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Pilar Anguita-MacKay ’01 is the creator of the Swiss fantasy series Anomalia, which will debut on January 16.
Netflix will release all ten half-hour episodes of Judd Apatow’s comedy series Love on February 19.
Victoria Aveyard ’12 signed a two-book deal with Harper Collins.
Gabriela Cowperthwaite will direct Leavey, a feature film about Marine Corporal Megan Leavey and her bomb-sniffing military combat dog who saved lives during two tours in Iraq.
David Ellison will produce Life for Skydance. The plot details are being kept under wraps.
Trevor Engelson ’98 will executive produce a gritty half-hour TBS comedy titled Hype from writer Irvine Welsh, author of the novel Trainspotting.
Ben Fast ’08 was named Executive Vice-President of Development at Indigenous Media.
Broderick Fox’s ’99 & ’03 documentary Zen & the Art of Dying is an Official Selection of the 2015 Santa Fe Film Festival.
David Goyer ’88 will produce Deeper, a drama by Max Landis about a disgraced astronaut who embarks on a mission to the lowest point on planet Earth. Goyer also sold an original sci-fi pitch by Black List writer Zach Dean to Skydance Productions.
Brian Grazer ’74 will produce and Ron Howard will direct The Girl Before, an adaptation of the forthcoming thriller novel by author J.P. Delaney. Grazer also optioned an untitled pitch to Universal Pictures for a thriller set in Colombia’s lawless mining region.
Javier Grillo-Marxuach ’93 will write and executive produce NBCUniversal’s remake of the popular syndicated action-adventure series Xena: Warrior Princess.
Grant Heslov ’86 will produce George Clooney’s next directorial endeavor Suburbicon, a 1950s crime drama written by the Coen Brothers. Robert Elswit ’75 has been named director of photography.
Dan Hertzog ’91 lensed the dramatic short Earthbound, which picked up an International Gold Award and Special Jury Award during its world premiere at the 2015 International Film Competition Festival in Indonesia.
Kaylon Hunt ’08 and Gensho Tasaka ’08 produced “The Brink,” a live-action short from executive producer Viola Davis which will premiere at the Rhode Island Film Festival.
Aaron Kaplan ’90 will executive produce Fox’s Botcop, an animated comedy series about a half-man, half-robot security guard.
Carla Kettner ’79 & ’83 wrote and will executive produce a CBS drama project titled Section 13 about a CIA black ops officer-turned-high-stakes private contractor.
Evan Kilgore ’06 and Samuel Franco sold a feature-length script titled Mayday 109 to Thunder Road Pictures and FlynnPictureCo.
Jon Landau ’83 and James Cameron will executive produce the feature film Beyond Glory, based on the book by journalist Larry Smith.
Alex Litvak ’95 and Austin Winsberg will write and executive produce Mi-Zero, a fun and action-packed spy series about a society of princess secret agents.
Steve Maeda ’92 will write and executive produce two projects for network television. Maeda sold the sci-fi drama series 244 Degrees of Freedom to Fox and he sold an untitled one hour drama about the FBI’s Scientific Response Unit to CBS.
Abram Makowka ’03 executive produced the animated family show Lost in Oz, which Amazon has sent to series.
Benjamin Maraniss ’02 won the Pilot Grand Prize in the TRMS Austin Screenwriting Contest for his pilot, Weimar. His pilot Secret and Confidential also received a Special Mention.
Doug Miro ’97 will write and executive produce a miniseries adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.
Deirdre Morgan ’09 and Graham Norris wrote and will executive produce their pilot Tempest for The CW.
Alyssa Padia Walles ’81 was named General Manager of Hitbox.
Ben Queen ’96 will write and executive produce Poog, an ensemble comedy about a working mother who overcomes her obsession for being the perfect mom by embracing the messiness of parenthood.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Sam Regnier ’06 with a Nicholl Fellowship for his screenplay The Free Agent.
Shonda Rhimes ’94 will produce the relationship comedy My Husband’s Ex-Wife, a feature film written by Michelle Lirtzman ’13. Rhimes will also receive the PGA’s Norman Lear Achievement Award.
Ian Sander and Kim Moses signed a first-look deal with NBC Universal International TV Studios to develop and produce procedural dramas.
ABC has made a put pilot commitment to Read Bottom Up, a relationship comedy project from writer and executive producer Josh Schwartz.
Jason Shuman ’96 wrote and will executive produce an untitled Fox drama described as a modern-day Romeo and Juliet set in the wealthy Latino music and radio industry of Los Angeles.
Todd Slavkin ’87 will write and executive produce a sports drama pilot titled Soar for Fox.
The WGA Feature Writers Access Project will honor Carley Steiner ’04 and her writing partner Chelsea Steiner for their feature script Pole Position.
Tim Story ’94 will direct the pilot of a Freeform half-hour comedy project based on the childhood of Nicki Minaj and her family’s immigration to the U.S. from Trinidad in the early 1990s. Story will also direct and executive produce Fox’s single-camera comedy Live and Learn about a college freshman at a fictional black college in Atlanta who reconnects with her long-lost father, a professor at the university.
Bridge Independent, the sales outfit of producer Bill Straus ’90 & ’00, and Ketchup Entertainment are partnering on a digital distribution pipeline for Bridge’s indie slate.
Adam Sztykiel ’99 and Bill Lawrence will write and executive produce Vlad, a multi-camera family comedy for NBC.
Bret VandenBos ’10 and Brandon Willer ’10 wrote and will executive produce the pilot of Recall for CBS.
Burlee and Abel Vang ’11 co-wrote and will direct a horror film titled Bedeviled, a feature film described as a cross between Spike Jonze’s Her and Stephen King’s It.
Kurt Voelker wrote and will direct an ensemble comedic drama titled The Bachelors. JK Simmons will star.
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund will honor Philip Yu ’06 with their 2016 Justice in Action Award for his advancement of social justice. Past recipients include Mira Nair, Margaret Cho, and Yoko Ono.
TV Shows on the Air
Ash vs. Evil Dead
Tom Spezialy ’85, Writer
Robert Wright ’93, Co-Executive Producer
Into the Badlands
Al Gough ’94, Writer/Executive Producer
Miles Millar ’94, Writer/Executive Producer
Stacey Sher ’85, Executive Producer
Michael Jones-Morales ’05, Writer
Jessica Jones
Melissa Rosenberg ’90, Writer/Executive/Producer
Kevin Feige ’95, Executive Producer
The Man in the High Castle
Jon Dudkowski ’00, Editor
Films in Release
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Walt Becker ’95, Director
Creed
Ryan Coogler ’11, Writer/Director
Aaron Covington ’11, Writer
The Hateful Eight
Stacey Sher ’85, Producer
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
Danny Strong ’96, Writer
In the Heart of the Sea
Ron Howard, Director
Brian Grazer ’74, Producer
Amanda Silver ’89, Story by
Joy
Megan Ellison, Producer
Krampus
Alex Garcia ’08, Producer
John Axelrad ’90, Editor
Life
Benito Mueller ’04, Producer
Christina Piovesan ’04, Producer
Mediterranea
Jason Michael Berman ’06, Producer
Andrew Kortschak ’13, Producer
Peanuts
Paul Feig ’84, Producer
Point Break
Ericson Core, Director
Sisters
Jay Roach ’86, Producer
Lee Haxall ’81, Editor
Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
Bryan Burk ’91, Producer
Ben Burtt ’75, Sound Design
Gary Rydstrom ’81, Sound Design
Trumbo
Jay Roach ’86, Director/Producer