News

Sandrine Kiberlain and Pierre Lottin are set to headline Jean-Baptiste Leonetti’s French comedy-drama Whatever It Takes (Personne d’Autre) as polar opposites who connect under strange circumstances. The film will begin shooting in the Paris region at the end of the month.

Lottin plays Jean, a stubborn single in his thirties who has shut himself off from the world. When he meets Kiberlain’s Rose, a mother of three with a disarming joie de vivre, the two form an unlikely pairing. Ugc will release the film in France in 2026.

Snd is launching sales on the title at Unifrance’s...

Emily in Paris became one of Netflix’s biggest hit series upon its release but I think it was also one of the most hated shows. Created by Darren Star, the romantic-comedy series stars Lily Collins as the title character, and the series is filled with stunning scenery, glamorous fashion moments, and beautiful and delicious-looking food. The first part of Emily in Paris Season 4 was recently released on Netflix with Part 2 coming out in September this year. So, if you loved all the glamour, romance, comedy, and drama in Emily in Paris here are some similar shows you should check out while waiting for Emily in Paris Season 4 Part 2.

The Bold Type Credit – Freeform

The Bold Type is a comedy-drama series created by Sarah Watson. The Freeform series is set in New York City and it follows the story of three young friends Jane, Kat, and Sutton as they try...

New Hires

Sky Studios Elstree, which will open later this year, has named Leavesden Studios sales VP Noel Tovey as managing director.

Tovey (pictured above) has also previously held senior leadership roles at Pinewood and Shepperton.

The studio boasts 13 sound stages over a 27.5 acre plot and will soon be home to productions from Comcast-owned Sky as well as sister company NBCUniversal. The first project to pitch up at the studio is Universal Pictures musical “Wicked,” which is set to star Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

“Noel has a vast range of experience within the industry and a deep knowledge of what productions want and need,” said Caroline Cooper, COO of Sky Studios. “I am delighted he’s joined Sky to lead our brilliant and growing team as we prepare to launch Sky Studios Elstree, the U.K.’s newest studio, later this year.”

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Loop Talent has appointed James Dawson...

The Duchess Of York Sarah Ferguson has co-founded a Paris-based production house with Oscar-nominated The Voorman Problem director Mark Gill and The Open’s Cyril Cadars.

Vestapol Films also counts financier Gertjan Rooijakkers as co-founder and will focus on the independent development and production of films and TV for international audiences and markets, especially the U.S. and Japan.

On the slate already is a TV mini-series expanding on Gill’s The Voorman Problem written by Gill and Cloud Atlas scribe David Mitchell, along with The Paris Quintet, led by Call My Agent! star Fanny Sidney and Ravens – The Many Deaths of Masahisa Fukase, a surreal biopic about the iconic Japanese photographer.

Ferguson, the former wife of now-disgraced Prince Andrew, is known for her charitable work and also produced 2009 Jean-Marc Vallée film Young Victoria.

Gill was Oscar nominated for live action short The Voorman Problem starring Martin Freeman and Tom...

With a number of remakes and a movie in the pipeline, “Call My Agent!,” the International Emmy Award-winning series set at a Parisian talent agency, has become one of the most powerful television shows to emerge from France.

The series’ producers, Mediawan-owned Mon Voisin Productions and Mother Production, are co-producing the highly anticipated U.K. remake with Headline Pictures and Bron Studios (“Joker”) for Amazon Prime Video and Sundance Now.

The producers are also in the process of developing a 90-minute film with Nicolas Mercier, one of the two showrunners behind “Call My Agent!” (Mercier took over as showrunner from Fanny Herrero.)

“It will open with Andrea [Camille Cottin] in New York and will then move to France — we will give an American point of view on filming in France and it promises to be quite colorful,” says Michel Feller at Mon Voisin Productions.

The TV movie is being co-developed by France Televisions.

The Film TV, the Paris-based outfit headed by well-established producers Michael Gentile and Lauraine Heftler, has gained a substantial track record in three years.

The banner is presenting its first two shows at Series Mania Festival, Julie Delpy’s TV debut “On The Verge” which is backed by Canal Plus and Netflix; and “Jeune et Golri,” a series set against the backdrop of the stand-up comedy world.

Commissioned by French pay TV service Ocs, “Jeune et Golri” is a half-hour contemporary romantic comedy series based on an original idea by Agnès Hurstel, an actor and screenwriter, who created the show with Victor Saint-Macary (“Le Brio”) and Léa Domenach.

Hurstel stars in the show as Prune, a 25 year-old stand-up comedian who falls in love with a middle-aged man, Francis, not knowing he has a six-year-old girl. While Prune herself still feels like a teenager, she becomes an unlikely step mom to this little girl.

Best performance prize goes to Reshef Levi from Nehama (Israel).

Spain’s Perfect Life (Déjate Llevar) was named best series on Wednesday evening (April 10) at the climax of Canneseries, the TV festival that runs concurrently with Miptv in the south of France.

Leticia Dolera created the series, one of several winners on the night honoured by the Cannes International Series Festival jury of president Baran bo Odar and jury members Miriam Leone, Emma Mackey, Rob and Kathryn Winnick.

The best performance prize went to Reshef Levi for Nehama (Israel), and the special performance prize was awarded to Leticia Dolera, Celia Freijeiro,...

Best performance prize goes to Reshef Levi from Nehama (Israel).

Spain’s Perfect Life (Déjate Llevar) was named best series on Wednesday evening (10) at the climax of Canneseries, the TV festival that runs concurrently with Miptv in the south of France.

Leticia Dolera created the series, one of several winners on the night honoured by the Cannes International Series Festival jury of president Baran bo Odar and jury members Miriam Leone, Emma Mackey, Rob and Kathryn Winnick.

The best performance prize went to Reshef Levi for Nehama (Israel), and the special performance prize was awarded to Leticia Dolera, Celia Freijeiro,...

Canneseries will again this year shine a light on the up-and-coming short-form series format. Featuring promising and innovative formats which frequently end up on platforms popular among young audiences, the competition embraces new ways in which series can and are being consumed.

Emmy winning writer-producer Greg Garcia (“My Name is Earl”) heads the Short-Form Competition jury which includes French actress-director Fanny Sidney (“Mesrine”) and Norwegian actress Josefine Frida Petersen (“Skam”). The Best Short Form Series award will be handed out during the festival’s closing ceremony which will be broadcasted live on Canal Plus.

Three of the competition’s entries come from Canada – one from last year’s winning production company St Laurent TV – two from Argentina and Australia, and one each from the U.S., France and the U.K.

The series will screen April 9 and 10.

Taking place behind closed doors, “Do Not Disturb” is a sometimes sexy, sometimes...

For the second year in a row, Montreal-based production company St Laurent Web (St Laurent TV) has a series in the official selection at Canneseries.

“La Maison des Folles,” (“Home Turf”) world premieres at this year’s digital series competition as one of the most buzzed-up titles. Last year the company’s digital short-form series “Dominos” was chosen as the best at the festival, and set a high bar for the Canadian company.

“Home Turf” was written and directed by the multi-disciplined Mara Joly, and produced in collaboration with the Independent Production Fund, Bell Fund, Créateurs en série TV5 and Télé-Québec.

The series’ eight twelve-minute episodes takes place in the autumn of 2000, in a foster home where a group of “troubled” teenage girls live together. The house is run by the chain-smoking Boss, who rules from her seat at the head of the dining room table. Sahara, the newest addition to the family,...