PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
ABC locked in Muscle Shoals, a drama based on the life of Rick Hall, producer of the legendary Muscle Shoals sound, for development under a straight-to-series order. From Global Road Entertainment, Johnny Depp and Christie Dembrowski‘s Infinitum Nihil, Richard Branson’s Virgin Produced, and Joshua D. Maurer and Alixandre Witlin’s City Entertainment, series has been in development since 2016.
Showtime continues to count its fortunes. The network picked up a fourth season of hit drama series Billions, starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis. The third season of Billions currently airs Sundays at 10p, and will move to 9p beginning next Sunday, May 6 to serve as the lead-in for the season 2 premiere of I’m Dying Up Here.
Production is under way on the second season of Star Trek: Discovery with executive producer and co-creator Alex Kurtzman directing the premiere episode for CBS All Access. All eps of season 1 are now available to watch on the digital SVOD and live streaming service, and is distributed concurrently by CBS Studios International on Netflix in 188 countries and in Canada on Bell Media’s Space channel and OTT service CraveTV.
Standup comic Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is onboard for three upcoming Netflix projects – a comedy series and two stand-up comedy specials. Series features Iglesias as a good-natured public high school teacher who works at his alma mater teaching gifted but misfit kids. It’s produced by Netflix, with Iglesias serving as exec produce alongside Kevin Hench (Cristela, Last Man Standing).
Also at Netflix, Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) is in as the lead of sci-fi series Another Life, which the service just gave a 10-ep order. Life is from Alias Grace producer Halfire Entertainment and follows an astronaut who’s searching for alien intelligence.
Media Headquarters greenlit expedition competition series The Brigade for Outdoor Sportsman Group Networks. The show is seeking adventure-loving men and women to apply to retrace an epic 2,600-mile fur trade route in the Pacific Northwest for a chance to join and compete for prize money up to $1 million. Series is slated to debut in spring 2019.
Production has begun for Disney Channel on Star Wars Resistance, a new animated adventure series about a young pilot recruited by the Resistance and tasked with a top-secret mission to spy on the growing threat of the First Order. It will premiere this fall on the network in the US followed by a global run on Disney XD.
Leftfield Pictures and Scooter Braun’s SB Projects are co-producing Facebook Watch’s new talk series Breakthrough with Lewis Howes, hosted by the NYT best-selling author, entrepreneur and host of “The School of Greatness” podcast. Series will debut later in 2018.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES.
HBO set June 3 at 10p as the premiere date for Succession, the drama series that revolves around a family that controls one of the world’s biggest media and entertainment conglomerates.
Beginning on Thursday, June 7 at 10p, Katie Lee is diving in to the ultimate gourmet getaway on the six-episode return of Cooking Channel‘s Beach Bites with Katie Lee. Throughout this culinary adventure, Lee follows her taste buds to delicious locations in the Bahamas, California, the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and South Carolina.
COMING UP
Nate Berkus & Jeremiah Brent are taking over TLC this Saturday night, April 28. First, the designer duo is making an appearance on Trading Spaces at 8p as guest designers. Next they tackle a unique design challenge on Nate & Jeremiah By Design at 9p, when they’re faced with the task of redesigning a home for a family of little people.
CNBC will present Warren Buffett: Investor. Teacher. Icon, a one-hour documentary on Friday, May 4 at 10p. Reported by Becky Quick, special examines Buffett’s role as a teacher who has profoundly affected people, both by his own example and through his life lessons. It premieres the night before the annual Shareholders Meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the company that Buffett has led for more than 50 years and is now worth almost half a trillion dollars.
Wendy Williams returns to host Lifetime Movies’ third annual Don’t Mess with Mommy Mother’s Day stunt featuring a week of mother-focused thrillers leading up to three new films airing May 11-12: Mommy Be Mine (May 11 at 8p), Did I Kill My Mother? (May 12 at 8p) and A Daughter’s Revenge (May 12 at 10p).
In honor of what would have been John Wayne’s 111th birthday this May, The Duke’s son and president of John Wayne Enterprises Ethan Wayne opens his vault of never-before-seen photos and rare memorabilia for HDNET Movies’ Western Icons film collection starting Friday, May 18. Ethan Wayne will host 10-nights of western classics on the network celebrating his father and the legendary actors of his generation with a double feature each night at 7p.
Royal wedding watch: ABC News announced coverage of the royal wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle featuring an extended edition of Good Morning America on Saturday, May 19, from 5a-10a, with co-anchor Robin Roberts and World News Tonight anchor David Muir leading live coverage from Windsor, England. 20/20 will provide in-depth coverage of the royal wedding with primetime specials on Friday, May 18 at 10p and Saturday, May 19 at 10p… BBC America will air the nuptials as a live and direct simulcast of BBC One’s coverage with limited commercial breaks as the centerpiece of a week of UK celebratory programming that includes the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and the US television premiere of one-hour special Harry and Meghan: A Very Modern Romance, airdate TBD.
Univision Communications Inc. announced 2018 Copa Univision, its series of local amateur soccer tournaments and family events, will kick off with a two-day event in LA on May 19 and 20.
DIGITAL DATA
As concerns heighten around the integrity of brands associated with digital content, emerging company Studio71, a Red Arrow Studios company, just released its “Studio71 Context” offering that uses both machines and humans to review every video for content quality and brand safety. “Here’s the reality, we’re in an environment where brand safety has become such a concern all the financial services companies have hired chief safety officers, and so have the large CPGs, a bunch of telecom companies,” Reza Izad, global CEO, tells Cynopsis. Izad says since it launched in beta last year, Studio71 has been adding content and creators to its proprietary environment that assures no visually or audibly offensive programming, which then publishes on mainstream platforms such as YouTube. “We’re not Mother Teresa, we’re not doing this for charity,” he says. “But we need a healthy advertising business for all businesses to be healthy. We are in a moment where trust has been broken and needs to be gained back – that’s healthy for everybody in the industry.”
The ABC News app will add an augmented reality feature the week of May 14, timed to coincide with royal wedding coverage. It will be available only on the ABC News iOS app, and will give fans the opportunity to take photos with a 3D royal carriage or a 3D Queen’s Guard.
CASTING
Bradley Whitford joins Pop TV’s Flack in a lead role opposite Anna Paquin… also at Pop, Leo Suter (Victoria), Stuart Harris (Outlander) and Imogen King (Darkest Hour) are on board for the second season of Clique… Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Underground) is in as the female lead in HBO drama series Lovecraft Country… Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Diego Luna (Narcos) and Emile Hirsch (The Chinese Widow) joined the third and final season of Netflix series DreamWorks Trollhunters.
ADVERTISING & PARTNERSHIPS
Ford, Garnier, M&M’S, Samsung, Sprint, Target and Toyota are all returning as corporate sponsors for the 2018 Billboard Latin Music Awards, Telemundo announced yesterday. Additionally, the network is partnering with E! News, Snapchat and Today for exclusive digital and social coverage of the awards show, which will broadcast live on Thursday, April 26 beginning at 7p. Returning for a third year, the evening’s red carpet will be live-streamed through Facebook Live, Twitter and YouTube, hosted by Telemundo’s Christian Acosta, Telemundo Deportes’ Ana Jurka and E! News’ Sibley Scoles.
The audience for original digital video reported higher level of brand engagement than other viewing audiences, according to the new Interactive Advertising Bureau study “Digital Video Viewers and Brand Connection.” Study results show the ODV audience, which consists of a younger, more ethnically and racially diverse, and tech-savvy demographic, is especially receptive to learning about brands they don’t know and directly communicating with them. In 2018, ODV is estimated to reach 86 million Americans, 13 years and older, among which 72 million are adults (18+).
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
FFI Holdings, parent of Film Finances, bought UK distributor Signature Entertainment in a $5 million cash deal to be followed by four smaller annual payments. FFI specializes in completion contracts, risk insurance and postproduction services.
