News

Sony Pictures Television is widening the creative circle — by a lot — in its comedy division.

The studio has signed first-look deals with nine writers and comics — Scott Aukerman, Karen Chee, Shaun Diston, Chris Garcia, Chris Gethard, Lisa Gilroy, Lacey Jeka, Julie Klausner and Alok Vaid-Menon. They’ll all work on developing new comedy series projects and potentially collaborate with other writers and producers who have deals at Sony.

Lauren Stein, head of creative at Sony Pictures TV, and Colin Davis, executive vp comedy development, said the deals are part of an effort at the studio to bring in what Davis calls a “spectrum of sensibilities” to comedy development.

“The list is a collective of a different creators and multihyphenates that we believe each have unique voices and a hit show in them,” Davis said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “They really represent the comedy community at large, and...

Writer-director-star Alex Heller’s debut feature is a fictive spin on the very crisis she experienced at age 19, when she dropped out of college and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Not the weightiest screen treatment of a serious mental health issue, this drolly self-deprecating portrayal nonetheless achieves a degree of poignancy and depth within a distinctive sensibility you might call Midwestern Sardonic. After a fest run, it’s opening in limited theaters and on demand March 3.

Clemence Miller (Heller) screams “trainwreck” from the moment we first see her dragging a garbage bag across campus, haranguing everyone whose path she crosses. She then turns that alienating energy on her terrified dorm roommate (Taylor Marie Blim), who says, “You’re ruining my college experience!” The roomie has, it turns out, already informed Clem’s mother that she has spiraled into “hoarding, stealing, paranoia and shrieking.” Ergo Sherri (J. Smith-Cameron) bursts through the door,...

In directing duo Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper’s MSNBC-produced documentary, “Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets,” a young millionaire investor with a medieval helmet on his head (self-named “Sir Jackalot”) frankly described the raise of GameStop stock in the early days of 2021 as “a group of idiots who got fed up with the world,” and decided to do something about it.

At its heart, “Diamond Hands” is a Covid documentary. Unlike others of its ilk, however, Canepari and Cooper approach the debilitating virus not from the vantage point of hospital beds or Zoom windows, but through the corners of the internet. A cadre of everyday subjects are introduced by their occupation and handles: Matt Kelly (u/deepc55) was a diver forced into medical retirement; Chris Garcia (u/fotopapi) took over a small school and sports photography business before, well, school and sports were canceled; Alisha B Woods (u/strange_alternative4) was a paycheck-to-paycheck waitress.

Exclusive: Raffi Cavoukian, the famed children’s entertainer and musician, is getting the podcast treatment.

iHeartMedia and parenting site Fatherly have teamed up to produce Finding Raffi.

It marks the second audio series in its Finding strand, following Finding Fred, telling the story of Fred Rogers.

The ten-episode series will explore the legacy and teachings of Cavoukian, the Egypt-born Canadian who is known for kids’ songs such as Baby Beluga and Bananaphone.

Hosted by comedian Chris Garcia, the series will trace his life from aspiring folk singer to international kids’ superstar to outspoken climate activist. Through interviews, music, and storytelling, audiences will learn the complete — and complex — story of Raffi.

Garcia will introduce his daughter to Raffi’s music, and uncovers details about Raffi’s life, his journey to discover his own identity as an immigrant, and his belief that respect for people, planet and culture would yield a better world.

Exclusive: NBC has put in development a semi-autobiographical immigrant-family comedy from comedian-writer-actor Chris Garcia and Mr. Iglesias creator Kevin Hench. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.

Written and executive produced by Garcia and Hench, the multi-generational immigrant-family comedy, inspired by Garcia’s life, is about an anti-communist Cuban father who enrolls in Esl classes at the same high school as his sensitive poetry-loving son.

Hench executive produced Last Man Standing, co-created and executive produced Cristela, and was the creator and executive producer of Mr. Iglesias, on which Garcia was a writer.

Garcia is a comedian, television writer, actor, and podcaster from Los Angeles, who has appeared on his own half-hour special on Comedy Central, The Late Late Show with James Corden, This Is Not Happening, Adam Devine’s House Party, and @Midnight. Garcia was named a New Face at the 2016 Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy...