Spanish TV Plays Co-Production Game as Streamers Fuel Growth of Original Series

Joanna Hogg’s and Tilda Swinton’s creative partnership goes back nearly fifty years. The two became friends when they were only ten years old, and this school friendship eventually led to Hogg casting Swinton as the lead in her (1986) NFTS graduation film, “Caprice,” about a woman stuck in a fashion magazine.

This week’s 20 Questions on Deadline guest is Paul Mescal.

CNN is scaling back on original series and films and is looking to move to in-house production, citing costs as the network looks to cuts in division budgets.

Emiliano De Pablos Globoplay, the streaming platform of Latin American TV giant Globo, has picked up Brazilian rights to police noir thriller series “Motel Valkirias,” a Spain-Portugal co-production handled by Onza Distribution.  Created by Ghaleb Jaber Martínez, writer-producer of Netflix’s Galician TV drama hit “O Sabor das Margaridas,” the series is directed by Álex Sampaio (Schibare”) and Jorge Quiroga (“Atras das Nuvens”). In post-production, the eight episode 50-minute “Motel Valkirias” is set in a cross-border motel between Galicia and Portugal, following three women with financial and personal problems who get in serious danger after joining forces to get their hands on some valuable merchandise from a guest in the motel.

Stephanie Sibounheuang is speaking out.

New day jobs! Prince William and Princess Kate recently took over a BBC radio show for a day — and Kate couldn’t help poking a little fun at her husband’s hosting voice.

“It is a crazy situation. So there we are, completely screwed.”

Michaela Coel is planning to build a house in Ghana. The 'I Will Destroy You' actress was born in London but both of her parents hail from the West African nation and she now hopes to erect a property in her the village where her father grew up after falling in love with the country on her first visit and feeling an instant connection to her heritage. She told Vogue magazine: "I'd been to Africa before - Kenya and Uganda - but when I came here I was really seeing people who looked like me.

Coachella and its organisers Goldenvoice have filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Ghana-based festival Afrochella.According to the suit, which was filed in a California federal court on October 5, Goldenvoice claim that Afrochella (via Pitchfork) is “intentionally trading on the goodwill of well-known Coachella and Chella festivals and trademarks by actively promoting music events in the United States and in Ghana using the confusingly similar mark Afrochella”The suit continued: “Not simply content to imitate and attempt to trade on the goodwill of Coachella, Defendants even went so far as to apply in Ghana to register Coachella as their own trademarks.”“Despite repeated requests from Plaintiffs, Defendants have refused to adopt their own distinctive event name, and as a result, instances of actual confusion have already appeared on social media.”The lawsuit “seeks injunctive relief and damages for Defendants willful infringement in the United States and to protect the public here from confusion”Back in 2017, former Afrochella boss Edward “Deezy” Elohim took to Twitter to call the festival a “Coachella themed event”.Coachella first warned Afrochella in 2016. In the 30 page lawsuit filed against the festival organizers in Ghana, they add a screenshot of one of the organizers @deezydothis describing Afrochella as a "Coachella themed event" pic.twitter.com/EyAZCBiJK8— Ebenezer Donkoh (NY DJ) (@nydjlive) October 7, 2022Afrochella 2022 is scheduled to take place on December 28 and 29 at El Wak Stadium in Accra, Ghana.

WILLOW has spoken to NME about her debut novel ‘Black Shield Maiden’ and how she could “definitely” see herself quitting music to become a full-time author.Announced earlier this year, Black Shield Maiden is the first in a fantasy series and is WILLOW’s first novel.Co-written by Jess Hendel, Black Shield Maiden tells the story of Yafeu, a young warrior who is stolen from her home in the Ghanaian Empire and thrust into the world of the Vikings. There she discovers a strange new world and encounters a kindred spirit in Viking princess, Freydis.

EastEnders actress Dame Barbara Windsor's widower Scott Mitchell has shared his distress as he detailed how cruel trolls accused him of being with her for her money. Barbara and Scott tied the knot in April 2000, but their 27 year age gap led to public scrutiny and cruel comments from strangers, despite the pair enjoying an almost three-decades long romance.

Predictions are always a hazardous thing. And I truly hope this one is wrong. But it sure looks like the movie box office, disastrously low in September, will be stuck on the bottom again this month.

German powerhouse Constantin Film and Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions have teamed to make a high-end drama series about the events surrounding the Nuremberg Trials.

Hard-Fi played an intimate warm-up show last night (September 29) ahead of their big reunion gigs in Manchester and London.The Staines band announced earlier this year that they would reform for a ‘Stars Of CCTV’ anniversary gig in London, which sold out in 10 minutes.Last night’s gig at Milton Keynes’ 150-capacity Craufurd Arms marked their first since 2014, acting as a warm-up before the main gigs.The band opened with ‘Stars of CCTV”s second track ‘Middle Eastern Holiday’, also playing ‘Gotta Reason’, ‘Tied Up Too Tight’ and ‘Cash Machine’ from the album.

EXCLUSIVE: Austin Hébert (Unbelievable), Jonah Wharton (The Rookie) and Hannah Love Lanier (A Black Lady’s Sketch Show) are the latest cast additions to Taylor Sheridan’s CIA drama series Lioness at Paramount+. They join previously announced series regulars Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Dave Annable, LaMonica Garrett and James Jordan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Asian streaming firm Viu is approaching profitability by staying its lane and sticking with the business principles that have made it a regional success story – Asian content, AVOD and SVOD models under one roof, and resistance to over-expansion. “The industry for streaming has matured very rapidly [in part due to COVID],” said CEO Janice Lee, speaking Wednesday at the APOS convention in Singapore. “But what makes Asia different is that Asia has not yet reached mature market status.” After some six years in business Viu is now EBITDA positive. “We always been focused on monetization. Our AVOD-SVOD mix remains the sustainable model,” said Lee, who also confirmed the company has been able to raise subscription prices in selected markets. The launch of advertising-supported models is now a direction being embraced by the sector giants Netflix and Disney.