M3 Creative Launches Consulting Firm for AI-Free Entertainment and Brand Marketing Guidance

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Shawn Finnie, executive vice president, member relations, global outreach and awards for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, is leaving the organization after nearly a decade, Variety has learned exclusively. His final day was Thursday, July 13. Finnie was a beloved figure within the Academy, rising through the ranks and receiving multiple promotions. His departure comes after his most recent promotion to his role in June 2021 by former COO Christine Simmons. He led engagement and outreach initiatives for the organization’s global membership of more than 10,000 artists, filmmakers and executives. In addition, he led a team of more than 20 team members.

Nikki Garcia is still waiting to hear whether her husband, Artem Chigvintsev, will return to season 32 of , but she's already got her eye on a contestant she hopes he's partnered with -- Ariana Madix!Garcia revealed as much when she spoke to ET's Nischelle Turner backstage at the Dolby Theatre for the 2023 ESPY Awards in Hollywood, adding that she's intrigued by the  star because she «has a good story to tell.»The former WWE wrestler (formerly known as Nikki Bella) prefaced by saying there's still no official word on whether Chigvintsev — who joined in season 19 in 2014 — will return for season 32, but she's hopeful it'll happen.«You know, they don't tell him 'til kind of like, I think it's like August,» Garcia tells ET. «This season's going to be super incredible… and around this time when it gets [to] July I'm like, 'Oh, he's going to know in a few weeks.

Quentin Tarantino helped revive Justified for an unlikely new series, co-showrunner Michael Dinner has revealed.Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Dinner detailed how they came to adapt Elmore Leonard’s crime novel City Primeval, which centres on a detective who tracks down ‘Oklahoman Wildman’ Clement Mansell in Detroit.“A lot of people had wanted to make this book before,” he said. “It almost got made by [Sam] Peckinpah years ago as a movie, and [Quentin] Tarantino wanted to make it as a movie, and a lot of people wanted to play with it in television, streaming or cable.”Dinner said he then received a surprise call from Timothy Olyphant, who was filming Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood at the time.

Watch video of the press conference here.They were referring to a wave of sudden exits of executives that kicked off June 20 when Disney’s chief diversity officer and senior vice president Latondra Newton, left, according to Disney to pursue “other endeavors.” Then on June 28 Netflix announced that Vernā Myers, head of inclusion strategy, will leave the role in September after five years in the job in order to focus attention on her consulting company, The Vernā Myers Company.The next day, Warner Bros. Discovery laid off SVP of diversity, equity and inclusion Karen Horne, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s EVP of Impact and Inclusion Jeanell English stepped down.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor A group of state legislators representing the California Legislative Black Caucus are calling on film studios to meet with them regarding the sudden removal of Black female executives over the past few weeks. A mass exodus of Black women from senior leadership posts — Vernā Myers (Netflix), LaTondra Newton (Disney), Jeanell English (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Karen Horne and Terra Potts (Warner Bros. Discovery) — has raised questions about the depth of the film and television industry’s commitment to diversifying the top ranks of the entertainment industry. The CLBC held a press conference on Thursday, citing the executives’ resignations and removals after the State Legislature approved the $1.6 billion Film Tax Credit initiative to provide tax incentives for the film studios.

Some of the biggest names in sports are expected to take home a silver statue at this year’s ESPY Awards.  

Vanderpump Rules has just been nominated for its first-ever Emmy Award. Like, the Primetime Emmys.

interview with GQ magazine, Harrison Ford recalled his initial confusion over the outfit he’d be expected to wear as Indiana Jones, back when Steven Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) was still in the development phase.“It was presented to me as an aspect of character in the first film,” Ford said. “My questions about it were many.

EXCLUSIVE: Vince Vaughn (Bad Monkey) will topline Nonnas, an original comedy that Stephen Chbosky (Wonder) has been tapped to direct for Fifth Season (80 for Brady), 1Community (Just Mercy) and Madison Wells (The Eyes of Tammy Faye).

“Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy,” recounts his legendary show business career encompassing music, nightclubs — and, most notably, television.“I keep saying this is my first book — and next year I’m going to read another one,” Schlatter joked to The Post in a wide-ranging interview about “Still Laughing,” out July 11 (The Unnamed Press). “They were after me to tell people about my long and illustrious past … so I sat down in the office and I talked into a machine and I talked and talked and flashed back on a lot of memories — some of them more colorful than others.”In “Still Laughing” (“as told to” writer/producer Jon Macks), Schlatter regales readers with stories from his 70-plus-year career in the limelight, including his stint managing Ciro’s nightclub in Hollywood to his years in television, producing five episodes of “The Judy Garland Show” (1963-64 on CBS) and famously creating “Laugh-In,” the hugely popular and groundbreaking quick-hit/groovy/topical sketch-comedy series that aired on NBC from 1968-73 and launched Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin, among others, into stardom.

Tom Cruise is just getting started. The 62 year old actor has been promoting her latest film, “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One,” his seventh time playing the iconic role of Ethan Hunt. In a new interview, Cruise revealed he wants to keep playing the role for 20 more years.

Haute Couture Fashion Week has kicked off in Paris and the stars are out. 

Holly Willoughby appeared to show her support for her co-star and pal Alison Hammond as she was flooded with comments and dubbed a 'Barbie girl'. During her latest appearance on This Morning, the presenter appeared inspired by one of the show's latest segments.

As tensions rise in Hollywood over an imminent update on SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with the studios, thousands of miles east, the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary is gearing up for its annual influx of industry insiders, curious film fans, and stars.

Charna Flam Peg Yorkin, a noted feminist organizer and philanthropist, died Sunday at her home in Malibu. She was 96. She had dementia, her daughter, Nicole Yorkin, told the Washington Post. Peg Yorkin, the longtime chair, and co-founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) worked to promote and encourage women to fight for women’s equality and empowerment, highlighting the importance of access to safe and affordable reproductive health care. Throughout her years of activism, Yorkin partnered with several activists, including the former president of the National Organization for Women, Eleanor Smeal. The two worked together on a 12-year campaign to bring the abortion pill mifepristone to the United States.

Taylor Sheridan may have populated 1923 with mega-stars but it wasn’t just Harrison Ford or Helen Mirren who blew away viewers with a stirring performance. For the first time on TV, Sheridan depicted the dark legacy of Catholic boarding schools and how they dehumanized young indigenous women — one of whom is played by the courageous Aminah Nieves. While the Duttons were busy saving the ranch in one part of Montana, Nieves’ Teonna Rainwater was being held prisoner by savage, paddle-swinging nuns in another. Here, the Indiana-born newcomer recalls how hard it was to decide whether to accept such a life-changing role.

Wall Street Journal, the former Walt Disney Studios chairman has become “an influential outside adviser” to the White House and has given President Biden advice on how to counter his public image as being too old to be reelected in 2024. This past April, Katzenberg was named one of seven co-chairs for Biden’s re-election campaign.

Wes Anderson has become one of the most recogniseable auteur filmmakers in Hollywood through his unique visual and narrative style.The director made his feature film debut with 1996’s Bottle Rocket, which also marked the acting debut of brothers Owen and Luke Wilson. Over his career, he’s been nominated for 15 Oscars and 20 BAFTAs, winning five of the latter for The Grand Budapest Hotel.His latest film is Asteroid City which, like nearly all his works, features a huge ensemble cast including Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Margot Robbie and Edward Norton.Asteroid City is the director’s eleventh feature film, and the eighth time he’s collaborated with Schwartzman, who first debuted in his 1998 film Rushmore.

Pharrell Williams brought out all the stars for his fashion show!

Women in Film, Los Angeles said Monday that it is launching a screening series to celebrate the nonprofit organization’s 50th anniversary, and has picked a timely movie to kick it off.