3 Arts Entertainment Launches Canada Office

The existing system for training showrunners cannot keep up with the demand, and John Wells has stepped in to help. The seasoned showrunner of shows such as ER, The West Wing and Shameless and former two-time WGAW President has launched The Showrunner’s Corner, a section of his company John Wells Productions’ web site dedicated to giving up-and-coming writers the basics they need in order to successfully make the transition to showrunners.

Wilson Chapman editorRita Moreno is not only an EGOT winner, but now the Hollywood legend is having a building with her name on it in Hollywood.The “West Side Story” star was on hand on June 23 at the naming ceremony of the Hollywood Arts Collective’s Rita Moreno Arts Building in Los Angeles.Set to open in summer 2023 at 1630 Schrader Blvd., the Entertainment Community Fund’s Hollywood Arts Collective complex will also house the Cicely Tyson Residential Building for low-income residents.“This really came as a surprise to me, and I was asked if I would allow them to put my name on it and I did two things: I almost peed, and I damn near fell down on the floor,” Moreno told Variety. “I said, ‘Really?’ And then I wanted to say ‘Why?’ but I figured that would be kind of rude. If they had chosen me there was something just wonderful about me that I needed to be reminded of.

EXCLUSIVE: Before Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsey there was Charlie Trotter, the O.G. of bad boy chefs.

EXCLUSIVE: Riverside Entertainment is expanding into scripted content with the coming-of-age LGBTQ+ drama Remy & Arletta, written by and starring Micaela Wittman (Clairevoyant), and the nihilistic thriller Manodrome, starring Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) and Academy Award winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist).

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior CorrespondentJesse Collins Entertainment has received a minority investment from Fulwell 73, Variety has learned.The deal expands opportunities for both companies, which will continue to produce independently, in addition to collaborating. Both companies are known for producing live event and unscripted content with high-caliber talent, and previously worked together on the Grammy Awards.Financial terms of deal between the Jesse Collins Company and Fulwell 73 were not disclosed.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGabriella Sarmiento Wilson, the Grammy- and Oscar-winning singer-songwriter known as H.E.R., is suing MBK Entertainment, the record label owned by her longtime manager Jeff Robinson, for the rights to her music catalog. H.E.R.

Veteran television agent Will Kircher has moved from ICM Partners to JLL, a professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management, as a Senior Associate in its Century City office.

The stars are stepping out for the 2022 The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Preview Party!

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American rights to the Blumhouse-produced feature documentary, The Youth Governor, slating it for release on August 26.

Two top executives at an L.A.-based Latin music conglomerate were arrested by FBI agents today on charges that they conspired to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act by conducting business with a concert promoter with ties to Mexican drug cartels.

EXCLUSIVE: Ariel Meislin has left ICM Partners, where she has been a lit agent focusing on directors, to join Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment as a manager. She will become Kaplan/Perrone’s first New York City hire and is tasked with establishing the New York office as the lit management/production company expands its footprint outside of Los Angeles. She also will continue to focus on filmmakers.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaBrian Gersh has been named president of Network Entertainment USA. He brings three decades of experience in the entertainment industry, having worked as an executive, agent, manager, and producer, where he has greenlit scores of film and television projects around the world.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAustralia’s Steve Jaggi Company and the Los Angeles-based Nicely Entertainment have hatched a pact to develop and produce a significant slate of film and TV series.“A Royal in Paradise,” the third movie collaboration between the two partners and the first under the new deal, started production this week in Australia’s Queensland.Previously, the two collaborated on young adult series “Dive Club” and romantic feature “This Little Love of Mine,” which claimed to be the first Australian film into production during the global pandemic. Both productions were sold to Netflix.The new deal calls for them to develop a minimum of six new TV projects, including both dramas and YA series, and two to three new movies per year.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorCheyenne Jackson is adding producer to his resume. The actor and singer has quietly launched a production company, Shiny Boy Entertainment, with his husband Jason Landau, the couple exclusively tells me.Their first project is “Brutal,” director Sam McConnell’s comedy short about a news anchor (Jackson) who acquires a leaked sex tape of a longtime U.S. senator.

Isla Fisher is hitting the red carpet!

Legendary Entertainment is developing a Duke Nukem film after acquiring rights to the video game franchise from Gearbox, Deadline can confirm. Legendary will produce the feature along with Cobra Kai creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg for Counterbalance Entertainment and Marla Studio’s Jean Julien Baronnet.

SM Entertainment has announced the launch of a new global audition programme in search of new members for boyband NCT.Today (June 10), the South Korean entertainment company announced the forthcoming launch of the ‘Welcome to the NeoCiTy’ audition programme, which will search for new NCT members. It dropped alongside a teaser featuring snippets from various NCT music videos.According to the official application form, SM Entertainment looks set to hold in-person auditions in a total of 14 cities around the world, including Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Seoul, Ho Chi Minh, Bangkok, Jakarta, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Beijing, Osaka, Fukuoka and Tokyo.SM Entertainment is currently looking for male applicants born between 2001 and 2008, in all three categories of vocals, rap and dance.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorBBH Entertainment, the entertainment development arm of creative agency BBH USA, said it named producer and development executive Ali Fazel as its new senior vice president and head of development and current programming.Fazel will report toAmani Duncan, CEO of BBH USA, and  and Rafa Rizuto, chief content officer.  Fazel will lead BBH Entertainment’s development of premium entertainment content, both branded and unbranded, for  television, feature films, documentaries and more.BBH Entertainment is behind “Exposure,” a competition series crafted for mobile devices and developed in a creative partnership between BBH Entertainment and their client Samsung. Fazel served as an executive producer on the program.

UPDATED with trailer: Briarcliff Entertainment on Tuesday dropped the trailer for Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down, the upcoming documentary from RBG and Julia directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen.

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to Darryl Jones: In the Blood, Eric Hamburg’s feature documentary about the bass player who has rocked with the Rolling Stones since replacing the retired Bill Wyman as well as playing with the likes of Miles Davis, Sting, Madonna and more. The distributor will release the pic in theaters October 7.