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In the case of a troubled TV show, few things are more powerful than a passionate (read: loud) fan base. Fandom fervor can often be the one thing standing between a series and outright cancellation, even if a renewal isn't immediate.

So it was for "Warrior Nun," a Netflix Original based on the American manga "Warrior Nun Areala." The series follows Ava (Alba Baptista), a young girl who's accidentally resurrected by an ancient Catholic relic and later joins a secret order of... well, warrior nuns. It was something of a cult hit, attracting fans who were hungry for queer representation and general female badassery on screen. Their love for "Warrior Nun" kept the series alive: the fans campaigned hard for another season of the series, and Netflix eventually obliged. Unfortunately, that same strategy wouldn't work for season 2.

"Warrior Nun" returned in November 2022, but its second season failed to meet Netflix's shrewd viewership standards.

Exclusive: Sffilm’s prestigious Doc Stories is set to welcome a slew of Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmakers to its 10th anniversary event next month, along with industry heavyweights Keri Putnam, Laura Kim, Carrie Lozano, and Justine Nagan.

The documentary festival, which runs from October 17-20 in San Francisco, unveiled its full lineup this morning, highlighted by new work from Kevin Macdonald, Ben Proudfoot, Raoul Peck, Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, and Pedro Kos, as well as a classic from Amy Berg about a singer who stunned San Francisco with her talent more than 50 years ago. [Scroll for the full program]

Macdonald opens the festival with One to One: John and Yoko, co-directed by Sam Rice-Edwards, “which chronicles John and Yoko’s musical, personal, artistic, social, and political world set against the backdrop of a turbulent era in American history.”

The closing night film belongs to Suburban Fury,...

The 2024 edition of Sffilm Doc Stories is celebrating a milestone year as the festival toasts its 10th anniversary.

This year’s four-day program will take place from October 17 through 20, and open with Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards’ “One to One: John & Yoko,” about John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 18 months living in the U.S.

The festival will close out with a full circle moment, marking the premiere of Robinson Devor’s “Suburban Fury,” which was funded in part by a 2012 Sffilm Rainin Grant. “Suburban Fury” tells the story of Sara Jane Moore, who attempted to shoot President Gerald Ford on a crowded sidewalk in San Francisco’s Union Square in September of 1975.

The 2024 Sffilm Doc Stories lineup includes 10 features, two shorts programs, two filmmaking and industry talks, and a documentary filmmaking workshop for teens.

The Doc Stories weekend will kick off with a free, retrospective screening of Amy Berg...

Drake & Josh star Drake Bell said in a new interview that his three-year-old son helped inspire him to vocalize the alleged sexual abuse he suffered as a child star. Bell has made headlines in recent months as the principal subject of the five-part docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, where Nickelodeon crew members, child actors, and parents detail a kids network rife with misconduct, discrimination, and abuse. In an interview that aired on Today Monday, he decided to come forward once his mental health took a dive.

Nearly a month after Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech reverberated across Hollywood and caused a wave of controversy, 455 Jewish creatives (and counting) have signed a letter in a show of support.

“We were alarmed to see some of our colleagues in the industry mischaracterize and denounce his remarks. Their attacks on Glazer are a dangerous distraction from Israel’s escalating military campaign which has already killed over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation,” reads the letter, published amid the continued conflict in the Middle East. “We grieve for all those who have been killed in Palestine and Israel over too many decades, including the 1200 Israelis killed in the October 7 Hamas attacks and the 253 hostages taken.”

The letter is signed by a mix of actors, writers, producers, filmmakers and other creatives. Among those backing Glazer are Joker star Joaquin Phoenix; Killer Films vet Pamela Koffler...

Update: More than 300 Jewish creatives — including eight-time Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, “SNL” star Sarah Sherman, actor and documentarian Alex Winter and “Seinfeld” writer Larry Charles — have added their names to the list of signatories of an open letter in support of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech.

The number of signees now sits at 492, having more than tripled since Variety first published the April 5 letter, which criticized the attacks on Glazer for being a “dangerous distraction” from the mounting death toll in Gaza while also contributing to the “suppression of free speech and dissent.”

New additions also include Oscar-winning “Anatomy of a Fall” co-writer Arthur Harari, veteran U.K. producer and Oscar winner Jeremy Thomas, “Girls” co-showrunner and co-writer Jenni Konner and “The Hunger Games” writer and director and four-time Oscar nominee Gary Ross. Many members of the Israeli film community have also signed the open letter, including Oren Moverman, Nadav Lapid,...

Miriam Margolyes has called on all Jews “to shout, beg, scream for a ceasefire” in Gaza as the Palestinian territory continues to deal with rising death tolls and, according to aid agency Unrwa USA, is facing a “man-made famine.”

The veteran British-Australian actress and activist, who is best known for starring as Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film franchise, released a video on Saturday via the Jewish Council of Australia, in which she said Israel’s prosecution of its war in Gaza has left her “so ashamed of Israel.”

She added, “To me, it seems as if Hitler has won. He’s changed us Jews from being compassionate and caring and do unto others as you would have them do unto you into this vicious, genocidal nationalist nation, pursuing and killing women and children.”

Margolyes said that she condemned Hamas’ actions. On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas launched a terrorist...

In the weeks since the 2024 Academy Awards, figures throughout Hollywood have continued to declare their support for director Jonathan Glazer. While accepting the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for The Zone of Interest, a film that centers on the Holocaust, the Jewish director criticized the dehumanization of “victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza.”

The most recent show of support comes from an open letter signed by more than 150 Jewish creatives, including Joaquin Phoenix, Elliott Gould, Ilana Glazer, Chloe Fineman, Todd Haynes,...

Exclusive: Longtime Industry Entertainment managers Adam Levine, Brandy Rivers and Michael Hepburn have left to start a new management/production company that they have named Amplified. The trio, who come from talent and lit (Rivers) backgrounds, are bringing all of their clients to the new venture.

Levine spent 12 years in the talent department at Industry having previously co-run his own management firm Levine Okwu Erickson. His clients include Scott Grimes, Jake Borelli (Grey’s Anatomy), Sara Waisglass (Ginny and Georgia), Casey Cott (Riverdale), Spencer MacPherson, Melissa O’Neil (The Rookie), Tori Anderson (NCIS: Hawai’i), Floriana Lima (A Million Little Things), Sarah Bock (Severance), Evan Ellison (Bonneville), Chelsea Clark (Ginny and Georgia) and Nesta Cooper.

Rivers did stints in production and development at Bruckheimer Television and Summit Entertainment before switching to representation as an agent at ICM and Gersh and...

Before Nickelodeon showrunner Dan Schneider parted ways with the slime-covered network in 2018, Schneider served as the face of the network. He spearheaded several successful tween shows like The Amanda Show, starring Amanda Bynes, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 (starring Jamie Lynn Spears), iCarly, and Victorious. Despite the incredible success of the tween-angst comedies, a new docuseries has revealed the stark reality behind the scenes within Schneider-affiliated shows. In the four-part docuseries, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Nickelodeon crew members, child actors, and parents detail a toxic work environment...

Investigation Discovery’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV has come up with a 4-episode long documentary detailing the workplace culture of Nickelodeon from the 1990s, and early 2000s. In the episodes that are already out, the documentary has listed a number of actors and writers, who came forward with details on how they were treated working at Nickelodeon, and especially under executive producer, Dan Schneider.

Dan Schneider (Image via YouTube)

Dan Schneider also made headlines a few years back after a ViacomCBS investigation against him. Though it did not find any evidence of s*xual misconduct, it did conclude that Schneider was verbally abusive on set. This led to him parting ways with Nickelodeon back in 2018. And now, with the docuseries opening all the hidden locks, Schneider’s ex-assistant has made her own stance in the whole debate public.

Dan Schneider’s Former Assistant Calls Him an A*shole

Amy Berg,...

Following the release of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, a Jack Ryan producer has shared her experience on working with the Nickelodeon hitmaker Dan Schneider.

Berg, who served as Schneider’s assistant for less than a year, called the Nickelodeon writer and producer a “fucking asshole” and “psychological tormentor” on Monday in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. Berg alleges Schneider brought on her “panic attacks” and led her to develop a “significant heart arrhythmia,” or irregular heartbeat.

“I eventually had surgery to [mostly] correct the issue,...

An ex-Nickelodeon writer and former assistant to Dan Schneider is adding to the toxic workplace claims that are being leveled against the man once dubbed “the Willy Wonka of television” by sharing that he was her “psychological tormentor” and allegedly caused her to have significant health issues.

Amy Berg, who wrote for Nick hits Kenan & Kel and All That, tweeted a brief account on Monday of her experience working for Schneider. Her post comes after the first half of the docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV debuted on Investigation Discovery and Max Sunday night, presenting tales of abuse, sexism, racism and accusations of inappropriate behavior towards underage actors who worked on Schneider’s Nickelodeon series.

In her post, Berg placed the blame for her heart arrhythmia on the star producer behind hits like The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Zoey 101 and iCarly, and...

As accusations of abuse against Nickelodeon producer Dan Schneider continue to arise from the new docuseries “Quiet on Set,” his former assistant Amy Berg recounted her stress-inducing experience working under whom she called a “psychological tormenter.”

Berg, who works as a producer and TV writer on shows like “Law & Order: Organized Crime” and “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” revealed Sunday night on social media that her “very first” job was working as Schneider’s assistant, though she noted she wasn’t aware of any “physically inappropriate behavior” from the man in question.

However, Berg called Schneider a “f–king asshole” and “a psychological tormenter” during the one year she worked under him, detailing the subsequent years of panic attacks she faced after working for him.

“He introduced me to panic attacks and the stress of working for him caused me to develop a significant heart arrhythmia,” Berg wrote. “I...

TV producer Dan Schneider has issued a new response to an Investigation Discovery docuseries that uncovers the toxic and dangerous culture on the sets of his Nickelodeon children’s shows in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The first two installments that dropped Sunday were meant to reveal “an insidious environment rife with allegations of abuse, sexism, racism, and inappropriate dynamics with its underage stars and crew,” according to ID.

The next two episodes air tonight.

“Dan expected and asked a lot from his teams,” according to a statement obtained by Deadline. “They worked long hours and consistently made successful shows. In the challenges of production, Dan could get frustrated at times, and he understands why some employees found that intimidating or stressful. In a career spanning 30+ years, Dan worked with thousands of people, many of whom still tell him how much they enjoyed and appreciated working on his shows.

Some did it out of a sense of obligation. Some did it out of fear of being idle. Some leaned on maternal instinct, and some acted purely out of anger. Whatever the motivation, female writers and showrunners stepped up in record numbers to serve as strike captains during the Writers Guild of America’s five-month contract battle.

“Why did this strike look different? The people at the forefront of it really have been a lot of marginalized writers — writers of color, women and queer writers,” says Caroline Renard, an early career writer-director who was a Disney-based strike captain. She came to the role with plenty of relevant experience as an activist and organizer.

“I’m loud. I know how to talk, and I know how to organize,” she says.

The WGA enlisted an estimated 365 strike captains during the 148-day action that began on May 2, relying on them to fulfill a...

Welcome to the premiere episode of Doc Talk, our new podcast hosted by Oscar-winning writer-director John Ridley and Deadline’s documentary editor Matt Carey. We’re kicking off with a deep dive into a signature power of documentary: The capacity to right a grave wrong in the criminal justice system by freeing a wrongfully convicted prisoner. Only a handful of major nonfiction filmmakers has achieved this extraordinary feat, springing men and women who faced Death Row or life sentences.

We talk with Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line), Joe Berlinger (the Paradise Lost trilogy), Amy Berg (The Case Against Adnan Syed and West of Memphis), and Deborah Esquenazi (Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four).

Morris shares his theory of why Randall Dale Adams — the man who almost certainly would have been put to death by the state of Texas if not for The Thin Blue Line — turned around and sued him.

One picketer said it best: “The longer this strike goes, the more detailed these signs get.”

Judging by some of those Simpsons-themed placards, he’s not wrong. But there have also been lots of not-so-veiled references to some of the ongoing strike coverage. (Don’t recognize the reference to Carol Lombardini and The Cheesecake Factory? Read this story. Can’t remember the exact quote about putting people out of their homes? That notorious line originated here.)

Some of the signs also just show signs of fatigue. “I’m gonna be honest I’m running out of clever sign memes,” said one. “Cause, like, seriously?”

It’s now day 120 of the WGA strike and Day 47 of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Here’s what some picketers have to say these days about walking the line.

120 pic.twitter.com/ZqrnJcR8Wg

— Mike Royce (@MikeRoyce) August 29, 2023

Bad logistics as I attended the kid-friendly picket...

Warrior Nun is being resurrected. The fantasy drama series, which was canceled by Netflix after two seasons, is set to return as a trilogy of feature films, executive producer Dean English revealed on Tuesday.

Late last month, series creator Simon Barry credited an intense fan campaign to revive the show after its cancellation: “Today I’m happy to officially report that because of your combined voices, passion and amazing efforts — Warrior Nun will return and is going to be more Epic than you could imagine,” Barry tweeted on June 28. “More details to come! Soon! Thank you!!” (Writer and consulting producer Amy Berg corroborated Barry’s news.)

The “more details” part, however, took some time to come together. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter shortly after Barry’s tweet that the resurrection of Warrior Nun wouldn’t happen at its former home, Netflix. Talks with the show’s rights holders, English’s...

There seems to be great news for another show that was canceled early on in its run: Warrior Nun, which premiered in 2020 on Netflix and ran two seasons before it was axed in December 2022. The news came from showrunner Simon Barry himself, on Twitter. “Today I’m happy to officially report that because of your combined voices, passion and amazing efforts – #WarriorNun will return and is going to be more Epic than you could imagine. More details to come! Soon! Thank-you!! #SaveWarriorNun #WarriorNunSaved,” Barry wrote on Twitter, along with emojis for a heart and clapper board. Added writer Amy Berg, “For all those who are asking, this is real. Simon wasn’t hacked.” Today I’m happy to officially report that because of your combined voices, passion and amazing efforts – #WarriorNun will return and is going to be more Epic than you could imagine. More details to come! Soon! Thank-you!

Fans of Netflix’s “Warrior Nun” have finally gotten what they wanted, it appears. After months of dedicated campaigning, series showrunner Simon Barry tweeted that the fantasy drama would be returning.

“Today I’m happy to officially report that because of your combined voices, passion and amazing efforts – #WarriorNun will return and is going to be more Epic than you could imagine,” Barry’s tweet read. He also teased that more details would be coming.

Amy Berg, who wrote three episodes of the series, confirmed Barry’s news, telling her followers, “Barry wasn’t hacked.”

Today I’m happy to officially report that because of your combined voices, passion and amazing efforts – #WarriorNun will return and is going to be more Epic than you could imagine. More details to come! Soon! Thank-you!! #SaveWarriorNun #WarriorNunSaved pic.twitter.com/yuTbRR2L3q

— Simon Barry – legacy blue check (@SimonDavisBarry) June 28, 2023

Netflix did not...

What was it that Homer once said? “Lisa, if you don’t like your job you don’t strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That’s the American way.”

But that’s not the WGA way. So Friday, the creative team behind The Simpsons (present and past!) hit the picket line at Fox and even treated fellow strikers to specially-designed placards from the man himself — Matt Groening. Also joining the line were beloved scribes James L. Brooks, Al Jean, Matt Selman, Dana Gould and Conan O’Brien, among others.

In a tweet, Tyler Ruggeri wrote, “The Simpsons picket at Fox was by far our biggest and best day on the lot.” Groening, meanwhile, cooked up a few custom signs that had Bart saying “Steamed hams? More like steamed writers” and Lisa saying “Lisa needs residuals.”

When he wasn’t autographing his custom placards, Groening carried...

When the Directors Guild of America reached a tentative new collective bargaining agreement with the AMPTP over the weekend, all eyes turned back to the writers (now on strike for over a month), and to the actors, who will announce the results of its own strike authorization vote this week as it begins studio negotiations.

Conventional wisdom held that a DGA deal could serve as a framework for writers, just as it did in 2007-08, when the DGA reached a deal on the 73rd day of the WGA’s 100-day work stoppage. But both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have made clear the outcome of the DGA would not impact their own negotiating agendas.

“Thrilled that the DGA was able to use the power of the WGA’s labor action to secure a deal that works for them,” writer-producer Amy Berg said in a tweet thread. “We proposed a number of these terms…...

A judge struck down many of the claims made by Marilyn Manson in his defamation lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood on Tuesday, marking a big win for Wood in the continued legal battle between the musician and the Westworld actress.

A Los Angeles judge sided with Wood in striking several claims in Warner’s original complaint including that she had “recruited, coordinated, and pressured” women to make false statements against the musician using a checklist and script, and claims that Wood had forged an FBI letter.

“Based on the foregoing,...

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson just got a legal shock as a California judge tossed out most of the fading musician’s defamation case against Evan Rachel Wood over the Westworld actress’ claims of abuse during the former couple’s relationship.

“The Court grants Wood’s special motion to strike in part,” wrote , LA Superior Court Judge Teresa A. Beaudet Tuesday in a multi-pronged tentative order that has just become final (read it here).

Emphasizing the Golden State’s anti-slapp statute and its protect of individual free speech, Judge Beaudet took a lot of the guts out of Manson a.k.a. Brian Warner’s suit of March 2022. While Manson’s case can proceed on the remaining counts, the big-ticket items are pretty much dead, at least for now. Among the claims now out of the suit are Manson and his lawyers attempts to taint Wood with penning a fictitious FBI...

Updated: Day 4 of the WGA strike began with a plot twist on the weather front. A typically overcast May morning in Southern California gave way around 8 a.m. to a heavy downpour that rolled quickly across the region. The rain was gone in West L.A. and Culver City by 9:30 a.m., but the drops fell fast and hard enough to disrupt some of the best-laid plans of dedicated strike captains.

Still, on a soggy Friday morning in the Heart of Screenland, about 200 pickets were circulating around Culver City’s institutions: Sony Pictures Entertainment, the hallowed ground of MGM in its prime, and the Culver Studios, now home to Amazon Studios, Prime Video and MGM in its present.

“Jeopardy” writers Michele Loud, Jim Rhine and Billy Wisse walked on Madison Avenue near Washington Boulevard, in front of the studio gates where they three have all worked for more than two decades.

Fremantle’s revenues fell by 5.6% in the first quarter of this year as owner Rtl saw turnover tumble by nearly 10%.

The Planet Sex, Normal People and American Gods outfit’s turnover slipped from €461M ($509.80) in Q1 2022 to €435M for the first three months of this year.

Delivering its Q1 results this morning, Rtl, which is owned by Bertelsmann, put this down to “timing effects of production deliveries.” Nonetheless, Rtl CEO Thomas Rabe said the global producer-distributor had “continued its creative success story across drama and film, entertainment and documentaries, with numerous awards” during the quarter, pointing to partnerships with All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger and The Case Against Adnan Syed‘s Amy Berg, along with the purchase of a majority stake in Belgium’s A Team Productions.

The results will be a blow to Fremantle, which is targeting €3B turnover by 2025. Fremantle’s full-year 2022 results showed much improvement,...

Revenues at Bertelsmann’s Luxembourg-based Rtl Group, a media giant which owns Fremantle, slid 9% to €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) for the first quarter of 2023, financial results released on Thursday have revealed.

The group attributes this to “significantly lower TV advertising revenue,” particularly in Germany, and the disposals of Rtl Belgium and Rtl Croatia.

Fremantle’s revenues were down 5.6% to €435 million (Q1/2022: €461 million), mainly due to timing effects of production deliveries, the group said.

The group’s total advertising revenue fell to €700 million (Q1/2022: €829 million), of which €545 million represented TV advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €653 million), €76 million digital advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €83 million) and €39 million radio advertising revenue (Q1/2022: €46 million). Distribution revenue was down by 1.8% to €107 million (Q1/2022: €109 million).

On the positive side, the group’s streaming services Rtl+ and Videoland continued growing, with paying subscribers up 37.1% to 5.9 million and streaming revenue up 15.6% in Q1/2023.

The quarterly results note the successes of Fremantle,...

Minutes after the Writers Guild of America declared it was on strike, members lit up social media with vows to stay strong as they prepare to hit the picket lines on Tuesday.

News of the strike, which takes effect later this evening, came late Monday after the guild’s negotiations with the AMPTP failed to reach an agreement on a new film and scripted TV contract. It’s the WGA’s first strike since the 100-day walkout of 2007-08.

Reaction on Twitter was swift. “Here we go,” wrote David Simon. “See you all on the pavement, my brothers and sisters.” He followed it with the hashtag #WGAstrong.

Some expressed fear but that was quickly replaced by resolve, as scribes encouraged fellow members to ignore the spin “that’s already coming out.”

Related: WGA Strike Picket Line Locations List For Los Angeles & New York

“We’re on strike,...

Label launched at Cph:dox in Copenhagen.

UK-based production and distribution house Fremantle has launched Undeniable, a new label for feature and series documentaries.

Sitting within Fremantle’s Documentaries division, Undeniable will develop and produce ‘premium’ projects according to the company. It will make high end international projects that come to Fremantle directly without going through their local territories.

Fremantle’s first-look deal with US filmmaker Amy Berg, announced last week, will fall under the Undeniable banner; Berg is currently in Copenhagen shooting for a film under the partnership.

The brand was announced at Cph:dox today (March 21) in Copenhagen by Mandy Chang,...

Super indie Fremantle has unveiled plans to further expand into the documentary space with the launch of a new label, Undeniable, focused on the production of premium feature documentaries and series.

Mandy Chang, Fremantle’s Global Head of Documentaries, announced the move at documentary festival Cph:dox in Copenhagen on Tuesday. The new label will sit within Fremantle’s Documentaries division and appears designed to distinguish high-end feature docs and series produced in the group from Fremantle’s more conventional reality TV and non-scripted fare.

“The launch of Undeniable further underlines our commitment and ambition to build Fremantle’s documentary output on the premium side,” said Chang. “Working with the very best filmmakers and emerging talent, the label will provide editorial and production expertise and support in multiple genres. Importantly, it will provide a platform and freedom for creative talent to unlock and explore important issues and stories to be told.

Fremantle has launched a premium documentaries label helmed by Mandy Chang.

The super-indie’s Head of Documentaries will oversee Undeniable, which she has just unveiled on stage at Copenhagen’s Cph:Dox.

Helming “provocative, entertaining, diverse, and influential” premium documentaries with high-profile talent, Undeniable’s launch comes amidst a Fremantle docs push. The outfit has recently acquired One Day In America indie 72 Films, natural history producer Wildstar Films and Israel’s Silvio Productions.

Andrea Scrosati, Fremantle’s Group COO and Continental CEO, said the launch “forms part of Fremantle’s growth strategy to boost our capabilities in documentaries as we have successfully achieved in film and drama over recent years.”

He added that Fremantle and its labels delivered 52 documentaries last year, including Kingdom of Dreams and Mrs. America.

“Working with the very best filmmakers and emerging talent, the label will provide editorial and production expertise and support in multiple genres,...

Fremantle’s Documentaries division has launched Undeniable, a label dedicated to producing premium feature documentaries and series, in partnership with high-profile talent and international commissioners, Mandy Chang, Fremantle’s global head of documentaries, revealed Tuesday at Cph:dox in Copenhagen.

The label is already developing several international projects and partnerships with high-profile filmmakers, including Amy Berg, Chris Smith, and Penny Lane and Gabriel Sedgwick.

Chang said: “The launch of Undeniable further underlines our commitment and ambition to build Fremantle’s documentary output on the premium side. Working with the very best filmmakers and emerging talent, the label will provide editorial and production expertise and support in multiple genres. Importantly, it will provide a platform and freedom for creative talent to unlock and explore important issues and stories to be told.”

Undeniable’s ambition is to make “provocative, entertaining, diverse, and influential films and series that push the boundaries of storytelling and...

Fremantle’s revenues rose 21% to €2.3B ($2.44B) and profits were up 15% last year as the super-indie inches toward its target to hit €3B ($3.2B) turnover by 2025.

Significant investment – both organically and via acquisitions – is to come across all genres this year, according to owner Rtl Group, following a year in which Fremantle’s adjusted Ebitda increased by nearly 15% to €162M.

Fremantle’s growth helped German-headquartered Rtl’s turnover to rise by 8.8%, although overall adjusted Ebitda for the group fell 6%.

American Gods and Planet Sex producer Fremantle was set the ambitious revenue target last year and went on a major buying spree in 2022, acquiring the likes of Normal People producer Element Pictures, Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story indie 72 Films and Italian producer Lux Vide. It also struck talent deals with big names including Angelina Jolie, All Quiet on the Western Front’s Edward Berger and, most recently, The Case Against Adnan Syed director Amy Berg.

Fremantle has signed an exclusive first-look deal with Amy Berg, director of the 2019 docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed on HBO.

The agreement will see Berg’s Disarming Films jointly develop a slate of documentaries with Fremantle’s global head of documentaries Mandy Chang. “We’re delighted to be joining forces with the incredibly talented team at Fremantle. Led by Mandy (Chang), we know Fremantle will not only offer fantastic support and creative freedom. Their extensive international infrastructure and expertise will provide Disarming Films with the platform to have our work seen around the world,” Berg said in a statement on Wednesday.

The veteran director is at work on a follow-up episode to the Syed HBO series, set to debut in the fall, which will follow his release from prison after his 2000 conviction in the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee was vacated.

Berg’s deal with Fremantle’s...

Fremantle has struck an exclusive first-look deal with Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Amy Berg.

Under the agreement, Berg’s Disarming Films and Fremantle will jointly develop a slate of documentaries, with Berg working closely with Fremantle’s global head of documentaries Mandy Chang to produce premium projects.

Berg’s company, Disarming Films, has been producing documentary features and docuseries for broadcast for over a decade. Berg produced “The Case Against Adnan Syed” for HBO and is currently working on a special follow-up episode set to premiere this fall. Other projects include “We Are: The Brooklyn Saints” (Netflix), “Dogs” (Netflix) and “Keep This Between Us” (Freeform). Her latest film, “Phoenix Rising,” premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2022 and on HBO and HBO Max.

The deal marks the first of its kind under Fremantle’s dedicated documentaries division. The super-indie will provide Berg with editorial and production expertise. Details about the...

Acclaimed documentarian Amy Berg has signed an exclusive first-look agreement with Fremantle.

The Oscar and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker behind projects like “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” “Deliver Us From Evil” and “West of Memphis” will work with Fremantle’s Global Head of Documentaries, Mandy Chang, to create an internationally focused slate of nonfiction films.

Berg’s company, Disarming Films, has been producing long-form documentary features and docuseries for over a decade. “The Case Against Adnan Syed” was released in April of 2019 on HBO, and she is currently working on a special follow-up episode set to premiere in late 2023. Other projects include Netflix’s “We Are: The Brooklyn Saints,” Netflix’s “Dogs” and Freeform’s “Keep This Between Us.” Her latest film, the Evan Rachel Wood-centric doc “Phoenix Rising,” premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and on HBO and HBO Max in March of last year.

“We are delighted to...

The Case Against Adnan Syed director Amy Berg has become the latest creative to strike a first-look deal with Fremantle.

The deal is the first of its kind for Fremantle’s Documentaries Unit, which is overseen by Global Head of Documentaries Mandy Chang.

Under the terms, Berg and her Disarming Films shingle will work closely with Chang to develop an internationally-focused docs slate, with the super-indie providing editorial and production expertise along with distribution. The first project will be announced shortly.

Berg is best known for HBO true crime series The Case Against Adnan Syed, a follow-up to the smash Serial podcast, which will see a special episode air this autumn. Other projects include HBO/HBO Max’s Phoenix Rising and Netflix double We Are: The Brooklyn Saints and Dogs, while she was Oscar nominated in 2007 for Deliver Us from Evil.

Fremantle Global CEO Jennifer Mullin described the partnership as a “landmark deal,...

In the latest twist in Marilyn Manson’s battle against allegations of sexual crimes, Evan Rachel Wood is rejecting claims she coerced another woman into saying the shock rocker raped her, saying instead the accuser was pressured to recant.

“I never pressured or manipulated Ashley Morgan Smithline to make any accusations against Plaintiff Brian Warner, and I certainly never pressured or manipulated her to make accusations that were not true,” Wood said in a declaration filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court. “It was Ms. Smithline who first contacted me in March 2019,” the Westworld actress said in the document (read it here).

“Ms. Smithline has always told me that she was abused by Mr. Warner,” Woods bluntly added in the declaration.

The recent stark about-face by Smithline, a month after her 2021 lawsuit against Manson/Warner was dismissed by default, came as attorneys for the much-accused singer and Wood argued...

“Warrior Nun” has been canceled at Netflix after two seasons, Variety has confirmed.

The decision comes a little over a month after the fantasy action series debuted its second season, which dropped in its entirety on Netflix on Nov. 10. The series originally debuted on the streamer back in July 2020, with the second season being announced in August of that year.

“Warrior Nun” is based on the comic book character Warrior Nun Areala originally created by Ben Dunn. The series centers on Ava Silva, played by Ava Baptista. Silva finds herself pulled into the world of an ancient order of nuns known as the Order of the Cruciform Sword, who battle demons and other powerful forces on Earth, after an ancient artifact is embedded in her back.

Along with Baptista, the series also starred Toya Turner, Lorena Andrea, Kristina Tonteri-Young and Olivia Delcan.

Simon Barry develped the series for television and...

Exclusive: Netflix has opted not to order a third season of Warrior Nun. The decision was made a month after the Nov. 10 release of the fantasy drama’s second season.

Warrior Nun‘s second season ratings performance follows the pattern of other scripted series which have been canceled by Netflix as the streamer evaluates viewing vs. cost for their renewal decisions. Season 2 spent just three weeks in Netflix’s Weekly Top 10 for English-language series, peaking at #5. Warrior Nun has built a small yet passionate fan base, which helped it secure a second season renewal but was not enough to sustain the series in the long run.

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The first trailer for “You Resemble Me,” the feature directorial debut of “The Square” associate producer Dina Amer, has been unveiled. The film debuted at Venice in 2021 and has had a stellar festival run since, picking up plaudits on the way.

The film, executive produced by Spike Lee, Spike Jonze, Riz Ahmed and Alma Har’el, tells the true story of Hasna Ait Boulahcen, a woman who was falsely accused of being Europe’s first female suicide bomber. It follows two sisters on the outskirts of Paris and after the siblings are torn apart, the eldest, Hasna, struggles to find her identity, leading to a choice that shocks the world.

The starting point for the film was the Bataclan attacks in Paris, where Amer was a journalist reporting on the scene.

“As a Muslim Egyptian woman living in the West, I’ve struggled to reconcile pieces of my identity that feel contradictory.

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After director Amy Berg premiered her 2019 docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed on HBO, she says “it was really difficult for me to let go.”

The four-part series probed further into a story that rocketed to fame after it was chronicled on the Serial podcast a few years earlier, about Baltimore County teenager Adnan Syed’s 2000 conviction in the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee. While Serial cast doubt on prosecutors’ original case against Syed and Berg’s film uncovered further cause for concern, two days before Berg’s series aired, the Maryland Court of Appeals denied Syed a new trial. “It just felt like the most unsatisfying ending of any film I’ve ever made,” Berg says.

Now, Berg has the chance to film a new ending to the series. On Tuesday, prosecutors dropped charges against Syed in the 1999 murder of Lee,...

Baltimore prosecutors have dropped all charges against Adnan Syed, the man whose conviction on murder charges was chronicled in the hit podcast Serial.

Syed was released from prison last month when a Baltimore judge vacated his conviction on the recommendation of prosecutors. Ayed served 23 years in prison for the murder of his high-school girlfriend Hae Min Lee.

Today, Emily Witty, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office, confirmed that the case had been dropped.

Last month, state prosecutors filed a motion asking the court to vacate Syed’s 2000 murder conviction, explaining that a year-long investigation conducted with Syed’s defense team uncovered new information “concerning the possible involvement of two alternative suspects,” and, additionally, that the legal parties “have identified significant reliability issues regarding the most critical pieces of evidence at trial.”

Syed’s release from prison last month prompted considerable media attention, including a new, updated...

The release of Adnan Syed from prison on Monday, September 20, has caused quite the stir. Syed’s murder case was the focus of many podcasts — some might say the original season of Serial, which was the first media attention his case received, began the true-crime podcast phenomenon. This attention eventually led to an HBO documentary series, The Case Against Adnan Syed, in 2019. The four-part series looked at all the evidence against the then-high school senior in Maryland, convicted of strangling and killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, and went into detail on the major issues with the investigation. HBO has just announced that there will be a new episode of the series, dropping in early 2023. The episode will feature exclusive access to Syed in the period leading up to and following his release, and Amy Berg will return as director. Berg released this statement today: “We knew the end of...

Adnan Syed is once again a free man. On Sept. 20, the 41-year-old was released from prison after Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn approved the motion to vacate Syed's murder conviction. And it turns out, cameras were rolling in the courthouse as Syed learned he was going home, according to a Sept. 21 media release from HBO. The footage is set to be included in a follow-up episode to the critically acclaimed four-part docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed. "We knew the end of The Case Against Adnan Syed was not the end of this story, and we've been closely following every twist and turn in the case since the series premiered in March 2019," director Amy Berg said in a...

The lead-up to and aftermath of Adnan Syed’s release from prison will be chronicled in a new follow-up episode of the HBO docuseries, The Case Against Adnan Syed. An exact release date for the episode hasn’t been announced, but it’s expected to arrive in 2023.

Director Amy Berg started filming the follow-up episode back in early 2021, and she was on hand earlier this week when a Baltimore judge vacated Syed’s first-degree murder conviction and ordered his release from prison.

HBO said Berg will have “exclusive access” to...

HBO Documentary Films announced Wednesday that it will produce a follow-up episode to the 2019 four-part docuseries “The Case Against Adnan Syed” from director Amy Berg.

The episode, currently in production, will feature exclusive access to Syed leading up to and following his release from prison. The Berg-directed episode will debut 2023.

“We knew the end of ‘The Case Against Adnan Syed’ was not the end of this story, and we’ve been closely following every twist and turn in the case since the series premiered in March 2019,” Berg said in HBO’s release. It’s gratifying to see many of the questions and issues probed in the original episodes come to bear on the events of this week.”

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‘Serial’ Drops New Episode After ‘Extraordinary’ Release of Adnan Syed: ‘I Have Zero Predictions About What Could Come’

Berg has been filming the follow-up episode in Maryland since early 2021. Most recently,...

Though it already got beaten to the punch by Sarah Koenig and Serial, the other major true-crime project about Adnan Syed and the murder of Hae Min Lee is obviously not going to let the events of this week go unaddressed: HBO and director Amy Berg have announced that they’re in production on a follow-up episode to…...

HBO Documentary Films is in production on a follow-up episode to the critically acclaimed, four-part docuseries The Case Against Adnan Syed. Directed by Amy Berg, the episode will feature exclusive access to Syed leading up to and following his release from prison earlier this week, after 23 years behind bars. The new episode will debut in 2023.

Syed’s prosecution in the 1999 killing of his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee was examined in minute detail in the massively popular 2014 season of the hit podcast Serial. The docuseries premiered in March 2019 and is currently available on HBO Max.

Berg has been filming the follow-up episode in Maryland since early 2021. Most recently, Berg was in the courthouse Tuesday when Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn approved the motion to vacate Syed’s murder conviction. The investigation from the original series was referenced as evidence in the hearing.

New Adnan Syed Prosecution Is “Remote...