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Talk show host Ziwe, playwright Hilary Bettis and journalist Gabriel Sherman are among the 30 participants set for the WGA East’s first Showrunner Academy program.

The program aims to help established writers gain the training and skills needed to advance to showrunners. The academy will be led by veteran showrunners Diana Son (“Law & Order: Criminal Intent”) and Frank Pugliese (“House of Cards”).

The program, which runs through November, and will include a host of panels and workshops led by prominent writers and showrunners. The list includes: “Things to Know Before Running Your First Series” with Meredith Scardino, Rj Fried and Sarah Treem; “Crisis and Risk Management for Showrunners” with Glen Mazzara; “Managing Multiple Series in Development” with Tina Fey and Robert Carlock; “Hiring Writers” with Michelle King and Elizabeth Kruger; “Managing a Comedy Writers Room and Managing a Drama Writers Room” with Carly Mensch, Liz Flahive and David Simon...

Midway through Angelica, a medium (played by a hammy, bug-eyed Janet McTeer) talks to Constance (Jena Malone) about the ghostly apparition plaguing her and her daughter Angelica at night. “I’m not a man,” she says. “Do not tell me what you know, or what you can prove. Tell me what you feel.” It’s one line out of many writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein uses in his psychosexual Victorian-era ghost story to make his points about misogyny and sexual repression clear, although his blunt-force clarity ends up strangling away any sense of tension or intrigue. For a film dealing with the unknown of the supernatural, it wants viewers to know as much as possible about its subtext.

Before things started going bump in the night, Constance found herself living out a storybook romance. An orphan with no status or money to her name, she catches the eye of scientist Joseph...

In just two weeks, Alamo Drafthouses nationwide will host screenings of A24's The Witch. More details on that story after the jump. Also in this round-up: a trailer for Night Terrors, Angelica release details, a new clip from The Final Project, and four images from The Terrible Two.

The Witch: Press Release: "Austin, TX - Feb 3, 2016 - The Alamo Drafthouse is excited to announce A24's chilling new horror film The Witch as the latest Drafthouse Recommends title. The film will open at Alamo Drafthouse locations nationwide with "sneak preview" screenings on the night of Feb. 18th, 2016. In the lead up to that opening date, select Alamo locations will also host free retrospective screenings of witchcraft horror classics to get audiences in the, er, spirit and to set the stage for director Robert Eggers' debut feature and groundbreaking new take on the genre.

And, for a limited time this month,...

The sales agency will introduce buyers at the Efm in Berlin to Mitchell Lichtenstein’s gothic drama starring Jena Malone of The Hunger Games, Janet McTeer, and Ed Stoppard.

Spotlight has scheduled a February 14 market screening of Angelica, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2015.

Lichtenstein, who previously directed Berlin and Sundance 2007 selection Teeth, adapted the screenplay from Arthur Phillips’ novel about a newly married couple in Victorian London who endure psychological and supernatural effects following the birth of their child.

Producer Joyce Pierpoline, who collaborated with Mitchell on Teeth, negotiated the worldwide rights deal with Spotlight head of acquisitions Carlos Rincon.

“I’m psyched to be putting Angelica into the capable hands of the folks at Spotlight Pictures,” said Lichtenstein.

“They will be effective, enthusiastic custodians of our beautiful and intensely emotional film, bringing it to a wide and diverse audience.”...

The sales agency will introduce buyers at the Efm in Berlin to Mitchell Lichtenstein’s gothic drama starring Jena Malone of The Hunger Games, Janet McTeer, and Ed Stoppard.

Spotlight has scheduled a February 14 market screening of Angelica, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2015.

Lichtenstein, who previously directed Berlin and Sundance 2007 selection Teeth, adapted the screenplay from Arthur Phillips’ novel about a newly married couple in Victorian London who endure psychological and supernatural effects following the birth of their child.

Producer Joyce Pierpoline, who collaborated with Mitchell on Teeth, negotiated the worldwide rights deal with Spotlight head of acquisitions Carlos Rincon.

“I’m psyched to be putting Angelica into the capable hands of the folks at Spotlight Pictures,” said Lichtenstein.

“They will be effective, enthusiastic custodians of our beautiful and intensely emotional film, bringing it to a wide and diverse audience.”...

The Writers Guild of America has just announced the nominations for their annual awards for Best Screenplays (by writers who are guild signatories). That’s right, before you get nervous thinking that your favorite may have been left off the list, you must remember that the WGA is the group that is not all-inclusive and leaves out several of the top contenders each year due to them not being part of the guild or not following their very specific rules. For this reason, you won’t see Inside Out, The Hateful Eight, and Ex Machina in the Original Screenplay category or Room, Brooklyn, or Anomalisa in the Adapted screenplay category.

Taking a look at what’s left over for the nominations, we find many that were expected to make a showing, including Spotlight and Bridge of Spies for Original Screenplay, though they apparently had to sink to really low depths...

The Writers Guild of America announced some of its nominees for its 2015 awards on Thursday, including television, new media, and radio, and among the TV nominees are series both new and old, and all beloved.

In the comedy series category, freshman Netflix show "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" scored a nomination for best series, as well as an overall best new series nod. "The Last Man on Earth" also landed in that latter category, and was singled out for its pilot episode writing, too.

On the drama side of the equation, lauded "Breaking Bad" spinoff "Better Call Saul" also got best series and best new series nominations, in addition to a an episode writing nod. Newly-minted Emmy winner "Game of Thrones" also scored a best drama citation, as well as an episodic writing nomination.

The full list of nominees released this week are below. Nominations in the theatrical and documentary categories will...

★★☆☆☆ Director Mitchell Lichtenstein achieved cult veneration with Teeth (2007), a idiosyncratic body horror about a young fundamentalist Christian who develops a gynaecological abnormality that she turns to her advantage in order to ward of the threat of male violence. He returns to these well-trodden themes of female sexual repression in his ludicrously ostentatious and fervently Freudian psychological thriller Angelica (2015). Based on Arthur Phillips' eponymous novel, Lichtenstein's latest the story of a Victorian marriage destroyed by gender divisions and attitudes towards female sexuality. Jena Malone stars in a well-earned leading role as both the eponymous Angelica and (via flashbacks) her mother Constance.

Just three features in to his filmography, it’s safe to say that director Mitchell Lichtenstein is never happier than when, how shall we put it, frolicking in the lady garden. Even his least gynecological film, 2010's "Happy Tears," had Parker Posey analyzing her vaginal discharge. And his debut, 2007's "Teeth," positively gloried in its vaginality: grotesquely, graphically, and with uneven black humor telling the exploitation-style story of a young woman's journey to empowerment via her vagina dentata — or, if you prefer a more euphemistic take, the choppers in her ham wallet. It's to this literally fertile territory he returns in his third, and most well-crafted film, "Angelica," albeit dressed up in corsets and bustles and adapted from an Arthur Phillips novel. While it may look and sound a little like a ghost story in the "Turn of the Screw" mould, and while there are a multitude of subplots and side themes that should add.

It’s been six years since Mitchell Lichtenstein’s last feature, "Happy Tears," and eight since his debut, the Jess Weixler-starring “Teeth.” Ahead of its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival this weekend, the trailer for Lichtenstein’s third film, "Angelica," has arrived online for your viewing pleasure. Running just over 45 seconds, the trailer (via THR) for “Angelica” is a brief look at Lichtenstein’s first foray into the period piece, even if it’s still within the confines of the horror genre. The film also marks the first time Lichtenstein has adapted a book, Arthur Phillips’s novel of the same name, and it centers on Jena Malone’s Constance, who, in 1880 London, must practice sexual abstinence because of the erroneous medical advice of the era. As one expects in a Lichtenstein film, things do not go well. Here's the official synopsis: London in 1880, in the middle of the Victorian era.

Sneak Peek teaser footage from director Mitchell Lichtenstein's supernatural thriller "Angelica", starring Jena Malone ("Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice"), based on the novel by Arthur Phillips:

"...'Constance' and 'Joseph' are a couple in Victorian England, whose doctor instructs them not to have sex after the birth of their daughter, 'Angelica'. But as the couple deals with their sexual repression and Constance grows increasingly protective of their daughter, a ghostly presence begins to terrorize them..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Angelica"...

Teeth director Mitchell Lichtenstein is back with a very different kind of horror story. Based on the novel by Arthur Phillips, Angelica stars Jena Malone as a wife and mother haunted by spirits in Victorian England. The Angelica trailer is full of the shadows, bumps, and ominous warnings typical of the genre, but there’s a […]

The post ‘Angelica’ Trailer: Jena Malone Gets Haunted in New Film From ‘Teeth’ Director appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: London-based producer Diana Phillips has teamed up with La’s talent agency Claire Best & Associates and Peter Lang’s Production Company Pictures In A Row to form Unlimited Pictures.

The UK and Us-based entity styles itself as a think tank and management production company that will use its combined resources to develop, package and sell projects for the world market.

The early pipeline includes the feature Wenceslas Square based on the short story by bestselling novelist Arthur Phillips with Yuli Masinovsky and Phillips attached to produce.

Among the TV projects are The Accidental Empresses created by Kalina Ivanov and Muriel Grabe with Fred Fuchs attached to produce; Hell based on Wayne Barlowe’s book God’s Demon; and the unscripted series Jimmy Buddha Unpolished.

“Too often projects languish because there has been no thought about the smartest way to set them up or because they have been burdened by the weight of producers who are not...

Just hot off her attachment to The Hunger Game: Catching Fire as Johanna Mason, Jena Malone has signed on to be leading lady in another book-turned-movie, Angelica, a spooky Victorian ghost story by bestselling author Arthur Phillips.

Here’s the synopsis from the book.

The novel opens in London, in the 1880s, with the Barton household on the brink of collapse. Mother, father, and daughter provoke one another, consciously and unconsciously, and a horrifying crisis is triggered. As the family’s tragedy is told several times from different perspectives, events are recast and sympathies shift. In the dark of night, a chilling sexual spectre is making its way through the house, hovering over the sleeping girl and terrorizing her fragile mother. Are these visions real, or is there something more sinister, and more human, to fear? A spiritualist is summoned to cleanse the place of its terrors, but with her...

Jena Malone has signed on to headline Angelica, a movie adaptation of Arthur Phillips bestseller of the same name.

Jena Malone is known for Sucker Punch, Cold Mountain and Donnie Darko, and is set to appear in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Here is the description of her role in the film:

Malone will play Constance, a young shop girl who falls for and marries Dr. Joseph Barton. After the difficult childbirth of their daughter Angelica, doctor-ordered celibacy creates a rift in the Bartons’ marriage and a ghostly force enters their home.

• Emma Watson might get the princess treatment in Kenneth Branagh’s live action adaptation of Cinderella for Disney. Cate Blanchett has already been cast as the wicked stepmother. Watson is only in early talks at this point, so although it seems like the shoe fits, it might be best not to get too attached to the idea of her as Cinderella. [Variety]

• Gary Oldman has signed on to join the cast of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, to play Dreyfus – the leader of the resistance efforts. EW previously reported Jason Clarke’s (Zero Dark Thirty) casting and the news...

Mitchell Lichtenstein's 1880s Angelica supernatural thriller based on Arthur Phillips' novel has landed Catching Fire and Hatfield's and McCoys' Jena Malone. According to Deadline, she'll play a young shop girl called Constance who marries Dr. Joseph Barton and goes through a difficult birth with daughter Angelica. Doctor's orders to remain celibate create a rift between the couple, and now a ghost has found its way into the house as well. Pierpoline's Joyce Pierpoline produces with Richard Lormand.

After a decade-plus break from filmmaking, Tim Robbins is returning to the director’s chair: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Robbins will helm an adaptation of Arthur Phillips’ short story Wenceslas Square. A spy romance set in Czechoslovakia near the end of the Cold War, Wenceslas Square was recently featured on This American Life, once more suggesting that—after the recent teaming of Paul Rudd, Errol Morris, and Ira Glass on a "You're As Cold As Ice" adaptation—This American Life is a fertile ground for potential movie ideas. Robbins' film version will be titled City Of Lies, as ...

The Oscar-winning Mystic River star, Tim Robbins will get his fourth feature down with Endgame Entertainment adaptation of the Arthur Phillips-penned Cold War short story, Wenceslas Square.

The story has been scripted by Captain America’s writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Philip Noyce was reportedly attached to the director’s chair. The production will move forward under the title City of Lies.

Phillips’ tale is set in Czechoslovakia at the end of the Cold War and involves a love story of a younger member of the CIA who finds himself romantically entangled with a Czech agent while participating in separate missions in Prague.

The short aired on the radio during an episode of ‘This American Life’ last summer.

Robbins received an Oscar nomination for best director for 1995s Dead Man Walking and he was also nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival for his...

Last year Tim Robbins returned to the big screen for the first time in three years, but his talent was wasted in DC Comics' adaptation of Green Lantern. Fortunately, his next venture sounds more promising as he stars with Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow in a sex addiction comedy called Thanks for Sharing, which marks the directorial debut of The Kids Are All Right writer Stuart Blumberg. Now Robbins is gearing up for a different feature film return as THR reports the actor is getting back in the director's chair for City of Lies, the gestating adaptation of Arthur Phillips' short story Wenceslas Square. The film is a spy thriller about a young CIA officer and a beautiful Czech spy who meet in Prague during the Cold War era. Read on! Robbins hasn't directed a film since 1999's Cradle Will Rock and the powerful drama Dead Man Walking...

1.) Legendary actor Bob Hoskins has retired from acting at the age of 69, following his diagnosis of Parkinson's disease last autumn. I know many will understandably point to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but what's your most memorable Bob Hoskins performance? For me, it's hard to top Mona Lisa, but the much younger version of myself would never forgive me if I failed to mention Super Mario Bros. 2.) Jimmy Fallon has confirmed he won't host the Oscars this year, telling Matt Lauer on the "Today" show, "It's an honor to be asked by the Academy, but it's not my year." He didn't offer an explanation, but I can't imagine ABC was ever a fan of the idea to begin with, as the gig would boost the profile of NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," which directly competes with ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!". /Film] 3.) Donald Faison (Clueless, "Scrubs") is said to be very close...

It has been over a decade since Tim Robbins sat in the director's chair on a feature film, now the actor/filmmaker has signed a deal to return behind the camera for the upcoming "City of Lies" at Endgame Entertainment says The Hollywood Reporter.

An adaptation of Arthur Phillips’ short story Wenceslas Square, the story follows two spies who fall in love while participating in separate missions in Prague. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are adapting the script.

Robbins takes over for Phillip Noyce who was previously attached to direct. James D. Stern, Ira Glass and Alissa will produce.

It's true! After a long hiatus, Tim Robbins has elected to direct a feature film again after several small TV gigs iincluding a two-episode stint on HBO's "Treme." Last seen in the feature film director's chair back in the 90s (Bob Roberts, Dead Man Walking, and Cradle Will Rock), Robbins replaces Phillip Noyce (Salt) on the spy story City Of Lies.  An adaptation of Arthur Phillips' short story Wenceslas Square by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Captain...

Tim Robbins has been attached to City of Lies. The 53-year-old star is in line to direct the spy romance film, The Hollywood Reporter claims. City of Lies follows two spies who fall in love while on separate missions in Prague. Robbins will be directing from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's adaptation of Arthur Phillips' short story Wenceslas Square. During the '90s, Robbins directed features Cradle Will Rock, Dead Man Walking (more)...

Tim Robbins' directing credits have been sparse in recent years, but he's about to step behind the camera again for City Of Lies. The spy drama is based on the short story Wenceslas Square by Arthur Phillips. The narrative takes place in Czechoslovakia at the end of the Cold War, and revolves around two spies on different missions, who find time to fall in love when their paths cross. Shouldn't they have been more focused on photographing the secret papers (or whatever)? Can't get the staff these days.The film was originally earmarked for Phillip Noyce (Salt), but Robbins has picked it up after Noyce's departure. Robbins has recently directed a couple of episodes of HBO's Treme, but this will be his first really major behind-the-camera project since the triple-whammy of Bob Roberts, Dead Man Walking and Cradle Will Rock in the 1990s.Screenwriting team Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely...

Tim Robbins has signed a deal to return to directing with City of Lies, Endgame Entertainment’s adaptation of Arthur Phillips’ short story Wenceslas Square. While Robbins is best known for his work in front of the cameras, he helmed a trio of features in the 1990s, including the acclaimed Dead Man Walking (1995). He most recently directed a couple of episodes of HBO’s New Orleans-set drama Treme. Lies concerns two spies who fall in love while participating in separate missions in Prague. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, whose credits range from The Life and Death of Peter Sellers to

read more...

A long-lost Shakespeare play (or is it?) brings pain to the bearer in the inventive, twisted fifth novel from Arthur Phillips, author of The Egyptologist and The Song Is You. As a fictional memoir stuffed into a scholarly frame, it wriggles out of its own dead end; it’s thought-provoking without laboring toward its greater point. The narrator of The Tragedy Of Arthur, also named Arthur Phillips, has assigned himself the task of writing an introduction to the first published edition of a lost Shakespeare play called The Tragedy Of Arthur. As it goes to press, Arthur has ample reason ...

Variety is reporting that Phillip Noyce has signed on to direct the spy thriller "Wenceslas Square". The film revolves around a young CIA agent and beautiful Czech spy in Prauge during the Cold War. Noyce describes the project as "a gripping story about two young spies intoxicated by the espionage game and their passion for each other."Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely adapted the screenplay from a short story by Arthur Phillips. The two also teamed up to write "Captain America" and the first two "Chronicles of Narnia". The film is being produced by Ira Glass and Alissa Shipp from "This American Life" and Endgame Entertainment's James D. Stern. Ira featured the short story by Phillips on his NPR program back in 2008, and was originally featured in"Wild East: Stories From the Last Frontier."Phillip Noyce is finishing up production on the Angelina Jolie starring "Salt" which is set to release July 23rd.

According to Variety, Phillip Noyce will direct spy thriller "Wenceslas Square" for "This American Life" producers Ira Glass and Alissa Shipp, and Endgame Entertainment's James D. Stern.

The film revolves around a young CIA agent and beautiful Czech spy in Prauge during the Cold War. Noyce describes the project as "a gripping story about two young spies intoxicated by the espionage game and their passion for each other."

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely -- who teamed on "Captain America" and co-wrote the first two "Chronicles of Narnia" films -- adapted "Wenceslas," based on the short story by Arthur Phillips. Endgame's Doug Hansen will exec produce.

No one has signed on to star and no release date has been set yet.

Source: Variety ...

For the fourth consecutive year Hollywood has selected its Black List, a compilation of the top unproduced screenplays for 2009. Over 300 film professionals were asked to submit the titles of up to ten of their favorite screenplays. The only condition for the picks were that the projects would not be released in theaters this year. That means some of the Black List honorees may be in the process of being turned into movies but by far the majority remain thoughts on digital ink, a blueprint for grand dramatic ideas, high-reaching adventure and controversial ideas waiting to be burned to light.

For a screenplay to have made it onto the Black List it must have received at least five votes for it. Some scripts have five votes while the top-rated screenplay received 47 votes. That doesn't mean that the script with the most votes is the best screenplay of the year; it means...