Michaela Zee David Jacobs, the creator of the CBS primetime series “Knots Landing,” “Dallas” and “Paradise,” has died. He was 84. Jacobs, who battled Alzheimer’s for several years, died Sunday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
03.08.2023 - 19:15 / variety.com
Emanuel Okusanya First-generation Liberian American sisters Massah David and Miatta Johnson founded the boutique PR agency MVD Inc. with the goal to amplify Black storytelling. With clients such as Universal Pictures, Netflix, Kanye West’s Donda, Essence Magazine and many more, the agency is at the intersection of television, film and music — with a strong focus on community building.
MVD Inc. has specialized in movie premieres, album listening experiences and their most recent initiative, the events-based entertainment collective Dope Africans. After working as a financial reporter at Dow Jones for many years, Johnson left the financial world to make an impact in entertainment.
So she connected with sister David — a longtime music strategist and executive — to found MVD Inc. Inspired by their journey as political asylum seekers and first-generation immigrants, they have strived to execute “the impossible” and push for innovation. Most recently, MVD worked in partnership with the Recording Academy to relaunch and oversee the Black Music Collective — a program that is dedicated to the inclusion, recognition and advancements of Black music within the industry.
The duo is also responsible for executing Kanye West’s ambitious 2018 Wyoming album listening experience with minimal production time. The pair continue to produce exclusive events across entertainment tentpole weekends such as the Grammys, Paris Fashion Week, the Oscars and more. David and Johnson spoke to Variety about their journey to the United States, their start in the entertainment industry and how they are pushing for innovation in the PR and marketing industry.
Michaela Zee David Jacobs, the creator of the CBS primetime series “Knots Landing,” “Dallas” and “Paradise,” has died. He was 84. Jacobs, who battled Alzheimer’s for several years, died Sunday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
Kim Kardashian is getting into her ghoulish side.
EXCLUSIVE: BritBox International is stacking the shelves with more high-profile UK drama series.
Molly-Mae Hague has taken to her Instagram to mourn the fact that she and fiance Tommy Fury are being forced to spend time apart. Posting a sweet black-and-white photo, Molly-Mae wrote: “Missing our little family unit already, this is gonna be a long camp.” In the picture, Molly, 23, holds the camera up for a quick mirror selfie as she holds Bambi while Tommy sweetly kisses his daughter’s forehead.
“It’s a mad way to make a film, and I’m not sure it’s not something I would rush into again,” director Hope Dickson Leach said of the process behind her latest feature, the Edinburgh competition title The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
EXCLUSIVE: Madeline Zima (Californication) and Leonardo Nam (Westworld) are currently in production in Canada on Love Is the Monster, a new thriller they’re leading for filmmaker Alex Noyer (Sound of Violence) that has landed a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement. Others set to star include Moe Jeudy-Lamour (Ted Lasso), Kimberly-Sue Murray (Trader), Kristina Tonteri-Young (Warrior Nun), Milla Puolakanaho (Omerta), Tatu Sinisalo (Sisu) and Sheila Mccarthy (Women Talking).
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter New York Film Festival will serve as the world premiere of Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s genre-defying series “The Curse,” led by Emma Stone; and Garth Davis’s science-fiction drama “Foe,” starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal. They will screen as part of Spotlight, which Film at Lincoln Center describes as a selection of “significant and surprising films, one-of-a-kind presentations including adventurous portraits of creative minds, one-night only events with live musical accompaniment, bold short films by acclaimed directors, and probing documentaries.” As previously announced, Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” will hold its North American premiere on Oct.
With American Idol Season 22 officially confirmed to premiere on ABC in 2024 (find out who’s back as a judge!), we’re looking back at how wealthy the show’s made many of its stars.
The Savannah Bananas, are heading to Staten Island’s SIUH Community Park for a game against Pete Davidson, Colin Jost and Michael Che‘s Ferryhawks Friday, Aug. 11 at 7 p.m.Then, they’ll face their rival Party Animals on Saturday, Aug.
Robbie Robertson, who was the lead guitarist and songwriter for Canadian-American group The Band, has passed away, Variety reports. He was 80 years old and had been combatting a long illness.
Manchester United will have to play the waiting game before getting their latest Premier League charge underway in the Monday night showdown against Wolves at Old Trafford (8pm).
Anna Marie de la Fuente Sanfic Industria, the industry component of Chile’s 19th Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic), charges back in full in-person mode this year after three years online. This year’s selection, comprising 11 fiction and 10 documentaries, hails from Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Spain and Brazil.
Tom Hardy has been named the male celebrity American viewers struggle to understand the most in a new survey.In a study conducted by Preply, over 1,500 Americans were asked on their use and opinions of using subtitles when watching streaming platforms and content online.The survey found 51 per cent of Americans used subtitles most of the time, while 70 per cent used the feature to better understand actors with accents.According to viewers polled, English actor Tom Hardy was named as the male celebrity with the most challenging accent. This was followed by Austrian-American actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Irish actor Colin Farrell.Mexican actor Sofía Vergara, best known for playing Gloria Delgado-Pritchett in Modern Family, was named the hardest to understand female celebrity.
Anna Marie de la Fuente Now on its fourth year, the Santiago Film Festival’s Morbido-Sanfic Lab features an ever more diverse selection from Ibero-America. As Morbido founder-CEO Pablo Guisa said of this year’s edition: “It has projects from multiple countries, several produced or directed by women as well as one LGBTQ-themed project and, for the first time, a documentary.” Vampire creatures abound in this crop.
After a historic reign, Queen Elizabeth died at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022. As the first anniversary of her death approaches, there are reports emerging about how the royal family will honor her memory.
Shygirl and Tinashe are going on tour together. Their co-headline tour of North America will take place in October and November, with tickets going on sale at 10 a.m.
Oppenheimer.The Jewish comedian and writer suggested in a new interview that he isn’t totally on board with Murphy, an Irish actor who isn’t of Jewish descent, portraying “the father of the atomic bomb”.Tom Conti, who portrays the Jewish theoretical physicist Albert Einstein in the film, isn’t Jewish.“Authenticity casting I think of as an a priori thing that exists,” Baddiel told The Times.“Whatever the rights and wrongs of it, I can promise you that in this business – and I am in this business still – casting directors are now frightened to cast except in line with the minority they are casting. But they are not so worried about Jews.”Baddiel has previously spoken about non-Jewish actors playing Jewish characters in film and TV productions.In an opinion piece published in The Guardian last year, Baddiel discussed Maureen Lipman’s comments that Helen Mirren should not play former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in the 2023 film Golda because she isn’t Jewish.Baddiel wrote at the time: “Casting a non-minority actor to mimic that identity feels, to the progressive eye, like impersonation, and impersonation may carry with it an element of mockery.”The real-life Oppenheimer was the child of two Jewish immigrants.
The US district court for the Central District Of California last week published a judgement that provided a pretty extensive overview of what was a big legal debate in the US music industry for a time: whether online radio services like Pandora and Sirius were obliged to pay royalties when they played pre-1972 recordings.A lot of that debate centred on lawsuits pursued by the artists Flo & Eddie, who were members of the 1960s band The Turtles.In theory, the 2018 Music Modernization Act removed the ambiguities that those lawsuits sought to address. However, some technicalities remained in relation to Flo & Eddie’s litigation, meaning the lawsuit against Sirius rumbled on until 2021, and the Pandora dispute until last week.
Dexys – formerly known as Dexys Midnight Runners – have announced details of their first North American tour in 40 years.The band, who returned this week with new album ‘The Feminine Divine’, will hit the road later this year.After a UK tour that takes place in September, the band will then head to Europe in October before hitting the US on October 26 for a gig in Los Angeles.The 14-date tour will then take them through until November 15 when the tour will wrap up with a show in Glenside, Pennsylvania.See the full list of tour dates below – buy UK tickets here and North American tickets here.Dexys will play:SEPTEMBER 2023 5 – York, Barbican7 – Liverpool, Philharmonic Hall8 – Manchester, Bridgwater Hall10 – Newcastle, O2 City Hall11 – Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall13 – Cardiff, St David’s Hall14 – Ipswich, Regent Theatre16 – Wolverhampton, Civic Hall17 – Southend, Cliffs Pavilion19 – Brighton, Dome20 – London, Palladium22 – Bath, Forum (early show)22 – Bath, Forum (late show)25 – Dublin, Olympia TheatreOCTOBER 20231 – Borgerhout, DE ROMA2 – Munich, Muffathalle4 – Berlin, Admiralspalast – Theater5 – Hamburg, Kampnagel7 – Uppsala, Katalin10 – Lillehammer, Maihaugsalen12 – Dortmund, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Stadtfoyer13 – Amsterdam, Paradiso Noord, Tolhuistuin15 – Dudelange, Kulturzentrum Opderschmelz16 – Paris, La Cigale18 – Madrid, Teatro Barceló20 – Estoril, Casino Estoril26 – Los Angeles, The Theatre at Ace Hotel27 – San Francisco, Palace of Fine Arts29 – Portland, Aladdin Theater30 – Vancouver, Vogue TheatreNOVEMBER 20231 – Salt Lake City, The Union2 – Denver, Paramount Theatre4 – St. Paul, Palace Theatre6 – Chicago, Vic Theatre8 – Toronto, Queen Elizabeth Theatre10 – Patchogue, Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts11 –
Charles Oppenheimer, the grandson of the real J. Robert Oppenheimer, has been doing some press to help promote the new Christopher Nolan movie, which is now in theaters.