Erik Feig Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Katy Mixon (American Housewife), Christopher Gorham (Covert Affairs), Cree Cicchino (And Just Like That…) and Connor Kalopsis (The Grinder) are set as leads in Unplanned in Akron, CBS’ multi-camera comedy pilot from Schuyler Helford (Call Me Kat), Erik Feig’s Picturestart and CBS Studios.

EXCLUSIVE: NBA Hall of Famer Chris Webber’s memoir “By God’s Grace” is being developed into a TV series by Picturestart ahead of the book’s release on November 15. The TV series is currently being shopped to networks and streamers.

Isla Fisher (Wolf Like Me) has signed on to star alongside Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Will Forte and Randall Park in Universal’s animated comedy Strays, Deadline can confirm.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount+ is rounding out its supporting cast for the upcoming Grease prequel series Rise of the Pink Ladies, adding Charlotte Kavanagh (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist), Josette Halpert (The Other Kingdom), Nicholas McDonough, Maximo Weber Salas and Alexis Sides. Production is underway in Vancouver.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Call Me Kat” actress Schuyler Helford’s teen-parenting comedy “Unplanned in Akron” has received a pilot order at CBS.Written by Helford with Emily Wilson (“The Conners”) supervising, the multi-cam project follows two teenagers navigating parenthood in the best way they know how. With a little help from their friends and parents, they’ll learn that mistakes in life don’t have to derail your life – that no matter what age you are, taking care of a child is no joke – but sometimes, you just gotta laugh (or cry) your way through it.Helford is co-executive producing the potential series.

Universal will open their animated dog comedy Strays on Friday, June 9, 2023. The studio already had dibs on the releases date; a weekend they’re sharing with Paramount’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. 

EXCLUSIVE: When Calls the Heart‘s Chris McNally has landed heavily recurring roles on two series — Paramount+’s upcoming Grease prequel Rise of the Pink Ladies, and season 2 of Netflix’s Firefly Lane, opposite Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke.

EXCLUSIVE: Erik Feig’s Picturestart and Patrick Wachsberger’s Picture Perfect Federation have set Luce and Cloverfield Paradox filmmaker Julius Onah to direct their college admissions thriller Bad Genius, which is gearing up for a summer shoot.

Jackie Hoffman as Asst. Principal McGee. “We are thrilled to unveil our new original series that will introduce an incredible cast of young stars in the making and electrifying musical numbers you will fall in love with,” said Nicole Clemens, President, Paramount Television Studios & Paramount+ Original Scripted Series.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterParamount Plus has announced the cast for the upcoming series “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.”The musical series takes place four years before the original “Grease” in 1954. Before rock ‘n’ roll ruled, before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school, four fed-up outcasts dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever.The cast includes: Marisa Davila as Jane, Cheyenne Isabel Wells as Olivia, Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia, Tricia Fukuhara as Nancy, Shanel Bailey as Hazel, Madison Thompson as Susan, Johnathan Nieves as Richie, Jason Schmidt as Buddy, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper as Wally and Jackie Hoffman as Asst. Principal McGee.

Paramount+ has announced its cast for Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, as principal photography gets underway in Vancouver.

The deals keep coming at the 2022 Virtual Sundance Film Festival. MUBI closed the docu Free Chol Soo Lee, including North America, and Warner Bros is negotiating a near $7 million WW rights deal for the Tig Notaro/Stephanie Allynne film Am I Ok? to place the film on HBO Max. The Lauren Pomerantz-scripted film stars Dakota Johnson, Sonoya Mizuno, Jermaine Fowler, Molly Gordon, June Diane Raphael, and Sean Hayes.

Apple has closed the biggest deal of the 2022 Virtual Sundance Film Festival, securing worldwide rights to the Cooper Raiff-directed Cha Cha Real Smooth for around $15 million. The streamer has been the front runner for the picture since it premiered January 23 in the US Dramatic Competition category.

EXCLUSIVE: Cooper Raiff can’t seem to catch a break from Covid. A hyphenate who comes into Sundance with one of the buzziest acquisitions titles in Cha Cha Real Smooth, Raiff is coming off the debut Shithouse — it’s more thoughtful than it sounds — that won the Grand Jury Prize at 2020 SXSW. Unfortunately, it was also the first major festival forced to cancel in-person events by Austin when Covid exploded. Raiff has made another charming confused young man comes of age film that he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. And now has run smack into Covid Delta’s sequel, Omicron. Which means he’ll keep intact his festival streak of being unable to experience his film playing in a crowded theater, a disadvantage since he makes crowd-pleasing films. The film, which stars Raiff, Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann, Brad Garrett, Vanessa Burghardt and Evan Assante, makes its virtual Sundance debut tomorrow. The hope is that by the time the film gets released, Raiff’s work can be discovered in a theater. “Cooper’s magic is that his vision remained consistent, only deeper because of his interactions with the actors,” said producer Erik Feig, whose Picturehouse co-financed the film with Endeavor Content. “Cooper is a true humanist fully of empathy that is infused in every frame of this film.”

Todd Gilchrist After almost two years of movie theaters being partially or completely closed, streaming services are poised to have their biggest moment yet. The 2022 Sundance Film Festival is one of the first major festivals where a steadily growing number of services can test their muscle, and their money, not just against traditional distribution methods themselves.“Everyone has gotten incredibly used to the idea of watching movies that are first-run on streaming without any kind of stigma,” Picturestart founder and CEO Erik Feig says.

EXCLUSIVE: CBS is developing Unplanned In Akron, a multi-camera comedy from Picturestart and CBS Studios.

EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video has opted not to order a second season of I Know What You Did Last Summer, a modern take on the 1973 novel by Lois Duncan and the 1997 film adaptation.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterThere are infinite anecdotes about what happened to our best-laid plans when the coronavirus hit.

Former Imagine Entertainment executive Samie Kim Falvey will become the new president of Picturestart, the company announced on Tuesday.

Erik Feig’s Picturestart has appointed longtime TV executive Samie Kim Falvey as President. Falvey joins from Imagine Entertainment where she spent nearly four years as President and, most recently, Chairman of Television.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterVeteran entertainment executive Samie Kim Falvey has been named president of Picturestart.Falvey joins the upstart production company where she will oversee all scripted and unscripted efforts in content across all film, television, audio and print media.

is written by Sara Goodman who executive produces alongside Original Film’s Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty, Erik Feig, Peter Guber, Atomic Monster’s James Wan, Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett, Craig William Macneill and Shay Hatten.

EXCLUSIVE: Picturestart, the production company set up by former Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-president Erik Feig, is developing a series adaptation of Maggie Shipstead’s novel Great Circle.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix’s adaptation of Jessica Knoll’s novel Luckiest Girl Alive starring Mila Kunis has rounded out its cast, adding Finn Wittrock, Scoot McNairy, Chiara Aurelia, Thomas Barbusca, Justine Lupe, Dalmar Abuzeid, Alex Barone, Carson MacCormac Jennifer Beals and Connie Britton.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterUniversal Pictures has preemptively nabbed a live action project from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, to be produced with Erik Feig’s Picturestart.Titled “Strays,” the film is an adult comedy and original pitch from writer Dan Perrault (“American Vandal”), about an abandoned dog who teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner.The project will be directed by Josh Greenbaum, who just made his narrative directorial debut with Kristen Wiig and Annie

Coming off of its Netflix family holiday movie Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, John Legend, Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius’ Get Lifted Film Co. is partnering with Erik Feig’s youth-focused production company Picturestart on a new joint venture.

Denise Petski Senior Managing EditorEXCLUSIVE: Erik Feig’s Picturestart is making its first foray into animation, acquiring the rights to Nick Drnaso’s graphic novel Beverly to develop as an animated series.