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Documentary veterans Natalie Bullock Brown, Kirsten Johnson, Mary Lampson and Jacqueline Olive are the inaugural documentary film fellows for the documentary film in the public interest research initiative by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center.

As the first cohort of doc film fellows, the foursome will join the center for the fall 2023 semester. There, each fellow will conduct research and do public education activities about questions facing the documentary film field and civic information.

Led by Shorenstein Center’s director Nancy Gibbs and doc filmmaker Sara Archambault, the initiative, which was established in March, will work to examine the challenges facing the documentary field and their impacts on civic life and information.

“In this challenging moment for media and our information ecosystem, we are excited that the Shorenstein Center can provide the support and infrastructure to drive renewed and creative thinking about complex issues in the documentary film space,” says Gibbs.

Archambault...

Ben Wasserstein, who most recently served as SVP, original programing at HBO, is reuniting with his former HBO boss Richard Plepler. Wasserstein has signed an exclusive first-look deal with Plepler’s film and television production company Eden Productions. Based on the West Coast, he will develop new comedy and drama series, limited series and films for Eden’s exclusive multi-year deal with Apple TV+, working in conjunction with Heather Karpas who joined the company from ICM Partners in 2020.

“Ben is one of the most talented creative executives of his generation,” Plepler said. “I’m thrilled he’ll be bringing his superb eye for talent and material to Eden.”

Wasserstein joined HBO in 2016 as VP original programming and was subsequently promoted to SVP. During his tenure, he helped oversee the development and production of comedy series, such as Barry, The Rehearsal, Somebody Somewhere, Los Espookys, Avenue 5, Veep, Divorce, Sally4Ever and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Ben Wasserstein has entered a first look deal at Richard Plepler’s Eden Productions.

Under the deal, Wasserstein will pursue and develop new comedy and drama series, limited series and films for Eden’s multi-year deal with Apple TV+. He will work alongside Heather Karpas, who joined Eden in 2020 after previously working at ICM Partners.

Before entering this role, Wasserstein had been working at HBO since 2016. He entered the company as vice president of original programming, eventually rising to senior vice president. During his tenure, he oversaw the development and production of comedy series including “Barry,” “The

Rehearsal,” “Somebody Somewhere,” “Los Espookys,” “Avenue 5,” “Veep,” “Divorce,” “Sally4Ever” and

“Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Before HBO, he worked at Fair Harbor Productions as vice president of development. There, projects under his purview included HBO’s “Looking” and “Bored To Death” as well as SundanceTV’s “The Red

Road.” And before Fair Harbor, he was a journalist,...

HBO’s Ben Wasserstein has inked an exclusive first-look deal with former HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler’s Eden Productions.

Wasserstein, who most recently served as HBO’s senior VP of Original Programming, has signed onto the three-year-old production company to develop comedy and drama series, limited series and films for Eden’s multiyear deal with Apple TV+.

The former SVP, who will be based on the West Coast, will work alongside Heather Karpas, who recently joined Eden from ICM Partners in 2020.

“Ben is one of the most talented creative executives of his generation,” Plepler said in a statement. “I’m thrilled he’ll be bringing his superb eye for talent and material to Eden.”

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Prior to moving up the ladder as SVP of Original Programming at HBO, Wasserstein joined the company in 2016 and oversaw the...

Richard Plepler is recruiting from his past.

His Eden Productions announced Thursday that it has entered in to an exclusive first-look deal with Ben Wasserstein, with whom Plepler worked at HBO. Wasserstein, who most recently served as a senior vp of original programming at the premium cable network, will remain on the west coast, where he’ll develop new fare across film and TV for his former boss’ Apple TV+-based company.

“Ben is one of the most talented creative executives of his generation,” noted Plepler. “I’m thrilled he’ll be bringing his superb eye for talent and material to Eden.”

Wasserstein joined HBO in 2016, and has worked on comedy series including Barry, The Rehearsal, Somebody Somewhere, Los Espookys, Veep and Curb Your Enthusiasm during his tenure there. Prior to HBO, he was the vp of development at Fair Harbor Productions, where he also worked on HBO series Looking and Bored to Death.

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Showtime’s Attica) is teaming up with Jacqueline Olive (Lincoln’s Dilemma) to direct the feature documentary, The Color of Cola.

The film now in production is based on Stephanie Capparell’s 2008 book, The Real Pepsi Challenge: How One Pioneering Company Broke Color Barriers in 1940s American Business. It sheds light on the experience of the all-Black sales team at Pepsi, which was the first of its kind for any major corporation—following their journey through the Jim Crow South after being tasked with tapping its African American market.

The stories of Black pioneers are not unfamiliar, but oftentimes go untold. Nelson and Olive’s doc aims to elevate one such story exploring a time when corporate America did not include Black professionals, and the Black experience was stereotypically portrayed. The extraordinary efforts of the individuals on Pepsi’s sales team mirror the courage of many...

This month, Jeffrey Wright collaborated on three different projects honoring the life and legacy of orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who the Westworld actor refers to as “an undercelebrated and extraordinary American.”

For Apple TV+, Wright served as narrator of the docuseries Lincoln’s Dilemma, and he recorded an audio version of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass—Douglass’ first autobiography. Both are available now.

The American history superfan also worked with HBO and HBO Max on the documentary Frederick Douglass in Five Speeches, premiering February 23.

Wright spoke with Deadline about his admiration for Douglass, a former slave who would go on to play a pivotal role consulting President Abraham Lincoln and help change the course of history.

“I think Douglass is an undercelebrated and extraordinary American and his contributions to Lincoln’s presidency are profound. And he pushed [Lincoln] to be the president that we know and celebrate him for now,...

The new documentary series “Lincoln’s Dilemma” begins and ends outside of Abraham Lincoln’s era — opening with footage of the siege on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and concluding only weeks later, with the journalist Jelani Cobb’s observation that the military “occupied” Washington to keep Joe Biden safe at his inauguration. But the point this series makes is that, indeed, we’re hardly outside Lincoln’s moment at all — that the tenuousness and the peril of his era persist, as does the fundamentally unresolved question of race in this country.

Directed by Jacqueline Olive and Barak Goodman and executive produced by, among others, former HBO chief Richard Plepler, “Lincoln’s Dilemma” uses various techniques to illustrate the life and legacy of the 16th president, and the problems he faced while in office. Among these are readings of Lincoln’s and Frederick Douglass’ words, narration (by Jeffrey Wright), and the introduction of various historians.

Lincoln’s Dilemma will soon arrive on Apple TV+ and we’re giving viewers an exclusive first look at the four-part documentary series premiering Friday, February 18. Based on historian David S. Reynold’s award-winning book, Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times, the series Lincoln’s Dilemma features insights on the iconic figure from a diverse range of journalists, scholars, and more, as well as archival materials that offer a fuller picture of the man known as the “Great Emancipator.” (Credit: Apple TV+) In an exclusive clip, above, some of the scholars and experts weigh in on this image that Lincoln assumed over time and examine how he ended up with the reputation that he did. “Lincoln wanted to be the great sort of unifier, the person that brought the country back together again,” Kellie Carter Jackson says. “He did not start his presidency to be the ‘Great Emancipator.'” So, how did...

Jeffrey Wright has an update on the fourth season of Westworld, which has been delayed due to Covid-19. The HBO series’ Season 3 concluded on May 3, 2020.

“We wrapped last December, but I’m not exactly sure when it’s when it’s coming out,” Wright told Deadline on Monday while promoting the Apple TV+ docuseries he narrated, Lincoln’s Dilemma, premiering February 18.

He continued, “Season 4 is going to be more of the Westworld you’ve come to expect and more digging down into some issues and some technology that is going to look familiar to us, as always. It’s gonna be exciting. I’m not sure exactly when we’re to air but within the coming months, certainly.”

He also shared what his character Bernard Lowe has been up to in the interim.

“Bernard is still trying to solve it all and he is still very much a part of the struggle,...

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings and monthly guide to What’s on Streaming.

With nearly 500 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

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Director Avril Z. Speaks and executive producer Matt McDonough spent the better part of five years pitching their upcoming Discovery Plus docuseries “Uprooted,” which investigates the 1986 unsolved hanging death of Keith Warren, a 19-year-old Black man from Silver Spring, Md. But nobody wanted the project. Then, after George Floyd was murdered in May 2020, Speaks and McDonough began receiving phone calls.

“Suddenly people came out of the woodwork and were interested and wanted to have a conversation about making the series,” Speaks recalls. “We started getting interest from people – some people who we had already pitched the story to. It’s interesting that it took that event for people to understand that our (Black) stories matter.”

The three-part docuseries is one of several nonfiction offerings bowing during Black History Month, including Showtime’s “Everything’s Gonna Be All White” and “Lincoln’s Dilemma” on Apple TV Plus. “Uprooted,” which is debuting under Discovery...