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Exclusive: Walters Media Group, the recently launched shingle of veteran producer Gary Michael Walters, has acquired the film rights to The Third Parent, the acclaimed creepypasta from writer Elias Witherow. Set to write and direct the feature adaptation, in his feature debut, is producer David Michaels.

The feature take is set amidst the 4th of July celebration, as a disturbing figure named Tommy Taffy emerges. Disguised as a human, he infiltrates a suburban neighborhood and imposes authoritarian rule over an unsuspecting family.

Walters will produce for Walters Media Group, along with Spencer Young (Bury This) for Enfant Terrible, and Jonathan Halperyn & Daniel Kresmery for Hero Squared. Exec producers include Jack Roberts (Remnants) for Lesnik Entertainment, as well as Drake Dowd and Kristen Gilot-Dowd for Dowd Films.

Witherow’s The Third Parent — comprising a series of short stories and novellas — appears on NoSleep, the 18+ million-member Reddit forum featuring the best in horror fiction.

With Oscar nominations firmly set and multiple guild award shows every week between now and the big show in March, the race to the Academy Awards has entered its final leg. This weekend is a crucial one for award watchers, with the Producers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America both giving out their annual prizes at ceremonies that could predict the Best Picture and Best Director race.

The 77th annual DGA Awards, which took place at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, February 8, honored the year’s finest achievements in feature filmmaking, episodic TV, and commercial directing. The evening’s top prize, Theatrical Feature Film, went to Sean Baker for “Anora,” while other nominees included Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Pérez”), Edward Berger (“Conclave”), Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”), and James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown”).

It remains to be seen what Baker’s big win means for his Oscar campaign — but last...

Updated: Italian producer Andrea Iervolino — whose credits include Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” the Johnny Depp-starrer “Waiting for the Barbarians” and “Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend” — has parted ways with business partner Monika Bacardi and is launching a new film and TV outfit called The Andrea Iervolino Company.

Iervolino and Bacardi were partners in Ilbe, the studio they co-founded and jointly ran for 13 years.

“With the launch of Taic, Iervolino has stepped down as president and CEO of Ilbe, the studio he co-founded and ran for the last decade, to focus on Taic,” Iervolino said in a statement. “He will remain available in a non-exclusive capacity to assist Ilbe with the transition of a new CEO.”

No reason for the falling out between Iervolino and Bacardi was provided in the statement.

Recent films produced by Iervolino while at Ilbe include the Depp-directed “Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness...