News

The “Jet Lag: The Game” creators Sam Denby, Ben Doyle and Adam Chase have set their next reality travel competition series, “The Getaway,” to debut this summer on indie streamer Nebula.

The show, which unlike “Jet Lag” (where episodes drop later on YouTube) will be available exclusively on Nebula, follows six creators on a road trip through the American West as they compete in a game of social strategy and deception.

While the majority of the details surrounding “The Getaway’s” format are being kept under wraps by Denby’s Wendover Productions, Variety has confirmed the cast includes Foreign Man in a Foreign Land, Matt Krol, Morning Brew’s Dan Toomey, Georgia Dow, Patrick “Patch” Lacey and Steven Bridges.

Production on the series kicks off April 8.

Though it’s from the same team that makes “Jet Lag: The Game,” “The Getaway” is a separate project from that travel competition series,...

Nebula is venturing into new frontiers. As the creator-operated streaming service unveils its latest slate of original content, it is also launching a new division. Nebula News, a partnership between the streamer and Jack Kelly of Tldr News, will deliver the latest headlines.

Kelly will take the lead as the news director of Nebula’s new unit. In a media landscape rife with misinformation and sensationalism, Nebula plans to apply its educational, fact-focused bent to its news coverage. Kelly and his team will roll out originals while providing context for trending stories.

“Tldr has been working with Nebula for a couple of years now, and I’ve been consistently impressed by Nebula’s commitment not only to the creator community but also to creating the best experience and product for Nebula viewers,” Kelly said in a statement. “So, when I was approached to head up Nebula’s new News product,...

Sales agent M-Appeal has released the trailer for coming-of-age title “Vera and the Pleasure of Others,” which was written and directed by the Argentinian duo Romina Tamburello and Federico Actis. The film will have its world premiere at Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, in the First Feature Competition, it was announced Friday.

“Vera and the Pleasure of Others” follows 17-year-old Vera (played by Luciana Grasso), who divides her days between volleyball, school and a secret hobby: she rents out an empty apartment to teenagers looking for a place to have sex.

She steals the keys from her distracted mother (played by Inés Estevez), who manages different properties, and organizes everything. The teenagers come and go, using the apartment for a few uninterrupted hours. Playing invisible, Vera stays behind the closed door; her own sexual desires unfolding as she listens to other people’s pleasure.

“Vera and the Pleasure of Others...

On the creator-focused streaming service Nebula, it’s time to duel.

Duelist Mansion, a Yu-Gi-Oh!-inspired competition series hosted by Patch Lacey of TierZoo, is one of the seven programs that compose Nebula’s current slate of originals. The company’s forthcoming shows will arrive on its namesake subscription platform, where viewers pay $5 per month to access nerdy, educational, and gamified videos.

In a statement, Nebula CEO Dave Wiskus described the slate as a “dynamic” initiative that will include episodic series, game shows, standalone long-form pieces, a holiday special, and much more. Six of the seven originals are expected to premiere in 2023. The lone exception is Identiteaze, a short film helmed by creator Jessie Earl (a.k.a. Jessie Gender). The queer sci-fi project is due out in early 2024.

Nebula arrived in 2019 as an expansion of the Standard creator community. The platform grew rapidly thanks to hit shows like Jet Lag...

Nebula, the creator-owned streaming service that bills itself as a “thoughtful expansion pack for YouTube,” has made Wendover Productions, Half as Interesting, and Jet Lag creator Sam Denby its chief content officer.

Denby has been YouTubing since 2010, and has amassed more than 7 million subscribers across all his channels. His largest channel is his flagship Wendover Productions, with 4.3 million subscribers and 630 million lifetime views. Wendover features hundreds of in-depth video essays about “how the world works,” covering subjects like economics and geography.

A Wendover Productions vid about Nebula’s origins and economics.

Nebula says tapping Denby for this position is “a move aimed at highlighting the company’s priority of keeping direction and power in the hands of its creators,” especially as “entertainment’s business model continues to buckle under fair-compensation pushback from artists and creatives alike.”

Founder and CEO Dave Wiskus adds that “the process for developing Nebula Originals should be creator-led,...

Exclusive: Bardot, the TV drama about the life of actress Brigitte Bardot, is headed Stateside.

The six-part series be presented in its entirety on the closing night of The American French Film Festival (Tafff) and will be competing in the fest’s Best Series Award category. Co-creator Danièle Thompson will attend the screening.

The Federation Studios drama is billed as “a post-wwii Pygmalion story” in which the young Bardot ignites a sexual revolution in France, only to struggle with her role in that and the cult of celebrity that surrounds her.It traces her life the in 1950s from her first audition aged 15 to her explosive international breakout film, God Created Woman to her performance in Henri-Georges Cluzot’s Truth in 1960.

Julia de Nunez plays Bardot, with Vincent Belmondo playing her first husband, writer/director Roger Vadim. Hippolyte Girardot and Géraldine Paihas also star.

Federation produces and distributes the series,...

TORONTO -- Miramax Films made its presence felt at the Toronto International Film Festival's opening weekend by picking up U.S., Australian, New Zealand and South African rights to Studio Canal's Jet Lag. The French-language film stars Juliette Binoche and Jean Reno. The deal, worth just less than $1 million, was sealed by late Saturday afternoon -- just hours before the studio rolled out the red carpet at Roy Thompson Hall for its 6:30 gala screening of the Salma Hayek starrer Frida. By the time Jet Lag's own gala began at 9:30 p.m., Miramax could technically boast back-to-back galas. Beating out several suitors including Focus Features and Fine Line features, Miramax is said not to have been the highest bidder with its approximately $900,000 offer. But the studio did boast a strong relationship with Binoche, who worked with it on Chocolat and The English Patient. Both films earned the actress Oscar nominations, and she won for Patient in the best supporting actress category.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders will head the official jury at the 50th San Sebastian International Film Festival, organizers said. Additionally, it was announced Friday that Francis Ford Coppola, who will be honored with a retrospective of his work at the festival, will be presented with a 50th anniversary prize for lifetime achievement. Organizers also said Daniele Thomson's French film Decalage Horaire (Jet Lag) will close the Official Section. ed in the official section but out of competition.

The 2002 Toronto Film Festival has announced its line-up for the 27th festival, which will showcase 343 films from 50 countries, including 263 features, of which 193 are world and North American premieres. Seven Gala films were announced in addition to the previously announced presentations; they include Joel Schumacher.s Phone Booth (world premiere), Neil Jordan.s The Good Thief (world premiere), Danièle Thompson.s Jet Lag (world premiere), Todd Haynes. Far From Heaven (world premiere), Jim Sheridan.s In America (world premiere), The Other Side of the Bed (world premiere), and Patrice Leconte.s L.Homme Du Train (North American premiere). Special Presentations films, in addition to those previously announced, include Robert Duvall.s Assassination Tango, Matt Dillon.s City of Ghosts, Alan Rudolph.s The Secret Lives of Dentists, Michael Hoffman.s The Emperor.s Club, Paul Schrader.s Auto Focus, Menno Meyjes. Max, Pedro Almodóvar.s Talk To Her, and two films from Philip Noyce: Rabbit-Proof Fence and the long-delayed The Quiet American. See http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2002/ for the complete schedule.