Latest news with #JesseWhittock
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2 days ago
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International Insider: Paramount's Week One; Cillian On ‘Steve'; Channel 4 Chuckles
August is a traditionally quiet month, but things are different in 2025, Insider fans, so we're back earlier than planned. Paramount's top-brass have been outlining their plans, and the festival circuit is springing back into life. Jesse Whittock here to bring you the big news. Sign up for the newsletter here. Of Paramount Importance More from Deadline Locarno: 'Two Seasons, Two Strangers' & 'Hair, Paper, Water...' Take Top Prizes 'Lioness' & 'The Madison' Poised For Renewals As New Paramount Brass Praise Taylor Sheridan & He Opens New Texas Campus With 101 Studios TIFF Officially Selects October 7th Documentary 'The Road Between Us' Amid Outcry A merry Skydance: As we found out last week, U.S. entertainment's freshest player on the block is the clunky-sounding Paramount, a Skydance Corporation. This week, we found out what the new kid is planning to do, now he has the keys to the castle. David Ellison, who is now Paramount CEO following completion of his Skydance company's takeover of the studio biz, almost immediately settled into life as a Hollywood mogul with jargon-heavy press appearances promising he was 'looking long-term' to 'create value for our shareholders.' He might just be alright in this world, you know. He ruled out making political statements amid ongoing controversy over a $16M payment Paramount made to President Donald Trump in the final days of Shari Redstone's regime and referenced Walter Kronkite and addressed what his company might look like in future. Stocks went mad, so it sounds like Wall Street is buying it. Anthony D'Alessandro and Justin Kroll had this handy explainer on the potential Paramount movie slate, Nellie Andreeva outlined how TV series production is being divided between two studios, and Jill Goldsmith reported on Paramount+'s game-changing $7.7B, seven-year UFC deal, as sports rights fever continues to engulf America's streaming players. Par's new streaming doyenne, Cindy Holland, went deeper on her plans, while Ellison's right-hand man, Jeff Shell, did the dirty work and addressed coming cuts and the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Among the dozens of developing stories, one international issue will be whether FAST platform Pluto merges with Paramount+. If legal matters are more your taste, you'll need to keep on top of fund manager and Paramount investor Mario Gabelli, who is suing Ellison's predecessor, Redstone, over the $2.4B proceeds she and her family took from the Skydance deal. Cillian On 'Steve' By order of the perky producers: Cillian Murphy's next feature, Steve, will premiere in Toronto ahead of a theatrical run and then a release on Netflix in October. The drama, which also features some darkly funny moments, is set in the mid-1990s and follows a pivotal day in the life of the titular headteacher and his students at a last-chance boys' reform school. Peaky Blinders and Oppenheimer star Murphy sat down with Nancy Tartaglione to talk about the film, which includes a rare feature film role for Tracey Ullman, known for her seminal late-1980s show that introduced the world to The Simpsons. Along with Steve writer/executive producer Max Porter, director Tim Mielants and Murphy's producing partner Alan Moloney, the actor addresses the genesis of the film, developing the characters, the emotional punch of the movie, how it relates to the challenges facing masculinity in the modern world and why everyone should watch 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple when it arrives. Watch the trailer for Steve here. Channel 4 Chuckles Horsing around at Horseferry Road: It might have taken Charlie Perkins three years to give her first interview as Channel 4's comedy supremo, but she made the right choice by having that talk with us. In an interview with Max at the UK network's Horseferry Road headquarters in London, Perkins outlined how Channel 4 is developing a 'new wave' of British comedic talent, despite hamstrung budgets and the after-effects on comedians and TV funnies of the global pandemic. New shows are in the works from Katy Wix and Adam Drake, Jess Bray and Alice Snedden, and Josh Pugh, while Munya Chawawa and Bridgerton breakout Charithra Chandran have been cast in another new show, Schooled. Perkins, who is heavily involved with the UK comedy circuit that is currently camped up in Edinburgh at the Fringe Festival, also talked about David Mitchell and Robert Webb's first new sketch show since 2010, as she conducted the interview in a comedy hat and false moustache. (This is absolutely not true, just my pathetic attempt at injecting some extra humor). Read the interview here and warm your comedy cockles. Tough Times For TIFF Rocky path for 'The Road Between Us': The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) doesn't even start until September 4, but it has been making headlines all week on It all started when Anthony broke the news that the fest had uninvited Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich's documentary The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, which tells the story about retired Israel Defense Forces (IDF) General Noam Tibon, who embarked on a mission to save his family from Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. Officially, this was due to 'general requirements' and specifically legal clearance of footage, but the Road Between Us accused TIFF of censorship, with sources suggesting officials were afraid of the disruptive protests that could accompany a film about an IDF soldier. TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey later in the week told us the censorship claims were 'unequivocally false' and said his team working to find a solution. That solution was clearly found soon after, as we then revealed the film would now be selected for the fest's documentary strand line-up. 'We have worked together to find a resolution to satisfy important safety, legal and programming concerns,' read a joint statement from Bailey and Avrich. Sounds like the truth of the matter lay somewhere in the middle of the noise. Jackie Chan Charms Locarno Real star power: This year's Locarno Film Festival ends tomorrow after a starry fortnight of programming. Visitors to the Swiss festival this year included Emma Thompson, Jackie Chan, Alexander Payne, Lucy Liu, Naomi Kawase and Mohammad Rasoulof, who spoke to Zac about his life after leaving Iran and plans to return. It was an impressive line-up, which produced some unique stories. There was Thompson, who told a festival Q&A audience that she was once stalked by Donald Trump in the late 1990s. The 45th and 47th President, she said, called her out of the blue enquiring about a date, shortly after her high-profile divorce was finalized. Jackie Chan mania took over the festival during his brief three-day stretch in Locarno. The veteran Hong Kong actor introduced some of his classic films and received an honorary award. There's no starpower like international starpower – and that means reaching audiences in Hollywood to the most remote villages in the East and Global South. There are only a few stars still out there with such power, and Mr. Chan is one of them. At a Q&A session in Locarno, he was rushed by adoring fans who handed him gifts, and multiple parents handed their young children over to Chan for pictures. It was a wild ride. On the industry side, Canadian Filmmaker Geneviève Dulude-De Celles won the top prize at the Locarno Pro Awards, and a Piazza Grande screening was paused during the fest for a Gaza protest. Check back on Saturday to see who picks up the festival's Competition awards. Filmmakers in contention include Radu Jude, Kawase, and Abdellatif Kechiche. The Essentials 🌶️ Hot One: Barry Eisler's bestselling John Rain books are being adapted for Apple TV+ after the streamer and Tom Winchester's Pure Fiction label scored the rights. 🌶️ Another One: YouTube relationship format Blue Therapy has landed its first international adaptation at Belgium's Streamz. 🥵 Even more heat: Filipino filmmaker Pedring Lopez will direct UK-set horror The Ascendants. 🎭 Treading the boards: Kristin Scott Thomas has scored a role in a West End revival of The Cherry Orchard, per Breaking Baz. 🔔 School bell rings: Seven further cast members were unveiled for the upcoming second season of Prime Video YA hit Maxton Hall – The World Between Us. 🚪 Exit door: Karin Lindström is leaving her role as Amazon MGM Studios Head of Nordic Originals with a new gig lined up, and Emilia Widstrand will replace her. ⛺ Fests: Sarajevo Film Festival boss Jovan Marjanovic told Diana about the Eastern European fest's 31st edition, while Seriesly Berlin unveiled its line-up. ✍🏻 Addressing the critics: Mubi CEO Efe Cakarel penned an open letter aimed at fending off the mounting criticism of the indie film darling's links with shareholder Sequoia Capital, which is close with Israeli defense-tech startup Kela. 🦁 Lion lay-offs: Six staff at All3Media America's Lion TV US, including co-CEO Allison Corn, have been made redundant following a strategy switch. 🏆 Oscars: Switzerland and Czech Republic submitted their entries for the Academy's Best International Feature Film race. 🍿 Box office: Weapons and Freakier Friday hit cinemas and both outperformed expectations. International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Stewart Clarke. Zac Ntim contributed Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More Everything We Know About Prime Video's 'Legally Blonde' Prequel Series 'Elle' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
International Insider: SXSW London's Royal Debut; Evacuations & Events In Germany; Cybercrime Investigation
Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock with you this week as we report from SXSW, Cologne and further afield. Read on, and don't forget to sign up for the newsletter. SXSW Debuts In London More from Deadline Philipp Käßbohrer Accepts Deadline's German TV Disruptor Award: "You Cannot Be A Disruptor Alone, You Have To Find Other People And Take Fear Away From Them" King Charles III Visits SXSW London Mickey Down & Konrad Kay Reveal The Tarantino-esque Series They Were Working On Before 'Industry' - SXSW London London calling: This week Deadline donned its blazer, t-shirt and specs (and inevitably, an umbrella) for the inaugural SXSW South London, which took place in trendy Shoreditch. The town was abuzz with people and the lineup boasted an impressive bevvy of names ranging from London mayor Sadiq Khan, who kicked off the week by reopening old Donald Trump-shaped wounds, to Idris Elba, to the CEO of OnlyFans. There was even a right royal visit, with King Charles III rocking up to chat with John Lennon's son Julian and Yellowstone star Mo Brings Plenty, of all people. We were right in the mix to hear Banijay boss Marco Bassetti address ongoing speculation about the company's interest in acquiring ITV and Working Title exec Surian Fletcher-Jones reveal the storied indie is working on an adaptation of A Passage to India that will 'reclaim colonial history' with the BBC. Another illuminating session saw a group of top UK agents come together to debate, well, their very existence. 'The vast majority of talent today do not need management,' said Sidemen rep Jordan Schwarzenberger, refusing to mince his words. Plenty to chew through for you there, but that's not all from the Deadline team at SXSW London this week. Tomorrow (June 7), we'll be bringing our ultra-popular Sound & Screen live event to the UK for the first time at Shoreditch Church. A celebration of the music that brings films and TV shows to life, it will feature Deadline journalists sitting down with the likes of Natalie Holt (Chad Powers), Tom Howe (Shrinking and Dog Man), Nainita Desai (Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf and Secrets of the Penguin) Anne Dudley (Jeeves and Wooster and The Penguin) and Alex Seaver (Arcane), and an Abbey Road tribute. The culmination will see Dudley – whose credits include The Crying Game, The Full Monty and Signora Volpe and has won Oscars, Ivor Novellos, Grammys and Brits throughout a stellar career – receiving the first-ever Sound & Screen Impact Award. Sounds like the mood music we all need right now. Read our full SXSW London coverage here. This One Time, At Seriencamp Awards and evacuations: While most of the team were zooming around East London on the coat tails of King Charles III, Stewart and I headed across the water to Cologne in Germany for the annual Seriencamp TV industry conference and festival. We were expecting the usual mix of German's top producers, writers and actors, and while we certainly got that, what we had not planned for was getting caught up in the largest evacuation in the city since World War II. The discovery of three huge, unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. airforce during the conflict led to 20,500 people being moved out of the blast radius to safety as bomb disposal experts dove in. It could hardly have come during a more pivotal week in industry terms, with Seriencamp, tech TV event ANGA COM and a Prime Video Presents showcase all running. The most important thing to report is the bombs were successfully removed and no-one was hurt, but the activity created a surreal atmosphere as execs, journalists and others contemplated how to leave the city with all three major bridges blocked. At Seriencamp, we handed out the annual Deadline German TV Disruptor Award to How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) co-creator Philipp Käßbohrer from Cologne's own bildundtonfabrik production house. Here's a video of his on-stage talk with Stewart. Elsewhere, I hosted a panel on the fractious relationship between producers and creatives, and an interview with Banijay Entertainment's Johannes Jensen, while Stewart got the lowdown from Europe's increasingly emboldened public broadcasters. All Seriencamp coverage is here. Cybercrime Exposed Scamdal: Scammers are constantly thinking up smart new ways to trick the public into parting ways with their cash, but this one is new on me. Max revealed Wednesday that a person pretending to be British film producer Charlotte Walls and another unnamed industry figure had been reported to the FBI after attempting to fleece up-and-coming writers. The sophisticated scam involved contacting victims via the Stage 32 platform asking them to submit ideas, sign an NDA and then pay between £2,000 and £2,500 ($2,700 and $3,400) as a 'refundable facilitation fee.' Around 100 people were approached by the scammer, whose name, bank details and bank address we and writer Anette Martinsen linked to a person called Agnieszka Falkowska. The situation was then reported to the UK's Action Fraud, while Stage 32 contacted the FBI. It's a fascinating (and slightly terrifying) story, and a warning to remain vigilant. As Ellie Peers, General Secretary of the Writers Guild of Great Britain, told Max: 'If writers are asked to pay someone for something that they should themselves be paid for, that is always a red flag.' Iceland Fired Up A song of ice and desire: These days, everyone wants to attract productions to their shores. Iceland, the small Nordic country nestled way out in the Atlantic Ocean, has a head start on most. Many TV shows and films have been made there thanks to highly-developed production that began being built back in the mid 1980s for Hollywood movies such as James Bond title A View to a Kill, a car commercial production business and, more recently, a tax incentive scheme. However, it's only really in the past decade that Iceland's creatives began writing their own ambitious scripts. With a flurry of series in development, our dive deep examined how the nation's original production sector is outsizing its growth. Among those we spoke with were Severance and Trapped star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who was in Cologne at Seriencamp this week before he and Hörður Rúnarsson presented the premiere of their new series, Reykjavik Fusion, on Wednesday night. Read the feature here. Japan's Secret Investor Yoshihiro complex: Many of you won't know much about Yoshihiro Shimamura, but Sara Merican's exclusive interview with the wealthy Japanese investor explains in detail why you should. The man who once went purely by 'Yoshi' in various movie production credits has been building a slate of film investments and taken stakes in Japanese TV networks TV Tokyo and Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings. Shimamura believes Japan's entertainment biz is run by a 'closed' group of people in charge of the top talent agencies, major production companies and festivals, and is advocating – and enacting – change from within. In his mind, everything goes back to trust – in the films and stations he finances and the people with whom he does his business, as he told Sara: 'In the Japanese countryside, many people still leave the doors to their homes unlocked. They trust each other and the community works well together. My motto is quite similar.' The Essentials 🌶️ Hot One: The UK's Channel 4 denies using NDAs to silence former staff, but Jake's exposé reveals there's more to the story. 🌶️ Another One: Dougray Scott, Keith Allen and Adolescence breakout Amari Bacchus were cast in BBC Drama Crookhaven. 🔥 A third: Breaking Baz was first with the news Outlander's Sam Heughan will play Macbeth in his debut with the Royal Shakespeare Company. ⬆️ Stepping up: Former Paramount TV Studios boss Nicole Clemens will lead international originals at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, effectively replacing the departed James Farrell. ⬇️ Stepping down: Scripted chief Ollie Madden is leaving Channel 4 to join Netflix as Director of UK Film, while C4's strategy boss Khalid Hayat is also exiting. ⛺ Fest: Mel had this scene-setter for next week's Annecy International Animation Festival. 🚨 Crime: Midas Man producer Kevin Proctor pleaded not guilty to stalking an actress. 🎟️ Upfronts: The Canadian Upfronts were held this week, with Bell Media, Corus and CBC following a debuting Amazon. 🐨 Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Richard Gadd, Sally Wainwright and Soo Hugh will appear at the second Future Vision global TV exchange in Melbourne, Australia. 🌍 Globie: Nigerian film '77: The Festac Conspiracy was our latest Global Breakout. ✍️ Signed: Australian studio Cosmic Dino, which is working on the Bluey movie, put pen to paper on rep deals with UTA and Fourth Wall. Max Goldbart contributed to this week's International Insider. It was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Max Goldbart. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 'Stick' Soundtrack: All The Songs You'll Hear In The Apple TV+ Golf Series 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
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International Insider: Trump's Tariff Targets; CinemaCon Compiler; Toei Interview
Happy tariffs week, everybody. How's it impacting you? Jesse Whittock here with you to highlight stories from the White House, CinemaCon and the headquarters of a famous Japanese anime firm. Sign up for the International Insider newsletter here. Trump's Tariff Targets More from Deadline Mel Gibson's Gun Rights Restored Following Justice Department Attorney's Firing 'Zootopia 2' Charms CinemaCon As Ke Huy Quan Intros Scenes Of Judy Hopps & Nick Wilde In Therapy With Quinta Brunson's Dr. Fuzzby Zoe Saldaña Shows Off 'Avatar: Fire And Ash' At Disney's CinemaCon 'Liberation Day': Another week, another Donald Trump bombshell. This time guns were aimed… well, at the entire world (bar a few exceptions including Russia). On Wednesday, the President announced a tariff policy of a baseline 10% on virtually every nation, claiming April 2, 2025, would be remembered as 'the day that we began to make America wealthy again,' calling it 'Liberation Day.' Those hit included long-time allies in the UK, Europe and Australia, whose Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese responded by saying, 'This is not the act of a friend.' Fair to say few countries were happy and stock markets are shellshocked, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down almost 1,700 points and the Nasdaq and S&P 500 suffering their worst days since the start of the pandemic. Mad Money host Jim Cramer warned the tariffs will be 'horrendous' for the U.S. economy, but Trump and his team are certain that ripping the system up and starting again is the only way forwards, regardless of the short-term impact. We shall see. As for the international film and TV biz, there are several possible impacts. Our team in London immediately began receiving messages from concerned industry onlookers, wondering how they would do business with an America that appears to be less keen to work with them. Max put together this précis, outlining how the initial threats to the international biz center around global advertising revenues, with marketing budgets likely to fall and Americans less likely to spend their dollars on exports from abroad. For battered commercial broadcasters, who have been weathering an ongoing TV ad market storm since the pandemic, this sounds like pretty grim news. There's also a sense Trump will pressure American producers to bring overseas shoots home and countries that place content obligations on U.S. streamers will draw more of the President's ire. The Motion Pictures Association has already been fighting against levies and Trump's government has made clear they will not be tolerated. The likes of Australia have immediately responded by reaffirming their commitments to the practice, which is designed to stop American productions hoovering up local talent and pushing up prices with no trade-off. How far and how deep will this global trade war go? That will very much depend on how far and how deep Trumps digs into the trenches. Quiet CinemaCon Concludes 'Bingeable' cinema: There haven't been any shock appearances or reports of must-see teasers from this year's CinemaCon, where Nancy Tartaglione, Jill Goldsmith and Anthony D'Alessandro have been reporting from Las Vegas' Caesars Palace. Instead, the starry trade event has largely plodded along, confirming many whispers we've seen on the internet for months. Sam Mendes confirmed the cast of his curious Beatles films. Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, Barry Keoghan and Harris Dickinson will play the Fab Four, and Sony will release all the biopics in April 2028 as part of what Mendes called the first 'bingeable moment in cinema.' Tom Holland's Spider-Man series is moving forward with a new title, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and it's set for a 2026 release. Universal has committed to a second How To Train Your Dragon live-action remake. However, beyond the standard studio fare, Anthony, the consummate Deadline muckraker, broke a series of juicy exclusives from the event. Among them, he confirmed that Lionsgate is considering whether to split Antoine Fuqua's Michael Jackson biopic Michael into two movies — the film currently has a near four-hour cut and Lionsgate didn't show footage of Michael at Cinemacon. The film stars Jackson's nephew Jaafar in the title role. Coleman Domingo plays Joe Jackson and Nia Long is Katherine Jackson. CinemaCon ended yesterday. Check out this series of first looks and reveal photos here. Up, Up And Toei Go, go, Toei Company: Toei is arguably the most influential content company in Japan. Known for the likes of the Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and Power Rangers franchises, which showcase its trademark tokusatsu 'live action special effects' genre, and animes such as One Piece and Dragon Ball, Toei is certainly up there with Oscar-magnet Studio Ghibli. This week, Liz Shackleton scored a major scoop after landing an exclusive interview with Toei Company CEO Fumio Yoshimura for our International Disruptors brand, ahead of his trip to L.A. to meet with Hollywood studios (wonder what Trump will make of that…). Toei is planning a $2B international expansion, which will include a 'Game Of Thrones-style big-budget action drama' scripted by U.S. writers and the company's first new superhero in 50 years. More super-sized monsters and business updates here. 'Snow White' In The Red Heigh-ho, heigh-no: There's no fairytale ending for Snow White, which Anthony D'Alessandro reported on Monday was headed for an estimated $115M loss following. To be fair, there was no fairytale middle or beginning, really, with star Rachel Zegler painted as the Wicked Witch after toxic online criticism of a Latinx actress playing a Disney Princess and of her comments about the 1937 film, which she called 'dated.' In February, Zegler tried to downplay the vitriol as fans' 'passion' for the beloved character, but fans seem to have stayed away from the movie. Anthony's analysis goes far, far deeper into the numbers and the reasons behind them, so read the whole article here. To The Max Aussie opportunity: Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) launched its fast-travelling streamer Max in Australia this week, so Sara Merican went Down Under (digitally) to get the low down from WBD APAC President James Gibbons and Australia and New Zealand General Manager Michael Brooks. The interview followed a star-studded launch in Sydney attended by the likes of Bella Ramsay from The Last of Us and The White Lotus Season 3's Patrick Schwarzenegger and Leslie Bibb. Brook is predicting success thanks to the high take-up of SVoD in Australia, where nearly nine out of 10 households have a subscription service, while Gibbons outlined why different platforms and pricing structures have been developed elsewhere in Asia Pacific. Max debuts through a partnership with Aussie pay-TV market leader Foxtel, which was this week sold to sports streamer DAZN in a landscape-changing deal that has an enterprise value of $2.2B. Strewth! The Essentials 🌶️ Hot One: James Graham's hot new play Punch is transferring from the Young Vic theater to the West End in the fall, per Breaking Baz. 🌶️ Another One: Peter Dinklage-starrer The Toxic Avenger will be the first international sales title for Patrick Wachsberger and Legendary Entertainment's nascent producer-distributor 193, launching in Cannes next month. 🥵 A third: Chilean writer-director Felipe Gálvez's second film will be a spy thriller titled Impunity that's set around the arrest of dictator Augusto Pinochet. 🔎 Revealed: The 'flirty' BBC-ZDF spy drama announced last week will, in fact, be the long-rumored Killing Eve prequel about the younger days of MI6 head Carolyn Martens, as Max uncovered. ⛺ Fest: Aisling Bea, Lenny Abrahamson, Savanah Leaf and Prano Bailey-Bond will appear at Ireland's Storyhouse Festival. 🤼 Disputed: Channel 4 and Michael Sheen are embroiled in a dispute over their show Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway after an accusation of plagiarism from the makers of similar project Bank Job. 🚪 Exiting: Saul Venit, the COO for scripted at BBC Studios, after more than two decades at the BBC. 🖋️ Signed: September 5 writer-director Tim Fehlbaum with Black Bear. 📽️ Preview: Qatar's annual talent Qumra talent incubator is underway with 49 projects being supported and Academy Award-winning Brazilian director Walter Salles opening proceedings today. 🎞️ Trailer: For Sam Mendes' debut doc What They Found. Zac Ntim contributed to this week's International Insider. It was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Max Goldbart. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 So Far Everything We Know About 'Hacks' Season 4 So Far 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
International Insider: London's New-Look TV Week; Charlotte Moore Shocker; Ukraine & Gaza In Spotlight
It's that time of the week, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here to take you through the headlines from international film and TV. London's Big TV Week More from Deadline BBC Unscripted Supremo Kate Phillips Takes On Interim Content Chief Role Following Shock Charlotte Moore Exit Announcement UK Culture Secretary Meeting BBC Chair "Urgently" Over 'Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone' Controversy Taxi! How One International Distributor Got Business Moving During The London TV Screenings A permanent alteration?: Since the London TV Screenings began in 2021, more and more international buyers have been flooding to the English capital in February. Anticipation — and tension — was high this week, as MIP London landed in town for the first time at the Savoy Hotel and IET London conference center. This brought a new market to the table, running parallel to the BBC Studios Showcase and London TV Screenings, which were founded by ITV Studios, All3Media, Fremantle and Banijay and now boast nearly 40 distributors touting wares. A week of wet and windy weather wasn't enough to put off buyers, who flocked to various events and meetings, while MIP London offered a sprinkling of star power through David Beckham, who talked about his underwear. More seriously, various discussions, both publicly and privately, were focused on continuing global market contraction. Big distribution deals got done, with buzzy Euro crime drama Safe Harbor landing homes on ITV in the UK, Virgin Media Television in Ireland and SBS in Australia, while, intriguingly, and possibly a sign of things to come, ITV Studios and BBC Studios both struck content agreements with Chinese counterparts. ITVS also snapped up Vice Studios' catalog after a lengthy courtship and Norwegian format The Box continued to unwrap deals. More conference and deal news is here. Overall, there was a surprise feeling of collaboration between the events, with MIP boss Lucy Smith offering olive branches as she pressed the flesh at various London TV Screenings drinks and networking events. Perhaps no-one embodied that spirit better than Be-Entertainment, however, as the Belgium-based distributor put on a 'Be-EnterTaxi' service to shuttle buyers to their next meetings through a traffic-heavy central London. Now that's innovation. There are still murmurs about MIP London's place in proceedings, but it could be that the international TV schedule is permanently altering again. BBC Shocker No Moore: As we reported earlier this year, the top tier of UK broadcasting has experienced an unprecedented period of stability in the past decade. No-one epitomizes that more than BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore, who has led programming at the UK's public broadcaster for nearly 10 years. Cue industry-wide shock when it was announced yesterday that Moore had decided to leave and join The Crown maker Left Bank Pictures as CEO and the producer's parent, Sony Pictures Television, as Creative Director of International Production. Andy Harries, the storied Left Bank founder, had announced his move to Exec Chair a day prior, paving the way for Moore's grand unveiling. There have been signs this was coming, with Jake and Max late last year revealing Moore had been courted to replace Liam Keelan as Disney's EMEA content chief (she turned this one down), but it's hard to overstate how big a deal this is for British producers, with a changing of the guard coming for the first time since 2016. Who replaces her? Well, BBC unscripted chief Kate Phillips will in the interim. Beyond that, there's no clear frontrunner quite yet, but this runners and riders overview is a good place to starting tracking the field. Stay tuned. Ukraine Three Years On Superheroes and capes: This week marked the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Amid a surreal and shocking set of political developments around Ukraine's future, I went deep to assess how the country's TV industry was holding up. I spoke to several producers and channel execs, including the studio head who had scrambled to save the latest season of MasterChef Ukraine after her facility was hit by a Russian missile less than 10 days before production was due to begin. Viktoriia Vyshniakova's story was frightening and inspiring, which is actually a good lens through which to look at the TV biz in the country more broadly. 'In today's reality, a Ukrainian producer is nothing short of a superhero,' Kateryna Udut from new Kyiv-based boutique consultancy Between Media later told me. With Donald Trump and his administration continuing to meet with Russian officials, the chances of an end to the invasion are rising — but at what cost for Ukraine and its people? Read more here. Gaza Doc Controversy Unprecedented situation: Besides Charlotte Moore, the other big news out of the BBC this week came in the form of yet another editorial controversy. In a week in which the British broadcaster apologized for 'missed opportunities' to address the alleged behavior of former radio DJ Tim Westwood, a furore has exploded over the Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone doc when it emerged producer HOYO Films was aware of the narrator's links to Hamas and did not inform the BBC. After complaints from numerous industry figures, the doc has been hooked from the BBC iPlayer and the corporation faces a dilemma on whether to proceed with an L.A. wildfires doc made by HOYO director Jamie Roberts, as Max revealed on Wednesday. An unprecedentedly in-depth statement released by the BBC last night confirmed the producers had known about the child's Hamas links. While the BBC board believes this fact was intentionally hidden, 'it was then the BBC's own failing that we did not uncover that fact and the documentary was aired.' Given Jake's analysis that BBC errors around the Gaza conflict skew heavily against Israeli interests, this is clearly something that needs addressing more fully, and it will via an in-depth review that has now been commissioned. As we go to press, BBC Chair Samir Shah is preparing to meet a riled-up Culture Secretary. Technicolor Collapses A WARNing to the industry: It's been a brutal week for the post-production sector with the confirmation that Technicolor collapsed on both sides of the Pond following financial troubles. The Paris-based VFX and post giant — known for work on hundreds of movies and TV shows, including the Harry Potter films and Mufasa: The Lion King — informed staff in the U.S. of closures through a WARN notice last Friday before similar notes went to workers in the UK and France over the weekend. Before long, hundreds of staff were made redundant, with one source close to the company telling me this week the number of people suddenly on the job market was 'devastating.' There was a tiny bright spot, as Jill Goldsmith wrote Monday, when management and staff at Technicolor subsidiary The Mill joined forces with Dream Machine FX to launch a new venture, Arc Creative, keeping dozens of people employed. However, the bad news kept coming, and spread to the animation sector, where Montreal's ON Animation, the Mediawan-owned facility behind Miraculous and The Little Prince, was shuttered with the toon business in a state of flux. The Essentials 🌶️ Hot One: A24 boarded its first Channel 4 project, flatshare comedy series It Gets Worse from Leo Reich (pictured) that's also financed by Canada's Crave. 🌶️ More Heat: Off The Fence teamed with investigative journalists Gloria Gomez and Robin Carter for true-crime programs, with Love & Death Row: The Rosalie Bolin Story being their first project together. 🔥 Very Hot: Berlinale title Köln 75 shopped to the likes of Lucky Red, SF Studios and HBO. 🌍 Global Breakout: Our latest featured Breakout is Drugged and Abused: No More Shame, a France 2 doc following Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisèle Pelicot, whose husband was jailed for systemically and covertly raping her over many years. 💸 Sold: Telia's TV and media assets, including Sweden's TV4 and Finland's MTV, to Schibsted Media for around $620M. ⛺ Fest in focus: Diana explored the Glasgow Film Festival through an interview with director Allison Gardner and a rundown of key films and events. 👀 First-look deal: For Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Wells Street Films, which struck an agreement with Francesca Moody Productions, the prodco behind the stage versions of Baby Reindeer and Fleabag. 🍿 Box Office: Chinese animation Ne Zha 2, Captain America: Brave New World, Bridget Jones 4: Mad About the Boy and Mufasa: The Lion King all featured in Nancy's latest analysis. 🕯️ RIP: To acting giant Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, who were found dead at home in Santa Fe, and to Israeli filmmaker Renen Schorr, founder of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School. This week's International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Max Goldbart. Best of Deadline All The Songs In 'Running Point' On Netflix: From Tupac To Steve Lacy 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery How To Watch The 2025 Oscars Online And On TV
