Zack Van-Amburg Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Apple Original Films has dated the run-from-slavery thriller Emancipation for a December 2 theatrical opening, followed by a December 9 release on its Apple TV+ streaming site. This follows the film’s first showing in DC on Saturday, with star Will Smith and director Antoine Fuqua (who flew in from Italy, where he and Denzel Washington are shooting a third Equalizer film) discussed the fact-based film in a screening orchestrated by Apple and NAACP during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Legislative Conference.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ has axed its Uma Thurman-starring thriller series Suspicion after one season.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA has agreed to a last-minute call for federal mediation of its contract, but indicated it will not extend its deadline for deciding whether to go on strike beyond Wednesday at midnight. That would appear to leave relatively little time for a mediator to avert a strike, which could begin as soon as Thursday morning. In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the union emphasized that “time is running out” and made clear that relations between the two sides have become extremely strained. “The AMPTP has abused our trust and damaged the respect we have for them in this process,” the union said. “We will not be manipulated by this cynical ploy to engineer an extension when the companies have had more than enough time to make a fair deal.”

Apple has confirmed Deadline’s scoop on winning an all-night bidding battle for the John Carney-directed Flora and Son, as Apple’s Heads of Worldwide Video Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht and their head of features Matt Dentler burned the midnight oil to make the label’s biggest Sundance Film Festival deal since they acquired CODA in 2021. That film went on to establish Apple as the first streamer to win the Best Picture Oscar, with the film also winning Best Adapted Screenplay for director Sian Heder and Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur.

Chairman and CEO Frank Scherma of the Television Academy has named his six new appointees to the Executive Committee for 2023. 

Ricky Strauss starts Tuesday as Head of Apple TV+ Marketing. A 30-year veteran, Strauss spent more than nine years at Disney, most recently as president of content and marketing for Disney+, where he spearheaded the launch of that service and was president of programming for Hulu and Disney+.

Following a selective path that led to the first Oscar Best Picture for a streamer in CODA, Apple Original Films’ heads Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht’s 2022 offerings have broken records for the 3+ year old company.   

Better Call Saul star Rhea Seehorn is set to lead Vince Gilligan’s new TV series.The unnamed project will air on Apple TV+ and has been ordered for two seasons with Seahorn playing the lead, Deadline reports.Plot details remain under wraps, but the publication has described the forthcoming project as a “blended, grounded genre drama”. It was also compared to The Twilight Zone, and is said to be “set in our world while putting a tweak on it, bending reality and focusing on people and exploring the human condition in an unexpected, surprising way”.Seehorn played attorney Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul from 2015 to 2022, and she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance.“After 15 years, I figured it was time to take a break from writing antiheroes… and who’s more heroic than the brilliant Rhea Seehorn? It’s long past time she had her own show, and I feel lucky to get to work on it with her,” said Gilligan in a statement about the new project.“And what nice symmetry to be reunited with Zack Van Amburg, Jamie Erlicht and Chris Parnell! Jamie and Zack were the first two people to say yes to Breaking Bad all those years ago.

Apple TV+ has given a straight-to-series order to Vince Gilligan’s next show, which will star Rhea Seehorn, the streamer announced Thursday.The streaming service has ordered two seasons. Gilligan recently wrapped up executive producer duties on “Better Call Saul,” which Seehorn co-starred in alongside Bob Odenkirk.“After fifteen years, I figured it was time to take a break from writing antiheroes … and who’s more heroic than the brilliant Rhea Seehorn? It’s long past time she had her own show, and I feel lucky to get to work on it with her,” Gilligan said in a statement. “And what nice symmetry to be reunited with Zack Van Amburg, Jamie Erlicht and Chris Parnell! Jamie and Zack were the first two people to say yes to ‘Breaking Bad’ all those years ago.

Five Days at Memorial, the grim tale about the disastrous events that took place at a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina, finished its eight-episode run today on Apple TV. Here, Executive Producer Carlton Cuse (Locke & Key, Lost), who together with John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) adapted the series from the nonfiction book by Sheri Fink, explains what it was like to chronicle the story of healthcare professionals like Dr. Anna Pou (Vera Farmiga) and incident commander Susan Mulderick (Cherry Jones), who faced overwhelming odds to save patients at Memorial Medical Center.

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Van Amburg is leaving Apple after a four-year stint as Head of Video Marketing. He just announced his exit in a memo to staff.

EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Frost, a 15-year Sony TV veteran, is stepping down as President of Sony Pictures Television Studios, a post he has held for the past five years. According to sources, his departure was a mutual decision. With the TV studio coming off a banner year — hitting an all-time high of over 50 produced series and making waves at the 2021 Emmys nominations — I hear Frost felt it was time to leave and start a new chapter. Frost just shared his decision with his staff; Ravi Ahuja, Chairman, Global Television Studios, announced Frost’s departure in a company email. (You can read both in full at the bottom of the post.)

When Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg left Sony Pictures Television in 2017 to steer Apple’s film and TV fortunes, few doubted they would give the tech giant’s upstart content company a beachhead on the small screen. During their 12 years at Sony, they hatched hits like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and Rescue Me.

Troy Kotsur is operating on one hour of sleep, but he’s still smiling ear to ear. It’s Monday, the morning after he became the second deaf performer in Academy history to win an acting award at the Oscars (after his “CODA” co-star Marlee Matlin, who took home best actress in 1987 for “Children of a Lesser God”).

K.J. Yossman Tome Hiddleston and Claire Danes starrer “The Essex Serpent” has confirmed its release date.The series, based on Sarah Perry’s novel of the same name, will debut globally on Apple TV Plus on May 13.

 Tuesday. star Brett Goldstein just guest starred on the iconic children's program, in what he called «the best day» of his life.Goldstein, who plays the always-grouchy Roy Kent on the Apple TV+ series, took to Instagram to share snaps from the epic day, which included a cameo with his  counterpart, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, Big Bird and more.«Brett, how would you show the best day of your life using only photos…,» he wrote, kicking off his tribute to the long-running television series.«I finally found my way to Sesame Street (all you have to do is ask, through the medium of song) and it was more wonderful than I could have imagined. Everyone was so funny and brilliant and friendly and kind.

Frank Scherma, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, has tapped Channing Dungey, Chairman, Warner Bros. Television Group; and George Cheeks, President and CEO, CBS Entertainment; as new chair’s appointees to the Television Academy Executive Committee.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe Television Academy just added two more heavy hitters to its executive committee. Channing Dungey, the chairman of Warner Bros.

After spending the past five years as president of Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, Kevin Walsh is leaving for a multi-year deal with Apple TV+ to produce film and television for the streamer.

Apple has landed another big feature project, that being an Audrey Hepburn biopic which Oscar-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino will helm, with 2x Oscar nominee Rooney Mara set to play The Breakfast at Tiffany‘s legendary actress.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterIn a record-setting purchase, Apple Studios has emerged as the winner of “CODA,” the virtual Sundance sensation about a young hearing girl who grapples with breaking away from her deaf family.The Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht-led studio payed close to $25 million for the film, breaking last year’s recording setting “Palm Springs” sale at north of $22 million.As Variety previously reported, rapturous audience response and glowing reviews powered the 2021

Also Read: 'Ted Lasso' Renewed for Season 2 on Apple TV+“The Essex Serpent” will be produced for Apple TV+ by See-Saw Films, and is commissioned for Apple out of the U.K. by Apple’s Heads of Worldwide Video, Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, and Creative Director for Europe Worldwide Video, Jay Hunt.

Also Read: How John Mulaney Got Jake Gyllenhaal for 'The Sack Lunch Bunch' (Video)Gyllenhaal is producing along with his partner at Nine Stories, Riva Marker. BOOM! Studios’ Ross Richie, Stephen Christy and Adam Yoelin are also producing.

Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, FilmEXCLUSIVE: The largest film festival acquisition deal in film history is now closed. Apple Studios has acquired world rights to Emancipation, the film package with Antoine Fuqua directing Will Smith in a Willam N.