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Kyle Loftus has been named President of Independent Artist Group, the agency announced on Wednesday.

Loftus is a homegrown success story who started at the agency 16 years ago as an intern, in its previous incarnation as APA, quickly moving up the ranks. He’s the rare agent to reach such heights in his 30s, at a time when achieving upward mobility in the ten-percenter business is fairly tricky. In addition to his new title, he will join the Iag Board of Directors.

In a statement on the appointment, Iag CEO Jim Osborne, a longtime mentor and partner of Loftus, said, “Kyle has been instrumental in building an architecture at Iag that allows us to seamlessly integrate innovative opportunities for our clients across all divisions. Through his leadership, we’ve created multiple strategic pathways to help our clients diversify and grow their businesses. His exceptional ability to connect talent, music, IP,...

While many agents jump from representation company to representation company, or even segue to management, Kyle Loftus has remained a steadfast employee of Independent Artist Group.

Starting out as an intern 16 years ago, when the agency was named APA, he moved up the ranks deal by deal, first becoming a television lit agent and, more recently, head of motion picture and television lit, all the while repping the enterprises of 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige.

Now, Loftus is taking on an executive role, being named president of Iag, the company announced Wednesday. In addition to the new title, he also joins the Iag’s board of directors. Only in mid mid-30s, Loftus may be one of the youngest presidents in the annals of full-service agencies.

Loftus is being promoted from his role as executive vp, head of content development, where, along with repping a roster of high-profile clients, he...

An episodic anthology series…. that’s a spinoff… of an Apple show… with no relation to “Ted Lasso” or “Severance” — in this economy?! Not a single word of that pitch should inspire confidence in anyone, let alone professional TV programmers, yet Rob McElhenney & Co. successfully sold Apple TV+ on the new “Mythic Quest” spinoff, “Side Quest.”

Developed and executive produced by Ashly Burch, John Howell Harris, and Katie McElhenney (Rob’s sister), “Side Quest” is inspired by the original series’ well-received departure episodes, the first of which was written by Katie and directed by Rob. “A Dark Quiet Death” is the fifth episode of “Mythic Quest’s” first season, and rather than continue the chronological story following Ian (McElhenney) and Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) as they to build on the success of their hit Mmorpg, the episode jumps back a few decades, introduces two brand-new characters, and doesn’t connect to...

If there’s one thing Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest loves, it’s a detour. This has been true since the very first season, which paused midway through for a one-off about two characters we hadn’t met before and haven’t seen since. It’s remained so through subsequent seasons that devoted entire episodes to detailing the backstories of members from the core ensemble, or catching up with a minor character we hadn’t seen in years.

Now it extends all the way to the series’ first spinoff, Side Quest. As the cute title might suggest, this is essentially a Mythic Quest that’s nothing but those standalone chapters — that steps well outside Mq HQ to explore the other corners of the show’s universe, one quirky tale at a time. But as it turns out, a detour’s only a detour when there’s a set path to be deviating from.

Ted Lasso Season 4 is officially happening, and while lead actor Jason Sudeikis is currently the only member of the ensemble confirmed to return, the new series will recast another key role. Following months and months of rumor and speculation, the fourth season of the hit Apple TV+ sports comedy has now been officially confirmed, with Sudeikis having teased that the show’s return will find Lasso managing a women’s soccer (or football) team.

According to Deadline, one role that is now being recast is that of Ted Lasso’s son, Henry Lasso. Played throughout Seasons 1 – 3 by Gus Turner, Henry featured in the series mostly on FaceTime calls as he contacted his father from Kansas while Ted was coaching AFC Richmond in the United Kingdom. While the soccer-loving Henry did pay a few visits in person, it’s possible that the character could play a much larger role in Season...

You better believe it: Ted Lasso is officially back as Apple TV+ has greenlighted a fourth season of its flagship comedy series, with Jason Sudeikis set to return as star and executive producer.

According to sources, Juno Temple, who played Keeley in the first three seasons, is in negotiations to rejoin fellow original cast members Sudeikis (Coach Lasso) as well as Hannah Waddingham (Rebecca), Brett Goldstein (Roy) and Jeremy Swift (Leslie) who were locked in for the new installment back in August.

And, picking up where Season 3 left off, I hear the Season 4 premiere episode will film in Kansas (likely Kansas City) before Ted Lasso heads back to the UK. Casting of new roles is expected to begin shortly, with production eying a July start, sources said.

The official renewal announcement for the Warner Bros TV-produced series comes as its Season 4 writing team, featuring mostly Ted Lasso alums, has already...

Talent management and television and film production company 3 Arts Entertainment is opening an office in Atlanta. Jermaine Johnson is running point on the new expansion and will head up the office, which is being established as Georgia continues to be an important hub for shooting. Not only does the state offer generous incentives, it also boasts seasoned crews and state-of-the-art facilities.

“Having spent summers here since I was a kid, I’ve always thought of Atlanta as a second home,” said Johnson. “So naturally I’m excited to build with a creative community that has been at the forefront of the cultural conversation for as long I can remember. And I’m thrilled to help support the next generation of storytellers, artists and changemakers from this incredible city.”

They have already started working with notable local talent. Atlanta based clients include singer, comedian and actor, Jade Novah; filmmaker and photographer,...

Exclusive: In a competitive situation, BET+ has acquired Trill League, an adaptation of Anthony Piper’s webcomic of the same name, for series development. The animated superhero series, written by Piper and Leann Bowen, hails from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson‘s G-Unit Film & Television, 3 Arts Entertainment and Lionsgate Television.

The project was previously in development at Quibi with a different co-writer for Piper.

Trill League tells the story of a team of Black superheroes battling against each other’s self-indulgences in order to combat the villains of today’s cultural conflicts and protect society.

Curtis executive produces via his G-Unit Film & Television alongside Piper and Bowen as well as 3 Arts’ Jermaine Johnson.

Bowen is a co-executive producer on Apple’s hit series, Ted Lasso. She is a shared Emmy winner for the show’s 2022 Outstanding Comedy Series victory. Bowen is also the EP/showrunner on the Dear White People spinoff,...

Kathryn Busby, who was hired by Starz in January to take over as president of original programming, joined a premium cable network with two major tentpoles: The “Outlander” and “Power” franchises. So she did what any good network executive might do: She leaned into them.

“They are monsters,” she says of the two worlds. “Power” ended its run in 2020 but spawned the spinoffs “Power Book II: Ghost,” “Power Book III: Raising Kanan” and “Power Book IV: Force.” And “Outlander,” which recently wrapped its sixth season (with a 16-episode Season 7 already ordered), is about to get its first scripted spinoff as well: The prequel “Outlander: Blood of My Blood,” which the network confirmed earlier this month.

Busby, who talked to Variety as Starz prepared to unveil its latest wares on Thursday at the network’s virtual TV Critics Assn. press tour panel, says the two shows help define Starz, and its programming focus.

Exclusive: Starz is developing the new comedy series Plan A from writer and executive producer Steven J. Kung centering on the Asian American experience. Kung will reunite with Dear White People‘s Justin Simien, who will executive produce through his production company Culture Machine, and Leann Bowen who will serve as showrunner and EP.

Plan A will tell the story of Los Angeles-based Asian Americans who strive for the benchmark of the American Dream – an impressive job and a satisfying love life – all while navigating the cultural expectations of their parents, society, and ultimately, themselves.

“I’ve always wanted to watch a show about people who look like me, just walking around, living their lives, and taking up space,” Kung, who is of Taiwanese heritage, shared in a statement to Deadline. “Starz and Lionsgate have given us an enormous amount of freedom to create Plan A,...

You made it through the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Directors Guild Awards, and the Producers Guild Awards, too. The wait for the Oscars is almost over, but one more major guild had yet to give out its trophies before the Academy Awards. Tonight, Hollywood’s top writers came together for the Writers Guild of America Awards, which honored the finest achievements in film and television writing.

On the film side, the nominees were actually quite different from what you’ll see at the Oscars next week. In the Original Screenplay category, “Licorice Pizza,” “Don’t Look Up,” and “King Richard” were still nominated, but “Belfast” and “The Worst Person in the World” were replaced with “Being the Ricardos.” The Adapted Screenplay category was even more distinct, with only two Oscar contenders (“Dune” and “Coda”) nominated.

But it ultimately did not matter, as two Oscar nominees took the top prizes. “Coda...

Sunday’s 74th Writers Guild of America Awards will wrap up the guild season, along with the American Society of Cinematographers Awards. Will the winners be an Oscar preview?

“Licorice Pizza,” written by Paul Thomas Anderson, and “Coda,” by Sian Heder, are favored to win Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively. However, they are not facing off against many of their Oscar rivals as the WGA’s rules have rendered several scripts ineligible, including Oscar nominees “Belfast” and “The Worst Person in the World” in original, and “Drive My Car,” “The Lost Daughter” and “The Power of the Dog” in adapted. But if they both prevail, they will have bagged the two top industry prizes as they won at BAFTA last weekend right in the middle of final Oscar voting (it ends Tuesday).

The TV field features heavy-hitters “Succession” and “Ted Lasso,” both of which are expected to...

The 53rd NAACP Image Awards crowned more winners Saturday (in addition to the awards announced earlier this week), in a ceremony once again hosted by black-ish star Anthony Anderson. The awards, of course, celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, literature and film.

Insecure received early awards for supporting actress Natasha Rothwell, in addition to Issa Rae’s win for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. By the end of the night, Rae also picked up trophies for Actress in a Comedy and Outstanding Comedy Series.

More from TVLineSAG Award Winners: Squid Game, Succession...

Nominations for the 53rd NAACP Image Awards were announced on Tuesday, and HBO’s Insecure and OWN’s Queen Sugar led TV’s comedy and drama packs, respectively.

Insecure‘s farewell run amassed 11 total nods, followed in the comedy pack by black-ish‘s eight. Queen Sugar collected six total nominations, the most of any drama.

More from TVLineTVLine's Performer of the Week: Mackenzie DavisInsecure Series Finale: Tristen J. Winger Talks Thug Yoda's Closing Scene, the HBO Comedy's Lasting LegacyInsecure: The End Doc Reveals Issa and Lawrence Weren't Initially Endgame

Nat Geo’s Genius: Aretha meanwhile netted the most nods (five...

On Thursday, January 13, Writers Guild of America West (Wgaw) and Writers Guild of America East (Wgae) jointly announced their 2022 nominations for television and new media. Winners will be rewarded on Sunday, March 20 in a ceremony that also honors motion pictures. Read on for the complete list of 2022 Writers Guild Award nominations for TV, which includes a nice mix of new series (like Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building”) and established fare (like HBO’s “Succession”).

SEEReminder: Here’s who won last year’s WGA Awards

This year’s drama series contenders are “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Loki,” “The Morning Show,” “Succession” and “Yellowjackets.” Of these, only “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Morning Show” and “Succession” also showed up in the Episodic Drama category, which was rounded out by specific episodes of “1883,” “This Is Us” and “New Amsterdam.”

The comedy series nominees are “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Hacks,” “Only Murders in the Building,...

The Writers Guild of America revealed nominations Thursday in television, new media, news, radio/audio and promotional categories for the 2022 WGA Awards, which are scheduled to take place Sunday, March 20 hosted by the WGA West and WGA East.

Nominees in the marquee TV categories include reigning Comedy Series winners Ted Lasso from Apple TV+, with newcomers to the list including several shows with multiple noms: HBO Max’s Emmy winner Hacks, Showtime’s Yellowjackets, Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building and Disney+’s Marvel series Loki. That group along with FX’s Reservation Dogs comprise the awards’ New Series nominees list.

The wide-ranging list also includes noms for Netflix’s Maid and Midnight Mass, HBO’s critically lauded The White Lotus and Emmy winner Mare of Easttown, Amazon Prime Video’s The Underground Railroad and Disney+’s WandaVision in the longform categories.

Other notables: noms for Taylor Sheridan’s...

“Only Murders in the Building,” “Hacks,” “Loki” and “Yellowjackets” are among the top nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards, announced on Thursday. Winners will be honored at a joint 2021 Writers Guild Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 20, 2022.

The nominations from the Writers Guild of America West (Wgaw) and Writers Guild of America, East (Wgae) include outstanding achievement in television, new media, news, radio/audio, and promotional writing during 2021. The WGA Awards announcement caps a busy week that also included the Golden Globes’ unusual non-ceremony ceremony on Sunday, and this year’s SAG Awards nominations on Wednesday.

“Only Murders” led the WGA tally with three noms, including comedy, new series and comedy episodic. Shows with two nominations include “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Loki,” “The Morning Show,” “Succession,” “Yellowjackets,” “Hacks,” “Reservation Dogs,” “Bob’s Burgers” and “The Simpsons.” HBO led all networks with nine; followed by Apple TV Plus, FX, Hulu, NBC, Netflix and PBS,...

Before the Indie Spirits, before the Oscars, there are the guilds, and as Hollywood inches its way through a protracted awards season, it’s up to each voting body to dole out their own accolades. On Sunday night, it was time for the writers to shine, as the Writers Guild of America presented their awards for film, television, news, and more, all voted on by fellow writers. For writers, by writers!

As IndieWire’s own Anne Thompson has noted, the WGA’s film nominees are less predictive than an indication of what’s losing and gaining heat, from the missing early 2020 releases “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” “The King of Staten Island,” and “Da 5 Bloods,” to such surging movies as “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Sound of Metal,” and “Promising Young Woman,” all of which recently earned Best Picture nods from the Academy.

At the Sunday night event, Emerald Fennell...

The Writers Guild of America Awards were handed during a virtual ceremony on Sunday, March 21. But don’t base your Oscar predictions on these kudos. Every year a slew of Oscar-nominated scripts are deemed ineligible for consideration here due to guild guidelines. Indeed, over the past 12 years only 80 of the Writers Guild of America Awards nominees have numbered among the 120 screenplays that reaped Academy Awards bids. Scroll down for the 2021 Writers Guild of America Awards winners list.

Our odds predict that “Nomadland” will win Best Adapted Screenplay winner at the Oscars but it was not allowed to compete at the WGA Awards. Neither was another Oscar contender in that category: “The Father.” The guild did match the academy three-for-five in this category, with “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “One Night in Miami” and “The White Tiger” competing at both. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “News of the World” round out the guild nominees.

The Writers Guild of America announced their WGA Awards TV nominations for on Wednesday, February 3. After getting just one bid from the Golden Globes earlier in the day, AMC’s “Better Call Saul” rebounded to top all shows with five nominations including for Drama Series along with Amazon Studios’ “The Boys,” Disney +’s “The Mandalorian” and Netflix’s “The Crown” and “Ozark.”

Hulu lands two shows in contention for Comedy Series with “The Great” and “PEN15,” making the streaming service the only company to score multiple nominees in the category. They are joined by HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” and FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows.”

Another notable feat belongs to “The Simpsons,” which dominates the animation category with four of the six nominations. Despite premiering over 30 years ago, the Fox series shows no signs of writer’s fatigue. “Bob’s Burgers” and “BoJack Horseman...

The WGA on Wednesday unveiled nominations for its 2021 WGA Awards in the categories of TV, new media, news, radio/audio and promotional writing during 2020. Winners will be honored March 21 in a virtual ceremony.

AMC’s Better Call Saul topped all shows with five nominations including for Drama Series, joining a list that includes Amazon Studios’ The Boys, Netflix’s The Crown (which led the way on the TV side at the Golden Globe nominations earlier today) and Ozark and Disney+’s The Mandalorian.

Also making noise today is Hulu, the only other company to have multiple noms in the top categories; it scored in Comedy with Tony McNamara’s The Great and Pen15 and FX on Hulu’s What We Do in the Shadows, which are joined in the race by HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso.

Lasso is also nominated in the New Series,...

The nominations for the 2021 Writers Guild Award TV categories were announced on Wednesday, with streaming series dominating the lineup.

Both the drama series and the comedy series categories were majority streaming, with hits like “The Queen’s Gambit,” “The Mandalorian,” “The Crown” and “Ozark” sitting alongside fan-favorites like “PEN15,” “The Great” and “Ted Lasso.” Other nominees included HBO Max’s “The Flight Attendant,” HBO’s “Lovecraft Country” and Showtime’s “Good Lord Bird.

“Better Call Saul” also landed three additional nominations for individual episodes, with “Ozark” picking up another. “The Great” and “Ted Lasso” both picked up nomination for individual episodes as well as for Best New Series.

Comedy and variety nominees included Peacock’s fledgling late-night show, “The Amber Ruffin Show,” Amazon’s “Yearly Departed,” the one-off “30 Rock” reunion special and Stephen Colbert’s 2020 election coverage on Showtime.

Nominations in the film categories will be announced later this month,...

“Better Call Saul” are among the top nominees for this year’s Writers Guild Awards, landing a nod for best drama series, as well as three nominations in the episodic drama category. “The Simpsons” landed four nominations in best animation, while newcomers “Ted Lasso” and “The Great” both scored nominations in best comedy, new series and episodic comedy. Winners will be honored at a joint 2021 Writers Guild Awards virtual ceremony on Sunday, March 21, 2021. Here’s the complete list of nominations, announced on Wednesday morning:

Drama Series

“Better Call Saul,” Written by Ann Cherkis, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Ariel Levine, Heather Marion, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock; AMC

“The Boys,” Written by Eric Kripke, Ellie Monahan, Anslem Richardson, Craig Rosenberg, Michael Saltzman, Rebecca Sonnenshine; Amazon Prime Video

“The Crown,” Written by Peter Morgan, Jonathan Wilson; Netflix

“The Mandalorian,” Written by Rick Famuyiwa, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni; Disney Plus

“Ozark,” Written by Laura Deeley,...