PBS SoCal Parent Company Appoints Tamara Gould Chief Content Officer

EXCLUSIVE: Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire) has joined the cast of director Josh Webber’s holiday pic Athena Saves Christmas, with Christina Cooper coming aboard as producer.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Demi Singleton is the latest addition to the cast of the “Bass Reeves” series at Paramount+, Variety has learned exclusively. Singleton will appear in the period drama as a series regular opposite series lead David Oyelowo, who will star as the titular legendary lawman. Additional cast members include Barry Pepper, Dennis Quaid, Forrest Goodluck, Lauren E. Banks, and Grantham Coleman. Per the official logline, the show “will bring the legendary lawman of the wild west to life. Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.”

K.J. Yossman The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) has announced a host of new appointments, including seven trustees. The new trustees include Miranda Wayland, head of U.K. and Europe creative EDI for Prime Video and Amazon Studios, Labour politician and member of the House of Lords Judith Blake, Oxford University Shakespeare professor Judith Buchanan, Coutts media finance exec Judith Chan, PZ Cussons finance exec Helen Selwood, former CFO Shona Spence and business consultant Caroline Spicer. They join current RADA Council members Lolita Chakrabarti, Chipo Chung, Tim Clark, Paul Clay, Martin Donnelly, Buster Dover, Tanya Moodie, Maxine Peake, John Romeo, Tanya Rose, Tamar Thomas and chair Marcus Ryder.

EXCLUSIVE: Grantham Coleman (Rustin) is the newest addition to the Paramount+ limited series Bass Reeves, exec produced by and starring David Oyelowo.

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s rape lawsuit trial date has been scheduled for the first week of June 2023. Judge Paul Austin Crotty made the ruling in a Manhattan courtroom Monday afternoon nearly three years after the complaint was filed by "Jane Doe" in the Southern District of New York. While the plaintiff (Jane Doe) asked for a 2024 date due to scheduling conflicts, the defense (Gooding Jr.) was ready to move the trial ahead for this summer.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The 2023 Producers Guild of America Awards are underway at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. A strong bellwether for the Oscars’ top prize, seven of this year’s best picture nominees are recognized by the guild in the film category: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” This marked the first year the PGA nominated four sequels, which also included “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” Actor-producer Tom Cruise will be honored with the David O. Selznick Achievement Award, which recognizes a producer or producing team for their extraordinary body of work in motion pictures. The Selznick Award has a distinguished history with past recipients including such legendary producers as Steven Spielberg, Barbara Broccoli, Mary Parent, Brian Grazer, David Heyman and Kevin Feige.

The inaugural annual Salon Kewpie: The Legacy Ball in Cape Town, in collaboration with the District Six Museum and GALA Queer Archive, will honour the life of queer icon, Kewpie, who passed away in 2012.

The nonprofit BIPOC accelerator Rideback Rise, launched last July by Dan Lin’s production company Rideback (The Lego Movie, It franchises) has today named film producer Tracey Bing as its Head of Content, appointing former charity: water exec Sabrina Pourmand as its Founding Executive Director, and adding Panda Express’ Chief Brand Officer, Andrea Cherng, to its Board of Directors.

At this point, is it really up for debate that Dave Bautista is the world’s best professional wrestler turned actor? Sorry, Dwayne Johnson fans, but it’s true: Bautista has better dramatic and comedic chops than him, and it’s not even close. Don’t believe it? Well, on the comedic end of things, audiences will have a new chance to watch Bautista flex his funniness soon.

CNN Worldwide has tapped Otto Bell to oversee its creative marketing department.

Prime Video has secured the return of Dave Bautista (Knock at the Cabin), Chloe Coleman (Avatar: The Way of Water), Kristen Schaal (What We Do in the Shadows), Ken Jeong (The Afterparty) and others for their My Spy sequel, My Spy: The Eternal City. Among the new additions to the ensemble in the second installment are Anna Faris (Mom), Craig Robinson (The Office) and Flula Borg (Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin).

Marta Balaga Beauty queen, rebellious daughter of the head of Portugal’s secret service, housewife fascinated by Che Guevara, fighter – “Annie” Silva Pais was many, many things. Now, she is also the subject of Portuguese period drama “Cuba Libre.”   “I have been thinking about this story for 20 years,” admits creator Henrique Oliveira ahead of its bow at Berlinale’s Series Market Selects.  “That’s when I first read an article about her in [a local newspaper] Expresso. I fell in love right away. This woman was ahead of her time.” While Oliveira, who also directs, had to wait decades to realize his dream, it actually worked out for the best, he claims. 

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic In “Golda,” Helen Mirren, acting with deft skill and control beneath one of those startling transformative prosthetic makeup jobs, portrays Golda Meir during the three-week cataclysm of the Yom Kippur War, which shook Israel to its bones in the fall of 1973. As the actor stands (or, more often, stoops) before us, we can believe our eyes that this is the Iron Lady of Israel. For here is that frown, those beetle brows, that coarse wavy hair tied into a bun like challah bread, that pugnacious nose, that stare of implacability designed to bore a hole in its beholder. Here, as well, is the woman who lit a thousand cigarettes, chain-smoking her way through the war-room anxiety and through the secret medical treatments she was undergoing at the time for lymphoma.

The symbolic show of support for Cape Town Pride has been dubbed “disgraceful” by a religious group (Photo: Cape Town Pride/Facebook)

Israeli director Guy Nattiv has defended his casting of non-Jewish actress Helen Mirren as iconic Israeli Prime minister Golda Meir in his biopic Golda, which world premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on Monday.

FEATURE FILM CATEGORIESPeriod Feature Film:  “Babylon” (Production designer: Florencia Martin)Fantasy Feature Film:  “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (Production designer: Jason KisvardayContemporary Feature Film:“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Production designer: Rick Heinrichs)Animated Feature Film: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” (Production designers: Guy Davis, Curt Enderle)TELEVISION, COMMERCIAL AND SHORT-FORM CATEGORIESOne-Hour Period Single-Camera Series:“Pachinko”: “Chapter One” (Production designer: Mara LePere-Schloop)One-Hour Fantasy Single-Camera Series:The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: “Adar” (Production designer: Ramsey Avery)One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Series:Severance: “Good News About Hell” (Production designer: Jeremy Hindle)Television Movie or Limited Series:“Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities” (Production designer: Tamara Deverell)Half-Hour Single-Camera Series:“Our Flag Means Death”: “Pilot” (Production designer: Ra Vincent)Multi-Camera Series:    “How I Met Your Father”: “Pilot” (Production designer: Glenda Rovello)Variety, Reality or Competition Series:“Saturday Night Live”: “Jack Harlow Hosts Season 48 Episode 4, Jack Harlow Musical Guest” (Production designers: Keith Raywood, Eugene Lee, Akira Yoshimura, N.

Longtime YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced today she’s stepping down as CEO of YouTube, “to start a new chapter focused on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.”

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The David Oyelowo-led “Bass Reeves” series at Paramount+ from Taylor Sheridan has cast Barry Pepper in a series regular role, Variety has learned exclusively. Along with Oyelowo, Pepper joins a cast that also includes Dennis Quaid, Forrest Goodluck, and Lauren E. Banks. The series is based on the true story of the titular lawman. Per the official description, “Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.”

William Earl ABC Signature alum Menaka Evans has been named chief financial officer for ITV America and ITV Studios America. Evans will oversee financial planning, accounting and business operations for the wide range of production banners that fall under the umbrella of ITV Studios in the U.S. She comes to the company from ABC Signature, where she was head of finance and business planning. “Menaka brings deep experience in entertainment industry finance, as well as acute understanding of the complexities involved in producing unscripted and scripted programs in today’s content landscape,” said Philippe Maigret, ITV Studios America president and managing director and ITV America CEO David George in a joint statement. “She’s also incredibly well-versed in the cross-collaboration between U.S and UK entities, making her a unique and valuable new member of our senior teams.”