A sneak peak to the internet trailer, one of the world’s most hilariously funny comedic movies coming to theaters 2019, starring Master P, A.J. Johnson, Fatboy SSE, D.C. Young Fly, Pioladitingancia, Michael Blackson, John Witherspoon, Clifton Powell, Sheryl Underwood and the rest of the cast including Gary Johnson, Funny Mike, Erica Mena, Romeo Miller, Cymphonique Miller, Young Jeezy, Jess Hilarious,Tommy “Tiny” Lister, Juju C, Tanjareen Martin, Tammi Mac, Nicole Porsche, Angel Love Davis, KJ Smith, Chris Kennedy and many more.
This movie has bridged the gap of two generations of moviegoers, sending families to the theaters allowing social media stars with real acting talent and Hollywood actors to come together to create one of the most anticipated comedies and making history by changing the way Hollywood films are created and marketed in the 21st century.
It’s being reported that BET is finalizing a deal for a Quincy Jones primetime special to air later this year and mark the legendary producer’s 85th birthday. I hear the special is set to tape Sept. 25. Reps for BET and Jones declined to comment.
As previously reported, the special had been in the works for months at CBS, which worked on it with The Recording Academy and Ken Ehrlich Prods., until the three partners informed Jones and his team last month that they would not be going forward with it.
Shortly after the pass, Jones and his team brought in another seasoned live TV events producer, Don Mischer, and the event was taken out, drawing interest from both traditional networks, including BET, and streaming platforms. The producers started talks with BET, which progressed quickly.
According to sources close to CBS, the network and its partners ultimately did not go forward because they felt that there were not enough A-list names for a primetime special worthy of Jones’ legacy. Sources close to Jones’ camp disputed that account, with Oprah Winfrey, Will Smith and Eddie Murphy — who all have longstanding relationships with Jones — said to be among a number of big-name stars who had committed to the special.
The decision to scrap the Jones special as CBS came as an Aretha Franklin special was taken out to the marketplace following the singer’s death last month.
Meanwhile, Quincy, a documentary about the music icon, just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and is slated to premiere on Netflix later this month.
Source: Deadline
Michael Che, Colin Jost, and Kent Sublette will return as co-head writers for the upcoming 44th season of “Saturday Night Live,” Variety has confirmed. The three served as co-head writers last season on the NBC sketch-comedy season. Not returning to serve alongside them next season will be Bryan Tucker, who is stepping down to a position as senior writer.
Jost and Che, who co-anchor the “Weekend Update” segment, were promoted to co-head writers last season. Jost had previously served as co-head writer in the 2011-12 season, then stepped away from the position prior to the 2015-16 season. Jost became a cast member and the co-anchor of “Weekend Update” in 2014, and was joined by Che in 2015. Sublette has been a co-head writer since the 2016-17 season.
No additional co-head writers for the upcoming 44th season have yet been set.
Tucker, who has been a writer on the show for more than 10 years, became co-head writer in the 2014-15 season.
The new season of “Saturday Night Live” will premiere Sept. 29. Che and Jost are set to host the Primetime Emmy Awards Monday, Sept. 17, in a ceremony that will be telecast live on NBC. “Saturday Night Live” creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels. The 2018 Emmys will be the first with Michaels as exec producer since the 1988 telecast hosted by John Forsythe.
Source: Variety
Comedian Maysoon Zayid is developing a comedy series inspired by her own life at ABC called “Can-Can,” Variety has learned.
The single-camera project follows the life of a Muslim woman who has Cerebral Palsy (Zayid), as she struggles to find love, the right career, and discover who she is separate of her opinionated Muslim parents. ABC has given the project a script commitment with a penalty attached.
Zayid will write and executive produce in addition to starring. Joanna Quraishi will also write and executive produce. “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes will executive produce along with Todd Milliner via their Hazy Mills production banner. Universal Television, where Hazy Mills is under an overall deal, will produce.
Zayid is an actress, comedian, and disability activist. She was born in New Jersey and is of Palestenian descent. In addition to her stand up, she had a role in the Adam Sandler film “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” as well as “Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age.” She is repped by WME.
This also marks the latest project Hazy Mills has set up at a broadcast network. Last season, the company set up multiple projects at NBC, including the comedies “Like Family” and “So Close.” Hayes also executive produces NBC’s “Hollywood Game Night” and previously executive produced the NBC drama “Grimm.”
He is repped by WME and Principato-Young Entertainment
Source: Variety
Marlon Wayans will dole out a dose of comedy every week on his new YouTube channel, in a series produced in partnership with Shots Studios.
The comedian-actor-screenwriter-producer — the youngest sibling of the Wayans showbiz clan — will be the featured performer in the comedy segments on the YouTube channel. Other talent managed by Shots Studios, including digital stars Lele Pons, Rudy Mancuso, Hannah Stocking, and Anwar Jibawi, may also appear with Wayans in the sketches.
“I’m excited to release my YouTube channel,” Marlon Wayans said in a statement. “I’m partnering with Shots Studios, who does amazing work with incredible talent. Looking forward to expanding my brand of humor into the YouTube arena.”
John Shahidi, co-founder of Shots Studios, commented, “I’ve always loved Marlon’s work. He’s created a lot of movies that make you laugh just as hard your tenth time watching it as it did when you first see it.”
“Marlon has a unique ability to connect with people around the world and reach them in an authentic, consistent and unfiltered way,” added Jamie Byrne, YouTube’s director of global creator partnerships. “We look forward to seeing him bring his unique brand of comedy to YouTube.”
Wayans most recently appeared in two seasons of NBC sitcom “Marlon” (licensed to Netflix outside the U.S.). He also starred in Netflix original film “Naked” and the streaming service launched his stand-up special “Woke-ish” earlier this year. Past credits include “White Chicks,” “Scary Movie” and spoof “Fifty Shades of Black.” Marlon Wayans is repped by UTA and by 3 Arts Entertainment for management.
Last year, Shots similarly worked with boxing champ Mike Tyson to launch a comedy video series on YouTube.
L.A.-based Shots Studios was founded by brothers Sam and John Shahidi. The production/management company’s talent roster also includes Swedish DJ Alesso and Brazilian pop star Anitta, who is the subject of forthcoming Netflix docu-series “Vai Anitta!” produced by John Shahidi.
Watch the trailer for Marlon Wayans’ YouTube comedy channel:
Emmy Season is officially here!
Over this weekend, making history, four black actors took wins in all four guest acting categories!
Tiffany Haddish won for her guest hosting gig on Saturday Night Live.
Samira Wiley won for her role as Moira on The Handmaids Tale (she was nominated in the Supporting category last year).
Ron Cephas Jones won for his role in This Is Us (he was nominated in the Supporting category last year).
Katt Williams was nominated for the Florida Man episode of Atlanta.
This was the first nomination for both Haddish and Williams.
The other times when black actors have won the guest acting awards were in 2003, when Charles S. Dutton (Without A Trace) and Alfre Woodard won for (The Practice) and in 2014 with Uzo Aduba (Orange is the New Black) and Joe Morton (Scandal).
The rest of the winners will be announced at the 70th Emmys, which are Sept. 17 on NBC.
Kanye West and Lil Pump teamed up for a surprise new track, “I Love It,” featuring Adele Givens, and the bizarre new video dropped on Friday (September 7). The video was executive produced by Spike Jonze, who also directed Kanye’s “Only One,” “Otis,” and “Flashing Lights.” It was also directed by Kanye and Amanda Adelson.
Check out the full video below;
Principal photography began this week on Warner Bros. Pictures’ inspiring drama “Just Mercy,” based on the award-winning nonfiction bestseller by Bryan Stevenson. The film stars Michael B. Jordan (“Black Panther,” “Creed,” upcoming “Creed II”) and Oscar winners Jamie Foxx (“Ray,” “Baby Driver,” “Django: Unchained”) and Brie Larson (“Room,” “The Glass Castle,” upcoming “Captain Marvel”). Award-winning filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton (“The Glass Castle,” “Short Term 12”) is directing “Just Mercy.”
A powerful and thought-provoking true story, “Just Mercy” follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan might have had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley (Larson). One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian (Foxx), who, in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie. In the years that follow, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings and overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them.
The film is being produced by two-time Oscar nominee Gil Netter (“Life of Pi,” “The Blind Side”) and Asher Goldstein (“Short Term 12”), with Mike Drake, Michael B. Jordan, Bryan Stevenson, Gabriel Hammond, Daniel Hammond and Niija Kuykendall serving as executive producers. Cretton is helming the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Andrew Lanham (“The Glass Castle”), based on Stevenson’s book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. Published in 2014 by Spiegel & Grau, the book has spent 118 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers List, and counting, and was named one of the year’s best books by a number of top publications, including TIME Magazine. For the book, Stevenson also won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence, an NAACP Image Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Nonfiction.
The main cast also includes O’Shea Jackson Jr. (“Straight Outta Compton”) as Anthony Ray Hinton, another wrongly convicted death row inmate whose cause is taken up by Bryan; Rob Morgan (“Mudbound”) as Herbert Richardson, who also sits on death row awaiting his fate; and Tim Blake Nelson (“Wormwood”) as Ralph Myers, whose pivotal testimony against Walter McMillian is called into question.
The creative team working with Cretton behind the scenes includes director of photography Brett Pawlak, production designer Sharon Seymour, editor Nat Sanders and composer Joel P. West, all of whom previously collaborated with the director on “The Glass Castle.” They are joined by costume designer Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (“Detroit,” “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”).
“Just Mercy” is being shot almost entirely on location in and around Atlanta, Georgia, with a few scenes also filmed in Montgomery, Alabama.
A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, a Gil Netter Production, an Outlier Society Production, “Just Mercy” is slated for release on January 17, 2020, and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.