With fewer shows and virtually no pilots this season, the available acting gigs pay less than they used to amid rising costs of living, talent sources say, making it hard for many working actors to afford their rent or mortgage and support their families.
The same applies to name actors getting offers. NBC’s Suits: LA pilot recently cast Arrow and Heels star Stephen Amell as its lead.
During pilot season, there would normally be a feeding frenzy for TV stars of his caliber. But, because of the contraction, with broadcast volume going down, pilots drying up and streamers often going for feature names, there are dozens of proven TV stars in their 30s, 40s and 50s — all of whom have headlined hit series — that have been sidelined for months (some for a couple of years) with no major job prospects. >>>Series Regular Roles Disappearing |
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Posh Production Platform - LVMH has launched 22 Montaigne Entertainment, a platform to develop film, TV and audio productions for its portfolio of 75-plus luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton. Named for the address of LVMH’s Paris headquarters, 22 Montaigne has been created in partnership with Superconnector Studios. >>>"A House Of Stories " Furst Up - Veteran film and television producers Sean and Bryan Furst have signed a multi-project development deal with Miramax TV via their Global Position Studios. >>>Premium Projects In Development
Irreconcilable Differences - The majority of the managers working at LA rep firm The Green Room have abruptly exited to launch management and production outfit Untamed Artists LA. The move was made in the last few weeks and follows what the group described to us as “irreconcilable differences” with Green Room founder Alex Czuleger, who as of last week was understood to be the only manager left at the firm. >>> Conflicting Accounts
"A Seething Mass Of Uncertainty" - As execs, sellers and all and sundry travel to the English capital for next week’s London TV Screenings, conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine will cast a shadow over what has tended to be a spirited affair. Industry sources tell Deadline that they have rarely paid so much attention to goings-on around the world in relation to their own work. >>> Difficult Questions
Dark Brandon In L.A. - President Joe Biden, speaking to attendees at last night's Los Angeles fundraiser, said that Donald Trump "is dragging us back to the past and not leading us to the future.” Of Trump and his party, Biden said, "They shout about problems but offer nothing." >>>More From The Event
Doc Talk Podcast: Oscar Nominations Controversy - On the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, we step into the debate over the Oscar documentary feature nominations. Did the Doc branch get it right by nominating Bobi Wine: The People’s President, The Eternal Memory, Four Daughters, To Kill a Tiger and 20 Days in Mariupol? Or did it injure a U.S. domestic documentary field already wounded by a soft acquisition market and other challenges? >>> Listen
Maquina Man - Amazon MGM Studios has signed an exclusive overall deal with Gary “Gaz” Alazraki’s Maquina Vega. Under the deal, Alazraki is set to produce, write and direct series for Amazon MGM Studios. Alazraki is the Mexican director known for Father of the Bride and Mexico’s record-breaking comedy Nosotros los Nobles as well as being the co-creator of Club de Cuervos, Netflix’s first Spanish original series. >>> Current Slate
Cocooning & The Oscars - American Fiction is the only Oscar-nominated script that takes a serious bite out of contemporary socio-political reality. The rest, even that wild pink feminist fly-by Barbie, which does get tangled in reality, are in a sense doing what the phrase-coining trendspotter Faith Popcorn used to call “cocooning.” That is, they are curled up in a safe space, side-stepping or at most playing with current events and issues. >>> Michael Cieply's Column
'Made In England' Review - It’s not often that a doc about the transformative power of cinema will deliberately use bad clips of the movies it’s talking about, but that’s part of the point of this insightful, sprawling film, corralled by director David Hinton, about the careers of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. >>>Damon Wise's Take
In Brief - Clark Backo signs with Linden Entertainment... Sugar23 signs Sterling Hampton IV |
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Jeffrey Wright is no stranger to awards. He’s won an Emmy, a Tony and a Golden Globe all in fact for playing the same role: Nurse Belize in Angels in America, first on Broadway and then for the HBO limited series directed by Mike Nichols. Now he has his first-ever Oscar nomination as Lead Actor playing Thelonious “Monk” Ellison in American Fiction, for which he is also up for two SAG Awards including lead actor and outstanding cast. >>>Watch The Interview |
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Exclusive
Rebecca Hall has rounded out the ensemble cast of 20th Century’s Ella McCay, the new movie from filmmaker James L. Brooks. Hall joins a cast that includes Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Ayo Edebiri, Albert Brooks, Kumail Nanjiani, Jack Lowden and Spike Fearn.
Exclusive
White Lotus star Will Sharpe will play the lead role in Amadeus, Joe Barton’s playful TV series reimagining of the life of the musical genius, which was revealed at the development stage by Deadline in late 2022.
Exclusive
Jean Smart is developing a limited series about the relationship between a grandmother and her grandson in the final months of her life, which the Emmy winner will star in and executive produce. The project is inspired by Kevin Hershey’s New York Times article “Love Letter: When My Grandmother Stopped Eating.“
Ella Beatty, currently appearing in the FX series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, will make her Broadway debut in Appropriate when the hit Branden Jacobs-Jenkins play transfers to the Belasco Theatre next month. Beatty will take over the role of “River” from Elle Fanning.
In Brief - Josh Close to star in American Solitaire... Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King & Ruby Cruz form The Threesome |
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More News 👩 While 2023 was the year of Barbie, a new study found that the percentage of women, women of color and women 45 and older in films last year plummeted to lows not seen in almost a decade. The USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative said in a study released this morning that those levels are the lowest since 2014.
🦖 Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment are in final negotiations for Rogue One director Gareth Edwards to helm a new Jurassic World movie. The studio recently dated the pic to bow on July 2, 2025. 🏈 The planned sports streamer team-up between Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Fox may be stuck at the starting line if Fubo TV gets its way in court. Looking for billions in damages, an antitrust lawsuit filed Tuesday morning by the nearly decade-old live sports platform aims to bench the trio’s big bundle move ASAP.
🤔 Warner Bros has dated Mickey 17 for Jan. 31, 2025 — a very odd date for a highly anticipated follow-up from Oscar and Cannes Palme d’Or winning Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon-ho.
🎬 In the sixth edition of its Sound Stage study, FilmLA has highlighted growth in infrastructure in both the UK and Georgia, at the same time examining a widespread recent drop in studio occupancy, and a marked decrease in L.A.’s one-hour TV series production, specifically, in 2022.
🐭 Disney has reached a licensing deal with Sony under which the latter’s home entertainment division will handle all Disney releases on DVD and Blu-ray as well as all physical media production. It’s the latest sign of the decline of the physical disc trade. Sales and rentals fell 25% in 2023 to $1.6 billion, according to a recent industry report. |
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Obituaries
🕯 Tony Ganios, the actor who made his film debut in Philip Kaufman’s 1979 coming-of-age comedy-drama The Wanderers and played audience favorite Anthony “Meat” Tuperello in the '80s Porky’s sex comedy franchise, died Sunday following surgery at a hospital in New York. He was 64. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2024 Photo Gallery |
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On the Radar Wed - Writers Guild Awards nominations
Fri - Warner Bros. Discovery earnings; Sci-Tech Oscars
Sat - PGA Awards
Mon - Shogun premieres on FX |
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The Queen Of Country - Beyoncé, who has topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart eight times, broke new ground this week, becoming the first Black woman to top the Billboard Hot Country Songs list. "Texas Hold 'Em," the first single from her upcoming album, also debuted at No. 2 on the Hot 100. |
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