Contest Seeking Short Stories for Film and TV Adaptation Launched by Roadmap Writers, Barry Josephson

EXCLUSIVE: Signature Entertainment has picked up UK and Irish rights to Unit 234, a thriller starring Don Johnson (Knives Out), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan: First Kill) and Jack Huston (Kill Your Darlings) from sales agent Radiant Films. 

SpaceNK shoppers are flocking to buy a 'fresh' vanilla scent that they insist is perfect for both cooler and warmer months. Wild Vanilla Orchid by Floral Street is proving popular and is created by one of the most popular noses in the market. The fragrance was first launched in 2017 with Jérôme Epinette working as the nose.The perfumer is known for also working on brands such as Byredo, Commodity and Zara's viral scents - alongside many other huge names.

Marta Balaga Following “The Zone of Interest,” Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain” and Berlinale offering “Treasure,” about a Holocaust survivor, the latter starring Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham, Poland might be welcoming more foreign shoots in the future. “I would always be willing to return and shoot in Poland,” says “Treasure” director Julia von Heinz. “Our co-producer Mariusz Włodarski from Lava Films realized that during the tenure of the Law and Justice [PiS] government, there was no chance of obtaining public funding for a story where Polish people are portrayed not just as victims and heroes, but as complex human beings.

CNN‘s Mark Thompson told advertisers additional details about the network’s strategy, with plans to expand franchises to digital platforms and to build new branded verticals around topics beyond politics.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired Northern American rights for Joachim A. Lang’s historical drama Goebbels and The Führer (aka Führer and Seducer) for a fall 2024 theatrical and digital release.  

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Female stunt performer Wiriya Caesar will step up into the lead performer role in upcoming Thai action film “The 24.” The film project is being launched this week in the Cannes Market by new international sales firm Boz Pictures. Wiriya (aka Porntip Wiriya, aka “Fan”) has previously been a stunt double for Mary-Elizabeth Winstead in “Kate” and Golshifteh Farahani in “Extraction,” and has other credits on “Thirteen Lives” and “Hidden Strike.” In “The 24” she will star as an assassin who wakes up with a time bomb strapped to her body. She has clear instructions to kill a hit list of 24 members of the Bangkok underground, with each successful hit buying her more time alive. Caesar is joined in the cast by Japan’s Sakaguchi Tak (“Re:Born,” “One Percenter,” “Versus”), Dan Chupong (“Ong Bak 1 &2,” “Born to Fight”), Sunny Pang (“The Night Comes for Us,” “Headshot” and Gareth Evans’ upcoming “Havoc”) and Simon Kook (“Ip Man 3,” “Mayhem”). The film, which will shoot in the fourth quarter of this year, is written and directed by Lee Thongkham (“The Maid,” “The Lake,” “Kitty the Killer”).

Ed Meza @edmezavar Zurich and Berlin-based distrib DCM has nabbed Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” ahead of its May 20 world premiere in Cannes, where its screening in competition. Written by Gabriel Sherman, “The Apprentice” follows Donald Trump’s real estate career in New York during the 1970s and ’80s and his relationships with lawyer Roy Cohen (Jeremy Strong), wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova) and father Fred Trump (Martin Donovan).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed first sales and released the first-look image from Oscar-nominated Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland‘s biopic of the Czech novelist Franz Kafka, “Franz.” The project has sold to September Film in Benelux, Filmin in Spain, Vertigo in Hungary, MCF Megacom for the former Yugoslavia and Movies Inspired in Italy. The film was previously acquired for theatrical distribution by Bac Films Distribution in France, X Verleih in Germany and Austria, Bioscop in Czech Republic and TVP in Poland.

Switzerland has won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, which took place Saturday evening in Malmo, Sweden.

The fate of The Netherlands’ Eurovision entry lies in the balance, after the Dutch representative failed to perform in Friday evening’s jury final.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “The Conners” has been renewed for Season 7 at ABC, which will also be the show’s last. In addition, ABC has canceled “Not Dead Yet” after two seasons. The final season of “The Conners” will reportedly be shorter than past seasons, with sources saying it will run for just six episodes.

A Scottish Masterchef Australia contestant has shared a recipe for a '15-hour lamb' that has been described as "perfection".

Todd Longwell Georgia’s base 20% transferable tax credit isn’t that impressive when compared to the tax credits in other top production hubs such as California (20%-25%), New York (30%) and New Mexico (25%-40%). What sets the state’s film and TV production incentive apart is the 10% bump it gives projects for including its Peach State logo in their credits.

Murtada Elfadl Documentary festival Millennium Docs Against Gravity, running in Poland from Friday to May 19 and online from May 21 to July 3, is in its 21st edition, but its industry section is a relatively recent addition. However, it is growing in size and impact. The section started small four years ago, as Anna Szczypińska, head of the section, explains.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer 17,000 fans. The reunion of an American football dynasty and the coach no one expected to show. Televised live around the world while the reputation of a man considered “the greatest of all time” sits in the hands of savage comedians and one-time foes.

EXCLUSIVE: The grades are in and the film and TV studios taking part in BAFTA albert’s climate assessment have upped their game in the past year.

EXCLUSIVE: Chinese-Kiwi actor Yoson An has signed with Sovereign Talent Group. Sovereign will rep An’s writing and directing work. 

Morgan Freeman, Olivier Marchal and Simone Ashley will be lauded at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival in June. Prince Albert II of Monaco will present Freeman with Festival’s Crystal Nymph award.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sandra Hüller, the Oscar-nominated actor of “Anatomy of a Fall,” and four-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gate”) are set to co-star in Kent Jones’ “Late Fame,” reteaming “May December” co-screenwriter Samy Burch and producer Killer Films. One of the hottest packages set for a Cannes Launch, “Late Fame” has been boarded by MK2 Films which is hot off an Oscar win for “Anatomy of a Fall” and will represent worldwide sales outside of North America.

Prince Archie - the son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - is turning five on Monday and royal fans can't help but compare the youngster to one of his regal relatives. While the little one has been kept away from the glare of public scrutiny by his mum and dad, rumour has it they might share a snap of him and his baby sis, Princess Lilibet, on the big day.