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PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
HBO Max ordered lifestyle docu-series series Brad & Gary Go To… (wt), following celebrity stylist Brad Goreski and producer Gary Janetti as they go on a jet-setting culinary adventure around the globe, inspired by their Instagram stories. Series will be produced by Goreski and Janetti as well as Purveyors of Pop (Married to Medicine) and Entertainment One. “Brad and Gary have become an Internet sensation and it was actually their over one million followers who requested this series,” said Sarah Aubrey, head of original content, HBO Max.
Documentary Expecting Amy (wt), from Amy Schumer, also got an order from HBO Max. Doc follows the comedian/actress as she prepares for a stand-up special while going through a difficult pregnancy. “Her willingness to showcase her immense vulnerability, during the most challenging time in her life, is both empowering and hilarious,” said Aubrey.
Crime drama Bent, from writer Vaun Wilmott (Prison Break), Jerry Bruckheimer TV and CBS Television Studios, is in development at CBS. Series focuses on a Texas law enforcement officer.
Head of the class: Disney+ renewed comedy series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series ahead of its – and the streaming service’s – debut on Tuesday, November 12 (first episode will air linearly on Friday, November 8 across ABC, Disney Channel and Freeform). Production on season two resumes in early 2020 in Salt Lake City.
Crypt TV greenlit a new chapter of its short, The Door in the Woods, gatherer of over 25 million views on the horror streamer since last October. The Girl in the Woods will guest star Kal Penn.
VH1 ordered season three of T.I. Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle. New eps of the reality show starring rapper/actor Tip “T.I.” Harris and Tameka “Tiny” Harris and their family are slated to air in 2020.
Amazon ordered sports docu-series All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur, following the North London soccer team during the 2019-2020 season. Series will air exclusively on Prime Video in 2020.
Top 10 Weekend Domestic Box Office Estimates: September October 18-20
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (Buena Vista) $36.0 million, opening weekend
Joker (Warner Bros) $29.2 million (week 3), cume revenue $247.2 million
Zombieland (Sony) $26.7 million, opening weekend
The Addams Family (United Artists Releasing) $16.1 million (week 2), cume revenue $58.8 million
Gemini Man (Paramount) $8.5 million (week 2), cume revenue $36.5 million
Abominable (Universal) $3.5 million (week 4), cume revenue $53.9 million
Downton Abbey (Focus) $3.1 million (week 5), cume revenue $88.6 million
Judy (Roadside Attractions) $2.1 million (week 4), cume revenue $19.0 million
Hustlers (STX) $2.1 million (week 6), cume revenue $101.9 million
It: Chapter Two (Warner Bros) $1.5 million (week 7), cume revenue $209.7 million
Source: Comscore
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
NBC’s Making It is back for an eight-episode crafting event starting Monday, December 2. During its first season, the show – hosted and exec produced by Parks and Rec alumns Amy Pohler and Nick Offerman – averaged a 1.2 rating in A18-49 and 4.9 million viewers in Live+7 Nielsens, enough to rank it the summer’s #1 most-watched new series.
AwesomenessTV horror series The Unsettling has been acquired by Hulu. Series focuses on a foster child spooked by goings-on in her new home.
At a presentation for the International Documentary Association, Disney+ offered an inside look at the streaming service’s nonfiction content strategy. Coming up: Howard, directed by Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast); People & Places, produced by Supper Club’s Jason Sterman, Brian McGinn and David Gelb (Amanda Knox); National Geographic feature documentary Science Fair; Untitled Mickey Mouse Documentary from producer Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?), and director Jeff Malmberg (Marwencol); and Wolfgang, directed by Supper Club co-founder David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi).
COMING UP
Comedian and Marine veteran Rob Riggle will be back to host the American Veterans Center’s annual broadcast for Veterans Day. Kyle Chandler, Terry Crews, John Cena, Laurence Fishburne, Gary Sinise, Kellie Pickler, Mike Rowe, Allison Janney and Clint Eastwood are among the other stars who will be on hand for nationally syndicated American Valor: A Salute to Our Heroes, airing Monday, November 11.
Also set to honor veterans is Smithsonian Channel, which kicks off its second annual Veterans Month screening tour tomorrow, October 22 at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. In partnership with its distributors – Comcast, Charter Communications and Altice USA – and CBS Veterans Network, Smithsonian Channel will host private premiere screenings of Memphis Belle in Color, an hour-long documentary telling the story of the famed B-17 bomber plane that became a symbol of the Allies’ desperate fight against the German Luftwaffe during WWII – told with color footage of the iconic aircraft in combat.
Stand-up special Bill Burr Presents Jessica Kirson: Talking to Myself premieres Friday, December 6 at midnight on Comedy Central. It’s the third of three specials produced for the net by All Things Comedy.
Lifetime announced four new holiday movies on tap, bringing this year’s total of original movies to 30. The net’s annual It’s a Wonderful Lifetime programming event kicks off Friday, October 25th, and will now include A Christmas Winter Song on Saturday, December 14 at 8p; Mistletoe & Menorahs on Saturday, December 7 p; Christmas Love Letter on Saturday, December 21 at 6p; and A Date by Christmas Eve on Sunday, December 22 at 8p.
While multicultural audiences are becoming key drivers of growth, many brands are still struggling with how to accurately predict what resonates and what doesn’t with people of color. David Wellisch, co-founder and CEO of Collage Group, a consumer research company that works with brands like Twitter, Coca Cola and Nestle, and uses machine learning and facial tracking to reveal differences in emotional response to ads in different demographics, explains the importance of “cultural fluency” in Cynsiders.
STREAMING NOTES
Upcoming streaming service Quibi inked a distribution deal that makes T-Mobile its official telecommunications launch partner. “Quibi will deliver premium video content for millennials on a technology platform that is built exclusively for mobile, so a telecommunications partner like T-Mobile, with their broad coverage today and impressive 5G road map, is the perfect fit,” said Quibi CEO Meg Whitman. The service, which will offer premium video produced for mobile viewing, is slated to debut April 6.
TECH TALK
Xandr has added clypd, a data-driven TV advertising platform for broadcast and cable TV networks, to its portfolio of products and services, to accelerate converged buying and selling across addressable TV, data-driven linear TV, mobile, and over-the-top channels on streaming video services. Clypd’s technology platform is used by TV programmers to serve relevant advertising in linear TV channels for a more seamless content experience; marketers can use clypd’s self-serve platform to define campaign targets and to discover available inventory, while measuring the performance of their campaigns. Clypd’s capabilities complement Xandr Monetize, which helps publishers package, sell, and measure the performance of inventory across digital and addressable.
Xandr Monetize, the primary supply-side platform for Xandr’s premium marketplace Community, is also expanding access to more premium video by adding SpotX as the exclusive third-party supply-side platform for Community for 2020. Advertisers working with Community will be able to tap directly into the SpotX platform. Xandr and WarnerMedia are extending their relationships with Yospace, owned by SpotX, to provide industry-leading SSAI capabilities, as well.
A new privacy bill could give consumers the right to prevent data about them from being shared or sold by ad-tech companies. The “Mind Your Own Business Act,” introduced by Senator Rob Wyden, allows the FTC to fine violators up to 4% of their annual revenue, and calls for criminal sanctions for executives who aren’t up front with the FTC. “Mark Zuckerberg won’t take Americans’ privacy seriously unless he feels personal consequences for lying about his failure to protect your data,” tweeted Wyden last week. “I just introduced a bill that would put execs in jail when they lie to the government about how they protect consumers’ data.”
CASTING
Casey Wilson (Marry Me) landed a co-starring role in HBO Max comedy pilot Delilah, reports Deadline…Richard Flood (Shameless) will recur on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy as head of pediatric surgery…Mackenzie Davis (Halt and Catch Fire) and Himesh Patel (Yesterday) landed lead roles in HBO Max’s limited series adaptation of Station Eleven.
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