CEO Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Ben Croll Mediawan Rights, the distribution arm of the wider media group, manages scripted, unscripted, format and feature documentary sales, keying European content onto international airwaves. And if initially heritage titles, foreign-language fare and time-tested perennials made up much of the catalogue, the group’s expanding footprint and well-capitalized partnerships promise a new yield of premium fare developed in-house and marked by global ambitions.

Jamie Lang French distribution company UFO has secured the rights to American filmmaker Ryan J. Sloan’s New psychological thriller “Gazer,” which will world premiere at this year’s Directors’ Fortnight on May 22. Set in New Jersey and starring Sloan’s partner Ariella Mastroianni, “Gazer” is the story of a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria.

Leading producer Martin Moszkowicz, who recently moved away from his role as CEO of German giant Constantin to focus on producing, was honored with the Carl Laemmle Producer Award in Laupheim for his multifaceted and extensive work as a filmmaker and producer. The veteran producer and exec has been behind major projects such as Monster Hunter, Fack Ju Goëth 1-3, Resident Evil and more recently, the Nibelungen adaptation of Hagen and Those About To Die. 

Emma Stone is set to team up with Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos again on the upcoming film Bugonia.Stone and Lanthimos are currently in Cannes to attend the premiere of another new collaboration, Kinds of Kindness, where they have announced their next project.Bugonia will be the pair’s fifth combination, following on from The Favourite, the short film Bleat, Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness. It is set to co-star Jesse Plemons, who also appears in Kinds of Kindness, which gets a UK release on June 28.Bugonia will be based on a 2003 sci-fi film from South Korea named Save The Green Planet!, and it will tell the story of a group of conspiracy theorists who kidnap a CEO that they believe is trying to destroy the Earth.Earlier this year, Stone picked up her second Oscar for Poor Things, following on from her success for La La Land in 2017.Promoting the film, Stone went out of her way to respond to those who suggested that it was sexist and exploitative.

Michaela Zee Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator and veteran political adviser who worked on several Republican presidential campaigns, has died. She was 58. Stewart’s body was found outdoors in a northern Virginia neighborhood early Saturday morning, CNN reported.

Alice Stewart, a CNN political commentator who worked on several GOP presidential campaigns, has died at 58.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Yorgos Lanthimos can’t stop (won’t stop!) working with Oscar winner Emma Stone, casting the actress once again as leading lady for his next project “Bugonia.” The drama will also star Jesse Plemons who, along with Stone, appears in Lanthimos’ forthcoming “Kinds of Kindness.” That three-chapter feature just premiered on Friday at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “Bugonia” follows two conspiracy-obsessed young men who kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth. The script is from heat-seeking “Succession” and “The Menu” writer Will Tracy.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Martin Moszkowicz, who recently segued from being CEO of leading German film and TV company Constantin Film to a producing role at the company, has been honored with the Carl Laemmle Producer Award. The award, presented by the Alliance of German Producers – Film & Television e.V.

Christopher Vourlias South Africa’s Known Associates Group (KAG) is teaming up with Canada’s Inner City Films (ICF) and Circle Blue Entertainment (CBE) to launch a new venture that will produce African feature films and TV series for audiences around the world, the companies announced Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival. With offices in Johannesburg, Toronto and Los Angeles, the KIC Group will build on the track records of the three pioneering companies while also developing innovative financing models and capitalizing on an existing co-production treaty between their respective countries.

Carolyn Giardina There’s been plenty of concern about the potential for AI to replace artists and human creativity, but during his keynote at the May 16 AI On The Lot event in downtown Los Angeles, Renard Jenkins politely reminded attendees that AI could affect most any job, including those of CFOs to CEOs. “I would simply suggest that if you give me 10 years of your financial performances [and additional data] I can design a CFO,” Jenkins, who is president and CEO of software development and consulting firm I2A2, said. “I can build an algorithm that can make Wall Street happier than a CEO [could].” But the exec, who is also president of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and a Warner Bros.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Julia Phelps, Paramount Global‘s executive VP and chief communications and corporate marketing officer, is exiting after almost 20 years with the company and predecessor Viacom. Phelps had long worked with Bob Bakish, who was ousted as CEO of the company last month and replaced by a three-exec committee. Phelps, in a memo to her team Friday, said she will leave Paramount at the end of May.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer It’s something out of a movie, the way a young Donna Langley first discovered the magic of film. The chairman of NBCU studio group and chief content officer was in her late teens, broadening her horizons in Paris away from her upbringing on the tiny Isle of Wight off the English Channel. It was there she saw films like Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “Diva,” Luc Besson’s “Le Grand Bleu” and retrospectives on the works of auteurs like Jean-Luc Godard.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor BuzzFeed is changing the way it compensates founder and CEO Jonah Peretti, who will now receive most of his pay package in stock, in addition to introducing new incentives for other top execs — a bid to persuade shareholders that the senior leaders will be better incentivized to turn things around at the struggling digital media company. In an SEC filing Friday, BuzzFeed said Peretti’s annual base salary was immediately reduced from $325,000 to $115,000, “which approximates the median employee compensation for BuzzFeed and its peers.” That will also reduce the annual cash bonus for which Peretti is eligible (the target amount of which remains 100% of his salary).

It’s been 31 years since Screen Ireland (formerly the Irish Film Board) was re-established by the now President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins. In those years, the government has continued to give strong support to the screen sectors, with the country offering an attractive 32% tax incentive on eligible spend for film and television production. Last year, the country’s government increased its section 481 tax incentive cap on eligible expenditure from €70 million to €125 million in a move to attract larger scale productions.  

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Reflecting the breadth of Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton‘s vast network and friendships, an impressive roster of film industry players flocked to celebrate him as he received Variety‘s International Visionary Award at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. Attendees included CAA’s co-chairman and CEO Bryan Lourd, who said a few words about Capton on stage, as well as AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford, SPC’s Tom Bernard, Netflix’s Larry Tanz and Pauline Dauvin, and Mediawan executives including Elisabeth d’Arvieu and Justine Planchon.

Manchester United investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the richest person in North West, according to this year’s edition of The Sunday Times Rich List, published today (Friday) online. That's despite the newspaper reporting that he has lost more than £6 billion this year.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is coming eventually!

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Grand Theft Auto 6″ has been slated for a fall 2025 release by Rockstar Games. The news was announced Thursday when Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive reported its fourth-quarter and full fiscal year 2024 earnings, revealing the company posted a $2.9 billion loss for the Jan. 1-March 31 period.

Katcy Stephan Rock Soul Productions, the entertainment company formed by CEO Fantasia Barrino Taylor and president Yvonne McNair, is bolstering its ranks. It’s tapped Teddy Riley for management, music production for film/TV soundtrack scoring and producing on Broadway. It has also partnered with Adam Blackstone for musical supervision, creative direction and development for scripted and non-scripted content, and Dennis Reed for management, music direction, songwriting, and vocal coaching.

In July of 2023, recently returned Disney CEO Bob Iger shocked the media industry by indicating he might be open to divesting the company’s declining  linear assets. By last fall, he’d changed his mind, declaring them not for sale. On interviews and earnings calls since, he’s explained why — most recently at the MoffettNathanson media conference, and in the midst of annual upfront presentations to advertisers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The joint venture of Disney/ESPN, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery to package together a sports streaming bundle has a name — Venu Sports.

Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton into France’s Legion of Honor last October, calling the exec “the ultimate French success story.” In a country rarely known to promote social mobility, Capton-esque career trajectories are scarce. A self-made entrepreneur born into a middle-class Normandy family, Capton began his professional life as a teen with an entry-level internship, eschewing elite universities, making the exec a rare bird among France’s top media execs.

RedBird IMI has completed its £1.15B ($1.45B) takeover of The Traitors maker All3Media.

Imax has committed screens around the world to show Francis Ford Coppola‘s magnum opus “Megalopolis,” the company’s CEO Richard Gelfond confirmed at a Cannes Film Festival event on Thursday. The film’s trailer, which debuted on Tuesday, said that “Megalopolis” would be coming to Imax theaters this year — but it was not specified that the release would be global. The run-up to the premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed epic at Cannes on Friday has been filled with anticipation and controversy, partly because “Megalopolis” has yet to secure a U.S.

Several stars have left Hollywood behind for normal jobs despite having successful movie or TV careers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube‘s message to Madison Avenue: The video giant isn’t like traditional TV — it’s bigger, with literally billions of viewers, and better at targeting relevant audiences. At its annual Brandcast event, held Wednesday during the TV biz’s upfronts week, YouTube drilled home massive scale. On average, viewers watch more than 1 billion hours of content on TV screens daily.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan kicked off the company’s 13th annual Brandcast by telling advertisers the video platform is “at the forefront of this new era of entertainment.”

Selome Hailu “3 Body Problem” has been renewed for at least one more season at Netflix — the streamer says that the number of seasons and episodes will be announced at a later date. It appears that the greenlight will take the series to its finale, as creators David Benioff, D.B.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney CEO Bob Iger said that as the traditional pay-TV universe continues to shrink, the company is cutting its investment in content for linear TV networks while also amortizing that expenditure across streaming platforms. The strategy is “to reduce pretty dramatically our investment in content specifically aimed in those traditional networks,” Iger said Wednesday at MoffettNathanson’s 2024 Media, Internet and Communications Conference in New York.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery kept up with TV upfronts week’s biggest trend at their presentation out of The Theater at Madison Square Garden Tuesday: Promoting not just its TV slate as a prime ad-buying opportunity — but also its film franchises. First up from CEO David Zaslav’s team, WB Discovery revenue and strategy chief Bruce Campbell addressed the Madison Avenue crowd following a sizzle featuring top WBD IP and brands across film and TV series.