‘Saturday Night Live’ To Get A British Adaptation In 2022

“Live from London…It’s Saturday Night”?

NBC’s iconic late-night sketch show could be hitting British shores in the future. Our sources have confirmed that a U.K. adaptation of the format is in early development at Comcast-backed pay-TV operator Sky.

The tie-up is hardly surprising given both Sky and NBC share the same parent company, and such collaborations have been mooted ever since Comcast outbid Fox to snap up the European media company for $39 billion back in 2018.

“Saturday Night Live” has been adapted in a number of territories, including China, Japan, West Asia (also known as the Middle East), France, Italy, Poland and Brazil. The show also recently returned to Korea after a few years’ hiatus, as reported earlier this year.

Given the U.S./U.K. crossover of talent, a British version of the show could be substantial, and it’s believed local comedians are already throwing their hats in the ring to take part. However, Britain doesn’t have the same culture around late-night programming as the U.S. and it’s much harder to get shows away in late time slots. (ITV took a punt at the format with “The Nightly Show” in 2017, which was swiftly canceled after one season. Channel 4 has had more luck in recent years with “The Big Narstie Show”). As such, it’s likely “SNL” will air much earlier in the U.K.

“Saturday Night Live” was not widely distributed in the U.K. until recently when full episodes have been landing on Sky Comedy.

The original U.S. version is produced in association with Broadway Video, with Lorne Michaels as creator and executive producer.

Source: Variety

W. Kamau Bell’s World Premiere Film, ‘We Need to Talk About Cosby’ To Debut At Sundance in 2022

The ongoing pandemic can’t stall the fountainhead of cinematic creative bursting from the Sundance Film Festival’s 2022 lineup, which was unveiled Thursday.

Sundance festival director Tabitha Jackson told Deadline that the upcoming lineup of 82 features for the virtual and in-person Park City event is “doubling down on festival discovery,” an m.o. that harkens to the Robert Redford-founded event’s indie roots.

Centered in the up-market ski town, Sundance 2022 is set to run January 20-30.

Sundance 2022 boasts a lineup is inclusive, spotlighting representation with films that speak to our time and show off the bandwidth of talent. Among the selection there are documentaries on Princess Diana (opening-day world premiere The Princess from Ed Perkins) and Bill Cosby (W. Kamau Bell’s world premiere We Need to Talk About Cosby); a double dose of Dakota Johnson (Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth and Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne’s Am I OK? both of which the Fifty Shades of Grey actress produced); and one of late Michael Kenneth Williams’ final performances, that being Abi Damaris Corbin’s 892 about a Marine veteran who is at his wits end as he tries to reintegrate back into civilian life.

“Eighty percent of our feature film program is still for sale and 42% are first-time directors,” said Jackson. “It’s a really energetic festival for people getting to meet this work.”

“Artists figured out a way to make movies despite any challenges presented to them,” Sundance Film Festival director of programming Kim Yutani said about filmmakers’ fortitude to have their voices heard despite the restrictions presented by Covid. Jackson adds that “People were creatively resilient.”

“This year’s program reflects the unsettling and uncertain times we’ve been living in for the past year and a half. The artists in the program, through their bold and innovative storytelling, and their sheer determination to create work in this moment, challenge us to look at the world through different lenses and examine and reevaluate how these stories impact us now and in the future,” Yutani said in a statement.

The numbers speak for themselves: The upcoming edition touted the highest number of shorts submissions ever, besting 2021’s 9,933; while the feature lineup reps an increase over last year’s 72 titles across the U.S. Competition and World Cinema Competition Dramatic and Documentary, Midnight, Shorts Spotlight and NEXT sections, as well as the episodic Indie Series and New Frontier programs.

The 2022 lineup was selected from 14,849 submissions, including 3,762 feature-length films. Of the latter, 1,652 were from the U.S., and 2,110 were international. Overall, 75 of the festival’s 82 feature films announced today will be world premieres.

Of the 82 movies chosen, 43 (52%) were directed by one or more filmmakers who identify as women (vs. 50% for 2021); one was directed by one or more filmmakers who identify as non-binary individuals (down from 4%); 29 (35%) were directed by one or more filmmakers who identify as people of color (vs. 51% from this year’s edition); while eight (10%) are by one or more filmmakers who identify as LGBTQ+ (vs. 15% from 2021).

“This year, we look forward to celebrating this generation’s most innovative storytellers as they share their work across a wide range of genres and forms,” Sundance Institute founder and president Redford said today. “These artists have provided a light through the darkest of times, and we look forward to welcoming their unique visions out into the world and experiencing them together.”

“I’m so impressed by, and proud of, the work that the curatorial and production teams have done to plan this festival,” said newly appointed Sundance Institute CEO and former Toronto Film Festival co-head Joana Vicente. “I think audiences will be extremely excited to convene and engage with the incredible stories these artists are telling.”

While Dr. Anthony Fauci eased some concerns about the Omicron variant, saying recently it seemed to be less severe than Delta, the 2022 Sundance Film Festival remains in a position to pivot should the worst-case scenarios prevail. “We designed the festival to be flexible and are ready for whatever comes toward us,” said Jackson, referring to the online availability of movies for ticketholders. The 2022 edition will be the second time the festival has gone virtual during Covid.

As part of Sundance extending its celebration nationwide, eight feature films were chosen for the festival’s Satellite Screens, which will play at seven independent art house cinemas across the U.S. for local audiences during the fest’s closing weekend (January 28-30). Those titles are Alice; Emergency; Every Day in Kaimukī; Free Chol Soo Lee; Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul; La Guerra Civil; Marte Um (Mars One); and Sirens, with additional Short Film participation to be announced.

With nationwide reach, the program will play at Amherst Cinema in Amherst, MA; a/perture cinema in Winston-Salem,NC; Digital Gym Cinema in San Diego; Indie Memphis in Memphis; mama.film in Lawrence, KS; Northwest Film Forum in Seattle; and SNF Parkway Theatre, home of the Maryland Film Festival, in Baltimore.

Day one titles for Sundance 2022 include Emergency, Fire of Love, Fresh, La Guerra Civil, A Love Song, Marte Um (Mars One), The Princess, Tantura, When You Finish Saving the World, and The Worst Person in the World. Lucy and Desi is the fest’s Salt Lake City Opening Night Gala Film, premiering at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center on January 21.

As in past years, Deadline will be on the ground and online covering the films, the deals, the panels, and the word on the streets of Park City and beyond. Additionally, our Deadline Studio will be up and running again as our team speaks with filmmakers about their projects and the festival itself.

Source: Deadline

‘Upshaws’ Creator Regina Hicks to Develop Comedy Series for Netflix With the Obamas

Netflix has signed “The Upshaws” creator Regina Hicks to a multi-year overall deal that will include a new comedy series that Hicks will develop with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.

The untitled comedy series in development will focus on the lives of four middle-aged Black women from Houston, Texas and explore how they navigate a world of affluence while also balancing the everyday scenarios of women of a certain age.

Hicks will create, write and showrun the series. Tonia Davis and Ada Chiaghana will oversee for Higher Ground.

“I am thrilled to continue my creative journey with Tracey, Andy, and the wonderful team at Netflix and to find a home here at the place with so many of my favorite shows,” Hicks said. “And I absolutely love that I now get to work with the folks at Higher Ground.  Putting the voices of Black women on the screen is so important to me and I can’t think of a better team to do it with.”

“Regina’s shows always feel authentic and relatable,” Netflix head of comedy Tracey Pakosta said. “She’s an amazing writer and producer who’s given audiences laugh-out-loud moments mixed with a lot of heart and humanity for years. I can’t wait for her to expand on her work at Netflix, and I’m especially looking forward to this first project with Higher Ground.”

“The Upshaws” stars Wanda Sykes, Mike Epps, Kim Fields, Page Kennedy, Diamond Lyons, Khali Spraggins, Jermelle Simon, Gabrielle Dennis and Journey Christine. It was previously renewed for a second season.

Source: The Wrap

‘The Wendy Williams Show’Lines Up Kym Whitley, Finesse Mitchell, & Sherri Shepherd For Guest Hosting Spots

We just discovered the news that The Wendy Williams Show will be back with brand new episodes in January, but without Williams, who’s continuing to recover from complications of Graves disease.

according to sources, the guest hosts for the month will include Fat Joe and Remy Ma, Michael Rapaport, comedic duo Kym Whitley and Finesse Mitchell (who will host together), and Sherri Shepherd who has been able to gain in the ratings in Williams absence.

More on this as it develops.

Kenan Thompson Launches Production Company Sets First Project With Mike Tyson

Kenan Thompson has formalized his plans to move into production and talent management.

The Saturday Night Live star has launched Artists For Artists with John Ryan Jr., exec producer of Bill & Ted Face The Music, has formed a joint venture with management firm McKeon/Myones Entertainment, and set the company’s first project with boxing champion Mike Tyson.

It comes after the Kenan star revealed earlier this summer that he would like to move further into production during a conversation with his old SNL pal Seth Meyers.

Artists For Artists is a full-service artist incubator for content creation, production, commerce and management venture. The company is designed to help talent create and produce their own content and will help stars and creatives build their own content brands while partnering with distributors.

Thompson is set as co-founder with Ryan Jr., who was former COO of FilmEngine, producer of Bill & Ted Face The Music and who brought Mike Tyson out of retirement to fight Roy Jones Jr. in a major pay-per-view event, will serve as co-founder and CEO.

Tyson is involved in the company’s first project. The boxer, his wife Kiki Tyson and his brother-in-law and co-owner of Tyson’s Legends Only League Azim Spicer, will produce Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth Part 2, a live stage tour, written by Kiki Tyson that is a follow up to his 2013 one-man show and HBO special.

Artists for Artists will produce across film, series, podcasts and live events and will also have a celebrity commerce division. It is backed by investors including SOL Global, Ambria Capital, Green Tech, k2, and High Torque Investments.

The company has also formed a joint venture with McKeon/Myones Entertainment, the management firm operated by partners Mel McKeon and Laura Myones Ruf, which will be rebranded as AFA Prime Talent. The management arm represents talents including Yvonne Strahovski, Sarah Shahi, Shioli Kutsuna, Christina Vidal, Luiz Roberto Guzman, Leyna Bloom and Chella Man.

Thompson, who is hosting the 2021 People’s Choice Awards, said, “Any artists looking to build a company, come see us. John and I are excited to develop companies with talent that are owned and operated by the talent. We’ve all been part of projects we as artists wish we owned a bigger piece of, so we knew it was time to start a company that reflected that.”

John Ryan Jr. added, “In my 20 plus years working in Hollywood, it has always shocked me how rarely talent has ownership per project. Kenan and I have been friends for almost two decades, and it was time to create the change we wanted to see in the industry. Artists for Artists was built to partner and co-own the company with the talent, rather than licensing their brand. We believe talent and brands should be controlled by the talent and brand itself. With AFA, our artists in film, television and live entertainment have the creative freedom of owning their own content and commerce to release to the marketplace.”

Artists For Artists is represented by Paradigm. Kenan Thompson is represented by UTA and Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano. John Ryan Jr. is represented by Paradigm.

Source: Deadline

Inside the ‘Live in Front of a Studio Audience’ Rehearsal

If the idea of Kevin Hart as Arnold Jackson — the 8-year-old played by Gary Coleman on “Diff’rent Strokes’ — sounds perfect on paper, wait until you see tonight’s “Live in Front of a Studio Audience.” When the 5’4” Hart stands next to the 6’4” John Lithgow — who fills Conrad Bain’s role as Arnold’s adoptive father, Mr. Drummond — the casting is about as spot-on as anything “Live” has done in the past.

And then, when Hart leaps into Lithgow’s lap at one point, expect the live studio audience to erupt. At least, they did on Monday night during a dress rehearsal of “Live in Front of a Studio Audience.” Variety was there to witness the staging of early-series episodes of “The Facts of Life,” which aired on NBC from 1979 to 1988, and “Diff’rent Strokes,” which aired from 1978-1986.

Both shows come from the stable of Norman Lear, the legendary creator who was also a major TV mogul by the late 1970s. His Tandem/T.A.T. Communications was behind “Diff’rent Strokes,” which also yielded “Facts of Life” as a spinoff, and although Lear wasn’t credited as an executive producer on those shows, his imprint was still there. Lear was instrumental in casting Coleman in the show, for example: “It was so clear that he belonged at the center of the show, that was he had a rare talent,” Lear recalled.

Lear and Jimmy Kimmel are back to host the third “Live,” and Lear — even sporting a hip pandemic ponytail as he prepares to celebrate his 100th birthday next year — lavishes praise on Kimmel for originating the idea of taking classic scripts from his library with modern superstars.

This edition’s cast boasts plenty of them — including Hart and Lithgow, as well as Damon Wayans as Willis on the “Diff’rent Strokes” portion, which airs during the second half of the 90-minute special. The night kicks off with “The Facts of Life,” featuring Jennifer Aniston as Blair, Kathryn Hahn as Jo, Gabrielle Union as Tootie and Allison Tolman as Natalie.

But the real MVP of the evening has to be Ann Dowd, who plays Mrs. Edna Garrett in both “Facts” and “Strokes.” An almost perfect channeling of Charlotte Rae’s vocal inflections as the wise but often exasperated Mrs. Garrett, Dowd nails it. As do the hair, makeup and wardrobe teams — who found the perfect wig for Dowd. Close your eyes, and you’ll swear you’re watching the original series whenever Dowd opens her mouth.

A consummate pro, Dowd didn’t drop character even during commercial breaks, as she continued to keep busy, as Mrs. Garrett would, even during a pause in the action.

This edition of “Life in Front of a Studio Audience” is also bursting at the seams with major roles played by celebrities that the producers and ABC have asked us not to reveal. Ditto who performs the theme songs for both “The Facts of Life” and “Diff’rent Strokes.” But fans of the original “Facts” will be especially thrilled at the start of the show when they hear who breaks into “You take the good, you take the bad.”

The idea for doing “Diff’rent Strokes,” and ergo, “The Facts of Life,” had been in the works for years and hinged on one thing: Hart’s availability. “Jimmy had tried, almost three or four years ago, he wanted to approach Kevin Hart about this, because he just thought he would make the perfect Gary Coleman,” said executive producer Brent Miller, who runs Lear’s Act III production company. “And we had been talking to his team for the past couple years about when Kevin would have a break. So we waited until we got his schedule, and then we built from there.”

The pandemic, of course, also put a halt to plans to produce the third installment of “Live” in 2020, as originally planned. And once it was time to go, the producers decided to step away from the conceit of the first two editions — which took episodes from “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons” and “Good Times” that tackled social issues of the time that are still relevant today. This time, “we were looking for lighthearted and funny. And not the world’s problems In this case,” Lear said.

These aren’t Christmas episodes, but beyond that, Lear, Miller and ABC have asked attendees to keep the specifics of each episode a secret. But we can confirm that these are memorable, but lightweight, episodes from both shows’ runs (in other words, these aren’t “very special episodes,” a genre that shows like “Diff’rent Strokes’ and ‘The Facts of Life’ helped popularize in the early 1980s).

Added Miller: “As Norman said, we’ve just come off two tough years. And rather than focusing on episodes that were relevant, issue wise, to some of the times we’re living, we really just wanted to make them relevant to a good time. Where we’d have fun and the audience could have fun.”

As usual, audiences will likely marvel at the perfect re-creations of Mr. Drummond’s Park Avenue penthouse, as well as the Eastland School cafeteria. “They’re identical to what we remember from that time,” Miller said. “And when you walk on the stage to see them, especially if you grew up with them like I did, it’s a moment.”

Kimmel also told the crowd that it felt good to be back in production on “Live” after a long break. “We’re all in a room together again,” he marveled. The celebratory atmosphere on set included a DJ spinning late 1970s and early 1980s tunes during the commercial breaks — at one point, Aniston, Hahn and Union were spotted dancing to Earth, Wind and Fire’s “Let’s Groove” between acts.

Nine cameras are employed to capture the live telecast from every angle (a bit more than the four normally used on a multi-camera taping). And at least during the dress rehearsal, the stars seemed to remember most of their lines — or at least hid any flubs well. Expect some ad-libbing, especially during “Diff’rent Strokes.” (And yes, the stars have found a way to humorously and subtly point out the fact that these are adults — Hart has a full beard, after all — playing kids.)

Viewers should be advised not to fast forward through ad breaks, as there are special comedic spots for real products — in some cases, parodying 1980s ad campaigns — sprinkled throughout the evening. But again, details of those commercials remain heavily embargoed until after the telecast.

“Live from a Studio Audience” won Emmys for its first two installments, and Kimmel attributes the specials’ success as a tribute to the television we all grew up on.

“It’s funny, there are friends I’ve had since I was in junior high school whose kids’ names I can’t remember, and yet I know it’s Mr. Drummond, Mrs. Garrett, Arnold, Willis,” Kimmel said. “I know it’s Tootie. It’s Jo. It’s Blair. It’s Natalie. It’s just funny how important these characters are, how much brain space they take. If it’s a show that is iconic and when I say iconic, I mean a show that is unique, it’s beloved and it’s funny. That’s the sort of show we look for.”

Source: Deadline