Canada’s Incendo, Nicely Entertainment Strike Development and Production Pact (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Nick Jonas is joining NBC competition series Dancing with Myself as Shaquille O’Neal exits.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Following the success of their collaboration on Nicolás Postiglione’s debut feature “Immersion,” production shingles Whisky Content of Mexico and Chile’s Juntos Films have forged a medium-term strategic alliance for the joint development of nine films in six years.The agreement comes just days after the premiere of “Immersion,” a thriller headlined by Chile’s most bankable star, Alfredo Castro, at the Miami Film Festival where its poster won the Best Poster Design Award. The film has already racked up top awards from the festivals of Guadalajara, Tallinn Black Nights and Punta del Este.The move also comes as further cooperation among Hispanic companies continue apace in response to the increasing challenges of local content production.

William Earl Variety announced today that Emilio and Gloria Estefan will be honored with the Variety Legends and Groundbreakers award at the inaugural Miami Entertainment Town breakfast held on Thursday, April 7. The event will celebrate those featured in the Miami Entertainment Impact Report, which profiles media, music and entertainment individuals based out of Miami who have made a great impact in their respective fields this year.

Sony Pictures Entertainment and theme-park corp Merlin Entertainments are teaming to extend the Jumanji brand through a range of exclusive rides, lands, retail outlets, and themed hotel rooms across the latter’s global network of theme parks and waterparks in Europe, UK, and North America.

JYP Entertainment has revealed it is launching a “full-scale” expansion into the US market.On March 14, Billboard reported that the South Korean label, home to artists like TWICE, ITZY, Stray Kids and more, has launched its new North American subsidiary. Named JYP USA, the new arm is part of the agency’s plans for “full-scale North American market development and global expansion”.JYP USA also shared its intentions to “discover and foster local US artists” in addition to furthering the development of its current roster.

Archer Gray, a New York production and finance company known for backing projects like the Oscar-nominated Can You Ever Forgive Me?, is branching out into alternative formats and non-scripted programming.

League of Legends publisher and developer Riot Games will deepen its relationship with Fortiche Production, the studio behind its breakout Netflix animated series Arcane. Announced on Monday, Riot closed an equity investment under which the gaming company now holds a non-controlling stake in Fortiche.

Angelique Jackson Ahead of the SXSW debut of their latest film, “Slash/Back,” three of the thriller’s producers —- Scythia Films’ Dan Bekerman and Stellar Citizens’ Chris Yurkovich and Alex Ordanis —- announced the launch of the new full-service production company, Good Question Media.Bekerman, Yurkovich and Ordanis will serve as partners and producers in the new venture, which will oversee film and television projects, supporting them from inception through distribution and packaging with the Good Question Media development fund.As one of the very few Canada-based private equity funds, the company is uniquely positioned to access the international treaty funding systems. But that’s just one way the veteran producers aim to use their combined expertise.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Power Book IV: Force” has been renewed for Season 2 at Starz.The third spinoff of the original “Power” to debut on Starz, the series saw Joseph Sikora return as Tommy Egan, who leaves New York and finds himself caught up in the Chicago drug game. The series also stars Isaac Keys, Lili Simmons, Gabrielle Ryan, Shane Harper, Kris D.

Atlanta, Georgia. Paige, formerly VP and acting senior VP of A&R for the Universal/Motown Records Group, joins from her own Atlanta-based production business She’s A Movement Media Group, where she was CEO and executive producer for shows including talk show “Don’t Cancel Me with Amara La Negra” for Fuse Media and “Black Ink Crew” for VH-1.

Post Malone has disputed claims made by a songwriter who is suing him over his 2019 hit ‘Circles’.Tyler Armes filed a federal lawsuit in California in April 2020, listing Post (real name Austin Post), Post’s producer Frank Dukes and Universal Music Group as defendants, and claims he is seeking co-writer and co-producer credits, as well as prospective and retroactive royalties and other money owed from the ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’ track.On the same day, Post filed his own suit, with the rapper asking a New York Federal Judge to rule that Armes has no claim to the song’s copyright and did not participate in writing it.“It is an age-old story in the music business that when a song earns the type of runaway success that ‘Circles’ has garnered, and individuals will come out of the woodwork falsely claim to take credit for the song, and demand unwarranted and unearned windfall profits from the song,” reads Malone’s complaint.In a new court filing (via Rolling Stone), Post claims that Armes did not contribute anything “original” to the song, just “an admittedly extremely commonplace guitar chord progression,” and potentially a “fragment of a guitar melody that Armes claims he sung to Post”. Armes claims he was initially offered five per cent of the song’s royalties for his work on ‘Circles’, but that was removed when he tried to negotiate a bigger cut.Post’s new court documents read: “Armes admitted that his contributions did not even rise to the level of originality, which is also required in addition to the fixation requirement.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorA+E Networks has set a broad content production and business development venture with Range Media Partners, the talent management startup that launched 16 months ago by CAA and Entertainment One alum Peter Micelli.As part of the deal, A+E Networks has taken a minority stake in Range, which has grown quickly with a roster of talent managers and executives, from across film, TV, music, talent representation, production, activism, branded content and venture strategy. A+E Networks is home to cable stalwarts A&E Network, History and Lifetime, the A+E Studios banner and a growing collection of FAST streaming channels.The deal calls for A+E Studios to serve as Range’s production partner on scripted project.

EXCLUSIVE: Award-winning filmmaker Lydia Dean Pilcher (Radium Girls, A Call to Spy) has signed with Echo Lake Entertainment for management—also announcing today that she has acquired the rights to Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism, a bestselling memoir from Dawn Prince-Hughes that she plans to adapt into a feature, as both director and producer.

Manori Ravindran International EditorAvi Armoza’s 17-year-old company Armoza Formats is becoming the Israeli production arm for ITV Studios, Variety can reveal.The business, which has specialized in global formats, will expand under the new structure to become Armoza Productions. Meanwhile, Armoza Formats will remain the development hub for new format IP and will continue to serve as the brand used for international distribution.Armoza told Variety that the company’s expansion boils down to “facing the challenges of the new world of television.”“With consolidation and the global streamers, and the fact that often you need to sell worldwide rights, how do you complement [your] income? It’s raised the importance of being a production company and being part of a production group,” said Armoza.

HYBE and YG Entertainment are set to launch a BLACKPINK-themed Korean language learning packet later this year.Earlier today (March 2), HYBE Edu and YG Entertainment announced that they will be launching a BLACKPINK-themed Korean language learning material titled ‘BLACKPINK In Your Korean’, per Kpop Herald.According to Kpop Herald and KBIZoom, ‘BLACKPINK In Your Korean’ hopes to familiarise fans with the Korean language through words and phrases that the K-pop quartet frequently use.The packet will include textbooks, stickers, quizzes and animated videos that will teach learners correct pronunciation. Notably, the videos will be available in Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian..@HYBE_EDU is launching "@BLACKPINK IN YOUR KOREAN," a Korean language education material using the act's IP.

EXCLUSIVE: Amblin Partners has entered into an overall deal with SRO Productions, the label founded by director Bartlett Sher (Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird), writer JT Rogers (Tokyo Vice) and producer Cambra Overend (Oslo). Under the two-year deal, Amblin will have first-look rights on SRO’s film projects.

BBC Studios And Sky Deutschland Strike Factual Content Deal

Netflix has acquired global rights to Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between, an upcoming YA rom-com based on Jennifer E. Smith’s 2015 novel of the same name, from Ace Entertainment, which produced all three films in its popular To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before franchise.

Fox Entertainment’s MarVista Entertainment, a prolific producer and distributor of original movies for traditional and streaming networks worldwide, is continuing its expansion into Latin America, signing a major development and production deal with TelevisaUnivision.

EXCLUSIVE: NENT streamer Viaplay has unveiled its debut duo of Dutch dramas as it prepares to launch in The Netherlands tomorrow, Deadline can reveal.