‘Wednesday’ Creators & ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Scribes Alfred Gough & Miles Millar Ink First-Look Deal With Sony Pictures

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Veteran unscripted producer Jeff Collins (“Dance Moms”) has sealed an overall deal with Sony Pictures Television – Nonfiction. Under the pact, Collins and his newly launched Resilient Content shingle will focus on creating unscripted programming and developing formats for broadcast, cable and streaming.

Netflix‘s upcoming comedy series from Erin Foster, starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, has gotten a title, release date and a first-look photo. FKA Untitled Erin Foster Show, the series is now titled Nobody Wants This. It’s slated to premiere on the streamer September 26. You can see a first-look photo of Bell and Brody above. Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria announced the news Wednesday during the streamer’s Upfront presentation in New York City.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Leading Spanish-language streaming service, ViX, has inked a first-look pact with Emmy-nominated Mexican actor-producer Juanpa Zurita and ARCO Entertainment Media, the shingle he co-founded in 2022 with Brenda Tubilla. The two-year deal, announced May 14 at TelevisaUnivision‘s 2024-25 Upfront presentation, grants ViX first-look rights to Zurita’s upcoming projects, which would include Spanish-language series and feature films.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has seen operating income fall nearly 10% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sony Group Corporation saw its sales climb by 19% to JPY13.0 trillion in its financial year to March 2024, boosted by a sharp depreciation of the Japanese currency. Net profits for the group were down 3% to JPY971 billion. It was a similar scenario at Sony’s ‘pictures division,’ which comprises theatrical film, TV networks and television content production.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox is tripling down on The Floor.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The quiz series “The Floor” has been renewed for Seasons 2 and 3 at Fox, with host Rob Lowe entering into an unscripted first-look deal with the network. “Fans loved the first season of ‘The Floor’ so much that we’ve ordered two more seasons of this breakthrough game show with plans already underway to make our epic battle of the brains even bigger and bolder,” said Michael Thorn, president of the Fox Television Network. “It’s also been a massive win to have a huge star like Rob Lowe as our host, and both our viewers and competitors can’t wait to see him back in action.” Under Lowe’s new deal, he will develop new unscripted series for Fox that would be produced by the network’s unscripted studio, Fox Alternative Entertainment.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Sony Pictures Entertainment has completed state-of-the-art upgrades to its mix stages. Among the soundstages that underwent substantial improvements are the Cary Grant, William Holden, Kim Novak, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn and Jimmy Stewart theaters, as well as Dub Stage 17.

Wednesday season two.The second season of the supernatural mystery series, which topped Netflix viewership charts as the most popular TV show of all time on the platform, is underway as production has reportedly commenced in Ireland.The first instalment of The Addams Family spin-off starred Jenna Ortega in the lead, along with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Christina Ricci and Game Of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie.Now, a whole host of guest stars have been confirmed for the second season, which is set for a spring 2025 release.Netflix made the announcement through a teaser trailer, which featured the disembodied hand character, Thing, delivering scripts to the doors of various actors, revealing the characters they will be playing.Among the new cast are Steve Buscemi, Billie Piper, Joanna Lumley and Thandie Newton. Not featured in the video but included in the full list of guest stars is original The Addams Family star Christopher Lloyd, whose role is currently unconfirmed.However, Lloyd, who is also well-known for playing Dr.

Netflix has revealed the main cast and guest stars for the upcoming second season of hit supernatural mystery Wednesday, headlined by Jenna Ortega, which has started production in Ireland.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran Sony Pictures Television (SPT) executive Steve Kent is leaving his role to focus solely on The Young and the Restless.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In the latest twist in Paramount Global‘s M&A saga, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management reportedly have made a bid to take Paramount private with an all-cash buyout offer of $26 billion. Sony and private-equity giant Apollo submitted an offer letter Wednesday to Paramount Global, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The report comes as Paramount Global board’s special committee established to consider M&A proposals is evaluating the best and final offer from Skydance Media to merge Paramount and Skydance, while keeping Paramount Global public.

EXCLUSIVE: Wednesday and Elvis producer Gail Berman, founder and CEO of The Jackal Group, has signed a three-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. Under the pact, which starts today, the industry veteran will develop and produce scripted series for cable and streaming platforms.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has signed a one-year deal that is a mix of exclusive and non-exclusive library titles for the Pakistan market with streamer Begin. Backed by venture accelerator Z2C Limited, Begin is an SVOD platform that serves the Southwest Asian region, with licensed deals in live sports and entertainment.

Sony’s SVP of Corporate Communications for the Motion Picture Group, Tahra Grant, has been upped to EVP, Chief Communcations Officer for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Village Roadshow Entertainment Group is staying in business with Kevin Garnett.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has hired Jill Ratner as their EVP and General Counsel, overseeing all of the studio’s legal functions, compliance and labor relations, SPE music affairs, government/external matters, and corporate social responsibility teams. 

William Earl Variety and Sony Pictures Television will host an invite-only FYC Showcase in Los Angeles on May 7 featuring activations and three panel conversations with creatives from “Gen V,” “For All Mankind,” “Justified: City Primeval,” “Platonic,” “Twisted Metal,” “Outlander” and “The Wheel of Time.” All conversations will be moderated by a Variety editor and available on Variety.com following the event. Programming includes: Building a Television Universe A conversation between showrunners and key below-the-line talent on how to successfully build a universe in the competitive television landscape.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney deputy general counsel Jill Ratner has exited the Mouse House to join Sony Pictures Entertainment as executive vice president and general counsel. Beginning in her new role May 28, Ratner will be overseeing all SPE’s legal functions, compliance and labor relations, SPE music affairs, government/external affairs and corporate social responsibility teams. She will report directly to CEO Tony Vinciquerra.

EXCLUSIVE: The new 28 Years Later trilogy from director Danny Boyle and Sony Pictures is gaining momentum, and some serious star power. Sources tell Deadline that Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes have boarded the first pic, a sequel to the original 28 Days Later.