Latest news with #Spanos
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New Lena Dunham, Sarah Snook Shows Touted as Universal U.K. TV Labels Execs Talk Sector Cuts
Upcoming Sarah Snook-starring thriller series All Her Fault and Lena Dunham rom-com show Too Much, as well as a planned TV take on Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds got big shout-outs during SXSW London on Thursday. They were in the spotlight as global hit series from various production labels under the Universal International Studios umbrella took center stage at the first-ever SXSW London. More from The Hollywood Reporter Enzo Staiola, Child Star in Vittorio De Sica's 'Bicycle Thieves,' Dies at 85 Wes Anderson Shares How Indian Cinema Legend Satyajit Ray Shaped His Aesthetic Evan Shapiro to Keynote The Hollywood Reporter's Access Canada Summit 'Global Stories: What makes compelling TV?' was the question discussed by Surian Fletcher-Jones, head of drama at Working Title Television; Sue Gibbs, head of development at Heyday Television, the joint venture of producer David Heyman and Universal International Studios; and Noemi Spanos, creative director at Carnival Films. Beatrice Springborn, president, Universal International Studios and Universal Content Productions (UCP), functioned as the moderator. Confronted with a question about how TV industry cost reductions, other spending cutbacks and layoffs are affecting their work, the execs shared insight into the challenges but also opportunities. 'One is adapting,' offered Gibbs. 'Heyday as a company, historically, we've always worked with IP. David's known for it with Harry Potter and Paddington. So we will always be looking for IP. I think we're probably looking less to the new books that are coming out because it's so super competitive. They're so expensive. So, we're looking at classic books, old TV shows, articles, etc. So I think it's adapting in that way.' Gibbs also mentioned that Heyday has often commissioned scripts with writers and then taken them out to the market to buyers. 'We're slightly changing that now and trying to be more fleet of foot,' she explained. 'Perhaps you just go out with a pitch so you can be faster. Or we're trying to set up more projects with buyers. [In the past], we would have perhaps taken them out to a number of buyers at the same time. Now, we are trying to get in with a buyer straight off, which is a financial incentive, but it's really more about the emotional incentive. If the buyer is emotionally invested in your project from the off, they can be more likely to try and help make it work.' In terms of upcoming shows they are excited for, Spanos touted psychological thriller All Her Fault for Peacock. 'Sarah Snook's character knocks on a door to pick up a kid from a play date, and the older woman who opens the door has never heard of her, her kid has no idea what she's talking about,' she explained. 'That kicks off that sort of thriller engine, but also it turns into a sort of bigger Big Little Lies kind of mystery about all the secrets and lies between these different families and relationships.' Concluded Spanos: 'What I liked coming into it, reading it fresh and watching it fresh was that there's quite a thematic feminist messaging underneath it all, because it's called All Her Fault, and it's all really about how the mother is treated very differently from the father in that circumstances by the police, by the community, by everyone, really.' About the series planned on The Birds, Gibbs shared: 'This is obviously a Universal film title, the iconic Hitchcock movie. We're not adapting that. We're going back to the source material, the Daphne du Maurier novella and using that as inspiration. And at its heart, it's looking at when nature turns on you. Obviously, with climate change that is very timely, and we just attached an exciting U.S. showrunner who's very experienced in genre.' She didn't mention their name. Fletcher-Jones, meanwhile, touted Too Much and how it explores the differences between the U.S. and U.K. in lovable ways. And she said that Working Title and the BBC are developing a TV adaptation of E.M. Forster's popular 1924 novel A Passage to India, which is set against the backdrop of the Indian independence movement against the British Empire and has previously received the film treatment. The companies are collaborating with Canadian director and writer Richie Mehta on the five-part series. 'Richie is Indian by heritage, so it is completely turning that novel on its head and doing it from the Indian point of view,' shared Fletcher-Jones. 'It's a beautiful piece he's writing and directing it all.' She also called it a take that will 'reclaim colonial history, which feels really sort of Soul Food-y.' On Wednesday, SXSW London sessions featured appearances by the likes of Idris Elba, ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and Letitia Wright, among others. SXSW London, which not only features panel discussions, but also film screenings and live music events, among other things, runs through June 7. Penske Media, the parent company of The Hollywood Reporter, is the majority stakeholder of SXSW. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Chargers returning to San Diego for pair of training camp practices
The Los Angeles Chargers will be back in San Diego for two training camp practices this summer, the team announced Thursday. The Chargers will hold the pair of practices at Torero Stadium on the University of San Diego's campus on July 22-23. Before moving to Los Angeles in 2017, the Chargers spent 56 years in San Diego, beginning in the AFL in 1961. This tenure included an AFL championship in 1963, a Super Bowl appearance in the 1994-95 season and 11 playoff wins. The team played in Los Angeles for its inaugural season in 1960. Owner Dean Spanos and the city of San Diego failed to reach an agreement on a new stadium in the city, causing Spanos to uproot the franchise and move north. --Field Level Media Field Level Media 2025 - All Rights Reserved
Los Angeles Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Chargers add equity firm Arctos as a limited partner after NFL owners approve sale
The Chargers welcomed Arctos as a limited partner Tuesday as NFL owners approved a sale that transferred some the team's shares to the Dallas-based private equity firm that already has ties to the Dodgers. 'Arctos' track record in major professional sports speaks for itself,' Chargers owner Dean Spanos said in a statement, 'and we are grateful for their alignment moving forward during this time of tremendous growth for our organization.' According to a league memo The Times obtained last week, Arctos acquired 8% of the team's shares. Spanos and his family will retain control of the Chargers organization with approximately 61% of the franchise. Arctos now has stakes in two NFL teams less than a year after the league approved private equity ownership. The company acquired a 10% stake in the Buffalo Bills in January, adding to its portfolio that already included MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS teams. Arctos has ownership stakes in six MLB teams: the Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox. 'We're honored to join the Los Angeles Chargers ownership group and are grateful to Dean and the rest of the management team for their partnership,' Arctos co-founder and co-managing partner Doc O'Connor said in a statement. 'We're excited to get to work and help the team achieve their vision however we can.' Approaching a decade since their move to L.A., the Chargers have added two major ownership groups in the last year. Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores bought a 27% stake in the team in September, resolving a long-running dispute between Dea Spanos Berberian and her siblings as Gores and his wife bought Spanos Berberian's share of the franchise.
NZ Herald
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Lorde reveals psychedelic therapy helped with eating disorder and stage fright
Ahead of the release of Virgin, her first album in four years, Lorde told journalist Brittany Spanos that MDMA and psilocybin therapy helped her navigate a difficult period marked by stage fright, an eating disorder, and the end of a long-term relationship. Spanos describes Virgin, set for release on June 27, as 'feral, wild, and physical, full of Lorde's most from-the-gut singing ever'. The album is said to be Lorde's most vulnerable yet, with the 28-year-old admitting to the publication she is 'terrified' to open up about the album. 'There's going to be a lot of people who don't think I'm a good girl any more, a good woman. It's over,' she told Spanos. 'It will be over for a lot of people; for some people, I will have arrived. I'll be where they always hoped I'd be.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone) Lorde revealed she undertook psychedelic therapy using MDMA and psilocybin between 2022 and 2024 – a currently illegal form of psychiatric PTSD treatment - to combat crippling stage fright. She said the Solar Power tour was the first time she performed without that fear, which helped her better connect with audiences. 'I would play Supercut and all of a sudden there was a hook around my guts and everyone in the room was having the same feeling, [like] there'd been a huge pressure change. 'It made me realise how much I love and kind of need that very deep, visceral response to feel my music.' In the interview, Lorde also disclosed that she was struggling with a then undiagnosed eating disorder during the Solar Power tour and press cycle – an illness that began during the pandemic. The singer spoke candidly about undertaking a high-profile press tour while in the grip of the illness. 'I felt so hungry and so weak,' she said. 'I was on TV [that] morning, and I didn't eat because I wanted my tummy to be small in the dress. It was just this sucking of a life force or something.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone) The disorder, she said, affected her ability to enjoy the tour. 'I don't know how those two things can be true: that I'm having this really amazing, rich experience of playing the shows and meeting these kids, and [yet] I'm also looking at the pictures afterward and feeling deep loathing at the sight of my beautiful, tiny tummy, thinking it was so unforgivable what I had allowed it to become.' Lorde said the therapy helped her find a path through her disordered eating habits and obsessive calorie and protein tracking. 'Once I stopped doing that, I had all this energy for making stuff,' Lorde said. 'I could see that if I cut that cord, maybe I would get something back that I needed to do my work. And it was totally true. Got it all back, and way more.' Elsewhere in the revealing interview, Lorde confirmed her 2023 break-up with Auckland music executive Justin Warren, with whom she had been in a relationship for eight years. 'It was so painful, as they are, but there was real dignity to it and grace and a lot of respect. It continues to be a relationship that I cherish.' The pair, who have a 17-year age gap, met when the artist signed to Universal Music, the label Warren worked for. Reconnecting with herself as a single person, while recovering from her eating disorder, led to a period of physical and creative reinvention. This included exploring her gender identity. Spanos reveals that on Virgin 's opening track, Lorde sings 'Some days I'm a woman/Some days I'm a man.' Lorde said fellow singer Chappell Roan had inquired whether she was non-binary, to which she responded, 'I'm a woman except for the days when I'm a man'. 'I know that's not a very satisfying answer, but there's a part of me that is really resistant to boxing it up.' She now described herself as 'in the middle gender-wise" but called herself a cis woman and uses she/her pronouns. Lorde acknowledged her privilege as a 'wealthy, cis, white woman,' saying it allowed her to explore identity privately without facing the risks many others do when their gender doesn't align with their birth assignment. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone) One of the surprising disclosures from the almost 6000-word interview involves Lorde seeking out and watching the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee sex tape, a tape the couple maintain was stolen and leaked, leading to lawsuits, and an obsession with the pair. In Netflix's 2023 documentary Pamela, a love story, Anderson said the fallout ruined not only her career but her credibility in the public eye. 'I found it to be so beautiful,' Lorde, 28, told the publication. 'And maybe it's f****d up that I watched it, but I saw two people that were so in love with each other.' The Auckland-born singer, now based in New York, spoke of the contrast the American city offers to life in New Zealand. 'I used to have this feeling of when I go [to the United States], when I'm in these spaces, I'm an artist, and then I go home and I'm myself,' she explains. 'And that's crazy. It's not what being an artist is like. You're an artist all day, whatever country you're in. I think building a home here has helped me to see that.' The interview ends with Lorde embracing the most impassioned parts of herself. 'I'm kind of an intense b***h,' she said. 'I've connected with the mission to do what only I can do. It's enough.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chargers seeking NFL approval to sell an 8% stake in the franchise
The Chargers will seek approval to sell an 8% stake in the franchise to private investment firm Arctos at next week's NFL team owners meetings. The approval request was sent in a memo to NFL team owners, according to a person with knowledge of the memo not authorized to speak publicly about it. Advertisement If approved, Chargers owner Dean Spanos and siblings siblings Michael Spanos and Alexis Spanos Ruhl would still own approximately 61% of the franchise. The NFL spring meeting will be held Tuesday and Wednesday in Eagan, Minn. Read more: Meet the Chargers content team winning the schedule release 'Super Bowl' It is the second major change for the Chargers ownership group in the last year after Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores bought a 27% stake in the team in September. That transaction resolved a long-running dispute between Dea Spanos Berberian and her siblings as Gores and his wife bought Spanos Berberian's share of the franchise. Advertisement Players recently ranked Spanos and the ownership's contribution to the Chargers' success fifth-best out of 32 teams, according to an annual survey conducted by the NFL Players Assn. It was a stark improvement from the previous year's rankings that placed ownership 24th in the league. The jump can be attributed to the team's new $250-million facility in El Segundo, which opened last July. Spanos also brought in coach Jim Harbaugh, who led the team to an 11-6 regular-season record in his first season. The team entered free agency with the second-highest salary-cap space in the NFL, according to but did not make many splashy signings. The biggest contract of the offseason went to free agent offensive lineman Mekhi Becton, who signed a two-year deal worth $20 million after winning the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
