.

The film’s impressive nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Debut Director (the Douglas Hickox Award) and Best Debut Screenwriter nods for Wells and a Best Joint Lead Performance nomination for stars Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio, who received a Breakthrough Performance nomination. The Barry Jenkins-produced pic is also up for Best British Independent Film and racked up a further nine craft nominations, including Best Casting and Cinematography.

Inspired by, but not based on, Wells’s experiences as the child of young parents, the poignant ’90s-set film explores a father and daughter’s complex relationship against the backdrop of a simmering holiday the pair have taken to a resort in Turkey.

Georgia Oakley’s debut film Blue Jean trails behind with 13 nominations.

Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” and Georgia Oakley’s “Blue Jean” led the nominations at the 2022 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) with 16 and 13 nods respectively.

Sebastián Lelio’s “The Wonder” followed with 12 nominations, Oliver Hermanus’ “Living” nine and Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet” seven.

From this year, the awards are permanently going gender neutral for acting categories with the traditional best and supporting actress and actor awards being replaced by best lead performance, best supporting performance, best joint lead performance — for performances that are the joint focus of the film — and best ensemble.

The nominations were revealed at London’s Everyman Broadgate cinema by hosts, actors Sam Clafin (“Peaky Blinders”) and Kosar Ali (double BIFA winner for “Rocks”).

BIFA Nominations 2022

The Richard Harris Award For Outstanding Contribution By An Actor To British Film

To Be Announced

Best British Independent Film

“Aftersun” – Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson

“Blue Jean” – Georgia Oakley,...

Exclusive: Other Angle Pictures is launching sales on the crime thriller Double Down South, starring Sons of Anarchy actor Kim Coates. Other Angle will present the completed film to buyers at AFM next month.

Written and directed by Tom Schulman, the film is set in the high-stakes world of keno gambling where Nick (Coates), a keno-veteran, runs an illegal keno parlor from a run-down plantation house. One day Diana, a smart, tough newcomer, charms Nick into taking her under his wing. They prepare to risk it all to defeat the world champion, but soon find themselves in much more danger than they ever imagined.

The film debuted at the Newport Beach International Film Festival earlier this month. Lili Simmons (Banshee) and Justin Marcel McManus (Power Book II: Ghost) star alongside Coates. Producers include Rick Wallace, Sara Sometti Michaels, and Seth Michaels. Cinematography is by Alan Caudillo, editing is by Yang Hua Hu,...

“Bridgerton” star Phoebe Dynevor and “Aftersun” writer-director Charlotte Wells are among the emerging talents recognized at the British Independent Film Awards’ (BIFA) New Talent categories.

Dynevor has been longlisted in the Breakthrough Performance category for Sky film “The Colour Room” and Wells twice, in the Debut Director and Debut Screenwriter categories.

In all, 28 fiction and 14 documentary features have been longlisted, including in a new category for BIFA’s 25th year, Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary. Eleven first-time fiction feature directors, 16 first-time documentary feature directors, 14 first-time writers, 20 breakthrough producers and 15 new performers have been recognized by BIFA voters for their achievements.

BIFA’s Springboard scheme will provide a tailored program of continuing professional development, with seven of this year’s longlisted filmmakers joining the cohort of 30 filmmakers on the Film4 supported initiative.

The final five nominations in each category will be announced on Nov. 4 and winners will be revealed at the...

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) have revealed the nomination longlists for Best Feature Documentary and Best International Independent Film categories. In addition, BIFA’s Raindance Discovery Award longlist has also been unveiled.

Of the 15 films longlisted for Best Feature Documentary, eight are directed by women. The 17 films longlisted for Best International Independent Film have already won top prizes from this year’s premier international festivals.

The final five nominations in each category will be announced in early November and winners will be revealed at the 25th annual BIFA ceremony on Dec. 4.

Best International Independent Film Sponsored By Champagne Taittinger

“Alcarràs” – Carla Simón, María Zamora, Stefan Schmitz, Tono Folguera, Sergi Moreno

“All The Beauty And The Bloodshed” – Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov, John S. Lyons

“Argentina, 1985” – Santiago Mitre, Mariano Llinás, Axel Kuschevatzky, Federico Posternak, Agustina Llambi Campbell, Ricardo Darín, Santiago Carabante, Chino Darín, Victoria Alonso

“Broker” – Kore-eda Hirokazu,...

Click here to read the full article.

The British Academy has selected Winners, the Farsi-language drama from British-Iranian writer/director Hassan Nazer as the U.K.’s submission for next year’s international feature award at the Oscars.

Fully financed in Scotland with support from Creative Scotland and qualified British through the cultural test, Winners was shot entirely in Iran with 100 percent Farsi dialogue and was post-produced in Scotland. It premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August this year, where it won the audience award.

Set in a poor Iranian village where the children work hard to support their families, Winners follows nine-year-old Yahya and his friend Leyla, wo one day find a precious statuette in the desert. As the authorities search for the lost treasure, sharing a passion for cinema, Yahya’s boss Nasser Khan decides to help the children find its owner.

Written and directed by Aberdeen-based Nazer,...

British-Iranian filmmaker Hassan Nazer’s latest film Winners has been selected as the UK’s entry to the Best International Film category.

Written and directed by Nazer, the film is set in a poor Iranian village where the children work hard to support their families. One day nine-year-old Yahya and his friend Leyla find a precious statuette in the desert. As the authorities search for the lost treasure, sharing a passion for cinema Yahya’s boss Nasser Khan decides to help the children find its owner.

Winners was fully financed in Scotland with support from Creative Scotland and shot entirely in Iran with 100 Farsi dialogue. Post-production was conducted in Scotland. The film debuted at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August, where it picked up the Audience Award.

Reza Naji (The Song of Sparrows) stars in the film alongside Hossein Abedini, Parsa Maghami, Helia Mohammadkhani, and Malalai Zikria. Cinematography is by Arash Seifi Jamadi,...

The feature is directed by Hassan Nazer.

UK filmmaker Hassan Nazer’s Winners has won the audience award at Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), which closed closed on Saturday August 20.

Winners, which had its world premiere at Eiff, is directed by Aberdeen-based Hassan Nazer and produced by Nadira Murray, who is Scottish Uzbek, and Scotland’s Paul Welsh. The ode to Iranian cinema is set in a deprived area in a small Iranian town, where children are required to work to help support their families. A nine-year-old girl strikes gold when she finds an unclaimed Oscar statue.

Eiff has also...

Scottish filmmakers Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson clinched the Powell And Pressburger Award for best film, the new main competition award at the Edinburgh Film Festival, with their debut feature A Cat Called Dom.

Anderson and Henderson both star in and co-direct the indie flick, which follows how Anderson deals with the grief of his mother’s cancer. In the film, the duo work on their animations and face the frustrations of trying to make this documentary. Whilst alone, Will turns to Dom, the animated cat that lives on his laptop screen.

The jury, comprised of president Gaylene Gould, producer Rosie Crerar, and author Sarah Winman, cited the “special collaboration” between the legendary British filmmakers Powell and Pressburger which they said “was grounded in deeply human stories and the belief that life can be magic” when handing the award to A Cat Called Dom.

Accepting the honor, Anderson and Henderson...

Mack & Rita Review — Mack & Rita (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Katie Aselton, written by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh and starring Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Lail, Taylour Paige, Loretta Devine, Dustin Milligan, Aimee Carrero, Addie Weyrich, Simon Rex, Lauren Beveridge, Catherine Carlen, Annie Hamilton, Sara Amini, Nicole Byer, Patti Harrison, [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: MacK & Rita (2022): There’s Something Endearing About Diane Keaton’s Latest Screwball Comedy...

Photo: 'Mack & Rita' Actress-turned-director Katie Aselton’s new film ‘Mack and Rita.’ The movie is written by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh, both alumni writers of the hit comedy show ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine,’ stars Elizabeth Lail as Mack Martin, living her life as a successful 30-year-old writer. She is different from most females her age. After the success of her first book, she feels compelled to keep the momentum going by writing her second one. She was raised by her grandmother, which is also another huge explanation to Mack’s mindset of a person who refuses to stay up late and party with her friends. Her friends do not give her the support of her aspiring dream as a writer since they push her to go to a bachelorette party in Palm Springs. At one point, Mack goes into a tanning bed at a tent operated by a...

A handful of smaller films will start to test audience enthusiasm for movie theaters without big tentpoles. It’s been a rocky summer for specialty releases, and an uphill climb as arthouses emerge from Covid jitters with franchise films sucking up oxygen and screens. But superheroes are on hiatus.

“There isn’t giant competition from tentpoles,” said Howard Cohen, co-president of Roadside Attractions. “On balance, it’s good. Obviously, if you have Top Gun, it sucks the air out of the marketplace. It’s still better — for the specialty market — to have three or four indies than one giant release. Exhibitors are antsy about the sudden dearth of new wide releases this month and next, but they’ve also been asking for more box office breadth.

“We have seen signs of life in our sector,...

Diane Keaton plays Aunt Rita in Katie Aselton’s Mack & Rita. Photo: Gravitas Premiere We’ve all heard the term “old soul” before. Director Katie Aselton’s Mack & Rita explores that concept literally with the story of a 30-year-old who physically becomes the advanced age she feels on the inside.

“Mack & Rita,” the third film by Sundance darling Katie Aselton, is Mack (Elizabeth Lail), an awkward author turned reluctant influencer, describes herself as a “70-year-old in the body of a 30-year-old.” She tiptoes through life terrified to be out of step with her cohorts’ harsh judgments. Here, according to screenwriters Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh, millennials recoil at reading, diners, scarves, carpeting, silence, sensible shoes, chain restaurants and non-conformity. In one scene, 50 of millennials don’t even understand the word “lothario.”

Exhausted from the pressure to sport thigh-high, spike-heeled snakeskin boots to a bottomless mimosa brunch, Mack stumbles across a shady huckster (“Red Rocket” star Simon Rex), collapses in his regression tank — and emerges in the body of Diane Keaton. The body-swapping contrivance is easier to believe than anything the film does with it. Introducing herself to the world as Mack’s Aunt Rita, the character unchains herself from...

When we think of old age, we think of wisdom (charitably) or frailty (less charitably), the weathered faces of elders showing us our future. Or consider a more spritely vision of the aging process: Think of colorful scarves and oversized knits. What about silk robes and high-collared shirts? Maybe a glass of red wine on ice?

This is the paradise that retirement age has to offer not our society’s aged, but rather Mack, the frazzled “old soul” at the center of Katie Aselton’s age-swap comedy “Mack & Rita.”

Written by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh (both alums of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”), the gentle film takes quirky introvert Mack out of her comfort zone of books and linen clothing and into her best friend Carla’s bachelorette party. It’s there that Mack realizes just how unlike other girls she really is, balking at the non-stop parade of selfies and mimosas.

Click here to read the full article.

For the 30-year-old at the center of Mack & Rita, a repurposed tanning bed and a New Age charlatan’s mumbo-jumbo summon body-switch magic: She emerges from the gussied-up contraption as the older woman she believes she truly is. The good news for the audience is that the septuagenarian is played by Diane Keaton. For Keaton, the movie is better news than Poms, but still a hit-and-miss affair. At times disarming, at others plain silly, it takes a few daring leaps without quite avoiding middle-of-the-road sitcom territory.

This makes sense given that screenwriters Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh are vets of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Actor-turned-filmmaker Katie Aselton (Black Rock, The Freebie), who played Keaton’s daughter in Book Club, directs the material with a sunshiny SoCal sensibility and an appreciation of the terrific comic cast, though more than a few barely escape being wasted. If there’s magic here,...

Gravitas Ventures, an Anthem Sports & Entertainment Company, today announced the launch of its new theatrical release label, Gravitas Premiere, which will acquire 4-6 cast-driven, high production value films per year and release them wide theatrically with significant P&a support. The first title on Premiere’s docket is Katie Aselton’s dramedy Mack & Rita, starring Diane Keaton, which it will release wide in theaters across the U.S. and Canada on August 12.

In Mack & Rita, Mackenzie Martin (Elizabeth Lail) is tired of doing all the things she has to do to keep up and get ahead in her 30s. Since she was a little girl, Mack’s deepest wish has been to be just like her Grammie: comfortable in her own skin, great at saying “no,” and largely unburdened by what others think of her—not to mention love for a good chunky sweater and being in bed by 8:00 p.

Gravitas Ventures, of Canada-based Anthem Sports & Entertainment, has acquired the North American rights to the Diane Keaton-starring comedy film “Mark & Rita” — set to premiere Aug. 12 — as it expands into a new theatrical release label Gravitas Premiere.

The label will acquire four to six “cast-driven, high production value films” per year, releasing them wide theatrically, according to the company’s announcement.

“We are delighted to launch Gravitas Premiere with the acquisition of ‘Mack & Rita,’ which solidifies our commitment to championing the cinematic in-theater experience,” said Gravitas Ventures Founder and CEO Nolan Gallagher. “People love going to the movies and this film is an excitingly fresh and insightful comedy that needs to be experienced on the big screen. ‘Mack & Rita’ is the type of high-quality, independently-produced story we are seeking to acquire through Gravitas Premiere, and we look forward to collaborating with our exhibition partners in bringing the...

After directing her first two features (both Sundance entires) in The Freebie (2010) and Black Rock (2012), Katie Aselton would move more into her acting career. So it was a big deal when it was announced that production on her third feature would begin in March of this year with a cast with the likes of Diane Keaton and Taylour Paige in the lead. With cinematographer Sean McElwee lensing in Los Angeles, this was written by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh.

Gist: Mack and Rita follows Mackenzie Martin is tired of doing all the things she has to do to keep up and get ahead in her 30’s.…...

Exclusive: The Katie Aselton directed romantic comedy Mack & Rita has rounded out the cast which has already set Diane Keaton, Taylour Paige and Elizabeth Lail.

As we already told you Keaton is playing Rita, Lail is playing Mack, and Paige is playing Rita’s best friend Carla from when the protagonist was young. The movie, scripted by Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh, is now shooting in Los Angeles. Endeavor and Fortitude are repping worldwide rights.

Mack and Rita follows Mackenzie Martin is tired of doing all the things she has to do to keep up and get ahead in her 30’s. Since she was a little girl, raised by her Grammie Martin, her deepest wish has been to be just like her Grammie, comfortable in her own skin, great at saying “no” and largely unburdened by what other people think of her. Not to mention Mack has always loved a...

Exclusive: Here’s an independent romantic comedy we hear is coming together: Oscar winner Diane Keaton and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom star Taylour Paige are set to star in Mack and Rita which will be produced by Alex Saks. Katie Aselton Duplass is directing, we hear.

The comedy is billed as being in the spirit of Big. Mackenzie Martin is tired of doing all the things she has to do to keep up and get ahead in her 30’s. Since she was a little girl, raised by her Grammie Martin, her deepest wish has been to be just like her Grammie, comfortable in her own skin, great at saying “no” and largely unburdened by what other people think of her. Not to mention Mack has always loved a good chunky sweater and being in bed by 8 pm. While at her best friend’s bachelorette in Palm Springs, Mack stumbles...

A review of “Pimemento,” this week’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine, coming up just as soon as I ask if you do the Face/Off surgery here…

Jason Mantzoukas is among the funniest human beings alive, thus it’s not surprising that he’s one of the select company of actors to appear on all three of Mike Schur and/or Dan Goor’s Brooklyn, The Good Place, and Parks and Rec. His intense, loopy energy was a perfect fit in The Good Place‘s afterlife, and he made a fine(stein) Pawnee villain.

Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you have not yet watched “I Want to be Here,” the fourth season premiere of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”

The final season of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” started with Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) in prison after shoving her stalker ex Trent (Paul Welsh) off of a rooftop. She went into prison willingly, as an attempt to finally own up to her actions, but the experience was not at all what she expected.

“The key thing that we discussed was that in Rebecca Bunch fashion, the thing she does at the end of the third season is well-intentioned but totally wrong. She wants to take responsibility, which is great and to be applauded, but pleading guilty to something you’re not legally liable for and volunteering to go to prison is not very bright,” showrunner Alish Brosh McKenna tells Variety. “She has a flair for the dramatic, so she...

Get ready for one final trip to ♫ West Covina ♫. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is coming to an end. The CW series created by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna kicks off its fourth and final season on Friday, Oct. 12 with all things going according to plan. Well, sort of. Bloom's character Rebecca Bunch is in jail for attempted murder after she plead guilty to the crime. In reality, she was saving her ex-boyfriend Nathaniel (Scott Michael Foster) from being stabbed by another ex-boyfriend, Trent (Paul Welsh). But it's all going according to the plan Brosh McKenna and Bloom envisioned nearly five years ago when they developed the series. This will be the redemption of Rebecca Bunch. "We have had a...

Welcome to “Remote Controlled,” a podcast from Variety featuring the best and brightest in television, both in front of and behind the camera.

In this week’s episode, Variety’s associate features editor of TV, Danielle Turchiano, talks with “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” co-creators Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna about the final season of their CW musical comedy.

Listen to this week’s podcast for free below and at Apple Podcasts:

McKenna says the series’ four seasons are “remarkably accurate” to the initial pitch to the network in 2015. “We really conceived of it beginning, middle, and end,” she says. “We really knew this was just going to be about this period in this girl’s life where she’s subject to a very intense romantic obsession and then recovers from it.”

While the season starts with her in jail after pleading guilty to pushing her stalker ex, Trent (Paul Welsh), off a building,...

Widdershins was one of last year's selected projects The Scottish Film Talent Network development programme has announced the six short films it has commissioned for the New Talent Scottish Shorts 2018 programme.

It has also announced the seven writers selected for this year’s edition of the Write4Film programme, a workshop-based development scheme to develop their writing and improve their networks.

The selected New Talent Scottish Shorts were chosen from 13 filmmaking teams who undertook a series of development workshops and master classes led by producer Paul Welsh, DigiCult, and supported by producer Carolynne Sinclair of Hopscotch Films. The 13 teams pitched their productions to an industry panel featuring representatives from Scottish Film Talent Network, the Centre for the Moving Image, DigiCult, Hopscotch Films and Creative Scotland. Last year's chosen projects included Bunny, by Shaun Hughes, and Simon P Biggs' Widdershins, which both had their world premiere at Eiff in June.

Two...

Participants also selected for Write4Film storytelling programme.

The Scottish Film Talent Network (Sftn) has commissioned six short films through the fourth edition of its New Talent Scottish Shorts programme, a development scheme targeting Scotland-based writers, directors and producers.

The six shorts were chosen from 13 filmmaking teams who took part in development workshops and masterclasses throughout June and July, led by DigiCult producer Paul Welsh and supported by Hopscotch Film producer Carolynne Sinclair.

The chosen six will receive £15,000 for their production budgets, and will film later this year.

Teams pitched their productions to an industry panel comprising of representatives from Sftn,...

Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) certainly went through the ringer in the third season of CW musical comedy “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” — which ended on a note that not only saw her biggest breakthrough yet, but also one that will launch the show’s fourth and final season.

“We’ve been saying for a long time that we’re writing to the end — that it’s a four season show,” Bloom tells Variety. “We’ve kind of known that point from the moment we pitched the show what we want to say in the end, regardless of what actually happens specifically to Rebecca.”

The third season started with her plotting revenge on her ex Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III), the man for whom she had moved across the country when the series started but who ended up leaving her at the altar in the second season finale.

“That first episode — or the first...

[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for the “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” Season 3 finale, “Nathaniel is Irrelevant.”]

“I’m so excited that our love story can begin.” “Josh Chan must be destroyed.”

It’s only fitting that the third season of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” would end with another shocker of a sendoff, courtesy of Rebecca Bunch. The closing to an unofficial trilogy of Rebecca’s journey from workaholic hurricane of obsession to a more self-aware, introspective version of herself is what this season has been building towards from the start. “I plead guilty” is a pretty striking way to close out a true roller-coaster season — in many ways, it feels like the only logical conclusion.

Both in the episode and season overall, it wasn’t necessarily the cleanest road to get there. But what the show leaves behind at Season 3’s end is the biggest change yet for a volatile heroine, and the decision that almost feels like “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” starting over again. That reset button is one...

Rebecca Bunch is guilty. The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend character spent the whole season three finale feeling guilty and apologizing for her past misdeeds, which are numerous. Those misdeeds included lying to her best friend Paula about Trent, Rebecca's stalker, blackmailing Paula. Rebecca Bunch also pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder. Yep, that happened. In "Nathaniel Is Irrelevant," Rebecca (co-creator Rachel Bloom), went to extreme lengths to stop Trent (Paul Welsh) from harming Nathaniel (Scott Michael Foster). She pushed him off a balcony, y'all. Nathaniel acted as her lawyer and advised her to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, she has her borderline personality disorder...

Hear me now, The CW: We need a fourth season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend… if only to see how Rebecca gets herself out of this terrible mess she’s made.

As Friday’s Season 3 finale opens, Rebecca’s hilariously obsessive ex Trent is gone, but she’s still having nightmares that he’s lurking around every corner. The whole gang gathers for Heather’s doctor appointment — Paula sings her a lilting ballad, “The Miracle of Birth,” that offers unnecessarily graphic details about the childbirth process, complete with kid dancers emerging from a vagina-like door — but Rebecca’s too distracted by visions of Trent to participate.

In the golden age of television, the New York Television Festival is quickly becoming the place to find the next crown jewel. Now in its 12th year, the festival continues to grow each year both in scope and prestige, boasting a record number of submissions, artists, and industry participation.

“It’s taken us a couple of years to get to this point, but we’re hitting our stride at a time where there is great creativity in TV and digital,” said Nytvf Founder and Executive Director Terence Gray, surveying the room bustling with pitch meetings on plush couches. “It’s fun, you see these incredibly talented people that are being given a shot to sit down with agents and managers and executives.”

Read More: ‘Arrested Development’ Creator Mitch Hurwitz’s Pitching Secret: Make ‘Em Laugh

Grey founded Nytvf twelve years ago, shrewdly filling an opening for a Sundance-like festival for independent television creators.