Public Film and TV Funds in Europe Face Crisis as Streamers, Other Forces Upend Traditional Business Models

Anne Heche’s ex partner has spoken out about how he and their teenage son are coping since her death. The US actress was involved in a serious collision in August last year when she crashed her car into a house in Los Angeles, suffering a severe brain injury and slipping into a coma. Days later, it was confirmed by doctors that Heche had suffered brain death, and on Friday she was declared dead under California law, with her organs going on to save several lives.

A difficult balance. Jason Segel reflected on his attempts to pursue other opportunities while filming the final seasons of How I Met Your Mother — and revealed how his mental health was affected.

Todd Gilchrist editor If an endless array of variations, alternatives and opportunities is a foundational concept of the animated superhero series “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” it also seems like one for the career of Metro Boomin. St. Louis native Leland Tyler Wayne’s musical alter ego is not only the producer of the soundtrack for its sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” but also plays a small role in the film as one of its Spider-people, Metro Spider, and collaborated with Nike on an elaborate, patchwork “Spider-Verse”-themed Air Jordan that sold out almost immediately after he and his siblings modeled for its advertising campaign.A post shared by Jordan (@jumpman23) In just the past few months, he also partnered with Major League Baseball to be the opening-day voice of its 2023 season, starred in a Budweiser Super Bowl commercial, and celebrated the release of “Heroes & Villains (Villains Version),” a remix edition of his second studio album, with a digital comic book and a debut performance at Coachella 2023 assisted by The Weeknd, Young Thug, 21 Savage, Diddy and more performers. This web (excuse the pun) of projects exemplifies the scale of his creative ambition, but even a cursory scan of their results highlights how much effort he puts into each one. After shepherding the sprawling “Across the Spider-Verse” soundtrack to completion, he spent a week on Instagram premiering Spider-person iterations of his collaborators, including Coi Leray, Future, Offset, James Blake and A$AP Rocky; it’s clear he’s not content to sit behind the boards and simply let his indefatigable collection of beats speak for him.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Peter Chernin’s global multi-genre studio The North Road Company has acquired Turkish film and TV powerhouse Karga Seven Pictures in its first major move to expand its international market footprint. The company, which is an offshoot of Red Arrow Entertainment Group, originated as a factual content creator in the U.S. before moving into Turkish scripted films and series. Their most recent standout products are Netflix’s original hits “Midnight at the Pera Palace” and “Rise of Empires: Ottoman.” But they now produce many of Turkey’s top shows, including “Hekimoglu” — adapted from the U.S. series “House.” Karga Seven’s founders — Emmy-nominated producers Sarah Wetherbee, Emre Sahin and Kelly McPherson — will remain in leadership roles, according to a statement. Wetherbee and Sahin will serve as global co-CEOs with McPherson as head of English-language content, alongside industry veteran and newly hired Ömer Müjdat Özgüner, who will now serve as Karga Seven’s Turkey CEO.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The Toronto International Film Festival has hired veteran Canadian media executive Judy Lung as its VP of public relations and communications. Lung, who starts in the role on Monday, most recently served as director of communications for Canadian exhibition giant Cineplex. Over her 20-year career, Lung has handled public relations and communications for some of Canada’s leading arts and entertainment organizations. Her recent publicity campaigns span titles such as “Scarborough,” which is based on the novel by Catherine Hernandez, and David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future.”

Brad Pitt’s career is going nowhere but up. While he may be currently dealing with drama regarding a winery lawsuit against his ex-wife Angelina Jolie, his movie career continues to be susccessful. His newest film is all about Formula One racing; not only will Pitt be fronting this upcoming sports film, but we've got another famous face that you may recognize from Outlander joining in on the fun.

CBS’ The Late Late Show With James Corden might not be airing new episodes anymore, but the music lives on: The house band for the show was among the honorees at this week’s Film and Television Composer Awards.

Polygram Entertainment, the film and television division of Universal Music Group, has announced that Daniel Inkeles will become the new senior vice president of film and television development and production. Prior to his promotion, Inkeles was the vice president of scripted film and television for UMG.

Jordan Moreau Nearly a year after he was fired from Disney by former CEO Bob Chapek, Peter Rice has set a film and TV production deal with A24, Variety has confirmed. It’s his first major move after he was ousted. A24, hot off a leading nine Oscar wins with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Whale” this year, will co-finance film and TV projects with Rice. The deal is non-exclusive, and projects under the agreement will be backed by Rice via A24’s banking relationships. The projects will be for global distribution theatrically and on major streaming platforms. “I am incredibly excited to be an independent producer and could not be more thrilled to begin that journey in partnership with A24,” Rice said in a statement. “They have built Hollywood’s most vibrant, fearless, and creative studio. The fact that they made it out of whole cloth in a decade is a testament to their exquisite taste, razor-sharp business acumen, and infectious enthusiasm for creativity and artists. I have been blessed to work with so many amazing creators as an executive and cannot wait to start producing provocative, meaningful, and entertaining movies and TV shows with creators I admire and respect.”

A fresh collection of films and TV shows will be dropping in Netflix this month, so you can stream to you're heart's content.

Their new normal. Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner have shared subtle details about their dynamic amid their respective relationships with Ben Affleck.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The New Zealand government said on Tuesday that the country’s generous screen production incentives systems are to be continued. The decision follows a New Zealand government review of the local and international production incentives and the post-production and visual effects schemes that began in late 2022. They also follow expansion announced earlier this month of the rebate schemes in Australia. The two neighbors compete for international or ‘runaway’ productions on criteria including: locations, English-language skills, studio space, post-production and digital effects facilities, as well as cash rebates.

Densely populated with students, Fallowfield is often described as 'transient' these days. But life in the south Manchester suburb wasn't always this way.

Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Newcastle United will compete in next season's Champions League.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Brazil’s on fire, and rapidly putting into place the policies that will rebuild its film and TV industries, which look set to transform it into the film-TV powerhouse of Latin America. That cuts several ways.  Under Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian president over 2019-2022, ApexBrasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Agency, saw its funding for Brazil’s audiovisual sector almost entirely nixed. Often working together, promotion agency Cinema do Brasil, backed by Audiovisual Industry Syndicate of the State of São Paulo (SIESP), Projeto Paradiso, a philanthropic org focusing on new talent and project development, and SP Cine, the energetic São Paulo City film commission, did an extraordinary job to support and promote Brazilian filmmakers and companies’ presence at festivals, drawing on highly contained resources.

Ethan Shanfeld Experimental filmmaker, artist and author Kenneth Anger has died. He was 96. His gallery, operated by Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers, confirmed the news on their website, writing, “Kenneth was a trailblazer. His cinematic genius and influence will live on and continue to transform all those who encounter his films, words and vision.” Anger produced over 30 short films from 1937 to 2013, having made his first movie at 10 years old. Known as “one of America’s first openly gay filmmakers,” he gained a reputation for exploring themes of erotica and homosexuality decades before gay sex was legalized in America. Anger received recognition for his homoerotic 1947 film “Fireworks,” which landed him in court on obscenity charges. Filmed in his childhood home in Beverly Hills, Calif., while his parents were away for the weekend, “Fireworks” is known as the first gay narrative film produced in the U.S.

“Eureka” seems somewhat deceitfully simple: a man called Murphy (Viggo Mortensen) searches for his abducted daughter with the help of the mysterious El Coronel (Chiara Mastroianni), even if he has to shoot everyone who stands in his way.

K.J. Yossman Bitpix TV and Myco have partnered on a feature film development fund. Open to filmmakers worldwide, the fund, which was launched on Friday at Cannes, aims to support three films a year each with a budget of up to $2 million per feature. Bitpix TV is the official streaming arm of HollyShorts Film Festival while Myco is a decentralized content ecosystem. A number of short-form genre films will be showcased on Myco’s streaming platform where viewers can vote on their favorites, which will be selected for feature film development with the fund’s help. Among the package of help available is funding, consulting, mentorship, and production support from finance and production company Goldfinch.

Following the season 10 finale of Vanderpump Rules, Ariana Madix is making her intentions to cut ties with Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss clear.