HBO Max has given a pilot order to The Gordita Chronicles, a single-camera family comedy from Claudia Forestieri (Selena The Series, Good Trouble), Josh Berman (Drop Dead Diva) and his Osprey Productions, Zoe Saldana’s Cinestar Pictures, and Sony Pictures TV, where Berman’s Osprey Prods is under a deal.
Written by Forestieri, in The Gordita Chronicles, a willful, chubby, 12-year-old Dominican struggles to fit into hedonistic 1980s Miami as her family pursues the American dream.
Berman, Chris King and Jennifer Robinson executive produce for Osprey Productions. Zoe Saldana, Mariel Saldana and Cisely Saldana executive produce for Cinestar Pictures. Forestieri is co-executive producer. Sony Pictures TV is the studio.
The Gordita Chronicles has been on fast-track development at HBO Max since landing at the streamer for development in February.
Forestieri is a writer on Netflix’s Selena: The Series for Netflix and previously wrote on Freeform’s Good Trouble. A former producer for Telemundo’s L.A. affiliate, she earned five local Emmys and a GLAAD Media award for her work covering the Latino community. She is an alumnus of HBO’s Access Writing Fellowship, NALIP’s Latino Writers Lab and NBC’s Writers on the Verge program. Forestieri is repped by Paradigm and Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano.
Berman created the hit dramedy, Drop Dead Diva, which aired on Lifetime for six seasons. He also co-created The Mob Doctor for Fox and Notorious for ABC. His Osprey Prods. also has The Long Haul, a mother-daughter trucking drama with writer Katie Lovejoy, set at Fox with a script-to-series commitment, as well as a medical drama from The Good Doctor writer-producer David Renaud in development at ABC, a climate change drama Antarctica in the works at CBS and Vantage Point drama based on the movie in development at NBC. Additionally, Osprey has several streaming projects in development.
Saldana is next set to star in Jasmine McGlade’s drama Fencer and also will star and executive produce From Scratch, a limited series from Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine for Netflix.
Source: Deadline
New Line has made a preemptive deal for a music-driven holiday comedy pitch that will be fashioned as a potential star vehicle for Jennifer Hudson, the Oscar-winning Dreamgirls star who’ll next star as Aretha Franklin in the upcoming Respect.
The film will be scripted by Ira Madison III, and Hudson will make her debut as producer, alongside Glickmania’s Jonathan Glickman, who’s produced the MGM drama Respect, the drama in which, Aretha Franklin, before she died, handpicked Hudson to star in the story of her life.
The New Line film calls for Hudson to sing Christmas standards, as well as new holiday tunes. She has been getting into the holiday swing lately, singing Oh Santa! with singing divas Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande, for Carey’s Magical Christmas Special on Apple TV+. The video has become a viral sensation.
The hope is for Hudson to play a down-and-out singer whose life is turned upside down when she is mistaken for writing the next Christmas hit. New Line President/Chief Creative Officer Richard Brener moved quickly to acquire the film.
Hudson is an exec producer on Respect, which was directed by Liesl Tommy and has an August 13, 2021 release date. She will also executive produce and voice a role in Baobab Studios’ 2021 short film and immersive VR experience Baba Yaga, which brings to life the classic folktale with modern themes of environmentalism and feminism.
Glickman is also producing the upcoming films The Dark Half, Forever and Scandalous! and he is executive producer on The Addams Family 2.
Madison III’s scripting credits include the series Daybreak, Nikki Fre$h and the upcoming Q-Force. He also hosts the provocative Crooked Media podcast Keep It.
Molly Mankiewicz will be executive producer.
Hudson is repped by CAA, and Ziffren Brittenham; Madison by Kailey Marsh at Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis.
Source: Deadline
Kevin Hart and Wesley Snipes are teaming up to headline True Story, a Netflix limited series written and executive produced by Narcos: Mexico executive producer Eric Newman and produced by Hart’s HartBeat Production.
This marks the TV drama debut for Hart who also executive produces the eight-episode series.
Philadelphia-born comedian Hart will play a version of himself in the fictional True Story, which centers on his character Kid and Kid’s older brother Carlton, played by Snipes.
A tour stop in Kid’s hometown of Philadelphia becomes a matter of life and death for one of the world’s most famous comedians when the consequences of a lost evening with his wayward older brother threaten to destroy everything he’s built.
Hart grew up in Philadelphia with an older brother who was in and out of jail and made his standup debut in his hometown before moving away.
“I’ve never been more excited about an acting project in my career,” Hart said. “I’ve always been a fan of Wesley Snipes and working with him is mind-blowing. Having HartBeat Productions at the helm and working alongside Eric Newman as a partner and creative arm has been unreal, nobody is ready for what this show is going to be.”
Hart executive produces through his HartBeat Prods., Newman via his Grand Electric. Charles Murray (Luke Cage, Sons of Anarchy) also executive produces and serves as showrunner. Caroline Currier oversees for Grand Electric; Mike Stein and Tiffany Brown oversee for HartBeat Prods.
Stephen Williams (Watchmen, Lost) will direct and executive produce the first four episodes. Hanelle Culpepper (Star Trek Picard, Kung Fu) will direct the final four episodes.
Newman is now in production on his third Netflix film, Escape From Spiderhead starring Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller directed by Joseph Kosinski, and in pre-production on The Upper World starring Daniel Kaluuya. Newman is also producing the recently announced action-adventure saga Water Margin, directed by Shinsuke Sato. He is repped by CAA.
Founded by Hart, HartBeat Productions currently has a First-Look deal with Universal Studios to produce Feature Films. Their first production together, Night School, had the highest grossing opening weekend for a comedy in 2018 and spawned a TV adaptation at NBC. Other HartBeat projects include FXX’s Dave, whose first season became the most watched for an FX comedy series. It has been picked up for second season. The company’s portfolio include two standup-themed recent programs for Comedy Central, The Next Level and Hart of the City, Netflix comedy specials “Zero F**ks Given, headlined by Hart, and London Hughes’ Catch a D**k, as well as Celebrity Game Face on E!, which returned Dec. 1 with new episodes.
Hart ventured in dramatic acting territory with the 2017 film The Upside. His recent feature acting credits include Jumanji: The Next level and Hobbs & Shaw. Hart will next be seen in Fatherhood and The Man From Toronto. He is repped by 3 Arts Entertainment, UTA & and Schreck Rose Dapello.
Source: Deadline
Queen Latifah is to star in End of the Road.
The 50-year-old actress and musician is set to lead the cast and also serve as executive producer of the Netflix thriller, which is being directed by Millicent Shelton.
The movie centers on the recently widowed Brenda as she drives her family cross-country to begin a new life after losing her job. Isolated in the desert in New Mexico, she and her family must learn to fight back when they are targeted by a mysterious killer.
David Loughery has penned the script based on an original screenplay by Christopher Moore.
Tracey Edmonds, Mark Burg and Brad Kaplan are producing the movie while Shakim Compere will also serve as executive producer alongside Latifah for Flavor Unit Entertainment.
Shelton has previously directed episodes of numerous TV shows, including “The Walking Dead” and “30 Rock.” She has helmed music videos for artists such as Mary J. Blige and Salt-N-Pepa.
Latifah will also work with the streamer in the cast of Adam Sandler’s upcoming basketball movie “Hustle,” which is being produced by NBA legend LeBron James.
The movie features Sandler as a down-on-his-luck basketball scout who discovers a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past abroad. He takes it upon himself to bring the player to the U.S. without approval from his team. The pair has one last shot to prove they have what it takes to make it in the NBA.
It marks the latest collaboration between Sandler, 54, and Netflix, having previously teamed up to make movies such as Uncut Gems and Murder Mystery.
In a competitive situation, Skydance Television has acquired the rights to P. Djéli Clark’s fantasy historical novella “Ring Shout” with plans to develop it as a television series.
KiKi Layne is attached to star in the project, with Kasi Lemmons attached to write, direct, and serve as showrunner. Both Lemmons and Layne will executive produce along with Clark, Marc Evans, Matt Jackson, and Skydance Television’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bill Bost. The book was originally published by Tor Books in October.
“Ring Shout” tells the story of an otherworldly evil that has risen in the 1920s South in the form of monsters who take up residence within the bodies of people filled with hate – namely the Ku Klux Klan. D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” is helping to swell the Klan’s ranks and the monsters are drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of racism. Across the nation they spread fear and violence. But even monsters can die. Standing in their way is a young Black woman, Maryse Boudreaux (Layne), and her two friends and fellow resistance fighters – a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan’s demons straight to Hell. But something even bigger is brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up. And Maryse, haunted by events of her past, is the only one who can put a stop to it all.
Layne recently starred in the hit Netflix action film “The Old Guard,” which was produced by Skydance. She also appeared in the films “If Beale Street Could Talk” and 2019’s “Native Son.” She is next set to appear in the upcoming sequel “Coming 2 America,” which will debut on Amazon in March.
Layne is repped by WME, Anonymous Content, and Sloane Offer.
Lemmons’ past directing credits include the 2019 Harriet Tubman biopic “Harriet.” She is also known for her 1997 debut feature “Eve’s Bayou” as well as films like “The Caveman’s Valentine” and “Talk to Me.” On the TV side, she has directed episodes of “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker,” “Luke Cage” and “Shots Fired” previously.
She is repped by Gersh.
Source: Variety
Issa Rae and La La Anthony want to scare the living daylights out of you and make you laugh at the same time with the film titled Juju.
The Insecure and Power vets are executive producing the upcoming horror comedy for Universal Pictures. In the early stages, there are not a lot of plot specifics. However, it will be based on an original concept by Angelica Nwandu, founder of Instagram-based info hub The Shade Room and a Sundance fellow, who will write the script.
Juju will be the studio feature directorial debut for Thembi Banks, who has been a director on Rae’s Insecure, Frankie Shaw’s SMILF, and a Sundance alum herself. Earlier this year, Banks was in the midst of helming Young, Wild, Free for Macro, SK Global, and Baron Davis, but that feature project was put on pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Longtime Rae partner Deniese Davis will also produce Juju, with HooRae’s SVP Development Sara Rastogi overseeing for the busy banner. Universal’s Senior EVP Production Erik Baiers will be the studio’s point person on the genre hybrid project.
A seasoned producer with credits including the BET documentary Killer Curves and the Tony-nominated Eclipsed starring Lupita Nyong’o, Anthony stewarded Juju from almost from its incarnation to its studio perch, I hear.
Rae is repped by UTA, 3 Arts Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson. Anthony is represented by UTA, Untitled Entertainment and lawyer Renee Farrell. Banks is also represented by UTA as well as Rain Management Group and Gang, Tyre.
The multi-platform maverick Nwandu, who co-penned the drama Night Comes On that the NEXT Innovator Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, is repped by WME and attorney Poya Ghasri.
Source: Deadline
DICK CLARK PRODUCTIONS and ABC have announced that BILLY PORTER will be joining RYAN SEACREST and LUCY HALE in TIMES SQUARE for DICK CLARK’S NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE WITH RYAN SEACREST 2021. CIARA will once again host from LOS ANGELES. This year marks the 49th anniversary of DICK CLARK’S NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN’ EVE.
SEACREST commented, “2020 has been a trying year for the world and I’m thrilled to have BILLY and LUCY join me in ushering in a new year with fresh beginnings. We look forward to making sure it’s a night for everyone to remember.”
Country artist JESSIE JAMES DECKER returns as POWERBALL correspondent. DECKER provide live updates throughout the evening, checking in with five randomly selected finalists across the country, before revealing the POWERBALL FIRST MILLIONAIRE OF THE YEAR.
SHOWTIME announced today that a special episode of DESUS & MERO in which the pair sit down with former President Barack Obama will air Sunday, December 13 at 11:05 p.m. ET/PT. Starting December 14, the special episode will be available for free on YouTube, Showtime.com and Sho.com, as well as across multiple SHOWTIME partner platforms. DESUS & MERO just wrapped its second season and, as previously announced, will return for season three in 2021. Each episode of DESUS & MERO features the co-hosts Desus Nice and The Kid Mero giving their take on the day’s hot topics and chatting with guests at the intersection of pop culture, sports, music, politics and more.