ABC Orders ‘Drop Off’ Pilot From Lionsgate, Ellie Kemper to Star and Executive Produce

Game of Thrones alumna Lena Headey has been tapped to headline Kurt Sutter’s Western action drama series The Abandons at Netflix.

Angelique Jackson Christina Milian continues her streak of rom-coms at Netflix with the upcoming holiday movie “Meet Me Next Christmas.” The project marks the actor and musician’s third collaboration with Netflix following her popular destination romances, 2021’s “Resort to Love” — which spent four weeks on the streamer’s global top 10 film list — and 2019’s “Falling Inn Love.” Milian will executive produce and star in “Meet Me Next Christmas,” playing Layla, who, in pursuit of a fairytale romance with the man of her dreams, must race through New York City to get her hands on the hottest ticket in town: the sold out Pentatonix Christmas Eve Concert.

BreAnna Bell “Each survivor must determine if the darkness is coming for them or from them,” reads Showtime’s official description for Season 2 of “Yellowjackets” and the writers this season reveal they were not holding back as they embarked on this follow up to their explosive debut. Executive producers Jonathan Lisco and Drew Comins teased the themes of trauma and ptsd explored in Season 2 of Showtime’s thrilling drama “Yellowjackets,” and how it will affect the present-day players at the second season premiere held at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theater on Wednesday night. With new cast members including Simone Kessell and Lauren Ambrose, who portray adult Lottie and Van, the teenage and adult yellowjackets crew along with creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson walked the red carpet to the theater for a special screening which was followed by a brief Q&A segment.

Naman Ramachandran Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe nominee Evan Rachel Wood (“Westworld”) has joined the cast of D.W. Waterson’s feature directorial debut “Backspot.” Executive produced by Elliot Page and starring Devery Jacobs and Kudakwashe Rutendo in lead roles as queer young athletes, the film has wrapped principal production after weeks of filming in the Toronto area. Wood stars as professional cheer coach Eileen McNamara, head coach of the high-performance Thunderhawks squad who pulls Riley (Jacobs) and Amanda (Rutendo) from their mid-level cheer team to be a part of her group of intensely competitive athletes. Matthew Jordan Smith, J.C.Davidson and Katisha Shaw serve as executive producers alongside page. The film is produced by Alona Metzer, Waterson, Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs and Martin Katz.

EXCLUSIVE: Roku has quickly found its new scripted boss.

BreAnna Bell Nancy Lenehan has signed on to join Ellie Kemper’s forthcoming comedy pilot “Drop-Off” at ABC as a series regular. She’ll play Marianne, the warm, caring and responsible mother of Julia (Kemper) who’s been taking care of her kids for the last six years. “Having been a working single mom herself, Marianne is not without compassion for Julia’s situation and she loves her grandchildren, but she’s done. Marianne has decided to live her own life from now on, and that includes having an affair with a guy named Rene and firmly taking some time for herself,” reads the character description. In addition to Kemper, she joins previously announced cast member Judy Greer.

Nancy Lenehan is set as a lead opposite Ellie Kemper in ABC’s Drop-Off (working title), a comedy pilot based on the British series Motherland, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Judy Greer, Karan Soni and Michaela Conlin also star.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Halcyon Studios has brought on Phil Abraham to direct and executive produce the series “Beverly Hills Noir,” Variety has learned exclusively. Halcyon, a division of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, is producing the show, which is based on “Gemstone” by James Ellroy. Per the official logline, the show “follows two female detectives as they are sucked into the vortex of power, greed, and cold-blooded conspiracy in one of the most aspirational cities in the world, Beverly Hills.” Ed Decter is writing the series and will also serve as executive producer and showrunner. Along with Decter and Abraham, Ellroy, Stewart Till, and Richard Potter also executive produce. No network or streaming service is currently attached to the project.

EXCLUSIVE: Michaela Conlin has been cast as a series regular opposite Ellie Kemper in ABC’s Drop-Off (working title), a comedy pilot based on the British series Motherland, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Judy Greer and Karan Soni also star.

Judy Greer is set as a lead opposite Ellie Kemper in ABC’s Drop-Off (working title), a comedy pilot based on the British series Motherland, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Karan Soni also stars.

canceled in January after one season. Last summer, Greer shot the Disney+ feature “Hollywood Stargirl” with Uma Thurman and Grace VanderWaal for director Julia Hart, which recently dropped on the streamer.

BreAnna Bell Judy Greer has joined ABC’s “Drop-Off” (working title) as a series regular, Variety has learned. She’ll play Amanda, the hyper-confident, uber-organized, mom who seemingly has it all together and runs the inner circle at Julia’s kids’ school. She’s an expert at the art of a compliment that’s actually an insult. Amanda, who usually arranges babysitting swaps with the moms during school vacations, arranges a swap with Julia, who agrees to watch her kids while Amanda prepares for one of her famous dinner parties…which ends in disaster for Julia. She joins previously announced star Ellie Kemper, who leads the cast as Julia, a working mom for whom nothing is working so she goes looking for her village.

CNN This Morning has tapped Lauren Mensch and Chris Russell as its new executive producers, an effort to bolster the network’s morning show after its debut in November.

with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell, leading coverage of some of the biggest stories of the last decade including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the aftermath of January 6th insurrection. Additionally, she executive produced the Emmy-nominated CNN/Sesame Street Town Halls aimed at helping kids and families understand complicated news issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccinations, and race protests.

And the award for most attractive actor goes to … ! Hollywood’s finest men arrived at the 95th Academy Awards in looks that had Us swooning.

Charna Flam Kristin Bjorklund, co-executive producer of “Family Feud” for 40 years died on March 5. She was 67. Bjorklund was on the kidney transplant list for years, and following her surgery on March 2, she developed an aggressive infection from the incision. After attending Dartmouth, Bjorklund started her career at Goodson-Todman Productions. By 1982, Bjorklund joined “Family Feud,” making the game show her home for 40 years. In 2019, and after producing well over 2,000 episodes, the producer won an Emmy Award for her work on the series. “Family Feud” co-executive producer, Brian Hawley wrote “Kristin Bjorklund was my coworker, my buddy, my sister from another mister. She could be feisty, strong-willed and oh-so-anal, but she had a fun, raunchy sense of humor and there was nothing better than hearing her laugh” Hawley added, “When my life was a mess or my house was falling apart, I called Kristin. Without Kristin’s friendship, my first few years working in Atlanta wouldn’t have been tolerable.”

Ellie Kemper is set to executive producer and star in Lionsgate’s “Drop-Off” (working title), which has been given a pilot order by ABC. The project, which is based on Sharon Horgan’s BAFTA nominated British format comedy “Motherland,” will see Kemper play Julia, a working mom for whom nothing is working so she goes looking for her village.

ABC has confirmed a pilot order for Drop-Off (working title) a comedy based on the British series Motherland, with Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) to star and executive produce. As we previously reported, Karan Soni (Deadpool franchise) also is set as a lead in the project, from writer Julieanne Smolinski, Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman Television, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment, Lionsgate and ABC Signature. Michael Showalter (The Big Sick) will direct.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Native filmmaker Billy Luther heads to SXSW this weekend to premiere his narrative feature debut, “Frybread Face and Me” on March 11. Set in the ‘90s, the coming-of-age story follows Benny (Keir Tallman), a young Native American boy who plays with dolls, sports a Fleetwood Mac t-shirt and watches soap operas. Forced to spend his summer on the reservation with his grandmother, Benny finds himself impressed by his cousin “Frybread” (Charley Hogan) who opens his eyes to life on the rez. Featuring an entirely Native cast and predominantly Native crew, Luther says it was important to cast Navajo kids at the core of his film. He says, “With the help of Midthunder Casting, which also worked on FX ‘Reservation Dogs,’ we were able to find these incredible kids. The amount of Indigenous talent – Martin Sensmeier, MorningStar Angeline, and Jeremiah Bitsui came on. And we also brought on some amazing new faces from Indian country that are making their feature debut.”

EXCLUSIVE: An authorized biopic about the life of Jenni Rivera has been greenlit at ViX with Annie Gonzalez (Flamin’ Hot, Gentefied) set to star and executive produce. Filming of Jenni (wt) is underway in Bogota, Colombia, and will be completed in Los Angeles.