Zach Galifianakis exploded on the internet this week with his interview with President Obama. The President starred in Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis on Funny or Die (in case you missed it, watch here). With so much internet buzz this week, we were happy to see him continue that buzz with a recently announced Fox 2000 film that was just picked up. Zach is set to star in Keeping Up With the Joneses, a comedy that he will star alongside with Jon Hamm. The Hangover franchise star’s new film is about a suburban couple that comes to find out their neighbors are undercover spies.
Keeping Up With the Joneses has Greg Mottola attached to direct, who was responsible for comedies such as Superbad and Paul. The project will be produced by Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald.
Zach Galifianakis stars in Funny or Die’s Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, where he interviews celebrities while sitting being two potted fern plants. The short show is off-beat and funny, and Zach is known to make fun of his interviewees. Some of his past stars have been Bradley Cooper, Michael Cera, Natalie Portman, Will Ferrel and Steve Carell to name a few. Zach’s most recent film credits include The Hangover III and You Are Here.
Last night’s Oscars was a Hollywood spectacle filled with emotions.
The Oscars took place last night in Hollywood, and boy was it filled with gorgeous dresses, Twitter selfies and heartfelt acceptance speeches. Ellen DeGeneres seemed to be an audience favorite as she hosted The Academy Awards ceremony for the second time, her first time being in 2007. Hollywood’s biggest event brought in millions of viewers, 43 million to be exact, up from last year’s telecast. There was a lot going on during the live ceremony, so here is listed some of the notable winners.
First, Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, took home the most Oscars for the night, with 7 in total.
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Achievement in Directing: Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron
Original Screenplay: Her, Spike Jonze
Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave, John Ridley
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Animated Feature: Frozen
We chatted with Bob Fisher whose new television series ‘Sirens’ airs on USA this Thursday!
We had the opportunity to catch up with Bob Fisher, who many of you may know as the writer for Wedding Crashers (2005) and We’re the Millers (2013). Bob has an upcoming television show this month that will be airing on USA called Sirens, which he co-wrote and co-executive produced with Denis Leary. We were lucky enough to have Bob as a tenant at our HPC 2 building, so we were excited to interview him before his big series premiere of Sirens, which airs Thursday, March 6* at 10/9c.
Hi Bob, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I grew up all over the place, but mostly in New Jersey. I first moved to California as a teenager, and went to school at UCLA, but surprisingly, didn’t study film.
How did you get started in the entertainment industry?
I was bartending after college, and one day I was watching The Wonder Years and had recently read an article about how television writers get paid pretty well, so I decided to call up an old friend from high school and college, and we got to work from there. I had always wanted to write a movie, so I was excited.
You have worked seamlessly in both the TV world and the feature side. Do you prefer one over the other?
I have been fortunate enough to work in both, and if I had to leave one I would really miss it. Growing up, I was always more a fan of movies. I grew up on multi-camera sitcoms, but now with the switch to single-camera, I grew more of an interest in television and have really enjoyed being a part of a constantly changing scene. Plus, in TV you can be a lot more involved with the project and see it through until the end. I’ve written tons of scripts for movies, but have only had two made – if you write something for TV it usually gets made.
You have Sirens premiering this month on USA, congrats! Can you tell us a bit about it and how it came about?
It is a comedy about 3 EMTs that embark on ridiculous escapades together, meanwhile dealing with the real life issues going on around them. Sirens leads with comedy, and surprises with drama. I also really like the tagline that USA came up with, which is “A Life or Death Situation Comedy.” We did the majority of writing and post production at your HPC 2 location. Denis Leary, my writing partner on this, and I found inspiration for the concept of the show from M.A.S.H. the television show, and especially the movie, which we watched as kids.
What project are you most proud of? Sirens. It’s a great comedy and drama with a fun, loose and unexpected 70s feel. I’m really proud of it and can’t wait to see how it does.
What other big projects have you worked on?
I worked as a co-writer for Wedding Crashers and We’re the Millers. I also worked as a writer and executive producer on Fox’s Traffic Light.
When did you first feel like you “made it?”
Being able to make the first call to the people in your life to tell them that you got your job, is the best call you’ll ever make.
What’s next for you?
Hopefully a second season of Sirens! But for now, my future writing partner, Rob Greenberg, and I are writing a movie we recently sold to Sony called Gondoliers.
Thanks for the fun interview, Bob!
*Correction from previous post: Sirens premieres on Thursday, March 6.
The 2014 Sochi Olympics wrapped up on Sunday, and it was a truly exciting couple of weeks filled with wins and upsets. The Olympics concluded with the USA team taking home a total of 28 medals, of which 9 were gold, 7 were silver and 12 were bronze. The USA finished 2nd in the overall medal count, only behind Russia who held 33 medals at the end of the games. Norway went home in third place with a total of 26 medals. Russia was also the leader in gold medals received with a tally of 13, followed closely by Norway with 11 and Canada with 10. The USA placed 4th in gold medal count with 9 total. Of the total 98 medals up for grabs this year at the Olympics, a record high number of 26 nations claimed at least one of those medals.
The 2014 Sochi Olympics included an array of sports and competitions. Some of the events included bobsleigh, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, snowboard, speed skating, ski jumping and more. The major broadcast network NBC was responsible for streaming the events nightly during primetime. It was announced earlier that the 2018 Winter Olympics will take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
NBC will be bringing back an old favorite, ‘Heroes’, with ‘Heroes Reborn’ in 2015.
Have you missed NBC’s Heroes since it ended in 2010? The superhero drama starring Hayden Panettiere kick started the superhero genre in television back in 2006, and it will now be making a reappearance. Original Heroes fans will be happy to hear that NBC has decided to bring back the show for a 13-episode event series to air in 2015. The new show will be titled Heroes Reborn and will be a stand-alone story. The characters have still not been announced, but fans should look forward to this because the original series creator Tim Kring will be leading this project as well.
Heroes was cancelled four years ago, but it was a huge hit at the time with its first season premiering to an average of 14.5 million viewers. With declining ratings, broadcast networks are turning to past series and brands to grab the attention of the old fan base. While Heroes was one of the first in the television superhero genre, there has since been, and continue to be, many others. Depending on which shows get renewed or greenlit by the 2015 season, Heroes Reborn could be looking at competition with The CW’s Arrow and its new spin-off Flash, Fox’s Batman prequel Gotham and ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Boardwalk Empire’s Charlie Cox will be starring in CBS’ new untitled pilot.
Charlie Cox will be taking the lead role in CBS’ upcoming untitled television show. The Boardwalk Empire alum will be returning to CBS in a pilot described as a “Wall Street drama” from executive producer John Cusack. The drama will take place in the world of Wall Street, which includes money and power. Cox will be starring as Jackson, an inherently good Wall Street hedge fund trader who has returned from service in Iraq. The story was written by Justified writers Taylor Elmore and Ben Cavell, and was based on an idea created with the aid of Elmore, Cavell, Cusack and Kevin McCabe. The pilot will be executive produced by Justified’s Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly.
Charlie Cox is no stranger to CBS as he starred in last season’s pilot The Ordained. Cox is also a veteran of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, in which he starred in for two seasons. In addition, his long resume includes Stardust, Moby Dick and Hello Carter.
CBS has a great lineup of drama pilots for this new season. We can expect Extant and Battle Creek, which have both already received direct to series orders for this summer. Other dramas include Madame Secretary, Scorpion, and CSI and NCIS spinoffs.
The 36th Oscar nominee luncheon took place on Monday.
Oscar nominees gathered together on Monday for a luncheon hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ board of governors. The 33rd annual Oscar nominees luncheon took place in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton and saw celebrities like Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandra Bullock and Spike Jonze. The vast majority of 2013 Oscar nominees were in attendance, and the stars all came together to pose for a “class photo” before collecting their nominee certificate and a gift bag. Yes, even celebrities like getting swag bags, and theirs included an “Oscar Nominee” sweatshirt.
Neil Meron and Craig Zadan will be producing the Oscars telecast for the second year in a row, and they took some time during the event to congratulate Ellen DeGeneres for returning as host (she hosted for the first time in 2007) and to remind nominees that if they win the award, they only have 45 seconds to give their speech. They also shared that the theme for the night will be “movie heroes,” which isn’t limited to only onscreen, and will be acknowledge those behind the scenes as well.
The 86th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 2.
Lena Dunham revealed the cover of her new book ‘Not That Kind of Girl’ via Instagram today.
Lena Dunham has made waves with her controversial, yet relatable television series Girls, which she executive produces and stars in, and now she has revealed the cover of her upcoming book, Not That Kind of Girl. Dunham instagrammed a mockup of the book’s cover today, which reminds us of retro book covers from the past. The 27 year old captioned the Instagram photo with “It’s official. Coming 10/7/14,” so you can pick up your very own copy on October 7th. The official description of Not That Kind of Girl from Dunham herself includes a line that states “…This book contains stories about wonderful nights with terrible boys and terrible days with wonderful friends, about ambition and the two existential crises I had before the age of twenty…” Will you be picking up a copy come this fall?
Lena Dunham became a memorable actress for her role in Girls as Hannah, an aspiring writer in her mid-twenties trying to survive friendships and boys in New York City. As both the main character and the executive producer for the show, Dunham has received a lot of news coverage, which tries to dissect the harsh, yet realistic world of her female generation. The show airs on HBO and is currently on its 3rd season, which started in January. The series has already been renewed for a 4th season, and is set to air in 2015.
Jonathan Skogmo is the founder and CEO of Jukin’ Media Inc.
Jonathan Skogmo is the founder and CEO of Jukin’ Media Inc. Their content has been seen on Bravo, MTV, and FOX, among other networks. Fans love the popular video “Husky Says No To Kennel,” which depicts a beautiful defiant husky laying down and literally saying “No!” to his masters at every command (watch here). Jon is currently a tenant at our flagship location in Hollywood, and we’re so proud to have witnessed his success and growth. We recently caught up with Jonathan to learn what Jukin’ Media Inc. is all about and his vision for his company’s future…
Jon, please describe the industry you’re in.
We’re in the digital media industry. And, more specifically, our focus is on-line video.
How would you describe your company in one sentence?
We reward viral-style video creators by monetizing their video content and bringing it to a larger audience.
Your company was founded in 2009. What key changes have you seen take place in the industry since then?
The industry is moving so fast that the changes from year to year are immense, let alone a five-year span. One thing that’s definitely changed is that on-line video consumption has exploded! Viewership continues to rise and brands and advertisers are shifting serious ad dollars into digital media. What’s in the future for Jukin’ Media?
Bigger rewards for our members. We are developing new business relationships and strategic partnerships that will be an enormous boost to our member community. Our list of media partners continues to grow, so our members are seeing their videos on more and more media outlets, TV shows, and ad campaigns.
Hollywood Production Center had a blast hosting another Trivia Night for the office.
We love trivia, and so do our tenants! Last night we hosted another Trivia Night for all our competitive tenants that wanted to know who the real trivia buff in the office is. We had such a blast with 5 teams that were on each others’ heels the entire game! We wanted to share some of our favorite trivia questions that we asked, so if you missed it, rest assured you can exercise your trivia muscles. Keep in mind that the entire night’s theme was “Best of 2013.” (Answers listed at the bottom in italics)
**Congrats to Universal’s “Team Monkey Love” for the win!**
1. In 2013, what artist dropped an unannounced, surprise album?
2. What is the name of the Notre Dame football player that dealt with an online hoax that spurned the now-famous term “catfishing?”
3. On July 9, it was announced that the 2020 Olympic Games would be held in what city?
4. What is the name of Vince Gilligan’s television drama, which came to an end in 2013 after 5 seasons?
5. Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World feature cameos by actors from other Marvel Studios franchises. Which actor did not appear in either film? a. Benicio Del Toro, b. Chris Evans, c. Mark Ruffalo, d. Scarlett Johansson
6. List the following films in order of highest grossing movie domestically to lowest grossing movie domestically (1 be highest, 4 being lowest): Despicable Me 2, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Iron Man 3 and Frozen.
1. Beyonce
2. Manti Te’o
3. Tokyo, Japan
4. Breaking Bad
5. d. Scarlett Johansson
6. 1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2. Iron Man 3, 3. Despicable Me 2, 4. Frozen
Bill Cosby will be returning to NBC for a new family comedy.
The Cosby Show was an iconic family show during its eight-season run from 1984 to 1992. 22 years later, Bill Cosby will be returning to NBC for a new comedy show. Tom Werner, former producer on The Cosby Show, and Bill Cosby are uniting forces once again for a new family comedy sure to bring back some good ol’ memories. The show is expected to revolve around Cosby as the patriarch of a multi-generational family as they address marriage and parenting. No writers have been attached to the project yet, but they are planning for development to take place outside the traditional pilot season window.
Since Bill Cosby’s days on the set of one of America’s favorite family comedies, he has also starred in A Different World, CBS’ Cosby, and Kids Say the Darndest Things. Cosby is 76 years old and a multiple Emmy Award winner. He helped to make The Cosby Show the number one show in America for five years, and preceded other award winning sitcoms such as Family Ties and Cheers.
We were inspired by our recent Facebook post (missed it? Check it out here) to compile some of our favorite onscreen television/movie tattoos.
We’re the Millers
Scotty P. rocks a “no ragrets” tattoo. He obviously lives with no regrets, none at all.
Prison Break
Michael Scofield bares a full body tattoo that doubles as a map of the prison that is his key to breaking out. Not that we mind him having to take his shirt off to find out where to make a left turn.
Toy Story
Awwww. Yep, we just did that. How could we not love Woody’s tattoo of Andy’s name on the bottom of his foot? Debatably not a real tattoo, but debatably we don’t care.
A Place Beyond the Pines
Ryan Gosling plays a tattoo-bearing, motorcycle-stunt-driving, bank-robbing father. The tear drop tattoo on his face really takes the cake.
Sons of Anarchy
Nothing says commitment like a Sons of Anarchy jacket atop of a Sons of Anarchy full back tattoo. We tip our hat to you, Jax.
Gravity’s Alfonso Cuaron received a nomination today for the DGA Awards.
The Directors Guild of America announced its nominees for its feature film awards today. Three of the picks are first time nominees, which include Captain Phillip’s Paul Greengrass, Gravity’s Alfonso Cuaron and 12 Years a Slave’s Steve McQueen. David O. Russell, nominated for American Hustle, previously received a nomination for 2010’s The Fighter, and The Wolf of Wall Street’s Martin Scorsese, a DGA Award winner for 2006’s The Departed, also received a nomination this year.
The nominees in the television and commercials categories are set to be announced on Thursday, while the documentary nominees will be known on Monday. The winners will all be announced at the 66th Annual DGA Awards, which will take place on Saturday, January 25th. Jane Lynch is set to host the award show at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
Other special awards will be given out at the ceremony, including the guild’s diversity award, which will be presented to Shondaland’s Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers. Lee Blaine will be receiving The Frank Capra Achievement Award, which is given to assistant directors or unit production managers in recognition of career achievement and service to the DGA. The Franklin J. Schaffner Award recognizes an associate director or stage manager for their career achievements and service to the DGA, and this year the honoree is Vince DeDario.
Jessica Lange will be playing Mark Wahlberg’s mother in ‘The Gambler’
Jessica Lange will be getting risky on a new film, The Gambler. Paramount is remaking the 1974 film about a college professor whose gambling addiction takes over his life, even after he starts running with a questionable crowd. Mark Wahlberg is attached to play the professor, and Lange will be filling the role of his mother. James Toback wrote the original script that Lauren Hutton and Paul Sorvino co-starred in for the 1974 version.
This project comes as Jessica Lange recently received nominations from both the Golden Globes and SAG Awards for her role on the recent season of American Horror Story: Coven. She has received awards in the past from the Emmys, Golden Globes and SAG, all for FX’s hit television series. American Horror Story is currently in the midst of airing its third season, and has already announced a renewal for a fourth season for 2014.
The movie will be directed by Rupert Wyatt off of a script by William Monahan. Brie Lawson is also attached to appear in the film.
Eric Ladin has joined the cast for HBO’s pilot, ‘The Brink.’
Eric Ladin has recently joined the cast for HBO’s newest pilot, The Brink. The new show is a dark comedy based around a geopolitical crisis and the effect it has on three different men: the U.S. Secretary of State, a Foreign Service officer and a Navy fighter pilot. Eric Laden will be playing a lieutenant who is the fighter pilot’s right hand man.
Jack Black, Tim Robbins and Pablo Schreiber are among other who will be starring in the pilot. The Brink was directed by Jay Roach and based on Roberto Benabib’s script. Jerry Weintraub is on board in the role of executive producer.
Ladin is no stranger to HBO, with previous work on Boardwalk Empire, Big Love, and Generation Kill. He will also be seen on the cable channel’s other new pilot, Bosch. Ladin’s other work includes roles in The Killing and Mad Men.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is set to star and direct in an adaptation of Vertigo’s ‘Sandman’ comic series.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and David Goyer have teamed up to bring you Sandman, the popular Vertigo comic for Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment. Goyer already wrote the treatment and is set to supervise the writing, while Gordon-Levitt will be starring in the project as well as directing. Neil Gaiman, the original writer of this comic series, will be joining the crew as an executive producer.
The Sandman comic series is based on Morpheus, the Lord of the Dreaming. The story is based in horror, but shifts into fantasy and mythology as Morpheus unfolds as a deity personifying dreams. The book has won several awards and has contributed to DC’s Vertigo’s success.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has some experience with comic book adaptions, having starred in The Dark Knight Rises and the soon to be released Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
The Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine died of natural causes in her Carmel, California home at the age of 96.
The legendary actress Joan Fontaine passed away at the age of 96. The Oscar-winning actress reached her high level of stardom in the early 1940s in Alfred Hitchcock’s movies Suspicion and Rebecca. She died of natural causes Sunday, December 15 at her Carmel, California home.
Joan won an Oscar for best actress in Suspicion, and was the only actor to win an Oscar in an Alfred Hitchcock film. She also received 3 best actress nominations a few years later for her role in the 1943 film The Constant Nymph. Her other notable appearances include Jane Eyre (1944), September Affair (1950), Ivanhoe (1952), and Island in the Sun (1957).
Beyond a talented actress, Joan dabbled in interior decorating, as well as getting her pilot license and becoming a Cordon Bleu-level chef. The stunning actress was married and divorced four times. In the 1940s, she and her husband at the time, William Dozier formed Rampart Productions, which created works such as her 1948 film Letter From an Unknown Woman and Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) with Burt Lancaster.
Joan’s older sister Olivia de Havilland, an accomplished actress as well, is 97 years old and currently resides in Paris.
Blumhouse Productions’ ‘The Purge 2’ has received a June 20, 2014 release date.
We will soon have to lock our doors for 12 hours as The Purge sequel gets underway. The Purge 2 marks Blumhouse Productions’ latest project with Universal, following on the heels of the supernatural hit Insidious: Chapter 2. The horror-thriller will star Frank Grillo under the returning director and writer James DeMonaco. The film has received a release date of June 20, 2014.
The Purge opened in June of this year and brought in roughly $90M worldwide. This first film took place in a dystopian future where one night a year they allow for crime to go unpunished as a way to keep the city free from criminal action the rest of the year. Ethan Hawke starred as a well-off home security system designer trying to protect his family from the 12-hour crime spree when a stranger finds a way into his home.
Olivia Wilde, Aziz Ansari and Zoe Saldana will be announcing the 71st Annual Golden Globe nominations live on Thursday, December 12.
It seems like award season is in full swing now, and the Golden Globes will be joining the ranks. Aziz Ansari, Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde will be joining Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Theo Kingma to announce the 71st Annual Golden Globe Award nominees this week. Kevin Bacon’s daughter, and newly crowned Miss Golden Globes 2014, Sosie Bacon will be joining the announcers. The nomination announcement will take place on Thursday, December 12 airing live on NBC’s Today show and streaming on GoldenGlobes.com. Nominations will span across 25 categories for film and television, both domestic and foreign.
The 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards is set to air live on Sunday, January 12, 2014. Audience favorites Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will be hosting the awards ceremony for the second year in a row. The award show is seen in over 160 countries, and last year they had nearly 20 million people tune in. The show is produced by Dick Clark Productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
‘The Good Wife’ is one of ten television shows picked this year for an AFI Award.
With December quickly coming to an end, The American Film Institute has announced its pick of top 10 films and 10 television shows of 2013. AFI reveals its nominees each year of movies and shows that “best advance the art of the moving image, enhance the rich cultural heritage of America’s art form, inspire audiences and artists alike and/or make a mark on American society.” The American Film Institute presents the AFI Awards each year, which are carefully selected by a jury of AFI members, scholars, film and television artists, critics and AFI Trustees.
Below are this year’s top picks (in alphabetical order):
Film
1. American Hustle
2. Captain Phillips
3. Fruitvale Station
4. Gravity
5. Her
6. Inside Llewyn Davis
7. Nebraska
8. Saving Mr. Banks
9. 12 Years a Slave
10. The Wolf of Wall Street
Television
1. The Americans
2. Breaking Bad
3. Game of Thrones
4. The Good Wife
5. House of Cards
6. Mad Men
7. Masters of Sex
8. Orange is the New Black
9. Scandal
10. Veep
AFI aims to appreciate the community of talented storytellers by awarding them this honor. Last year, eight of the overall nine best picture Oscar nominees made AFI’s list.
Sarah Palin really enjoyed her reality television debut because she is back for more. The former vice presidential candidate will be hosting a new show on the Sportsman Channel come April 2014. Amazing America with Sarah Palin will explore some of the most original and interesting people, places and pastimes connected to outdoor lifestyles in America. Sarah Palin has been portrayed as an outdoors enthusiast in the past, so this new hosting gig is quite fitting for the Alaskan native.
Sarah Palin first made her reality television contribution with Sarah Palin’s Alaska, which aired on TLC in 2010. The show only lasted for one season, but she portrayed her Alaskan spirit and passion for the outdoors and the lifestyle that comes with it. The Sportsman Channel ordered a 12-episode season for Amazing America with Sarah Palin. Other popular programming for this cable channel is geared towards people interested in fishing, hunting and shooting.
Sarah Palin’s television resume also includes her role on Fox News up until late 2012, but then returning shortly after in June 2013 as a contributor. Her political experience includes her role as the Governor of Alaska from 2006 to 2009, and the vice presidential nominee in the 2008 presidential election.
David Duchovny is the star of Showtime’s dark comedy ‘Californication,’ which will premiere its 7th and final season next year.
All good things come to an end, and Californication is no exception. Showtime’s hit television series has announced that the April 2014 premiere of their 7th season will be their last. The dark comedy quickly became Showtime’s longest-running series and was honored with two Emmys during its run. Californication fans will hopefully find closure as the network plans for the show’s final season to neatly wrap up the lives of the characters.
Californication is based on Hank Moody, played by David Duchovny, who is a novelist balancing the fast paced life of Los Angeles and his family and friends. Hank’s never ending adventures with women, drugs and his best friend/agent have made for an exciting six seasons thus far.
The series was created by Tom Kapinos and was picked up by Showtime in 2007. Earlier this year they considered doing a spinoff featuring Maggie Grace’s religious groupie Faith, but have since decided against it. Californication will join Showtime’s other shows cancelled this year, including The Big C, Dexter and The Borgias.
What is there to look forward to on Showtime? Newcomer Trending Down, a pilot by Philip Seymour Hoffman will be joining the ranks of favorite returners such as Episodes, House of Lies and Shameless.
The creator of ‘Weeds’ and ‘Orange is the New Black,’ Jenji Kohan, is working on her next project for HBO.
We all loved Weeds and Orange is the New Black, and now the mastermind behind both hit television series, Jenji Kohan, is back. Kohan was the creator of Showtime’s Weeds and the co-creator of Netflix’s original series Orange is the New Black, and we will be seeing her now as she begins work on a new drama on HBO. The new untitled Salem drama is a period piece that will explore the circumstances surrounding the witch hysteria in American history. The segment of Salem’s history that pitted neighbors against neighbors and set everyone into a mass hysteria interested Kohan, and she hopes to explore this with her already large fan base.
She will be writing the bewitching story with Bruce Miller and Tracy Miller, and she and Bruce will be executive producing as well. The show will be premiering on HBO, and Kohan will be working on the project with Lionsgate TV where she has an overall deal.
The untitled drama comes as Jenji is in the middle of production with the second season of acclaimed hit series, Orange is the New Black.
Other projects in the works at HBO include Ryan Murphy’s Open and another newcomer, The Leftovers.
HBO’s new drama-comedy ‘Looking’ will premiere on Sunday, January 19, 2014.
HPC News – Hollywood Production Center is once again happy announce that we have been joined by an exciting television project. Mission Street Productions has moved into the Hollywood Production Center offices, and they are currently working on a new series for HBO titled Looking. This half hour drama-comedy will follow the lives of a group of gay men living in San Francisco as they deal with dating in the digital age and growing older in the gay community. The three gay best friends will be played by Jonathan Groff, Frankie J. Alvarez and Murray Bartlett.
The eight-episode series was filmed in San Francisco at the start of fall. Looking was created by Michael Lannen, who is also attached as co-executive producer, and is directed by Andrew Haigh. Haigh and Sarah Condon serve as executive producers. Looking will premiere on Sunday, January 19, 2014 on HBO.
HBO’s other popular drama-comedy Girls will premiere its 3rd season January 12, 2014. Other new television shows on HBO’s schedule is True Detective and The Leftovers.
Titus Welliver will be starring in Amazon’s newest television series, ‘Bosch.’ The pilot will premiere in 2014 for viewer feedback.
HPC News – Another tenant at the Hollywood Production Center is the team for a new television drama pilot, Bosch. The pilot was ordered by Amazon Studios who is looking to quickly expand its original programming. After focusing mostly on comedies and kids programming, Amazon is moving towards drama with Bosch, a police procedural based on Michael Connelly’s books. Michael Connelly has created a character named Harry Bosch, a veteran Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective who is pursuing a killer, while also standing trial in federal court himself. The Bosch character has been at the center of 20 novels by Connelly, and will be played by Lost and Sons of Anarchy alum Titus Welliver. He will also be joined by Annie Wersching, Amy Price-Francis and Jamie Hector as costars.
The pilot was written by Connelly and Treme co-creator Eric Overmyer, who are executive producing with Fabrik’s Henrik Bastin and Mikkel Bondesen. Jim McKay is attached to direct.
The pilot will be available on Amazon Instant Video for viewer feedback in early 2014.
‘The Killing’ will be returning for a 4th season, but this time exclusively on Netflix.
HPC News – The Killing cannot be killed. Hollywood Production Center’s longtime tenant will be continuing their work on their popular television series The Killing from our offices. The hit television show first aired in 2011 on AMC, and continued to air three seasons until the cable network announced the show’s cancellation earlier in 2013. However, Netflix recently announced that they would be picking up the series and continuing the 4th season. This 4th season will air 6 episodes and will be considered the “final season.” The series’ stars Joel Kinnaman (who plays Stephen Holder) and Mireille Enos (who plays Sarah Linden) will be returning to the show to explore a new police case.
The Killing has gained a lot of popularity on Netflix’s streaming service, which helped it grow its audience for three seasons. The show had originally been cancelled after two seasons, but Fox TV Studios later announced that it would be returning after all due to a unique deal with AMC and Netflix. In this deal the streaming service, which had already built up an audience from the first 2 seasons being on its service, would stream the 3rd season 90 days after the finale aired on AMC to offset costs. When AMC announced that they would be pulling the plug for good in 2013, Netflix stepped in to pick up a 4th season to be aired exclusively to Netflix users. The wildly popular streaming service believe this show is perfect for on-demand viewing, so they have given Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder the chance at a proper goodbye.
Production for the 4th season of The Killing is set to begin in February.
After Dark Films has moved into HPC to work on their latest project, ‘Re-Kill.’
HPC News – A new tenant has moved into Hollywood Production Center, and that is After Dark Films, a horror, original and action film production company and distributor founded by Courtney Solomon. The company is currently working on a horror film called Re-Kill, which is a found-footage zombie film. The footage is of the brave men and women of R-division who must find and destroy zombies. It is five years after the initial Outbreak and just as they begin to think they are almost clear of the disease, they see signs of a second Outbreak. They begin to worry that humanity may not be able to survive a second round of this epidemic. The movie is said to be shot in a wartime documentary style, and is in the vein of 28 Days Later.
Re-Kill marks Valerie Milev’s directorial debut. The film was written by Michael Hurst, who is also credited for House of the Dead 2 and Pumpkinhead: Blood Feud.
After Dark Film’s Courtney Solomon current work includes directing the 2013 film Getaway, starring Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez and Jon Voight. Re-Kill will be a collaborative effort between After Dark Films and Valerie Milev. The project was put on pause during post-production as the teams worked on different projects, but they are expecting a theatrical release early in 2014.
Wanda Sykes of Push It Productions will be executive producing NBC’s ‘Last Comic Standing,’ which is set to air in summer 2014.
HPC News – Hollywood Production Center is currently housing Push It Productions, which is run by the powerful duo Wanda Sykes and Page Hurwitz. Following a three-year absence, NBC is bringing back Last Comic Standing, and Push It Productions is on board to produce the show. Wanda Sykes and Page Hurwitz are attached as executive producers, continuing Hurwitz’s relationship with the series as executive producer from 2006 to 2010.
The eighth season of Last Comic Standing, an unscripted comedic competition series is set to be aired on NBC in the summer of 2014. The show first started in 2003 and ran seven seasons until 2010. The show is being revived, and the network is once again bringing together top comedians from across the country to compete in a series of comedic challenges each week until one comedian is left standing with a development contract with NBC and a television special on Comedy Central.
Push It Productions inked the overall deal with Universal Television’s alternative studio in April. Wanda Syke’s credits include a long stand-up comedy career complete with three Emmy Awards and television work, such as HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, Fox’s The Wanda Sykes Show, Comedy Central’s Wanda Does It. Hurwitz’s own resume includes work on OWN’s The Rosie Show and NBC’s The Marriage Ref.
William Goldman’s ‘The Princess Bride’ will be get a stage production with Disney.
Disney Theatrical Productions will be teaming up with William Goldman on a musical based on his 1973 fairy tale and 1987 screenplay, The Princess Bride. The Rob Reiner film is a cult classic, and so many fans were happy to hear the news. The project was attempted a few years ago, but that fell through, and now Alan Horn of Walt Disney Studios is leading the project. It has not been decided whether The Princess Bride will be made into a musical or a play, but Disney’s successful history with musicals may point it in that direction.
Told by an old man to his grandson, the story is a comic tale of love and adventure as a beautiful woman engaged to an evil prince is kidnapped on the eve of her wedding by her farmboy lover. The Reiner film starred Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin and Chris Sarandon. It was produced by Reiner and Andrew Scheinman and executive produced by Norman Lear.
One of the Disney theatrical division’s most successful musical had been The Lion King, which recently passed the $1 billion box office mark on Broadway. Disney will be opening its newest stage musical, Aladdin, which is set to debut in March.
U.K.’s ‘Skins’ star Kathryn Prescott will star in MTV’s upcoming drama ‘Finding Carter.’
HPC News – There are a lot of new faces at the Hollywood Production Center, and that includes New Remote Productions who is working on a new television pilot for MTV called Finding Carter. The new drama centers on a teenage girl, Carter who has the perfect life being the center of attention at school and living with her fun-loving single mother. Things take a dramatic turn when a police bust reveals that Carter’s supposed mother abducted her as a toddler. Carter now has to navigate the struggles of high school and boys while adapting to her recently discovered biological family, which includes a twin sister and police detective mother.
Kathryn Prescott, known as Emily on the U.K.’s Skins will star as Carter. Lost alumna Cynthia Watros recently announced her role as Carter’s biological mother, and Alexis Denisof from Much Ado About Nothing will play her father.
Emily Silver and Terri Minsky’s Finding Carter was picked up alongside cyber thriller, Eye Candy from the horror producer Jason Blum. These two drama pilot orders come just behind two comedy pickups, Faking It and Happyland, while a Scream series adaptation continues to be in the works. MTV is continuing to expand its scripted lineup, with past successes including Awkward and Teen Wolf.
