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Exclusive: Former Bosch star Titus Welliver is back on the cop beat as a lead opposite J.K. Simmons in The Westies, MGM+‘s upcoming period crime drama series from co-creator, executive producer and showrunner Chris Brancato.

Co-created by Brancato and Michael Panes, The Westies is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javitz Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall for the Irish-American organized crime gang. Despite being outnumbered 50-to-1 by the Five Families of the Italian mafia, The Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. But internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.

Welliver will play Glenn Keenan,...

Exclusive: J.R. Ramirez (Manifest) is set as a lead opposite Erinn Hayes and Scott Foley in It’s Not Like That, a faith-based drama at Prime Video.

Created by Ian Deitchman and Kristin Robinson, who also serve as showrunners, It’s Not Like That follows Lori (Hayes), who is freshly divorced with two teens. Malcolm’s (Foley) a minister and recently widowed dad of three. Their families once did everything together, but now Lori and Malcolm must navigate their newly minted singledom, parenthood and the complexities of Malcolm being a modern-day minister. Is this the beginning of a love story? It’s not like that. Or is it?

Ramirez will play the series regular role of David, Lori’s ex-husband.

Deitchman and Robinson executive produce alongside Garret Lerner. Additional executive producers include Jon Erwin, Justin Rosenblatt, and Kelly Merryman Hoogstraten for Wonder Project, Alex Goldstone (Dickinson) for 42 & Anonymous Content and Kingdom Story Company.

IndieWire and Disney are ready to “Pass the Remote” once again. Our TV FYC screening series has returned to the Vidiots Foundation in Los Angeles’s Eagle Rock neighborhood for more lively conversations with top industry talent.

On Tuesday May 20, we’ll be welcoming Quinta Brunson and members of the creative team of “Abbott Elementary” for a panel discussion and a screening.

Two-time Emmy winning creator/executive producer/star Brunson will be joined on stage by executive producers Justin Halperin, Patrick Schumaker, and Brian Rubeinstein for a conversation with IndieWire’s awards editor, film & TV, Marcus Jones.

Tuesday, May 20

6:00pm – Doors Open

7:00pm – Panel and Discussion

8:00-9:00pm – Beer/Wine Reception

Register to attend here.

Our most recent event was on May 3 and featured a screening of “Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)” followed by a panel conversation with its Oscar-winning filmmaking team, the...

IndieWire partnered with Disney once again in 2025 for another round of “Pass the Remote,” our panel and screening FYC series that celebrates the best of TV. Following the wildly successful inaugural 2024 series, this year’s events took place once again at the Vidiots Foundation in Los Angeles’s Eagle Rock neighborhood.

“Pass the Remote” 2025 kicked off April 1 with a casting directors panel that featured Tiffany Little Canfield, Wendy O’Brien, (“Abbott Elementary”), Danielle Aufiero, (“Good American Family”), Seth Yanklewitz, (“Deli Boys”), Julie Ashton (“Mid-Century Modern”), and Josh Einsohn (“Paradise”).

Then on April 15 we welcomed composers and music supervisors for a TV music panel. It featured composers Siddhartha Khosla, The Newton Brothers (“Daredevil: Born Again”), Michael Paraskevas (“Agatha All Along”), andAriel Marx (“Dying for Sex”), as well as music supervisors Tiffany Anders (“Good American Family”) and Jen Ross (“English Teacher”).

Next, on May 3 we welcomed Questlove and his new documentary “Sly Lives!

Exclusive: Emmy-nominated Erinn Hayes has been tapped as the female lead opposite Scott Foley in It’s Not Like That, a faith-based drama at Prime Video. Additionally, Brad Silberling has signed on to direct the pilot.

Created by Ian Deitchman and Kristin Robinson, who also serve as showrunners, It’s Not Like That follows Lori (Hayes), who is freshly divorced with two teens. Malcolm’s (Foley) a minister and recently widowed dad of three. Their families once did everything together, but now Lori and Malcolm must navigate their newly minted singledom, parenthood and the complexities of Malcolm being a modern-day minister. Is this the beginning of a love story? It’s not like that. Or is it?

It’s Not Like That, from Wonder Project, was given a cast-contingent series order at Prime Video last November and Foley’s casting, announced in February, lifted that contingency.

Series also is executive produced by Garrett Lerner,...

What does a casting director do? It’s one of the most important roles on any film or TV production, but there are a lot of misconceptions about the job. At IndieWire and Disney’s Pass the Remote panel on April 1 — a giddy TV FYC event that put top casting directors Tiffany Little Canfield, Josh Einsohn, Wendy O’Brien, Danielle Aufiero, Seth Yanklewitz, and Julie Ashton in front of a packed theater at Vidiots in Los Angeles — Yanklewitz said some people even think he and his peers are inherently “mean.”

“There are so many misconceptions,” said Yanklewitz about the business of casting. An industry veteran with credits on “New Girl,” “Black Hawk Down,” and more, Yanklewitz recently cast Hulu’s hit crime comedy “Deli Boys” for Pakistani-American creator Abdullah Saeed. Yanklewitz explained how a crash course in South Asian history helped make the casting process both more authentic and more inventive.

[This story contains major spoilers from the season one finale of Deli Boys.]

Jenni Konner has been making distinctive TV shows with humor and an inclusive bend for her entire career. The Girls co-showrunner and executive producer, who launched her own production studio in 2018 and now works alongside producing partner Nora Silver, is responsible for some of TV’s more colorful and newfangled takes over the last few years. That includes Single Drunk Female, Generation, Welcome to Chippendales and now, season two of Nobody Wants This.

Her latest series, Hulu and Onyx Collective’s Deli Boys, is no different. Created by awarding-winning cannabis journalist and former Vice host Abdullah Saeed, the series follows Raj (Saagar Shaikh) and Mir (Asif Ali), two privileged and totally opposite brothers of Pakistani descent who are unexpectedly thrust into running their family’s deli empire — unbeknownst to them, a criminal front — with their Auntie Lucky (Poorna Jagannathan) following their father’s sudden death.

It comes from...

TV viewers have entered another bleak world in Earth Abides, the new MGM+ miniseries that follows survivors after the decimation of society. That absolutely sounds familiar -- but the show is taking pains to make sure it doesn't repeat the same old story. And that's what stood out to its stars, Alexander Ludwig and Jessica Frances Dukes, whose characters Ish and Emma are the heart of this grim adventure.

In an interview with Cbr, Dukes and Ludwig discussed returning to the sci-fi and fantasy space, after finding different success in projects like Starz's cult hit Heels and Netflix's crime drama Ozark. They gave their thoughts on George R. Stewart's 1949 novel on which Earth Abides is based. Plus, how quickly did they find the chemistry to make Ish and Emma's relationship as meaingful and powerful as it needed to be in order to keep the TV show going?...

Exclusive: Dane Cook is set to reteam with Greg Coolidge, his director on the 2006 Lionsgate comedy Employee of the Month, on Guys Night, an indie comedy based on the 2011 Black List script by Christopher Baldi.

The film follows a man who, after hitting a major rut in his marriage, is convinced the only way to save the relationship is to have the ultimate night out with his male co-workers.

Cook will produce, as will Jim Valdez through his Fortress Media Group. Seth Yanklewitz (The Hangover) is casting, with production scheduled for a late summer start. Christopher Barish, Kyle Hayes and Matt Bass are the executive producers.

Breaking out in the late ’90s and early 2000s as one of the biggest comedians in the world, Cook remains among the top-selling, as highlighted by his sold-out performance at Netflix Is a Joke and his upcoming nationwide Live Nation tour, “Fresh New Flavor.

Pent-up frustration by actors over the way audition process has evolved — or devolved — during the pandemic erupted this week when actors Ever Carradine, Merrin Dungey and Sprague Grayden slammed an ad by Betty Mae Casting offering paid self-taping services for non-Betty Mae projects. Their comments launched a heated discussion about the wide use of self-tapes, which have replaced the vast majority of in-person auditions over the last three years.

Because the conversation was triggered by the ad from Betty Mae, the company of well known casting director Mary Vernieu, with SAG-AFTRA calling casting offices charging for audition tapes “an optical and ethical disaster,” the society of Hollywood casting directors have found themselves in the eye of the storm.

Related Story SAG-AFTRA Scolds Casting Offices For Charging For Audition Tapes: “It Is An Optical And Ethical Disaster” Related Story Actresses Like Ever Carradine, Merrin Dungey & Sprague Grayden Lament Cost Of Audition...

John Malkovich, Thomas Mann and Rosa Salazar are toplining The Chariot, director Adam Sigal’s dark comedy now shooting in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Sigal’s third feature film also stars Shane West, Scout Taylor Compton, Vernon Davis, Chris Mullinax and Joseph Baena-Schwarzenegger. The Chariot tells the story of a corporation that oversees the process of reincarnation, and a young man who becomes a glitch in this system when he encounters a woman he loved in a previous life.

Sigal’s other movie credit include When the Starlight Ends and Stakeout. Casting for The Chariot was done by Seth Yanklewitz.

The movie is the ...

John Malkovich, Thomas Mann and Shane West are toplining The Chariot, director Adam Sigal’s sci-fi dark comedy now shooting in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Sigal’s third feature film also stars Rosa Salazar, Scout Taylor Compton, Vernon Davis, Chris Mullinax and Joseph Baena-Schwarzenegger. The Chariot tells the story of a corporation that oversees the process of reincarnation, and a young man who becomes a glitch in this system when he encounters a woman he loved in a previous life.

Sigal’s other movie credit include When the Starlight Ends and Stakeout. Casting for The Chariot was done by Seth Yanklewitz. The movie is ...

MGM has acquired the rights to “Thirteen Lives,” director Ron Howard’s drama about the 2018 Thai cave rescue operation, the studio announced Monday.

Howard will direct the film from a script written by William Nicholson, an Oscar nominee for “Gladiator,” and he’ll also produce on behalf of Imagine Entertainment along with Karen Lunder and Brian Grazer. Storyteller Productions’ P.J. van Sandwijk and Gabrielle Tana of Magnolia Mae will also produce.

The Tham Luang cave rescue captivated the world in 2018 when 12 members of a junior soccer team, aged 11 to 16, and their assistant coach entered into a cave after their practice and then became trapped after heavy rains flooded the cave. After a week of no contact at all, a rescue effort of over 10,000 people and more than 100 divers led a coordinated effort over 18 days to rescue the entire team and their coach, though a former Thai Navy Seal diver died in the effort.

MGM executive vice president of talent and casting, Seth Yanklewitz, has left the studio, following closely behind the departure of its co-presidents of production Cassidy Lange and Adam Rosenberg on Friday.

Yanklewitz has been with the studio for nearly two years and has contributed on several projects.

On the television side, his credits include Mindy Kaling’s limited series “Four Weddings and a Funeral” for Hulu; the DC Comic’s series “Pennyworth,” the original series “Godfather of Harlem” and the upcoming “Chapelwaite” based on the Stephen King novel on Epix; the Vikings series spinoff “Valhalla” for Netflix and the next installment of “Fargo” for FX.

On the feature side, his credits include “Candyman,” “Respect,” “Samaritan” and the “Addams Family 2.”

Also Read: MGM Co-Presidents of Production Cassidy Lange, Adam Rosenberg Depart Studio

Last week, MGM was hit with layoffs, while its marketing and distribution arm United Artists Releasing (Uar) furloughed one-third of its staff.

Exclusive: In the wake, of MGM’s recent cuts and the departure of co-Presidents of Production, Cassidy Lange and Adam Rosenberg yesterday, Deadline has learned that the studio’s Evp, Talent and Casting, Seth Yanklewitz, is also leaving.

Yanklewitz, a 20-year-plus casting veteran, whose career credits include such blockbusters as The Hangover and Fox TV’s New Girl, arrived at MGM back in October 2018. At MGM, Yanklewitz oversaw all casting across scripted TV and film, as well as scripted programming for Epix.

More from DeadlineMGM Production Co-Presidents Cassidy Lange & Adam Rosenberg Exit'No Time To Die' Signed Clapperboard Being Auctioned To Support UK's National Health ServiceGarcelle Beauvais To Host 'Going To Bed With Garcelle' Late-Night Talk Show Podcast For MGM

At MGM, he worked on such movies as the upcoming Candyman reboot, the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, Sylvester Stallone’s Samaritan and the studio’s upcoming sequel Addams Family 2.

On MGM’s TV side,...

Giancarlo Esposito has joined Forest Whitaker’s Epix drama, “Godfather of Harlem.”

The actor, best known for his role as drug kingpin Gus Fring on AMC’s “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” will play Adam Clayton Powell.

A Baptist minister, Harlem Congressman, and a man of many appetites, Powell is a legendary Harlem figure who more than any other New Yorker advanced the cause of civil rights at home and in Washington. With a taste for European cruises at taxpayer’s expense, whiskey and milk, and beautiful women, Powell is an outrageous showman who delights in tweaking the white power structure. His running feud with Bumpy Johnson becomes the stuff of lore and legend.

Also Read: Seth Yanklewitz to Head Casting for MGM and Epix

Whitaker, who will executive produce the drama, will play Bumpy Johnson, the crime boss who took on Genovese family in the 1960s after returning...

Seth Yanklewitz has joined MGM as executive VP of talent and casting, where he’ll oversee casting for the studio’s scripted TV and film projects, as well as for TV network Epix.

Previously Yanklewitz served as VP of casting at Fox, where he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series for “New Girl.”

Yanklewitz will report the trio of Jonathan Glickman, President, Motion Picture Group, MGM; Steve Stark, President, Television Production & Development, MGM; and Michael Wright, President, Epix.

Also Read: MGM Ups Brian Edwards to President of TV Operations

In a joint statement, the three said: “We are confident that Seth’s keen eye for identifying new talent, coupled with the relationships he’s built across the industry, will greatly benefit MGM’s and Epix’s growing slates. We look forward to working with him and know that his exceptional skill set will be a great asset.

MGM has hired veteran casting executive Seth Yanklewitz as Evp Talent and Casting, a role that will see him oversee casting across scripted TV and film for MGM as well as all scripted programming for Epix. He begins this month.

Yanklewitz was previously VP Casting at Fox Broadcasting Co., where he oversaw casting for network shows including New Girl, which earned him an Emmy nomination in Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series.

“We are confident that Seth’s keen eye for identifying new talent, coupled with the relationships he’s built across the industry, will greatly benefit MGM’s and Epix’s growing slates,” said Jonathan Glickman, President, Motion Picture Group; MGM, Steve Stark, President, Television Production & Development, MGM; and Michael Wright, president, Epix, in a statement. “We look forward to working with him and know that his exceptional skill set will be a great asset.”

Yanklewitz’s casting credits...

Fox Broadcasting Co.’s VP casting Seth Yanklewitz has left the network after a five-year stint. I hear the parting of the ways was amicable as Yanklewitz’s contract was up. I hear he was offered a new one and a promotion but opted to pursue other opportunities. Yanklewitz was an independent casting director when he joined Fox in 2011 as part of a reorganization that saw Tess Sanchez rising to Svp and long-time head of casting Marcia Shulman exiting. Yanklewitz segued to…...

Fox’s switch to year-round development will translate into more work for actors, Seth Yanklewitz, the network’s VP of casting, told Backstage. Kevin Reilly, Fox’s chairman of entertainment, recently made headlines when he pledged to switch to a cable-style development model. Not all network executives agree with Reilly’s dim view of pilot season; CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said the season injected a “creative adrenaline” into development. But Yanklewitz and some casting directors say Reilly’s move will benefit actors. “It will be better for actors because fewer of them will be fired at table reads,” Yanklewitz said, referring to the tumultuous development process through which most pilots currently go. “What happens now is that actors hang on, they think a pilot’s amazing, they do it, it doesn’t get picked up, they’re out of the job,” he said. “The goal is we pick up more series.

As Backstage was going to press with our annual Pilot Season Guide, Fox’s entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly was telling television critics and reporters that he considers pilot season dead at Fox; the network plans to switch to the year-round development model—something Sean J. Miller reports on this week, speaking to Fox’s VP of casting Seth Yanklewitz and casting director Sharon Bialy, who think the end of pilot season could be great news for actors, and CD Judy Henderson (“Homeland”), who thinks it could mean trouble. But though the frantic pace and stress of the traditional network casting loom large in actors’ minds, CD Cami Patton and actors Necar Zadegan and Tara Summers had nothing but pleasure working on the casting of Fox’s “Rake.” (Maybe it’s just a Fox thing?) That being said, Michael Mosley—who’s survived a couple of pilot seasons himself, even being...

Actors Zooey Deschanel and Max Greenfield have both earned their first Emmy Award nominations this year for their roles in the new Fox comedy series "New Girl." But how did the movie star and unknown actor end up on screen together?Casting director Seth Yanklewitz, who cast the pilot, says that series creator Liz Meriwether ("30 Rock," "No Strings Attached") wanted to find what he describes as "gritty, real characters," who are "super funny, like the new crop at Ucb and the Groundlings" to fill out the cast of her new show, which at the time was titled "Chicks and Dicks." Yanklewitz – who had previously cast comedies like "The Hangover," "Eastbound & Down," and "Blue Mountain State" with his partner Juel Bestrop – was apparently so successful in his search that before the pilot had even been picked up to series, now with the title "New Girl," he was named...

One of the biggest questions surrounding the star-studded cast of the upcoming movie musical "Rock of Ages," based on Broadway's jukebox hit of the same name, is "Can they sing?" Tom Cruise, Paul Giamatti, Bryan Cranston, Malin Akerman, and Will Forte are not exactly known for their musical prowess, but they'll be belting out '80s hits such as "Paradise City" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" on big screens this summer.Casting director Seth Yanklewitz, who worked with longtime casting partner Juel Bestrop and director Adam Shankman to cast the film, says, "Nobody wanted to make a fool of themselves." So although some of the biggest names in the cast never stepped into the audition room, it was because he already knew they could sing. Alec Baldwin's theater background, Catherine Zeta-Jones' Oscar-winning performance in "Chicago," and Mary J. Blige being, well, Mary J. Blige were proof enough for Yanklewitz.

Before he even finished reading the script for the pilot episode of Fox's "New Girl," casting director Seth Yanklewitz said to himself, "I have to have this job." And he had someone uniquely "adorkable" in mind when he presented his list of potential lead actors to the network and series creator Liz Meriwether."You basically cast a show before you get the job," Yanklewitz says. "Zooey [Deschanel] was on my list, as she was on all of my lists, because I'm a huge fan." She signed on in the first week, and her male co-stars quickly came together after that."New Girl" hadn't been picked up when Fox announced last April that it had hired Yanklewitz as its vice president of casting. He says that while he's been excited to take on a new role at the network, as an executive he sometimes longs for the daily work of an independent casting.

After acclaimed performances in “The Merchant of Venice” and “Seminar,” actor Lily Rabe breaks out as a headlining star in Shakespeare in the Park’s “As You Like It” this summer. The actor tells Back Stage about her long-held dream to play Rosalind, why she and director Daniel Sullivan are so simpatico, and why FX’s “American Horror Story” is the best television job she could imagine.Elsewhere in the issue, stage vet Luke Kirby talks about his two wildly different roles in films “The Samaritan” and “Take This Waltz.” And Fox’s VP of casting, Seth Yanklewitz, recounts how one “adorkable” coup for the pilot of “New Girl” led to his new position.Pick up a copy of Back Stage on newsstands Thursday. And check out BackStage.com for additional stories throughout the week.

After mulling a departure for the past few years, Fox's long-time head of casting Marcia Shulman is going ahead with it. After 11 years, she is stepping down as Evp casting to move back to New York. But Shulman is not severing ties with Fox as she will serve as an exclusive casting consultant to the network, advising on key castings and scouting the U.S. and abroad for new talent. Shulman's departure is part of a major restructuring of Fox's casting department. Also leaving are Svp Bob Huber, who is retiring after 19 years at Fox and also relocating to the East Coast as part of a life change, as well as VP Amy Christopher. Meanwhile, Tess Sanchez, a rising star at the network, is set to make the leap from director to Svp and the new head of Fox's casting department beginning June 1. Sanchez, who will report to Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly,...

Exclusive: MTV is moving forward with the adaptation of the British award-winning high-school comedy series The Inbetweeners, handing a pilot order to the project. Brad Copeland (Arrested Development, My Name Is Earl) has been tapped as writer/ showrunner/ executive producer, marking his return to TV full-time after a stint in features. Search for actors to play the leads in the pilot is already underway and is being led by casting directors Juel Bestrop and Seth Yanklewitz who cast blockbuster feature comedy The Hangover. The Inbetweeners has been a passion project for MTV's Evp scripted development David Janollari, who won the rights to the format in a heated bidding this past summer. "The Inbetweeners is one of the best comedies to come out of the U.K. in years," he said. "It's unique and bold, its approach to contemporary teen coming-of-age stories is universal and simply hilarious, and it will resonate immensely with our core demographic.

Casting directors came out from behind the curtain to be honored by their peers last night at the 25th Annual Artios Awards. The bi-coastal awards, which were held simultaneously at the new Times Center in New York City and the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, are presented yearly for outstanding achievement in casting in theater, film, and television categories on the criteria of originality, creativity, and contribution of casting to the overall quality of a project.Celebrity awards presenters in New York were Patrick Wilson ("Little Children," "Angels in America"), Carrie Preston ("True Blood"), Michael Shannon ("Revolutionary Road"), Jennifer Morrison ("House"), Bill Pullman ("Oleanna"), Christine Ebersole ("Grey Gardens"), Vincent Kartheiser ("Mad Men"), and Elizabeth Reaser ("Twilight"). Stanley Tucci and producer Daryl Roth presented the New York Big Apple Award to Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, whose "Love, Loss and What I Wore" recently opened Off-Broadway to rave reviews.

Producer Laura Ziskin, writer-director Nora Ephron, writer Delia Ephron and casting director John Frank Levey will be honored at the Casting Society of America's 24th annual Artios Awards.

Simultaneous awards ceremonies will be held in at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles and the New York Times Building in New York on Nov. 2.

Ziskin is set to receive the group's Career Achievement Award. The New York Apple Award will be presented to Nora and Delia Ephron. Levy is this year's recipient of the Hoyt Bowers Award.

Representing 425 members in the United States, Canada, England and Australia, Cas also announced its nominees in film TV and theater on Thursday.

In the category of big budget feature drama, Ellen Chenoweth scored two noms for "Changeling" and "Duplicity." The category nominees are John Papsidera for "The Dark Knight"; April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg for "Star Trek" and Avy Kaufman for "State of Play.