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Hacks, Fellow Travelers and Ava DuVernay’s feature film Origin were among the recipients of the 2024 Humanitas Prizes for television and film writers whose work “explores the human condition in a nuanced way.”

This year’s honors were announced and presented at the organization’s annual awards ceremony last night at the Avalon Hollywood. The event was emceed by June Diane Raphael and Paul Scheer.

See the complete list of recipients below.

In all, 56 writers were nominated for their work across nine film and TV categories. During this year’s event, each winner received their trophy and delivered remarks to an audience of industry professionals. Winners also receive a $10,000 cash prize.

Also honored were the the recipients of the 2024 New Voices Fellowship, The David and Lynn Angell College Comedy Award, and The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Award. Kathryn Busby, President of Original Programming for Starz,...

Two prominent actors have joined the cast of the JonBent Ramsey limited series in development at Paramount+. The six-episode series will be showrun by Freedom Writers' Richard Lagravense, who is writing and executive producing alongside Harrison Query and Tommy Wallach. It is set to dramatize the real-life incident in which child beauty queen JonBent Ramsey was found murdered on Christmas in 1996 at the age of 6, a notorious cold case that remains unsolved.

Per Variety, two Oscar-nominated actors have joined the cast of the Paramount+ show as JonBent Ramsey's parents, who were at times suspected of the murder. Melissa McCarthy, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Bridesmaids and Best Actress in Can You Ever Forgive Me? will be playing Patsy Ramsey while Clive Owen, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Closer, will be playing John Bennett Ramsey, who is the one who discovered their daughter's body in...

Andy Muschietti's mega-blockbuster adaptation of "It" kicked off a new boom of Stephen King adaptations when it hit theaters in 2017, but if we were in a boom, is it safe to say we've now hit a bust? There are still tons of new King adaptations coming (I'm excited to see Osgood Perkins' take on "The Monkey" and Bryan Fuller's horned-up "Christine" update), but the massive hits have slowed down (remember "Firestarter?"), and one major adaptation, Warner Bros' "'Salem's Lot," is only now coming out after years of sitting on the shelf.

The works of Stephen King will always continue to be rich and entertaining, whether they're dominating the pop cultural zeitgeist or not. But if one title exemplifies the fickleness of the recent King adaptation boom, it's "Castle Rock," a wonderfully complicated, delightfully mysterious King-adjacent series that unceremoniously died on the vine at Hulu despite delivering two great seasons of television.

Exclusive: Jesse Garcia (Flamin’ Hot) and Jess Weixler (Teeth) have signed on to star in Tender, a crime thriller set to enter production in Los Angeles this week.

Written and directed by Adam Hoelzel (Beast of Burden), the film centers on a couple struggling with a failing marriage and mounting debts that stumbles upon a hidden fortune of gold within the walls of their home, leading them to concoct a risky plan to sell it and solve their financial troubles.

Others in the cast include Robert Longstreet (Sorry to Bother You), Shakira Barrera (Glow), Mark St. Cyr (The Menu), Sonja O’Hara (Mid-Century), Keli Price (Murder at Hollow Creek), Stephen Ellis, Robert Peters (Lincoln) and Alexander Cubis (Tyler Perry’s Ruthless).

Sofia Rovaletti (Mid-Century), O’Hara (Doomsday), Farrell Ingle (Subject 19), Keli Price (Bandit), Theo Bucksey (Morrow Road), Roy Hsu and Grayson Hay will produce alongside Corey Moosa (Margin Call...

Exclusive: Laura Harrier (White Men Can’t Jump) has been tapped for a major role opposite Bill Skarsgård and Nicolas Cage in Lords of War, the sequel to 2005 crime thriller Lord of War, which Andrew Niccol (Anon) wrote and is directing for Vendôme Pictures (Coda), sources tell Deadline.

Lords of War picks up the story of Yuri Orlov (Cage), the world’s most notorious gunrunner, watching as he discovers he has a son, Anton (Skarsgård), who isn’t trying to right his father’s wrongs — he’s trying to top them. Not only selling guns but the “trigger pullers” too, Anton is amassing a mercenary army to fight America’s Middle East conflicts. This is the story of Yuri and Anton’s bitter rivalry — even at odds over the same woman. Who will prevail when father and son go to war?

Specifics as to Harrier’s part are under wraps.

Archstone Entertainment has acquired international rights to “American Dreamer,” a dark comedy starring Peter Dinklage, Shirley MacLaine, Kim Quinn, Matt Dillon and Danny Glover. Paul Dektor (“Frayed”) directs a script written by Theodore Melfi (“Hidden Figures”).

The movie is based on a true story from Chicago Public Radio’s ”This American Life” and follows Dr. Phil Loder (Dinklage), a low-level adjunct professor of economics at Harvard, whose grand dream of owning a home is tragically out of reach — until an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes his way when a lonely, childless, near-death widow (MacLaine) offers Phil her sprawling estate for pennies. But Phil quickly learns the deal is too good to be true.

Dinklage is best known for his work on “Game of Thrones.” MacLaine won an Oscar for “Terms of Endearment” and starred in “The Apartment” and “Postcards From the Edge.” Dillon’s credits include “Crash” and “There’s Something About Mary.

Exclusive: Teton Ridge Entertainment has hired Jen Gorton as EVP Production and Development.

Gorton is part of the new team that’s being assembled by President Jillian Share for the new studio which focuses on projects that celebrate and amplify stories of the American West.

Share’s team also includes Brandon Mattingly and Christina Poray, who are VPs of Production and Development, and Madeleine Moore, Creative Executive.

Gorton will work with Share to oversee creative development and production of their film, television and new media slates.

Gorton was most recently EVP of Film Production at eOne, where she oversaw development and production as well as negotiated worldwide distribution deals for films including The Starling (to Netflix) starring Melissa McCarthy and directed by Ted Melfi, horror prequel Orphan: First Kill (Paramount) and the Academy Award-nominated Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Focus Features). She also oversaw that company’s upcoming films Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,...

Exclusive: Danny Trejo (Machete) and Veronica Falcón (Ozark) have boarded American Underdog, an indie drama set in the world of Mma that is now in production in Chicago. The film, marking the feature directorial debut of Peruvian-American filmmaker Gustavo Martin, will also star Vishy Ayyar and Andrew Gray.

Pic’s protagonist is Jai (Ayyar), an ex-con on a soulful path wrestling with personal redemption when outside circumstances pit him in the ring against the fierce opponent, Marcus (Gray). Trejo portrays Dennis, who reluctantly comes out of retirement to train his former student, while Falcón steps into the role of Marcella, a local gym owner and community legend shepherding Jai in his return to fighting.

A production of Peach Partners, in association with Mulberry Films, and MxW Ventures, American Underdog will also star Suleka Mathew (Your Honor), Taylor Treadwell (Big Little Lies), Omi Vaidya (3 Idiots), Ranjita Chakravarty (Never Have I Ever...

The Little Mermaid live-action remake director Rob Marshall recently explained why Melissa McCarthy was chosen to play Ursula. Based on Disney's 1989 animated classic of the same name, the 2023 musical stars singer Halle Bailey as Ariel, a mermaid princess of the underwater kingdom of Atlantica. McCarthy takes the role of the film's villainous Ursula, a conniving sea witch who removes Ariel's voice in exchange for her to become human, all in a plot to steal King Triton's magical trident.

Speaking with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), Marshall detailed his reasoning for choosing McCarthy as The Little Mermaid live-action remake's Ursula. Praising McCarthy's comedic talents, the director also highlighted her dramatic capabilities as well, stating that the actor's versatility made her a great choice for the role. Read what Marshall said about McCarthy below:

It was really daunting to think about who was going to play this part. I love that she was...

Melissa McCarthy will be honored with the Cinema Vérité Award at the 2023 CinemaCon. This is the second time CinemaCon has recognized McCarthy with an award. In 2013, McCarthy was named CinemaCon’s Female Star of the Year.

“Melissa McCarthy has had audiences around the world howling in the theaters with such unforgettable performances in films like Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy and has left them on the edge of their seats with her memorable roles in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and St. Vincent to name just a few,” stated Mitch Neuhauser, Managing Director of CinemaCon. “Her upcoming turn in the iconic role of Ursula is sure to entertain audiences across the globe and we couldn’t be more honored to present her with this year’s CinemaCon Cinema Vérité Award.”

CinemaCon, the annual meeting of the National Association of Theatre Owners, runs April 24 – 27, 2023. McCarthy will be presented with the Cinema...

The 2021 Netflix drama The Starling focuses on a couple's grief over losing their baby, and the setting plays an important part in the characters moving forward with their lives. While Jack Maynard (Chris O'Dowd) is staying at a hospital, his wife, Lilly (Melissa McCarthy), finds a bird outside of her home, which sets her on a journey of finding a way to cope with their infant passing away as a result of Sids. There are a few main locations, including the supermarket where Lilly works and the beautiful house she lives in.

The actors are known for more comedic fare, although McCarthy has appeared in dramatic movies such as Can You Ever Forgive Me? They co-starred in two previous films: Bridesmaids in 2011 and St. Vincent in 2014. Although the reviews of The Starling are negative, the movie features impressive acting from its main cast, and the question of where The Starling...

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Don’t Look Up, Black-ish and Pachinko were among the winners of the 46th annual Humanitas Prizes announced Friday from a luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

The awards, honoring the craft of screenwriting, featured winners in nine juried categories spanning film and television. These included Don’t Look Up from writer Adam McKay for comedy feature film, The Starling from Matt Harris for drama feature film and Encanto from Charise Castro Smith and Jared Bush for family feature film.

On the TV side, Black-ish writer Robb Chavis prevailed for comedy teleplay, Pachinko creator Soo Hugh won for drama teleplay and Women of the Movement creator Marissa Jo Cerar was tops for limited series, TV movie or special.

Larry Wilmore hosted the event, and presenters included Nkechi Okoro Carroll, Jasmine Cephas Jones and Humanitas board president Jenny Bicks. Also honored were...

The writers behind ABC’s Black-ish, Apple TV+’s Pachinko, Disney’s Oscar-winning Encanto and Adam McKay’s satire Don’t Look Up are among the winners of the 46th annual Humanitas Prizes. The honors were bestowed Friday afternoon in a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.

Humanitas Prizes have been handed out since 1973 to empower television and film writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way. Writers across 10 categories receive 10,000 cash prizes.

Other winners included Nanfu Wang for her documentary In the Same Breath, Matt Harris for writing the script for Ted Melfi’s The Starling starring Melissa McCarthy and Kevin Kline, and Marissa Jo Cerar for penning the “Mother and Son” episode of ABC’s anthology series Women of the Movement.

Also during the ceremony emceed by Larry Wilmore, the Humanitas organization presented Filmmakers for Ukraine with the Kieser Award and Starz president and CEO Jeffrey Hirsch...

Retiring ABC series “Black-ish” picked up one more honor on Friday, a Humanitas Prize for comedy teleplay, while Apple TV+’s “Pachinko” and ABC’s “Women of the Movement” also were recognized at the event.

Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and hosted by comedian Larry Wilmore, the 46th annual Humanitas Prize event centered on awards and 10,000 cash prizes to screenwriters across ten categories. In addition, Humanitas board president Jenny Bicks presented Filmmakers for Ukraine with the Kieser Award “in recognition of their work to connect the Ukrainian film and TV community impacted by the Russo-Ukrainian War with resources, jobs, and funding to meet basic needs.”

And Jasmine Cephas Jones presented Starz with Voice for Change Award for its #TakeTheLead initiative. Starz president/CEO Jeffrey Hirsch accepted the prize on the network’s behalf. Nkechi Okoro Carroll oversaw the New Voices Fellowship and College Screenwriting Award presentations.

Here are this...

Most independent producer/financiers would be glad to have one hot title up for sale in Toronto. Limelight arrives this week with three: the Jane Fonda/Lily Tomlin-led comedy-drama “Moving On,” plus a pair of distinctive coming-of-age dramas, “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” and “Wildflower.”

Now Limelight is developing the script for a comedy tentatively titled “Coachella,” written by Andy Siara (“Palm Springs”) and Joey Siara. The feature centers on teens who tell their parents they’re going on a church trip, but sneak off to the famed desert music festival instead. The Siara brothers are loosely drawing on their experiences playing the fest with their indie rock band, The Henry Clay People.

By any measure, Limelight partners Dylan Sellers, Chris Parker and Alex Dong are on a roll. Their comedy “Palm Springs” sold to Neon and Hulu for around 22 million in 2020, a record-breaking Sundance deal at the time.

Exclusive: Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel), Bobby Soto (Narcos: Mexico), Julio Cesar Cedillo (Narcos: Mexico), Veronica Falcón (Ozark), Sarayu Blue (I Feel Bad) and Eric Johnson (Fifty Shades franchise) are among the newest additions to Prime Video’s Michael Peña starrer A Million Miles Away, which has entered production in Mexico City. Others rounding out the ensemble of the Alejandra Márquez Abella-helmed film include Jordan Dean (Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace), Ashley Ciarra (Chupa), Michelle Krusiec (Hollywood), Emma Fassler (Recovery Road), Michael Adler (Super Pumped), Carlos S. Sanchez (Chicago Fire) and Isaac Arellanes (Ghostwriter).

A Million Miles Away is based on the inspiring true story of Jose Hernandez, who defied insurmountable odds to become the first migrant farmworker to travel to space. From six years old, he toiled in the fields between Michoacán and Stockton, California —dreaming of traveling the night skies on a rocket ship. Through his...

Exclusive: Dave and John Chernin’s Incoming has begun production in Los Angeles, we’ve learned, with an ensemble cast that includes 2x Primetime Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale, Primetime Emmy nominee Kaitlin Olson, Scott MacArthur as well as Raphael Alejandro, Isabella Ferreira, Ali Gallo, Loren Gray, Ramon Reed (13:The Musical) and Bardia Seiri.

All of them join previously announced Mason Thames (The Black Phone).

The Chernin brothers co-wrote the screenplay and are making their directorial film debut on the Artists Road and Spyglass Media production.

Incoming follows four incoming freshmen as they navigate the terrors of adolescence at their first-ever high school party.

Artists Road landed the sought-after project in a competitive situation from the Chernin brothers with Spyglass Media Group boarding to co-finance.

Artists Road’s principals Todd Garner, Peter Principato, Ben Silverman and Artists Road’s CEO, Mark Korshak will produce alongside Stoller Global Solutions Company’s Nick Stoller and Conor Welch.

Humanitas has revealed the nominees for this year’s Humanitas Prizes, which recognize “television and film writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced way.” The award is given out in nine categories, including comedy, drama and limited series.

This year’s nominees include “Maid,” “This Is Us,” “Queen Sugar,” “Pachinko,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Somebody Somewhere” and “Black-ish.” Winners will be announced at an in-person awards luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 9, 2022.

“The Humanitas Prizes were created to recognize writers whose work explores the beauty and complexity of the human experience and the 2022 nominees do just that,” said Michelle Franke, Humanitas Executive Director. “Ranging in scope, style, and perspective, these stories underscore our bonds, our history and responsibility to each other in the present as well as possibilities for the future. Especially during challenging times, writers dedicate themselves to the stories that connect and entertain us.”

Here...

After a two-year hiatus, Humanitas has revealed the nominations for its 2022 Humanitas Prizes in nine categories

Winners will receive their trophies during a September 9 in-person ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.

Launched in 1974, the Humanitas Prizes honor film and television writers whose work explores the human condition, with recipients receiving a trophy and a cash prize.

Here are the nominees for the 46th annual Humanitas Prize:

Children’s Teleplay

El Deafo: Written by Cece Bell and Will McRobb

Karma’s World: “Hair Comes Trouble” – Written by Kellie R. Griffin and Halcyon Person

Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), with Love: Written by Alex Galatis

The Babysitters Club: “Claudia and the Sad Goodbye” – Written by Sascha Rothchild

Comedy Feature Film

Don’t Look Up: Written by Adam McKay

Everything Everywhere All At Once: Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

Queen Bees: Written by Donald Martin

tick, tick…Boom!:...

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Humanitas has announced the nominees for the 46th annual Humanitas Prizes, which celebrates the craft of screenwriting. Across nine juried categories, which include both television and film, 45 writers are nominated for their work.

Among the nominees are Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson (comedy teleplay) and Academy Award-winning Coda writer-director Sian Heder (drama feature film). Adam McKay, who was nominated for an Oscar this year for Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, also received a nom for comedy feature film, along with Everything Everywhere All At Once scribes and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

“The Humanitas Prizes were created to recognize writers whose work explores the beauty and complexity of the human experience and the 2022 nominees do just that,” said Humanitas executive director Michelle Franke in a statement. “Ranging in scope, style, and perspective, these stories underscore our bonds, our history and...

At times, “American Dreamer” brings to mind “American Beauty,” even if we’re three recessions removed from an economy conducive to partying like it’s 1999.

Real estate and homeownership remain intrinsically tied to the American dream and, per the movies, so do improper relationships with much-younger women. Dr. Phil Loder (Peter Dinklage), an adjunct professor in cultural economics who makes 50K a year, doesn’t have the wherewithal to luxuriate in funemployment like the protagonist in “Beauty,” but that doesn’t make him any less noxious.

Phil consumes sandwiches dispensed by a break-room vending machine, yet he can’t satiate his obsession with million-dollar listings merely with reality TV on Bravo. He gatecrashes open houses for properties he can’t afford and is not above causing a scene. Realtor Dell (Matt Dillon) patiently humors him and still gets called names. Though Dell is an archetypical greedy bloodsucker (right out of...

Writer-producer-director Theodore Melfi has a different take than those who think independent filmmaking is becoming an endangered species; in fact, he tells me right now we are in “a golden age of independent film.” That might be one of the reasons he is bullish about both films he has at this week’s Tribeca Festival in New York City — independently produced movies he is helping shepherd along. On Corner Office, which stars Jon Hamm, he is an executive producer, and on American Dreamer, he is the screenwriter as well as a producer of the comedy that stars Peter Dinklage, Shirley MacLaine and Matt Dillon. Both are for sale, and the bottom line is Melfi truly believes the audience will dictate whatever the perfect form of distribution is, whether it be theatrical, streaming, digital VOD or a combination of all three.

As a director, Melfi has had experience on every level...

Exclusive: Lance Reddick (John Wick franchise), Teyana Taylor (Coming 2 America) and Laura Harrier (Hollywood) are the latest additions to 20th Century Studios’ White Men Can’t Jump reboot. They’re set to star alongside previously announced cast members Jack Harlow and Sinqua Walls.

The film will offer a new take on Ron Shelton’s 1992 sports comedy, starring Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes and Rosie Perez, which saw Black and white basketball hustlers join forces to double their chances of winning money on the street courts and in a basketball tournament. Harlow is stepping into the role originated by Harrelson, with Walls taking on Snipes’, and Reddick playing Benji Allen, the father of Walls’ character Kamal. Benji is living with Ms and has been Kamal’s coach and support system since a very young age. Details with regard to the characters that Taylor and Harrier are playing have not been disclosed.

White...

Mark Mylod’s dark comedy The Menu will be available for moviegoer consumption on November 18 in theaters, Searchlight said Tuesday.

In the Seth Reiss and Will Tracy scripted movie, a couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travel to a coastal island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef (Ralph Fiennes) has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises. Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Judith Light, Reed Birney, Paul Adelstein, Aimee Carrero, Arturo Castto, Mart St. Cyr, Rob Yan and John Leguizamo also star.

Mylod recently won the PGA Award and an Emmy for his work on HBO’s Succession.

The below-the-line team includes production designer Ethan Tobman (Free Guy; Room); director of photography Peter Deming (Mulholland Drive; Twin Peaks), costume designer Amy Westcott (Black Swan; The Many Saints of Newark); Oscar-nominated editor Christopher Tellefsen (Moneyball; A Quiet Place), and casting director Mary Vernieu (Knives Out; The Starling). Michael Sledd...

Exclusive: Tanya Saracho (Vida), Gabriela Revilla Lugo, and Selena Gomez are developing the single-camera comedy 15 Candles, a reconfiguration of the world of John Hughes‘ 16 Candles.

The half-hour series—from UCP for Peacock—follows four young Latinas starting high school as they overcome their feelings of invisibility while exploring what it means to leave childhood behind through the lens of the traditional female coming-of-age rite: the quinceañera.

Saracho, under her Ojalá Production banner, and Lugo serve as writers and executive producers of the project. Gomez also executive produces under her July Moon Productions. Christine Dávila of Ojalá Productions co-executive produces.

Saracho is a playwright and TV writer who most recently served as creator, showrunner, and executive producer of Vida on Starz.

She co-founded the Untitled Latinx Project, whose mission is to increase Latine representation in TV, broadcast, cable, and streaming...

Mattel is developing the live-action family drama Christmas Balloon, which will be written by Gabriela Revilla Lugo (A Million Little Things) based off a true story.

The film follows a young girl, Dáyami, living in a Mexican border town who tries to send her Christmas list to Santa tied to a balloon. The balloon is found by Randy and Marcella Heiss, a couple in Arizona grieving the loss of their own child, who make it their mission to fulfill the girl’s touching Christmas wishes. Mattel worked with the couple and donated toys to fulfill Dáyami’s wish towards a brighter future.

“Much like Dáyami’s balloon itself, the journey of this touching story and Mattel’s direct role in fulfilling her real-life wishes made it a must-do for us,” said Kevin McKeon, VP of Mattel Films. “We were immediately struck by this little girl’s spirit and the story’s positive message.

Chris O’Dowd is set to star in the upcoming Apple comedy series “The Big Door Prize,” Variety has learned exclusively.

The series 10-episode series is based on the M.O. Walsh novel of the same name. It tells the story of a small town that is forever changed when a mysterious machine appears in the grocery store, promising to reveal each resident’s true life potential.

O’Dowd will star as Dusty, a good-natured teacher and family man whose deeply average life has followed a safe and predictable path, until the appearance of the mystifying machine forces him to question his own happiness.

O’Dowd’s recent TV starring credits include the “Get Shorty” series at Epix and the short form series “State of the Union,” the latter of which earned him an Emmy in 2019. His other TV roles include “The It Crowd,” “Moone Boy,” and “Girls.” On the film side,...

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. The eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and is subject to change.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Oscars Collective

Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Oscars Hub

Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season The Archive

Link to television awards is atTHE Emmys Hub

2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards Predictions:

Best Performance By A Male Actor In A Leading Role

Updated: Nov 25, 2021

Awards Prediction Commentary: More to come…...

Exclusive: Following a year where she starred in another hit comedy, a highly discussed limited series and a festival darling, Melissa McCarthy is looking to add TV co-host to her dance card. Deadline has learned that Discovery+ has ordered the six-episode series The Great Giveback With Melissa McCarthy and Jenna Perusich, which reunites the duo following their other home renovation series, Celebrity Iou, on HGTV.

In the new series, the pair will combine their desire to help others and their love of renovation and design to surprise amazing people with beautiful home transformations. Before they roll up their sleeves, grab sledgehammers, revamp rooms and astonish unsuspecting subjects with the news that they will be receiving customized redesigns, the cousins will learn about the heartwarming stories of exceptional people who were nominated by their loved ones. Then, propelled by the inspiring accounts, and with help from their expert team, the cousins...

Haley Hope Bartels (Pumping Black), Karin delaPeña Collison (Coming of Age), Byron Hamel (Shade of the Grapefruit Tree), R.J. Daniel Hanna (Shelter Animal) and Laura Kosann (The Ideal Woman) are the screenwriters and scripts chosen as the winners of the 2021 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition, AMPAS announced today.

Each of the five fellows will receive a $35,000 prize, along with mentorship from an Academy member throughout their fellowship year, which will see them complete a feature-length screenplay. (The Academy will acquire no rights to the works of its fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts.)

From November 8-12, one fellow per day will be featured on the Academy’s YouTube channel, in conversations with filmmakers Destin Daniel Cretton, Phil Lord, Our Lady J, Rawson Marshall Thurber and Olivia Wilde, and other content.

Bartels, Collison, Hamel, Hanna and Kosann’s scripts were chosen from...

Exclusive: Jesse Garcia (The Starling) and Yvonne Senat Jones (BET’s Ruthless) have joined the cast of The Mother, the action pic, emerging from a newly announced creative partnership between Netflix and Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions.

They’ll appear in the film directed by Niki Caro (Mulan) alongside previously announced cast members including Lopez, Joseph Fiennes, Omari Hardwick, Gael García Bernal, Paul Raci, and Lucy Paez.

The Mother centers on a deadly female assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter that she gave up years before, while on the run from dangerous men.

Lovecraft Country creator Misha Green penned the original screenplay, with Peter Craig handling the most recent revisions.

Lopez and Elaine Goldsmith Thomas are producing for Nuyorican Productions with Roy Lee and Miri Yoon for Vertigo, along with Green, Benny Medina, and Marc Evans. Molly Allen is exec producing.

Garcia can currently seen in...

“Free Guy” (Disney/$19.99) continued to dominate VOD charts over the weekend. Shawn Levy’s action comedy with Ryan Reynolds repeated as #1 for a second week at iTunes and Google Play (ranked by transactions) and Vudu (which calculates by revenue). Meantime, the highest grossing non-franchise domestic release in theaters since “1917” almost two years ago held the #6 position in theaters this weekend, despite its home availability and losing 1,050 theaters. Once again, both hands are washing each other to mutual benefit.

A mere 14 titles charted across all three charts, which, continuing a recent trend, saw a broad consistency irrespective of the method of calculating results. Only three new films broke into any of the top 10 listings, but two placed second on one chart each. Their routes were very different, though.

M. Night Shyamalan’s “Old” has been the only Universal release in over a year to not have a Premium VOD release three weeks after hitting theaters.

Exclusive: Searchlight Pictures’ gourmet dark satire The Menu, which is currently filming in Savannah, Ga, has rounded out its cast with Paul Adelstein (Intolerable Cruelty), Rob Yang (Succession), Arturo Castro (Mr. Corman), Mark St. Cyr (High School Musical: The Musical – The Series), Rebecca Koon (Sharp Objects), Peter Grosz (At Home with Amy Sedaris) and Christina Brucato.

They join the previously announced line-up of the Mark Mylod-directed feature: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau (Elsa), Janet McTeer (Lillian Bloom), John Leguizamo (as Movie Star), Aimee Carrero (Felicity), Reed Birney (Richard) and Judith Light (Anne).

Based on an original screenplay by Seth Reiss (Late Night With Seth Meyers) and Will Tracy (Succession), The Menu follows a young couple, Margot and Tyler (Taylor-Joy and Hoult), who travel to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where Chef...

“Free Guy” (Disney/$19.99) is now on Premium VOD after a 45-day window, “The Addams Family 2” (United Artists/$19.99) is new at theaters and on PVOD, and even though it will be weeks before box-office champion “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (Sony) makes its PVOD debut, it’s already making itself known on the charts. The platforms’ uneasy relationship continues to evolve.

It was a great weekend for theaters with “Carnage” taking in $90 million domestic, a success hinted by strong VOD showings the week prior with the 2018 “Venom” (Sony). However, last week also saw the nearly unprecedented offer (on all platforms) to pre-buy the sequel on PVOD at a date unspecified. iTunes placed it at #6, even though it cannot be rented. Presume more confusion for moviegoers.

Meantime, the reduced-price franchise starter is #3 at both iTunes and Google Play. “F9” (Universal/$5.99), #3 or #4 on all charts, joins “Free Guy” and “Addams” as the...

As theaters await “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” (Paramount) and “No Time to Die” (United Artists) over the next two weeks, home viewing options are similarly on the rise. “Free Guy” (Disney), honoring a 45-day window, debuts on Premium VOD September 28. Friday sees two theatrical openers: “Addams Family 2” (United Artists) and “The Many Saints of Newark” (Warner Bros.), also available at home.

That left a more routine week on the charts we follow, although some recent releases got attention as they made their first appearances. But price reductions, led by “F9” (Universal), were also important.

The latest entry in the “Fast” series, which opened in domestic theaters in early June, and then at $19.99 on PVOD in late July, just had its price cut to $5.99 (consistent with the timing of past Universal moves). The just-released director’s cut remains at the higher price. The result is a return to #1 at...

Exclusive: Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda have committed to a big screen reteam in Moving On, a comedy written and to be directed by Paul Weitz.

Malcolm McDowell and Richard Roundtree join them in a film about two old friends who reconnect at a funeral, and decide to exact revenge on the widower who wronged them decades before. Production will begin this fall in Los Angeles. The film’s co-financed by Limelight and Boies/Schiller Film Group.

Andrew Miano, Stephanie Meurer & Weitz are producing through Depth of Field. Limelight’s Chris Parker and Dylan Sellers are financing the film and are also producing. Boies/Schiller Film Group is also financing, and David Boies and Zack Schiller are exec producing. Depth of Field’s Dan Balgoyen & Britta Rowings are the executive producers. Weitz most recently directed the Kevin Hart-starrer Fatherhood for Netflix.

Tomlin and Fonda are currently shooting the seventh...

This review of “The Starling” was first published after the film’s premiere at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival.

Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem: “The Starling,” for example, is an impressively credited drama that premiered at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival on its way to Netflix. So viewers may be surprised to find they’ve happened upon a movie that would feel far more at home on the Hallmark Channel.

Then again, sometimes things are exactly what they seem. And in nearly every other way, predictability defines Ted Melfi’s disappointing follow-up to his widely-admired Oscar nominee “Hidden Figures” and his enjoyably prickly indie “St. Vincent.”

Just as its name announces, “The Starling” is all about learning to fly. This increasingly blunt metaphor includes an actual avian, who swoops through the opening credits in a clunky effect that simultaneously recollects the plastic bag from “American Beauty” and the “Forrest Gump” feather.

Making movies is hard. That's no secret. But sometimes getting a specific movie made is exceptionally difficult, and it takes years to make it happen. Such is the case with "The Starling," an upcoming Netflix drama starring Melissa McCarthy that has been more than 15 years in the making. For screenwriter Matt Harris, it's the conclusion to a long and winding road. Snapping the tape at the end of a marathon. Popping the champagne at the end of a race.

The script had been making the rounds in Hollywood for a long time, and even ended up on the Blacklist,...

The post Netflix's The Starling Is a Long-Awaited Dream Come True for Screenwriter Matt Harris [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

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With nearly 500 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

More from TVLineThe NCIS: Hawai'i Team Puzzles Over a Crashed Top Secret Aircraft -- WatchThe Wonder Years Review:...

When looking up the starling species of bird on Google, a few questions pop up. Why are starlings bad? Are starlings good for anything? Why are starlings a problem? Director Theodore Melfi’s The Starling could be substituted for its eponymous bird enemy in any of those sentences. Melfi, who has made hits like St. Vincent and Hidden Figures, takes another swing with his latest, a sappy, melodramatic drama from Netflix.

Starring Melissa McCarthy and Chris O’Dowd as a married couple reeling from their death of their young daughter, The Starling plays into that logline, using weepy original songs from known folk entities like The Lumineers to hammer home a point: losing a child is hard, but don’t worry, there’s still hope. The film takes no time in its ham-fisted metaphors and intentionality, assuming that tragedy equates to story, that a somber score equates to heartache, that death equates to tears.

I am not of fan of movies that resort to breaking the fourth wall, as it were, and letting their key characters talk incessantly to the audience. It is a device that generally feels lazy, a writer’s crutch to explain away story points instead of letting us discover for ourselves. The recent annoying pandemic comedy Together, with James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan as a bickering couple who sell their sides of ongoing marital arguments directly to the camera, is an example of why overuse of this technique can be so tired. Now along comes The Good House, which just premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and where Sigourney Weaver as a functioning alcoholic real estate agent in North Boston offers her view on the town and its people with full sarcasm intact. It is based on the 2013 book by Ann Leary, and it seems this very literary conceit was...

In the opening scene of “The Starling,” Melissa McCarthy and Chris O’Dowd play a married couple who are painting the nursery for their newborn daughter. You wouldn’t know it, but the two actors were actually across the globe from each other filming this over Zoom.

“Melissa was in Australia shooting ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ and Chris was in Los Angeles,” Melfi told TheWrap’s Beatrice Verhoeven during a virtual interview at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to pull this off. We shot Chris on the set, we built the room out and shot with a stand-in and then sent that footage to Melissa… then she had a day off on ‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ and we made it all happen.”

“There are one or two [other scenes] in the grocery store,” McCarthy added. “I’ve talked to inanimate objects before, looked at tennis balls,...

When a studio is looking to get traction on their awards season contender, there’s no better start at this early point in the fall than the Toronto International Film Festival’s Grolsch People’s Choice Award.

The top prize at the Great White North cinema fest has often been a predictor of Oscar’s Best Picture, or notable contenders, i.e. in the last 20 years, the TIFF People’s Choice awards winner has continued on to win Oscar’s top prize 5x including last year’s Nomadland, 2018’s Green Book, 2013’s 12 Years a Slave, 2010’s King’s Speech and 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire.

However, this year, three of the fall’s most buzziest awards season titles, and critically praised –Warner Bros./Legendary’s Dune (87% on Rotten Tomatoes), Focus Features’ Last Night in Soho (73%) and Neon’s Spencer (88%)— aren’t able to compete for TIFF’s top award. Check it out here.

Ted Melfi is adapting the novel “The Underworld” for Netflix, the filmmaker told TheWrap during an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival. He will also direct the feature.

The novel was published in 1997 by Don DeLillo and follows Nick Shay, a waste management executive who grew up in the Bronx, and features numerous subplots in American history from the second half of the 20th century.

It was nominated for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize.

An individual with knowledge, however, said the deal for Melfi to adapt and direct is not done yet.

Melfi most recently directed “The Starling” with Melissa McCarthy and he wrote “Going in Style” in 2017, as well as “Hidden Figures” in 2016, which he also directed. “The Starling” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.

Melfi is represented by UTA. A spokesperson for UTA did not respond to requests for comment.

Exclusive: Ted Melfi, whose new film The Starling premiered last night at the Toronto Film Festival, has been set to adapt, direct and produce for Netflix Underworld, based on the seminal novel by Don DeLillo. The novel is a sprawling tapestry spread across decades that has a through line of the home run Bobby Thomson hit in 1951 to win the pennant for the New York Giants, breaking the hearts of crosstown fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

As the home run is hit and retrieved by a young fan named Cotter Martin, things are happening all around, including J. Edgar Hoover learning that moment that the Soviet Union had completed its first test of the hydrogen bomb. The ball eventually winds up in the hands of a waste management business owner named Nick Shay, who sets out to find the original owner as he sorts out his own mess of a life.

Reuniting with “St. Vincent,” director Theodore Melfi, Melissa McCarthy, and Chris O’Dowd play a married couple on the rocks after the unexpected loss of their baby tears them apart. Calibrated as a crowd-pleaser like their previous collaboration, which had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival where it was runner-up for the audience award, “The Starling” is the kind of cloying, overly sentimental treacle that often gets labeled uplifting, but whose seams show like a mass-produced discount t-shirt.

Continue reading ‘The Starling’: Melissa McCarthy & Chris O’Dowd Offer Emotional Range In A Cloying, Overly-Sentimental Movie [TIFF Review] at The Playlist.

If you can get all worked up about a somewhat aggressive little bird that, to the annoyance of homeowner Melissa McCarthy, has decided to take up residence in a tree on her property, you’re welcome to The Starling, an astonishingly treacly film that’s meant to be inspirational but is something close to agony to sit through. Mawkish and reliant upon platitudes in the absence of genuine feeling and anything resembling filmmaking style, director Theodore Melfi’s first feature since the massively successful Hidden Figures in 2016 is a testament to banality that Netflix decided was worth $20 million to acquire. The Starling made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival and if something like this this is now considered worthy of a major festival slot, the world has changed. Can we blame Covid for this too?

Working in a stylistic vein that might be described as bumptious sentimentality, screenwriter Matt...

Late in “The Starling,” at a stage when Melissa McCarthy’s grieving mother has never felt more distant from her withdrawn husband, she receives a pep talk from Kevin Kline’s wise confidante about the titular bird. When starlings mate, he explains, they build and protect their nest together: “They’re just not meant to exist in the world alone.” “Real subtle stuff,” she responds, with a trademark McCarthy grimace.

It’s a bit rich at this point for “The Starling” to lampshade such a cornily obvious metaphor, given that Theodore Melfi’s film has already given us ample scenes of McCarthy’s character growing and nurturing a vegetable garden from scratch on dried-out, weed-strewn land, defending it from the aforementioned starlings as they themselves forge a home of their own from scraps and trash, and cathartically ridding her house of all its furniture for good measure. What could it all mean?...

Let’s get this out of the way: The eponymous bird at the center of “The Starling” isn’t real, though the emotions he stirs in the people around him is. If that’s not the set-up for a quirky mid-budget feel-good feature, well, what is? The kind of throwback dramedy that streamers should be making these days — because the studios sure aren’t — the Melissa McCarthy-starring film will likely charm the feathers off its audience when it hits Netflix, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. It is, however, something few contemporary films dare to be: both satisfying and self-contained.

There’s no wider Starling Expanded Universe out there — bad news for a bossy blackbird that appears in the film’s opening credits — and while the finality of the film’s conclusion doesn’t entirely feel earned, there’s something charming about this fairy tale-esque story...

Melissa McCarthy and Chris O’Dowd, two of the most endearing actors onscreen, play Lilly and Jack, a married couple happily painting a mural for their infant daughter’s room, as The Starling begins. Cue the opening credits, and we find them a year later, grappling with the unimaginable worst after having lost their baby to sudden infant death syndrome. Lilly is stoically putting one foot in front of the other, which includes visiting Jack at the psychiatric hospital where he is being treated. A project starring these two plus Kevin Kline, directed by Theodore Melfi, of Hidden Figures — what could possibly go wrong? ...