Anaïs Baker Promoted To Head Of Global Formats At Amazon MGM Studios

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios is opening their $15M Sundance pick-up, My Old Ass, on Aug. 2 in a limited rollout.

Kevin Macdonald Helming Klitschko Doc For Sky

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Sony Pictures Entertainment communications chief Robert Lawson has been promoted to head of all corporate communications for its Tokyo-based parent Sony. The choice to move Lawson, who joined Sony amid the infamous cyber attack and email leaks at the entertainment group in 2014, into the top corp comms role is indicative of Sony’s significant focus on its entertainment divisions within the company’s larger portfolio; movies, music and gaming accounts for more than half of Sony’s revenue and profit.

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Chief Communications Officer Robert Lawson is being upped to SVP, Corporate Communications for the entire Sony Group. The new job will bring Lawson, a nine-year vet of the Culver City lot who was a key consigliere during the 2014 cyber-attack, to Sony HQ in Tokyo, Japan, reporting to Sony Group Corp Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida.

EXCLUSIVE: As production is about to begin on 3000 pictures adaptation of Klara and the Sun directed by Oscar winner Taika Waititi, Natasha Lyonne and Simon Baker have rounded out the cast, led by Jenna Ortega playing the titular character. Academy Award nominated actress Amy Adams, Mia Tharia and Aran Murphy also star in the film.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has signed an exclusive overall deal with Gary “Gaz” Alazraki’s Maquina Vega. Under the deal, Alazraki is set to produce, write and direct series for Amazon MGM Studios.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer 101 Studios, the film and TV production entity run by David Glasser, has named Gray Krakower as executive vice president of brand partnerships. Karkower joins the company behind “Yellowstone” and many spinoffs in the lucrative Taylor Sheridan universe from Endeavor/IMG. There he served clients as a VP of global licensing and branding, working on accounts like Lionsgate Films (“John Wick,” “Saw,” “The Hunger Games”), gaming giant Fortnite and on country legend Dolly Parton’s consumer products.

Shayeza Walid MacArthur Fellow Annie Baker is an acclaimed playwright and theater director, winning the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for drama for “The Flick,” among other accolades. Now, with the release of the delicate mother-daughter drama “Janet Planet,” both written and directed by Baker, the esteemed theater veteran makes her directorial film debut. Baker began writing “Janet Planet” in the early days of the pandemic, completing it in December 2020.

Longtime Lifetime PR executive Kannie Yu LaPack is expanding her oversight with a promotion to EVP, Publicity, Public Affairs and Social Media, for Lifetime, LMN and A+E Studios.

French VFX experts Franck Lambertz and Sophie Leclerc have spent most of their careers working outside of their native France.

Amanda Holden and Bruno Tonioli have lavished praise on a Manchester bakery after stopping off in the city for Britain's Got Talent auditions. A video shared on social media showed the judges fawning over the 'epic' baked goods delivered by the Ancoats bakery during filming at The Lowry Theatre.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios has acquired Burn Night, a package from Safehouse Pictures’ Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell and writer Chris Sparling. 

Mattel’s live-action “Master of the Universe” film, based on the He-Man toy, has been in development hell for years, changing studios three times in five years. Sony had distribution rights for years (even had a March 5, 2021 film on the calendar at one point), with Noah Centineo in the lead.

EXCLUSIVE UPDATED with more names: Details are starting to emerge about the major round of layoffs Tuesday at Paramount Global impacting about 800 employees in the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: We are hearing that Apollo Global Management, who was mulling an offer for National Amusements, the Redstone family company that controls Paramount Global, is no longer considering that now.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of EFM 2024, XYZ Films has promoted James Emanuel Shapiro to President of Domestic Distribution, upping Alex Williams to Sr. Manager, Acquisitions and Development.

EXCLUSIVE: A+E Networks EMEA is to explore shocking real-life stories of disappearances — from the perspective of the missing people.

EXCLUSIVE: Game Of Thrones star Lena Headey is set to reprise her role as an avenging mother in action-thriller Ballistic.

Todd Longwell Investing in a film and TV production facility is a tricky business. The industry is fickle under the best of circumstances, and if you’re looking to build a soundstage complex in a region that uses its tax incentive to attract projects, there’s always the possibility that politicians will repeal it in the next legislative session, effectively shutting down your studio.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Qatar, which put itself on the global entertainment map by hosting the 2022 soccer World Cup, isn’t known as a moviemaking hub. But Doha-based Katara Studios, which is keen on fostering filmmaking and content production in the minuscule gas-rich Gulf nation, is getting the ball rolling.