PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
NBC is developing an untitled comedy about seven diverse residents in a communal living space from Justin Noble (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Keshet Studios and Universal Television.
Netflix struck a deal with The C.S. Lewis Company to develop TV and film projects based on The Chronicles of Narnia. The streamer will work with Entertaiment One to develop stories, with eOne’s Mark Gordon, as well as Douglas Gresham and Vincent Sieber, as exec producers for series and producers for films.
Netflix also ordered 10 episodes of adult animated series Hoops, starring Jake Johnson (New Girl). Series from Ben Hoffman (The Late Late Show), Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie) and 20th Century Fox Television centers on a hot-headed high school basketball coach.
All American creator April Blair is stepping down as executive producer/showrunner “for personal reasons,” replaced by co-EP Nkechi Okoro Carroll. CW drama was inspired by the life of pro football player Spencer Paysinger.
Sense a theme? HGTV ordered 68 additional episodes of sun-soaked Beach Hunters, Beachfront Bargain Hunt and Island Hunters, slated to premiere in 2019. HGTV also greenlit a new 14-episode series, Mediterranean Life, following house hunters seeking a Mediterranean escape and set to premiere in March 2019.
Atomic Toybox Entertainment has acquired the library of digital agency Fuel Entertainment’s intellectual property assets. Atomic Toybox will work with New Zealand’s Pukeko Pictures, with whom it has a first look agreement, on developing the properties for television.
Great Picture Show announced a production and promotional partnership with Dame Dash Studios, a multimedia studio and production house. The partnership marks a first for the production company that will produce film and TV projects, as well as animation.
Former Bunim/Murray co-president Jeff Jenkins is launching Jeff Jenkins Productions with 3 Ball Entertainment, reports Deadline. Jenkins will run the company with 3 Ball co-CEO Ross Weintraub.
Universal Cable Productions has put in development Dr. Death, based on the true crime podcast. Patrick Macmanus (Happy!) will write and exec produce.
Hitco Entertainment is teaming with Pilgrim Media Group to develop and produce music-focused projects for distribution across all platforms. Two projects are already in development – an untitled documentary covering the rise of the Atlanta music scene, and a series tentatively titled Take the Lead.
will.i.am inked a first-look deal with Entertainment One, calling for the performer/producer to exec produce and develop films, scripted and unscripted TV.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Season five of Velocity’s Bitchin’ Rides launches Tuesday, October 9 at 9p. Prepare for a new crop of custom vehicles on the auto net’s number one series.
Animal Planet’s Into Alaska debuts Monday, October 15 at 9p. New docu-series walks in the shoes of the men and women of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Xploration Awesome Planet with Philippe Cousteau will return for its fifth season this weekend, part of a three-hour syndicated block of STEM shows, called Xploration Station, airing mainly on FOX stations. In addition to the FOX Station Group, the show from Steve Rotfeld Productions airs on Tribune’s FOX affiliates, and Sinclair’s FOX affiliates.
ADVERTISING
Program genre, rather than network, best explains the relationship racial and ethnic groups have with TV – so requesting minority discounts for ethnically targeted platforms is “tantamount to discrimination,” according to research published in the Journal of Advertising Research. The research, which also found television consumption is highest among American audiences of diverse races and ethnicities, contradicts previous studies that undervalued multicultural audiences, leading to reduced spending within the ethnic broadcast-media landscape. People who identify as Asian-American, African-American or Hispanic make up 32% of the population and almost $3 trillion in discretionary income, yet advertisers expend less than 10% of their aggregated marketing and advertising budgets addressing these ethnic groups, according to the paper.
“We are seeing the greatest transformation in advertising in a long, long time,” said Jeremy Helfand, Hulu’s VP, ad platforms during a panel at Advertising Week focused on the growth of OTT. With new measurement capabilities, brands can move consumers through the purchase funnel. And ads will increasingly look different than they do today – Helfand said in a few years Hulu expects half of its inventory will come from sponsorships, brand integrations and programming events rather than commercial pods now.
Linda Yaccarino, chairman, advertising sales and client partnerships at NBCUniversal, has a new description for TV viewers: guests. In the Advertising Week New York panel, “Transforming TV,” speakers acknowledged the secret ingredient to brand collaboration is trust, saying it takes trust among teams to resonate with the audience.
Nissan and Univision are teaming again for the live concert tour, Nissan Presents: Road to Innovation Tour. Heading into its fourth year, the tour expands to a ninth city, Houston, and will continue to leverage Univision local media’s cross-platform portfolio to promote and deliver consumer experiences throughout October and early November. In addition, Nissan’s multiplatform program will again be integrated into Univision’s annual broadcast of the 19th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.
COMING UP
Superstar Renovation, a series of one-hour specials following sports celebrities as they visit to their hometowns to give the gift of a home makeover to people who have played a special role in their lives, starts off Saturday, October 13 at 2p on CBS. Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro safety Malcolm Jenkins is first to tackle the job; Juma Entertainment is producer.
Syndicated game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire will have celebrities playing for charity the week of October 15. Among the contestants: Backstreet Boys A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough, Salt-N-Pepa, Tom Green and Paul Shaffer.
Telemundo Deportes will present one hour special Alianza de Futbol: Logra Tu Sueno, featuring some of the best players selected from the 2018 Alianza de Futbol Tour who participated in the program’s national showcase, on Sunday, October 7 at 2:30p on Telemundo.
Antenna TV is running a “Witch-O-Ween” Bewitched marathon from 5a to 4a on Wednesday, October 31. The binge-fest follows a “Spell-O-Ween” marathon of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch the day before.
TEGNA’s Texas stations will produce and broadcast The Texas Debate, between U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his challenger, U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso, TX), live across its on-air and digital platforms on October 16 at at 8p CT. It will be the final debate between the two candidates.
DIGITAL
During the Advertising Week panel, “Is AI Having An Identity Crisis?”, execs hashed over what the future of artificial intelligence looks like. Matthew Groner, SVP product management and business intelligence at AdTheorent, pointed out it’s not just about the quantity of data, but the quality. “If you don’t have relevant data to feed your AI, then you’re stuck,” noted Groner. “Constant need for data is important but the correct data needs to be fed in order to evolve.”
Nielsen’s Gracenote announced the availability of Studio System Projects, a collaboration and project management platform designed to help TV networks and other content creators to more efficiently manage the creation of TV shows and movies from story ideation through production and final release. “The entertainment industry has lagged other industries in terms of access to integrated tools and data enabling better business decision-making and project management,” said Simon Adams, GM of Gracenote. “The next evolution of Studio System brings content creators a platform delivering much needed collaboration and workflow capabilities on top of the industry’s most trusted entertainment information database.”
Amazon updated its Fire TV Stick with 4K Ultra HD and an Alexa voice-enabled remote that has dedicated power, volume and mute buttons. “We’ve listened to our customers and pushed to deliver the complete 4K solution they are looking for, all within a compact stick form factor,” said Marc Whitten, VP of Amazon Fire TV. Price tag: $50, versus $70 for Roku’s Streaming Stick+.
Breitbart and InfoWars have been banned as credible sources for Wikipedia. The site’s editors vote to determine who should be considered unreliable.
Canadian drama Heartland joins the Dove Channel’s lineup on Friday, October 12. Rights were acquired from Kew Media Distribution.
MEASUREMENT AND DATA
FreeWheel’s “A Buyer’s Guide to the New Living Room” makes the case that the living room is premium video, home to the best of linear and digital TV with content far more likely to be professionally produced, brand safe, and part of a curated user experience. “TV viewing is not slowing down. If anything, it’s growing but it’s being done increasingly through different devices and on viewers’ terms,” James Rothwell, VP, global agency, brand & industry relations at FreeWheel, a Comcast company, tells Cynopsis. “We have seen enormous growth in OTT and set-top-box VOD in the last few years, driving viewership on the big screen in the living room. Combined with the fact that we can now take advantage of data and more precise targeting with linear TV, it’s never been more vital for the advertising industry to push through barriers and catch up to these viewing behaviors. Fragmentation has caused complexity, but we believe that there are key measurement workarounds and targeting tactics that will drive positive results for advertisers.”
CASTING
Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) landed a lead role in Epix crime drama Godfather of Harlem.…Mischa Barton (The O.C.) goes unscripted with the cast of MTV docu-series The Hills: New Beginnings, slated to premiere in 2019….Yetide Badaki (American Gods) is now recurring on NBC’s This Is Us as a Nigerian immigrant from Williams past….Tequan Richmond (Everybody Loves Chris) and Tetona Jackson (All Night) will star in BET’s Boomerang, along with series regulars Leland Martin (All Night) and Lala Milan (Claws)….Brett Dier (Jane the Virgin) has joined ABC’s The Goldbergs spinoff, Schooled, as a series regular….Vince Vaughn, an exec producer on Netflix’s animated F Is For Family, will guest star on the show as a “true man’s man” when the series returns for season three.
GOING GLOBAL
Reality Distortion Field announced the rollout of three new sci-fi projects: mystery Three Years with the Rat, graphic novel adaptation ReincarNATE, and scripted drama The Mystic. “The demand for IP has never been higher and with the projects we have developed, we’re confident in the international appeal of our slate,” said Stephen Hegyes, president Reality Distortion Field.
Hat Trick International has signed an exclusive multi-year first look deal with UK-based producer Summer Films. The partnership sees Hat Trick International securing distribution on two new titles: six-part series The Drag Lab, recently commissioned for Channel 4 and currently in production, and one-hour special Manhunting With My Mum
CBS Studios International announced licensing agreements with Turner International in Spain for the new Dick Wolf-produced drama FBI and new comedy Happy Together. The two series will premiere later in 2018 on Turner’s pay TV channel, TNT. In addition, CBS Studios International and HBO ESPANA struck an exclusive licensing agreement for the SVOD rights CW’s upcoming reboot of Charmed, in the first major licensing agreement for the two companies in the territory.
UK’s TV2 commissioned Ben Hanlin’s Live and Deadly: Drowned. The Zig Zag produced special follows an attempt to escape a deserted underground chamber, live on TV.
