ABC News Studios Sets Summer True Crime Slate, Including Ashley Madison Docuseries (EXCLUSIVE)

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Clara Films and Barcelona-based VFX studio Unbound Hub have forged a strategic development pact for the upcoming dystopian TV series, “Numana.” Created by Argentine writers Jesica Arán (“Pájaros Negros”) and Soledad Velasco (Disney+’s “Dreaming High”), the project participated at  Conecta Fiction’s High End Pitch session. “We are thrilled to partner with Unbound Hub in the development of ‘Numana,’” said producer Clara Larrain of Clara Films.  “Nowadays, investors fear unpredictable budgets that a series like this can mean, so having Unbound Hub on board this early will be instrumental not only in bringing our dystopian vision to life, but in reducing risk.”

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent High-flying Madrid-based Caballo Films, behind Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” and “Riot Police” and Borja Soler’s “The Route,” has put into development a fiction series adaptation of Mabel Lozano’s prized same-titled non-fiction work. Shaping up as a deep drill-down into the growth of prostitution in Spain into large-scale organized crime, “El Proxeneta” packs a powerful talent package of creator-writers Isabel Peña, co-writer of Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “As Bestas” and “Riot Police,” and Eduardo Villanueva, a co-scribe on “Riot Police” and producer on “Stockholm.”  Pilar Palomero, a Spanish Academy Goya best picture winner for “Schoolgirls,” will direct the series, her first TV work beyond one episode of “Venga Juan.”

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has revealed a multi-year series partnership with Indian filmmaker Hansal Mehta. Mehta’s hard hitting crime drama series “Scoop,” his maiden venture for Netflix, bowed earlier this month and was a major success for the service. Inspired by crime reporter Jigna Vora’s book “Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison” and starring Karishma Tanna as crime reporter Jagruti Pathak, the series is set up as the first season of a franchise.  Taking this successful collaboration forward, Mehra will create multiple series for Netflix over the next few years.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount+ Australia has greenlit a second, eight-part season of hit crime drama series “Last King of The Cross.” Inspired by John Ibrahim’s autobiography, the series charts the rise of a poverty-stricken immigrant with no education, no money, and no prospects to Australia’s most infamous nightclub mogul and is set in Sydney’s decadent Kings Cross district in the late 1980s and 1990s. Season 2 (8 x 60′) will further explore the dangerous world of Kings Cross, as Ibrahim expands his empire into the booming queer nightclub scene. Set against the backdrop of the ecstasy-fueled 2000s, the stakes are higher than ever before, and everyone wants a piece – including John’s two younger brothers.

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Indian studio Maddock Films has three successful projects currently on, 15 more in the pipeline and is developing an ambitious film series based on the “Arabian Nights.” Laxman Utekar’s comedy-drama film “Zara Hatke Zara Bachke,” a co-production with Jio Studios starring Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan, has emerged as the sleeper hit of the year grossing $11.1 million theatrically so far. Homi Adajania’s action drama series “Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo,” starring Dimple Kapadia, is a hit for streamer Disney+ Hotstar, while Arunima Sharma, Hussain Dalal and Abbas Dalal’s coming-of-age Prime Video drama series “Jee Karda,” starring Tamannaah Bhatia, is garnering positive reviews.

Sophia Scorziello editor If there’s one thing Americans love to listen to, it’s true crime. A new Pew Research study of the U.S. podcast market found that nearly a quarter of top-ranked titles in America focused on true crime stories. Moreover, 95% of these true crime podcasts use in-depth reporting to cover their topics, compared to other genres which are much lower (split roughly evenly between deep reporting, interviews and commentary). After the crime podcast wave, genres thin out a bit: 10% focused on politics and government, 9% on entertainment, pop culture and arts and 8% on self-help and relationships. The rest covered a broad range of topics like comedy, religion, sports, health and money.

K.J. Yossman Joe Nocera, the host and writer of “The Shrink Next Door” podcast, has set a new, Agatha Christie-themed series with Audible, Variety can confirm. Produced by transatlantic podcast production company Blanchard House, “Agatha Christie and the Dandelion Poisoner” will see Nocera investigate a real-life murder that inspired Agatha Christie and has gone unexplained for a hundred years. Speaking to experts across a range of fields, from psychiatry to forensic toxicology, he plots the case against the highs and lows of Christie’s life, including her own mysterious disappearance, mental health issues, romances and marital difficulties, all set against a backdrop of 1920s England.

Jelly Roll couldn't be more grateful for his friends in the country music industry.ET's Rachel Smith spoke to the 38-year-old singer at CMA Fest in Nashville, Tennessee over the weekend, where he gushed over his relationship with Lainey Wilson and shared the significance of performing in front of his hometown crowd.«It has been awesome dude. I think that’s been the cool thing, I have friends in country.

William Earl An interview series hosted by Isaac Mizrahi, a workplace improv comedy created by Ron Howard and a true-crime deep dive into a notorious murder case from L.A.’s early 1980s punk rock scene with Penelope Spheeris highlight the first slate of original podcasts produced by Imagine Entertainment through its joint venture with radio and podcasting giant iHeartMedia. Imagine and iHeart set a podcast production deal in December 2021. The first fruits of that partnership debut today with the launch of “Hello Isaac,” a weekly interview series featuring the fashion and media entrepreneur sitting down with notable figures such as Carson Kressley and Andy Cohen. New episodes will debut Mondays.

renewed by HBO in April, will continue to explore the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, specifically focused on the period just after the Finals in 1980 through 1984, culminating in the first professional rematch of the era’s greatest stars: Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.“This is survival of the fittest,” John C. Reilly’s Jerry Buss says in a teaser for the upcoming season.

HBO has ordered a new untitled limited series written and executive produced by “Mare of Easttown” creator Brad Ingelsby in association with wiip. The series, which stars Mark Ruffalo and is directed by Jeremiah Zagar, follows a task force of law enforcement officers and the criminals they are trying to apprehend.

A woman said to be “obsessed” with true crime television shows has been accused of murder in South Korea after allegedly luring a tutor to her brutal death and dismemberment. On Wednesday of last week, police in t

The CW has set its summer schedule. The network today announced premiere dates for new series Son of a Critch, Run The Burbs, Children Ruin Everything and Moonshine, as well as alternative series Recipe for Disaster, FBoy Island, Down to Earth with Zac Efron and limited series Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982, and returning series Bump, Family Law and Great Chocolate Showdown.

EXCLUSIVE: Shucked, the Broadway musical nominated for nine Tony Awards, will begin a London run on the West End next year, producer and theater owner Cameron Mackintosh announced today.

The CW, which is under new ownership following Nexstar’s acquisition last year, is developing its own true-crime strand.

ABC News unveiled its lineup of embed reporters and producers covering the 2024 presidential campaign, while the news division also announced leadership promotions in three bureaus.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Playing a man who gets entangled in a murder investigation because his wife (Kaley Cuoco) is obsessed with true crime, “Based on a True Story” kind of hits close to home for Chris Messina. When he was a kid, he and a friend actually may have actually discovered a crime scene. “I grew up in Northport, Long Island,” Messina told Variety at the Peacock series’ premiere Thursday at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. “I grew up on Makamah Road, about a block from the Long Island Sound. A buddy and I walked to the Sound and – it was very ‘Stand By Me’ – we found a hand that washed up on the beach.” They immediately called the cops. “We had to report it,” Messina recalled. “I was pretending to be River Phoenix in ‘Stand By Me.’”

Bret Baier will interview former President Donald Trump for Fox News’ Special Report on June 19.

BreAnna Bell MGM+ has picked up the four-episode true-crime docuseries, “Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein.” Directed and executive produced by James Buddy Day (Blumhouse’s “Compendium of Horror,” “Fall River”), the original documentary follows grave robber and serial killer Ed Gein, otherwise known as “The Plainfield Ghoul” and “The Mad Butcher,” whose crimes inspired such iconic films as “Psycho,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and “The Silence of the Lambs.” “For years, filmmakers, journalists, and scholars have tried to unravel the mind of this notorious killer, and with new reveals and never-before-heard recordings, viewers will be transported to late-1950s Middle America and submerged in Gein’s perverse mind. The series explores Gein’s upbringing and twisted relationship with his mother, his early grave robbing, the murders leading up to his arrest, and the police’s discovery of his terrifying house of horrors—all accompanied by the brand-new revelations revealed in the recordings,” reads the description, per MGM+.

California Governor Gavin Newsom attacked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis after a group of migrants were dropped off at a Sacramento church, likening the move to “kidnapping.”