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It’s never too early to start your Christmas movie marathons.

Ok, that’s not true. People shouldn’t be watching Christmas movies in April. But November is fair game! There still might be a few people who throw a side-eye at you for diving deep into the Christmas canon right after putting away the Halloween decorations but there’s an easy fix – find holiday movies that toe the seasonal line.

Save the big guns like “Home Alone,” “Love, Actually,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Christmas Vacation,” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” for December. There’s plenty of other movies that can scratch the holiday itch for you to take up November watching.

These are the Christmas films we feel are marked safe to binge in November.

Sony Pictures The Holiday

This might be the hardest sell for Christmas movies to watch in November just because it’s such a top-of-mind film for the holidays.

Paramount Pictures has announced plans to adapt the 2019 bestseller, Colleen Hoover’s Regretting You. Josh Boone is set to direct and Allison Williams is set to star in the film. It’s believed the studio wants to replicate the success of It Ends with Us.

Hoover’s Work Has Already Proved Successful At The Movies

Regretting You revolves around the fallout of a tragedy. Morgan Grant wants her daughter Clara to avoid the mistakes she made in life while her husband Chris plays peacemaker. Things take a turn, however, when Chris gets involved in an accident, leaving Morgan and Clara to rebuild.

Allison Williams – YouTube

Hoover’s work has already proven to be a potential hit maker. Her 2016 book It Ends with Us saw a film adaptation in 2024, which proved to be a sleeper hit. The film also notably featured Blake Lively, Brandon Sklenar, and Justin Baldoni, who also served as a director.

Exclusive: Molly Gordon (Theater Camp), Logan Lerman (We Were the Lucky Ones), Geraldine Viswanathan (Drive-Away Dolls) and John Reynolds (Search Party) are set to star in Oh, Hi!, an indie comedy written and to be directed by Sophie Brooks (The Boy Downstairs), who conceived the story with Gordon.

Entering production in New York this month, the film centers on Iris (Gordon) and Isaac (Lerman), whose first weekend away as a couple is going so well — until Isaac mentions he didn’t know they were a couple. Iris is sure he’s just confused….so she decides to hold him captive until they get on the same page.

Brooks and Gordon developed the project alongside producers David Brooks and Dan Clifton. Julie Waters will also produce for Watermark Media, which is financing with QWGmire, AmorFortuna, and Bespoke Production Capital. The executive producers are Evan Dyal, Molly C. Quinn, Matthew M. Welty,...

Recently, moviegoers have seen a strange overdose of Glen Powell. He has proven himself to be a major star in almost every genre in the last few years. Just as the audience was wondering what more could they expect from the Twisters star, he presented an insane surprise with his extraordinary transformation for his upcoming Hulu series, Chad Powers.

Glen Powell in Top Gun: Maverick | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Fans always love to see their favorite stars pulling off insane changeovers in films. Actors like Christian Bale and Jake Gyllenhaal have made a name for themselves with their mind-bending physical transformations. Glen Powell pulled off a unique transformation for Chad Powers as he looks like an uncanny amalgamation of Tom Cruise, Owen Wilson, and Adam Sandler.

Chad Powers is slated to present Glen Powell like never before

Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones in Twisters | Credits: Amblin Entertainment

Glen Powell has previously...

The Emily in Paris star Lily Collins has often been looked up to for her flawlessly slim physique that graces every iconic outfit she dons. But there’s no denying that the actress earned her phenomenal figure after having a long, complicated relationship with her body.

Lily Collins in Emily in Paris | image: Netflix

According to reports, Lily Collins has struggled with an eating disorder for years. But eventually, the actress broke out of the toxic cycle and pledged to be an advocate for self-love. Now, the actress is finally in a good place when it comes to her eating habits and mental health. Therefore, serving as a major beauty inspo for women, Collins now preaches proper eating and exercise regimes.

Lily Collins Got Vocal About Her Battle with Eating Disorders

Famously known for her role in Emily in Paris, Lily Collins garnered immense popularity and widespread admiration for her elegant style and flawless physique.

Allison Williams (M3GAN) has signed on to star in Regretting You, an indie adaptation of the 2019 novel from It Ends with Us scribe Colleen Hoover, Deadline has confirmed.

The news comes amid the theatrical release of Sony’s It Ends With Us adaptation, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, which is expected to be a big hit, opening in the mid $40 million-range.

Written by Susan McMartin, with Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) aboard to direct, Regretting You centers on the complex relationship between Morgan Grant (Williams) and her daughter, Clara. Morgan became a mother at a young age, putting her own dreams on hold to raise Clara. As Clara grows into a teenager, their relationship becomes strained, especially after a tragic accident claims the life of Chris, Morgan’s husband and Clara’s father.

The project hails from Constantin Film, whose Robert Kulzer is set to produce,...

His good looks haven’t restricted Powell to the superhero universe. Now, after starring in an impressive variety of films, genres and roles, he’s finally attained star status

There isn’t much of a reason to ­remember the 2012 ­romantic comedy Stuck in Love – an independent ­production that, despite the presence of big-name actors including Jennifer Connelly and Greg Kinnear, grossed less than a million dollars worldwide.

There’s even less of a reason to remember Glen Powell in it, unless you were specifically on the lookout for his square jaw and sandy hair: then just 23 years old, the jobbing Texan actor played a minor role in the ensemble, billed in the credits merely as “Good-Looking Frat Guy”.

A Family Affair is Netflix’s latest rom-com directed by Richard Lagravenese from a screenplay by Carrie Solomon. The Netflix film follows the story of Zara, a young woman with aspirations of becoming a film producer, but currently, she works as an assistant for a self-obsessed and childish movie star, Chris Cole. While Zara hates her job and boss, she still tolerates them, but things get worse when she finds out that her mother and boss are romantically involved. A Family Affair has an amazing cast, including Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, Joey King, and Kathy Bates. So, if you loved the romance, banter, and hijinks of A Family Affair, here are some similar romcoms you could watch next.

The Idea of You (Prime Video) Credit – Prime Video

The Idea of You is a romantic comedy film directed by Michael Showalter from a screenplay co-written by Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt. Based...

Mother of the Bride is a romantic comedy-drama film directed by Mark Waters from a screenplay by Robin Bernheim. The Netflix film follows the story of Lana Winslow as she is surprised, to say the least by her daughter Emma’s bombshell wedding at a resort in Phuket, Thailand. But the surprises don’t stop there as when she gets to the wedding she finds out that the groom’s father is the man who broke her heart years ago. Mother of the Bride stars Brooke Shields in the lead role with Benjamin Bratt, Miranda Cosgrove, Chad Michael Murray, Sean Teale, Rachel Harris, Wilson Cruz, and Michael McDonald starring in supporting roles. If you loved all the feels and situational comedy in Mother of the Bride here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Ticket to Paradise (Peacock & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Working Title Films

Ticket to Paradise...

After being hit with backlash for taking her daytime talk show into production in the midst of the ongong WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Drew Barrymore has decided to shut down production altogether.

On Sunday, the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show” shared a message via Instagram to address the negative press that’s surrounded her show ever since the announcement, less than two weeks ago, that a new season would premiere this month.

“We really tried to find our way forward.”

While Barrymore contended the decision was made in order to employ members of her show’s crew who have been unemployed ever since the WGA strike began in May, her decision to forge ahead without WGA writers was criticized as undermining the striking writers, which led to picketing taking place outside her studio.

“I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show’s...

Blumhouse and Prime Video are going back to the future this October when the studio releases Totally Killer, a comedic horror film starring Kiernan Shipka as a time-traveling final girl trying to save her friends from a slasher’s milestone massacre. Today’s Totally Killer trailer finds Shipka’s Jamie Hughes returning to 1987, hoping to stop the killer before he can claim more victims in the present day.

Here’s the official synopsis for Totally Killer:

Thirty-five years after the shocking murder of three teens, the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer “returns on Halloween night to claim a fourth victim. Seventeen-year-old Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) ignores her overprotective mom’s (Julie Bowen) warning and comes face-to-face with the masked maniac and, on the run for her life, accidentally time-travels to 1987, the year of the original killings. Forced to navigate the unfamiliar and outrageous culture of the 1980s, Jamie teams up with...

“Women Talking”? More like women (are) winning. Sarah Polley took home the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar on Sunday, making her one of the category’s few female winners and giving the category back-to-back female champs for the first time.

With Polley’s victory, Best Adapted Screenplay has now gone to women nine times — and twice to the same person, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who triumphed for 1986’s “A Room with a View” and 1992’s “Howards End.” Polley joins Jhabvala as one of four women who’ve won as solo writers. The others are Emma Thompson (1995’s “Sense and Sensibility”) and last year’s winner, Sian Heder (“Coda”).

The category’s other female winners prevailed as part of writing teams. Sarah Y. Mason was the first woman to win adapted screenplay for co-writing 1933’s “Little Women” with her husband Victor Heerman. Claudine West shared her award for 1942’s “Mrs. Miniver” with George Froeschel,...

It’s been anything but quiet on the awards front for Netflix’s “All Quiet on the Western Front.” After lurking under the radar for much of this season, the German World War I epic directed by Edward Berger took this year’s Academy Award nominations by storm, racking up an impressive total of nine, including Best Picture, and becoming just the 14th film not in the English language to be shortlisted for the top honor. If it walks away with the Best Picture prize on March 12, it will follow in the footsteps of “Parasite” (2019) as just the second non-English language film to pull off this feat.

See Can ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ win the Oscar categories the 1930 film failed to claim?

Based on German writer Erich Maria Remarque’s bestselling 1929 novel of the same name, “All Quiet on the Western Front” (originally: “Im Westen nichts Neues”) follows...

Previous recipients include Barry Jenkins, Dustin Lance Black, Susannah Grant, Liz Hannah.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz will receive Writers Guild of America West’s (WGA) 2023 Paul Selvin Award in recognition of her adapted screenplay She Said at the Guild’s awards ceremony in Los Angeles on March 5.

She Said recounts the story of the investigation by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, reporters at The New York Times, who exposed decades of sexual abuse by then-Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and in so doing ignited the #MeToo movement. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star.

Weinstein was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Los Angeles court today.

Charlie Kaufman, who penned the Writers Guild Award and Academy Award-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, will receive the Writers Guild of America West’s 2023 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, the Wgaw announced on Wednesday.

This lifetime achievement award is presented to members who have “advanced the literature of motion pictures and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the screenwriter.”

The career of the writer, director, producer and author began in the early ’90s with the cult classic sitcom Get a Life, and he spent time after that working in comedy and sketch TV before transitioning into film projects. He was nominated for a Writers Guild Award, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 1999 for his screenplay Being John Malkovich, for which he also won the Independent Spirit Award for best first screenplay. Adaptation earned Kaufman his second Writers Guild and Academy Awards, and 2004’s The...

One club welcomes another on the latest installment of The Losers’ Club’s On Writers series.

This week, co-hosts Randall Colburn and Mel Kassel chat with acclaimed novelist Paul G. Tremblay about last year’s The Pallbearers Club, a twisty tale of two loners that allows them both operate as unreliable narrators — one via his unpublished memoir, the other through the notes she leaves in its margins. It’s an unnerving and edifying story of friendship, obsession, and addiction, not to mention vampirism, be it of the literal or emotional kind.

In conversation, Tremblay unpacks his careful approach to ambiguity and the necessity he feels to earn his experiments with narrative. He also discusses Knock at the Cabin, the M. Night Shyamalan-directed adaptation of his Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Cabin at the End of the World, and his experience as a novelist in Hollywood. Tremblay also teases his next novel,...

Penelope Koechl will be this year’s recipient of the WGA East’s Richard B. Jablow Award for Devoted Service to the Guild. The honorary award will be presented at the 75th annual Writers Guild Awards ceremony at New York’s Edison Ballroom on March 5.

Related Story WGA Awards TV Nominations: ‘Abbott Elementary,’ ‘Better Call Saul,’ ‘The Crown,’ ‘Severance’, ’Yellowjackets’ Among Shows Vying For Top Prizes Related Story WGA East & HuffPost Reach Deal On New Contract, Avert Threatened Strike Related Story 'Living Single' Creator Yvette Lee Bowser Set For WGA West's Top TV Honor

Koechl, who served five terms on the guild’s Council, is currently a member of the Trustee Review and Appointment Committee and chairperson of the Election Committee. After joining the guild in 1986, she served as a member of the 1988 Strike Committee, the 2001 Negotiating Committee and an alternate on the 2007 Negotiating Committee. A longtime writer for the...

Exclusive: The Black List and Sony Pictures Animation announce Fredrick Leach as the first-ever Writers Program Fellow. He will spend the next six months as an in-house writer for Sony Pictures Animation, where he will craft dialogue for custom animation pieces, dive into scripts on the development slate, pitch his own ideas, and much more.

The Sony Pictures Animation x Black List Writers Program launched in April 2022 to identify and nurture writers who represent Sony Pictures Animation’s diverse and global audience. The partnership was the first program on blcklst.com to specifically target diverse writers in animation.

Said Kristine Belson, president of Sony Pictures Animation, “We are very excited to hit the ground running with Fredrick for this inaugural writers program. Fredrick’s professional background, transitioning from teaching into screenwriting, gives him a perspective that is evident in his work, and his sensibilities and attitude make him a great fit for Sony Pictures Animation.

Exclusive: Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix franchise), Isabelle Fuhrman (The Novice) and Liana Liberato (To the Bone) have signed on to star in Justine Bateman’s upcoming feature Face, based on her 2021 bestseller, Face: One Square Foot of Skin.

The film penned by Bateman consists of 14 vignettes, both comedic and dramatic, which look at women’s faces getting older, and why that makes people angry. While much of society appears to assume that women’s faces are somehow broken and need to be fixed, Face reveals some of the many ways in which women, and those around them, allow this idea to take root at all.

Parker will play Tanya, an actress balancing her need to use her face for her job and the pressure to not move it at all, with Moss as Mrs. Foster, a kindergarten teacher whose young students remind her of the magical functionality of the face.

Five top TV showrunners and producers will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022 Emmy Awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Wednesday, June 1, at 6:00 p.m. Pt; 9:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Denton Davidson and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.

RSVP today to our entire ongoing Emmy contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 contenders:

Christmas in Tune (Lifetime)

Synopsis: Story of Belle, a marketing executive who is worried that she may lose her job.

Bio: Melissa Joan Hart was a Kids’ Choice Awards winner for “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Drive Me Crazy.

Isla Fisher (Wolf Like Me) and Greg Kinnear (Shining Vale) will topline the family comedy The Present, from director Christian Ditter (How to Be Single), which has entered production in Los Angeles.

In the film from Stuart Ford’s independent content studio AGC Studios, a brilliant boy discovers he can manipulate time using an enchanted family heirloom, then teaming up with his siblings to go back to the eve of their parents’ separation in hopes of changing the outcome. As their schemes become more elaborate, the siblings will learn about family bonds and what they can and can’t control. Fisher and Kinnear are playing the parents in search of reconciliation, with Easton Rocket Sweda (General Hospital), Shay Rudolph (The Baby-Sitters Club) and Mason Shea Joyce (Euphoria) portraying the siblings who just might be the only people who can make that happen.

Ross Butler (Shazam!) also stars in the film...

Patrick Schwarzenegger (“The Staircase”), Sean Patrick Thomas (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”) and Marco Pigossi (“Tidelands”) have been cast in recurring roles for Prime Video’s as-yet untitled “The Boys” college-set spinoff, TheWrap confirmed.

According to Deadline, which first reported the news, Schwarzenegger will play Golden Boy, Thomas will portray Polarity and Pigossi will play Dr. Cardosa. Further details are being kept under wraps.

The streamer greenlit the series with “Agent Carter” alums Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters serving as showrunners and executive producers in September 2021. “The Boys” executive producer Craig Rosenberg was previously shepherding the series but exited due to creative differences.

Starring “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” alums Jaz Sinclair and Chance Perdomo, Lizzie Broadway and Maddie Phillips, the spinoff will take place at the Vought International-run college for young superheroes. It’s described as “an irreverent, R-rated series that explores the lives of hormonal, competitive Supes as they put their physical,...

Exclusive: Emmy nominated Barry producer and scribe Jason Kim is set to pen a spinoff of Crazy Rich Asians which will center around the Gemma Chan character of Astrid Young Teo and her romance with Charlie Wu, played by Harry Shum Jr. in the original movie.

I hear that Kim came in with a dynamite pitch for the lovebirds’ story, and Warner Bros. swooned for it. The project is in early development.

Note, the Crazy Rich Asians sequel remains in development, and it’s being penned by Amy Wang. Both the spin-off and Crazy Rich Asians sequel will be tied to Kevin Kwan’s second book in the trilogy, China Rich Girlfriend. That book, in addition to covering Astrid and Charlie’s relationship, follows the Constance Wu and Henry Golding characters, Rachel and Nick, on a trip to Shanghai to find the former’s birth father.

Astrid is the newly...

HBO Max dropped the official trailer for Season 2 of “Hacks,” which premieres on the streamer May 12 with two episodes, followed by two more each week until June 2. Picking up after stand-up legend Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) lost her Vegas residency, she and young comedian Ava (Hannah Einbinder) travel across the country to workshop her new act.

Additional cast includes Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Jane Adams, Christopher McDonald, Kaitlin Olson, Paul W. Downs, Poppy Liu, Rose Abdoo, Mark Indelicato, Meg Stalter, Angela E. Gibbs, Luenell, Johnny Sibilly, Joe Mande, Ally Maki and Lorenza Izzo. New recurring guest stars for Season 2 include Laurie Metcalf, Martha Kelly, Ming-Na Wen and Susie Essman, as well as guest stars Margaret Cho and Devon Sawa.

“Hacks” is created and showrun by Emmy winners Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky. Michael Schur executive produces via Fremulon, David Miner for 3 Arts Entertainment and Morgan Sackett. The studio is Universal Television,...

Hulu’s freshman comedy “Only Murders in the Building” has had an incredibly strong string of nominations at this year’s winter awards. The hilarious and stylish riff on true crime podcasting earned three noms at both the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Golden Globes, plus bids with the Producers Guild, Writers Guild and Critics Choice Awards. One name frequently and surprisingly omitted from many of those nominations lists, though, is series star Selena Gomez, who plays the dry and urbane millennial Mabel to Steve Martin and Martin Short‘s more hilariously broad comedic duo. Could her potential Emmy citation be in jeopardy, or will the sardonic glue that holds the series together get the last laugh?

According to Gold Derby’s current Emmy predictions, Gomez has no reason to fret just yet. In the expected six person line-up, Gomez sneaks into the final slot in sixth place, trailing reigning...

Ann Sarnoff, who has held a top film and TV studio role at WarnerMedia for nearly three years, is departing the company as it gets set to merge with Discovery.

News of her exit spread quickly Tuesday and then was confirmed in a press release. It will take effect upon the close of the 43 billion merger, which is something of a moving target but getting closer to becoming reality. Regulators will determine the exact timeline of when the transaction can be officially consummated, but indications are that it will happen Friday.

News of her exit follows that about WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who told employees that Friday would be his final day. Also exiting is HBO Max head Andy Forssell.

Sarnoff joined the company in mid-2019 and was promoted to Chair and CEO, WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group the following year. She was the first woman to serve as chairman...

“Succession” has done what only two dramas before it have done: successfully sweep the top four guilds in the same calendar year.

The road to the history books started in late February when “Succession,” which follows the messy and complicated Roy family led by patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), took home the Screen Actors Guild Award for drama ensemble on its first nomination. It quickly followed that up with the Directors Guild of America Award for dramatic series directing, which went to Mark Mylod (who is also an executive producer on the show) for helming the game-changing Season 3 finale, “All the Bells Say.” Of course, “Succession” was always going home a winner at the latter since the series swept the nominations, earning five bids in a historic first for the DGA.

This weekend, the Jesse Armstrong-created series completed its sweep of the four major guilds when it picked up...

“Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins will receive the Writers Guild of America West’s 2022 Paul Selvin Award in recognition of his script for the ninth episode of his Prime Video limited series “The Underground Railroad,” which tells an alternate history of the legendary network that helped Black people free slavery.

Jenkins will be honored at the 2022 Writers Guild Awards joint virtual ceremony on Sunday, March 20. The award is named after the late Paul Selvin, general counsel to Wgaw for 25 years, and is given each year to “the member or members whose script best embodies the spirit of the constitutional and civil rights and liberties that are indispensable to the survival of free writers everywhere.”

“It is a humbling honor to receive an award given in Mr. Selvin’s name and in the spirit with which he went about his life and work, defending the civil rights of everyday people and protecting...

With so many options available to prospective viewers at a given moment – everything from weekly episodes to binge-watches to even memes on social media – how do some of the most celebrated writers in Hollywood consider the audience when sitting down to write a script? It depends, say the writers on our “Meet the Experts” Writers Guild Award nominees panel – including Josh Gondelman from “Desus & Mero,” Brad Ingelsby from “Mare of Easttown,” Brett Goldstein from “Ted Lasso,” Little Marvin from “Them” and Paul Simms from “What We Do in the Shadows.”

Watch the lively panel roundtable discussion above. Click on each name above to watch an individual interview with that person.

“We think about the show within the framework of late night. That’s how a lot of people watch it,” Gondelman says. “But I think it’s also fun to create these [viral] moments. And we have a really wonderful...

Exclusive: Fremantle and HBO Max Nordic are getting behind the inaugural European edition of The Writers Lab (Twl), the program devoted exclusively to script development for women and non-binary writers over the age of 40.

Founded and produced by Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, the lab expanded from the U.S. into the UK in 2021, and its first European version is now open for submissions (until February 7) ahead of a six-month virtual program that will commence in April. Julia Berg and Ruth Spencer’s Untamed Stories are partners on the UK and European editions.

Production and distribution powerhouse Fremantle will sponsor several writers across the program, while HBO Max Nordic will sponsor one Nordic writer to participate in the lab.

New mentors added for the European edition include Valeria Golino (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) and Zackary Drucker (Transparent). They join guests and mentors Susanne Bier (The Night Manager), Jasmila Žbanić, Christina Ham (Them), Jantje Friese (Dark), Isabel Coixet (Secret Life of Words), Ameenah Ayub Allen (Rocks), and Nadine Labaki (Capernaum).

Up to 15 writers will be selected to participate. Submissions of both features and pilots (both 1-hour and ½-hour) will be accepted for consideration in English language (on writers and financiers’ discretion they may be later translated into original language).

“It’s our obligation and our responsibility, to empower others, and we are delighted to back women and non-binary writers over 40 through this incredible creative initiative, giving them the opportunity to tell their stories within a supported space,” said Jennifer Mullin, Group CEO, Fremantle.

“Our (HBO Max Nordic Local Original Production) commitment to commission and create diverse and compelling local content for HBO Max and the Writers Lab’s impending quest to find and nurture previously undiscovered writing talent is a match made in heaven,” jointly added : Camilla Curtis, Creative Executive, Scripted Production, and Christopher Haug, Head of Drama Series Development, HBO Max Emea.

European Partners include German Films, The Netherlands Filmfund, Screen Ireland, The Polish Film Institute, The Austrian Film Institute, Orf, Fisa – Film Industry Support Austria, Aurora Studios from Finland, Rabbit Films, Film Tampere, City of Helsinki and screen.brussels. Production companies Wildside, a Fremantle Company, and Germany-based Odeon Fiction also join. The Lab is in association with Drehbuchforum Wien (Screenwriters Forum Vienna), Women in Film and TV (Wift) Finland, Women in Film and TV (Wift) International and Women In Film TV & Media (Wiftm) Italy.

HBO Max fired up the Keaton Beacon… and their call was answered.

Michael Keaton, who famously played Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) on the big screen in 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, will once again slip on the Dark Knight’s cowl for HBO Max’s 2022 Batgirl movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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Keaton...

Exclusive: Artists, Writers and Artisans (Awa), the creator-owned graphic novel publisher and studio, has named Matthew Anderson, a strategic advisor at James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and former Roku chief marketing officer, to its board and tapped, Bob Cohen — former longtime legal chief of the former 20th Century Fox — as EVP and General Counsel.

Anderson will also become an investor in Awa, the start-up founded in 2018 by former Marvel executives Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso and chaired by Jon Miller. It’s been expanding, launching Awa Studios led by by Zach Studin last summer. The first two projects are feature films Chariot, acquired by Warner Bros. with Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) directing and 21 Laps producing; and Old Haunts, which is being adapted internally by screenwriter Aaron Rabin. Both are based on graphic fiction series.

Awa is backed by Lupa Systems, Sister and Lightspeed.

“We have assembled a team of senior executives, board members and backers with rare pedigree in television, film, streaming and the knowledge of how to align incentives with the outstanding creative talent that is choosing to work with Awa,“ said Jemas.

Anderson was Roku’s first chief marketing officer for seven years through 2020 when he left to join Lupa Systems. He was a major advocate for free TV initiatives, including The Roku Channel, and oversaw marketing partnerships with major streaming services and studios. He previously held top roles at News Corp., as Group Director, Strategy and Corporate Affairs, Europe and Asia, and at Sky, where he headed brand marketing and communications.

Anderson lauded Awa’s “depth in the industry” and called it “forward-thinking in its approach to talent and content.”

“Awa is fostering creative excellence with long-term ownership by creators and a unique support system that includes editorial partnership, modern marketing, TV & film development and franchise strategy,” he said.

Cohen served as EVP, Legal Affairs for 20th Century Fox – renamed 20th Century Studios after being acquired by Disney — for 25 years through early 2020. Cohen had also been EVP for Fox Stage Productions, overseeing more than a dozen shows in development and production.

He’s currently producing three upcoming Broadway productions including Mrs. Doubtfire, Secret Lives of Bees (West End, 2022) and Devil Wears Prada (Broadway, 2022).

Exclusive: Liana Liberato has signed on to star in Todd Bogin’s first feature, Left with Only Rain, with Jordan Rodrigues (Ladybird), Rumer Willis (Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood), and Richard Kind (A Serious Man) also joining the cast.

The thriller centers on Sabina Geshem, a young woman reeling from a breakup, who is struggling to rebuild her once-promising dance career. After a dalliance with her ex threatens her big comeback, Sabina goes to a small town to track him down. There, she discovers his new and pregnant girlfriend, inserting herself into the unsuspecting woman’s life, and seeking something other than closure.

Bogin penned the script for the film, which 2×4 Productions’ Dustin Williams will produce alongside Gabriel Francisco and Rafael Francisco of Francisco Productions.

Liberato recently wrapped production on K. Asher Levin’s Dig, an indie feature in which she stars opposite Emile Hirsch.

The WGA has written up the key dates for its 74th Writers Guild Awards. The trophy ceremony is set for Sunday, March 20, a week before the Oscars. It will be the final major awards show before the 94th Academy Awards.

A start time was not announced — nor was whether the event will be held virtually or in-person. Also no word on whether the WGA will keep to its pre-Covid tradition of holding simultaneous separate awards ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles. Deadline reached out to the guild about those questions this morning but has not heard back.

Submissions for all WGA Awards categories are being accepted starting today.

Nominations for TV prizes will be announced Thursday, January 13, with the film noms coming two weeks later on January 27. The WGA’s TV nominations also include new media, news, radio/audio and promotional writing.

Here are the key dates for the 2022 Writers Guild Awards,...

“’The Crown’ has been kind of on a roll,” Gold Derby senior editor Daniel Montgomery admits about the Netflix flagship drama winning everything in its path this season. “Through the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, PGA Awards, DGA Awards, Writers Guild, it’s been kind of a romp for that show, which would actually make it a first Best Drama Series for Netflix in its history,” he explains.

Montgomery is joined by fellow senior editors Marcus James Dixon and Rob Licuria to dish who and what could upset the Netflix prestige drama. It’s on course to finally claim its first Best Drama Series trophy for its acclaimed fourth season and finally break the streamer’s inexplicable curse at the Emmys, having never won a series trophy in any genre. Watch the Emmy predictions slugfest video above.

See 2021 Emmy nominations complete list: All the nominees for the 73rd Emmy Awards...

You wouldn’t necessarily expect a limited series about chess to become a pop culture phenomenon, but that’s what happened for “The Queen’s Gambit” when it premiered on Netflix last fall. The streamer touted it as a massively popular hit after it premiered last fall, and it was equally popular with industry awards voters this past spring. But how many Emmy nominations will it get? And how many of those will it win? Scroll down to see its 23 submissions across this year’s ballots.

See‘Queen’s Gambit’ mentor Bill Camp poses serious Emmy threat to ‘Small Axe’ rookie cop John Boyega, according to Experts

Based on the novel by Walter Tevis, “The Queen’s Gambit” tells the story of Beth Harmon (played as a child by Isla Johnston and as a teen and adult by Anya Taylor-Joy), who is sent to an orphanage in the 1950s following her mother...

An adaptation of the novel “We Go Around in the Night and are Consumed by Fire” by “Loaded” producers Hillbilly Films and Television has attached its key creative team.

BAFTA-nominated helmer Georgi Banks-Davies (“I Hate Suzie”) is set to direct the limited drama series, while Clare McQuillan (“Impulse”) is writing. The film deal was brokered by Luke Speed of the Curtis Brown Group on behalf of Alexander Cochran of C&w Agency.

Inspired by graffiti found on an overpass in Manchester, Jules Grant’s debut novel is a queer love story and revenge thriller that provides a little-seen view of British gangland in Manchester, from a female perspective.

Banks-Davies most recently served as the lead director on Sky series “I Hate Suzie,” which is nominated for the best series BAFTA TV Award as well as an emerging talent (fiction) nod for the director. Her additional credits include short drama “Garfield,...

Saban Films holds US rights.

Voltage Pictures has added a hot title to its upcoming virtual Cannes market slate, boarding international rights to music video director Declan Whitebloom’s action heist thriller The Yacht starring Ruby Rose, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Frank Grillo.

Production wrapped recently in Mississippi and Voltage president and COO Jonathan Deckter and his team plan to show a promo when they kick off talks with buyers later this month.

Saban Films has acquired US rights to The Yacht, which is described as being in the vein of Die Hard and Panic Room and centres on a tenacious...

The vast majority of Gold Derby’s users are predicting one of two scripts to win Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars: “Nomadland” (by Chloe Zhao) or “The Father” (by Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton). Since “Nomadland” is the front-runner for Best Picture, you’d think it would be a pretty safe bet to prevail for its writing. But we’ve been getting mixed messages during the awards season that makes it look like a total toss-up.

“Nomadland” and “The Father” went head-to-head for Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes, but they both lost to “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which is an original script competing in a different Oscar category, so no help there. They battled again at the Critics Choice Awards, where “Nomadland” won, so that gave us an indication of its strength.

SEECould BAFTA win for Anthony Hopkins (‘The Father’) foretell Oscars surprise like it did for Olivia Colman?...

Imax and Imagine Documentaries have formed a five-year production and distribution agreement, a slate which will include movies on the subjects of space, exploration, natural sciences, music, civilization, society and more. The first title to be released under the agreement is Eliza McNitt’s Mars 2080 in 2022, produced by Apollo 13‘s Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, as well as Imagine’s Justin Wilkes. Mars 2080 will immerse viewers inside a colony on Mars set 60 years in the future.

The movie is based on a concept by Stephen Petranek, science writer and author of How We’ll Live on Mars. The original concept follows a mother and daughter displaced from Earth by climate change, who make the difficult journey to Mars, adjusting to life with hundreds of thousands of people from different countries living together and forming a new civilization unencumbered by the mistakes of their past. P&g’s research scientists who are developing sustainable manufacturing,...

Aaron Sorkin had a massive job ahead of him when researching the screenplay for his second directorial effort, “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” Back in 2007 when the project was to be directed by Steven Spielberg, Sorkin begin plowing through tens of thousands of pages of the official trial transcript to first get the facts down, then applied his character-writing skill to shape his script into a crowd-pleasing movie, the result of which has garnered Sorkin an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Sorkin’s screenplay for “Chicago 7” will battle with it out with scripts for Emerald Fennell‘s genre-bending “Promising Young Woman,” Lee Isaac Chung‘s family remembrance “Minari,” Will Berson and Shaka King‘s historical biopic “Judas and the Black Messiah” and the drama “Sound of Metal” written by Darius Marder and his brother Abraham Marder.

SEEAaron Sorkin interview: ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ director-writer

The...

Aaron Sorkin (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”) won Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes, and then Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) pulled ahead by winning Best Original Screenplay at the Critics Choice, Writers Guild, and BAFTA Awards. So they’re the two to beat for the Oscar, with Fennell enjoying a significant lead in our racetrack odds based on the combined predictions of thousands of Gold Derby users. But what about Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)? Might we be underestimating him?

We don’t have that much to go on in terms of the strength of Chung’s screenplay as an Oscar contender. His script was snubbed at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, but neither group liked “Minari” overall as much as the Oscars did. The Globes only nominated it for Best Foreign Language Film (which it won), and while it earned six BAFTA noms (the same number as it...

This year’s awards season has taken place in isolation and elongation, but the end is finally near. The scaled-down but Zoom-free 93rd Academy Awards will take place almost exactly a month from now, on April 25 — but in those four remaining weeks, you have to wonder if there will really be any suspense in the Best Picture race.

With the win for “Nomadland” on Wednesday at the Producers Guild Awards, one of the key prizes on the road to Oscar, the answer could be no. At an awards show that could have turned “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Promising Young Woman” or “Minari” into a serious rival, “Nomadland” instead grabbed one of the biggest industry awards to go along with the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Award, Gotham Award and National Society of Film Critics awards it already had.

And you can also throw in the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion,...

Aziza Barnes (Blks) and Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play), have signed on as writers and executive producers on drama The Vanishing Half, based on Brit Bennett’s bestselling novel, which is in currently in development as a series at HBO. Issa Rae and her Hoorae production banner and Stephanie Allain’s Homegrown Pictures also have joined as executive producers.

As Deadline previously reported, HBO acquired the book in 2020 in a highly competitive situation.

In The Vanishing Half, the twin Vignes sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, the essence of who they are. Ten years later, they are living completely separate lives, far from the close-knit sisters they once were…and with many secrets that divide them further.

Don’t look for five of our predicted 10 Oscar contenders for screenplay in the 2021 Writers Guild of America Awards nominations announced February 16. They didn’t qualify for consideration under the guild’s guidelines or those of its international partners.

We are predicting that “Nomadland” will win Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars. Three of its likely Oscar rivals — “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “News of the World” and “One Night in Miami” — contend at the WGA Awards as do “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “The White Tiger.”

The Original Screenplay Oscar frontrunner “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is in the running here as is “Promising Young Woman,” which sits in second place on our chart. With “Mank,” “Minari” and “Soul” ineligible at the guild kudos, that race is rounded out by “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Palm Springs” and “Sound of Metal.”

Over the past 11 years only 73 of the Writers Guild...

Only scripts written under the WGA guidelines or those of several international partners are allowed to vie for the Writers Guild of America Awards. This limited eligibility means that these precursor prizes, which reveals its roster for the 2021 WGA Awards on February 16, are not the most reliable barometer of the eventual Oscar nominees and winners. Indeed, in the past 11 years only 73 of the Writers Guild of America Awards nominees have numbered among the 110 screenplays that reaped Academy Awards bids.

Among those ineligible for consideration this year are some of the leading Oscar contenders, including the original screenplays for “Mank” and “Minari” and the adapted screenplays for “The Father,” “The Life Ahead” and “Nomadland.”

Other original scripts that aren’t eligible include those for “Ammonite,” “The Assistant,” “Farewell Amor,” “Herself,” “Ordinary Love,” “Supernova” and “The Climb.”

And other adaptations out of the running include “Blithe Spirit,” “Hope Gap,” “Martin Eden,” “The Personal History of David Copperfield,...

Just hours after the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards, the Writers Guild of America, West and Writers Guild of America, East announced the latest batch of nominees for the upcoming WGA Awards, including honorees from television, new media, and news.

AMC’s “Better Call Saul” nabbed four nominations, one in drama series and three in episodic drama, which recognizes scripts from individual episodes of the season. Of particular note from today’s WGA announcement is the notable achievement of both Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” and Hulu’s “The Great” scoring nominations in both new series and comedy series. Both freshman shows also earned a nomination apiece in episodic comedy.

All the nominees will be celebrated at the joint 2021 Writers Guild Awards virtual ceremony, taking place on Sunday, March 21, 2021.

A partial list of nominees is below. A complete list of today’s nominations, including categories for radio/audio and...

Comedian and actor Ramy Youssef challenged the misconception that actors with disabilities are more difficult to work with on set than other talent. Referring to the treatment of Steve Way, his friend and co-star on “Ramy” who was born with muscular dystrophy, Youssef said producers questioned how long Way could work per day and how well audiences would understand him.

“A lot of A-list stars only have four takes in them, and productions figure out how to really work around their demands and their needs, and someone like Steve doesn’t even have that many demands or needs in order to be put into a position to succeed,” he said during a speech at this year’s Media Access Awards Presented by Easterseals.

He was honored with the Writers Guild of America West Evan Summers Memorial award for his work on “Ramy” during the event, which celebrated those who help...

The 2020-2021 film awards season will be the most delayed and drawn-out season ever, with the Oscars pushed back from its usual late-February date to April 25 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Most of the other awards shows have adjusted to fit the Oscars timeline, but that timeline is itself unusually extended — there’s a full month, for instance, between the announcement of Oscar nominations on March 15 and the beginning of final voting on April 15. That’s the opposite of the awards season that ended at the beginning of this year, when the Oscars’ early Feb. 9 date caused a truncated, crammed calendar.

Here is the current awards timeline, with awards shows and nominations announcements in boldface. Given the unpredictable course of the pandemic, these dates are subject to change. In addition, many awards bodies have yet to set their dates.

TheWrap will update this list as more organizations set their own timetables.

Late Show With Stephen Colbert veterans Tanya Michnevich Bracco and Opus Moreschi will be expanding their roles on the late-night show with promotions to co-executive producer. Bracco, who has been with The Late Show since its debut in September 2015 previously serving as supervising producer/executive in charge of production, will expand her responsibilities of integrating the show’s creative and production arms. Moreschi will assist in leading the daily creative direction of The Late Show, while continuing to be an integral part of the writing staff.

Prior to The Late Show, Bracco spent 10 years as line producer then supervising producer/executive in charge at The Colbert Report, where she won two Emmy Awards, three Producers Guild Awards and two Peabody Awards. Her experience ranges from scripted to variety/talk television, having freelanced in various roles and projects during her career.

Moreschi has spent over 12 years writing for Stephen Colbert, first...