July/August/September 2017View: News - Films - TV Shows
News
William M. Akers ‘83 is returning as Chair of Belmont University’s Motion Pictures program.
Judd Apatow will be honored with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation award for his work as an award-winning director, writer, and producer. With this prestigious award, the SAG honors industry leaders who have made an impact on the world of acting.
John August ‘94 wrote the upcoming live-action feature Aladdin.
Ann Austen ‘88 won a Daytime Emmy in the Best Animated Preschool Program category for her work as an executive producer on The Snowy Day, for Amazon Studios.
Brett Baer ‘88 will executive produce the multi-camera comedy Immediate Family that he co-wrote with Dave Finkel. The show will be filmed live, and allows for audience participation. It centers on a man trying and failing to keep his multigenerational family together.
John Bailey was named the 36th president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Daniel Barnz ‘95 will be directing an upcoming feature based on Ryan Wash’s life. Wash is an openly gay black debater who won the 2013 Cross Examination Association and National Debate Tournament championships.
Beau Bauman ’01 is set to produce Match for DreamWorks Pictures. SCA faculty member Peter Sollet will direct the romantic comedy set in a world where a government finds your perfect partner.
Michael Berns ‘92 has been named executive producer/showrunner of Season 2 of Chesapeake Shores on the Hallmark Channel.
David Bertma ‘96 recently won an ACE Eddy for editing the pilot of NBC’s This Is Us. He made his directing debut on the ABC hit comedy American Housewife, and will be directing another two episodes for the upcoming season.
Chelsea Beyl ‘07 was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Preschool Animated Program for Doc McStuffins.
Todd Black ‘82 will produce the Aaron Sorkin-scripted drama Lucy and Desi. The project was recently purchased by Amazon Studios.
Michael Bostick ‘90 will executive produce a TV Series based on the bestselling book Apollo 8. The series will explore the personal stories of the astronauts amongst the turmoil of the 70’s. Bostick will also produce a new untitled comedy with Sandra Bullock for Warner Brothers.
Julian Breece ‘05 received a put pilot commitment from Fox for the TV drama Victory. Victory is set in the competitive world of gospel choirs.
Xavier Burgin ‘15 was named one of Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People In Business” for his viral linked narrative tweets on his account: XLNB.
John Carpenter signed a deal with Universal Cable Productions to executive produce scripted television for the company. Carpenter is currently working on Tales For A Halloween Night, based on Carpenter’s graphic novel series, for the SyFy network.
Annakate Chappell ‘18 qualified for the semi-finals of this year’s Nicholl Fellowship Competition for her feature script Daddy’s Girl.
Jason Clodfelter ‘00 was named Co-President of Sony Pictures Television Studios along with Chris Parnell. Clodfelter will oversee all of Sony’s television programing from comedy to miniseries.
Ericson Core will be directing The Claim. The thriller feature was written by Damien Chazelle and will start production later in the year.
R.J. Cutler signed a deal with Matador Content to develop nonfiction projects ranging from docu-series to competition series. He will also be developing a six-part series for The History Channel on Bill Clinton’s impeachment based on the book The Breach: Inside The Impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Peter Dowling ‘97 sold his action spec script Exposure to Screen Gems.
David Ellison will produce AMC’s straight-to-series order drama Dietland. Ellison is also set to produce Split, a new animated feature for Skydance Media.
Megan Ellison will executive produce the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs for Netflix.
Trevor Engelson ‘98 will produce a new comedy for Fox that recently received a put pilot commitment. The show will focus on a recently divorced couple’s attempt to navigate life when the wife decides to marry into the British Royal Family.
Dave Erickson ‘97, showrunner of Fear The Walking Dead, will develop David Cronenberg’s novel Consumed into a drama series for AMC.
Dan Etheridge ‘92 will produce I Mom So Hard, anew multi-camera comedy from CBS. The comedy is based on the successful You Tube webseries #imomsohard.
Chris Fedak ‘98 wrote the film Ambulance and James Vanderbilt ’99 is producing.
Rick Famuyiwa ‘96 is in negotiations with Sony Pictures to direct the teen martial arts movie Son of Shaolin.
Daniel Y-Li Grove ‘12 made his directorial debut with the film The Persian Connection, which premiered in theaters July 14th.
Taylor Hackford ‘68 will direct Signal Hill, a drama focusing on Johnnie Cochran’s pursuit of justice in the Signal Hill police brutality case.
Paul Haddad ‘91 is an executive producer for SundanceTV and AMC Networks. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in the special-class series category for his work on Close Up With the Hollywood Reporter.
Jason Hall will rewrite and direct The Virginian, the origin story of George Washington, for New Line.
Poppy Hanks ‘95 is set to produce a remake of Nicolas Lopez’s Chilean film Sin Filtro. Hanks will also executive produce a new hour-long political drama Indivisible.
Adam Hyman ‘98 was nominated for a Los Angeles-area Emmy for producing the information segment A Tale of Two Mountain Lions for KCET.
Hilde Susan Jaegtnes ‘09 won the Grand Prize at Japan's Skip City Festival with the film Handle With Care. The film also won the award for Best Male Actor in the Lead award at the Haugesund Film Festival this year.
Nancy Juvonen will produce Black Rose Anthology, a horror series for CW that will be completely written and directed by women.
Aaron Kaplan ‘90 received a pilot order from Freeform for Now &Then, a single-camera ensemble comedy. He also has a put pilot commitment for ABC for the hour-long drama A Million Little Things, and sold a multi-camera show titled My Other Life in Brooklyn. Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment teamed up with Quantico creator Josh Safran to produce a legal drama for CBS. Kaplan partnered with FilmKaravan to launch Golden Karavan, a venture designed to create television for Netflix India and Amazon India. Kaplan’s multi-camera TV shows The Big House and Ladder 54 received put pilot commitments from CBS. He also received a pilot production commitment from CBS for his multi-camera comedy Here Comes The Neighborhood.
Paul Kewley ‘97 won an international Emmy for Shaun The Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas. He also produced Shaun the Sheep Movie, which was nominated for a Best Animated Feature Film Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA.
Arif Khan ‘17 is an assistant producer at Oculus Story Studio; her VR film Dear Angelica has been nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Original Interactive Program category.
Nahnatchka Khan ‘94 received a script commitment deal from Fox for the new single-camera comedy Not Ready. She is executive producing Revival, a new comedy which has also received a put pilot commitment at Fox. Fox also put in a pilot commitment for an untitled single-camera ensemble romantic comedy, which Khan will executive produce.
Erica Shelton Kodish ‘98 signed a multi-year deal with CBS to develop new television projects for broadcast, cable, and streaming services.
David Kramer ‘92 was just named co-president of United Talent Agency along with Jay Sures.
Lee Toland Krieger is set to direct and executive produce a TV adaption of Ascendant.
Jon Landau will executive produce the television adaptation of James Cameron’s True Lies. The show recently received a put pilot commitment from 20th Century Fox.
Shawn Levy ‘94 will executive produce an untitled Coast Guard thriller based on drug busts that occur on the seas. Levy will also produce The Prince’s Guard, based on John Kamp’s upcoming novel. He will also produce A Bittersweet Life and A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising for Fox and 21 Laps.
Matt MacDonald ‘11 created Not Normal, a 12-minute thriller set entirely within the computer game Grand Theft Auto V.
Chuck MacLean ‘11 and Jennifer Todd received an official pilot order for their new criminal justice drama City On A Hill. MacLean wrote the pilot, and Todd is set to executive produce the series.
Philip Malamuth ‘86 was named the editor on Warner Bros. Animation’s new series Dorothy Wizard of Oz, exclusively streaming at Boomerang.com
Gerard McMurray ‘11 is set to direct the upcoming fourth installment in The Purge franchise.
Bill Mechanic ‘79 will produce the adaptation of Bennett Fisher’s play Damascus.
Neal Moritz ‘85 and Ori Marmur ‘93 are producing Sony Pictures’ The Maze.
Neal Moritz ‘85 signed a first-look multi-year deal with Paramount Pictures for his production company Original Films.
Barry Neil Creque Williams ‘13 was recently named a 2017 Sundance Creative Producing Fellow. He will be work-shopping Miss Juneteenth, written and directed by Channing Godfrey Peoples ‘11.
Scott Nemes ‘95 now heads the television division for Brad Weston’s independent studio Makeready.
Jason Peterson, chairman of GoDigital Media Group, recently announced the company’s Series B funding for Cinq Music Productions.
Lindsey Shockley ‘07 is a writer and co-executive producer on Blackish, nominated for an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for the second year in a row.
Ariel Sobel ‘17 advanced to the semifinal round of the Nicholl Fellowship Competition with a feature screenplay entitled Assemblance of Truth.
Josh Stolberg ‘97 wrote the novel Incarnate, which was published by Simon and Schuster.
Tim Story is developing a feature with HBO Films about the life of Stephanie St. Clair, a mobster in 1920s Harlem.
Danny Strong ‘96 sold a new TV project to Fox titled Infamy.
Victoria Strouse ‘97 has been tapped by Fox 2000 to adapt Katherine Sharp Landdeck’s nonfiction book The Women With Silver Wings.
Liza Treviño ‘05 published her novel All That Glitters: Sex, Drugs, and Hollywood Dreams. This summer, it was named a winner of the 2017 International Latino Book Award for Best Fiction and the Mariposa Award for Best First Fiction.
Brad Vanderburg ‘85 formed the film production company Ikeda/Vanderburg, LLC with long-time collaborator Alice Ikeda. Ikeda/Vanderburg specializes in high-end image films, commercials, and branding videos for corporations and non-profit organizations.
Pam Veasey is set to act as show runner for the TV show The Secret World, based on the videogame of the same name.
Matthew Weiner ‘90 returns to television with his upcoming series The Romanoffs. Weiner created, wrote, and produced the series and will direct all episodes. The Romanoffs will premiere in 2018 on Amazon Prime.
John Wells ‘82 will direct Khe Sanh, a Vietnam War drama. The film will focus on the story of 5,000 Marines against 20,000 North Vietnamese soldiers during 77 days of nonstop fire.
Jared Yeager ‘02 was named Director of Production of 21st Century Fox’s new interactive/gaming division.
Scott Zabielski ‘01 directed the comedy Where’s the Money, which was recently picked up by Lionsgate.
Robert Zemeckis ‘73 is executive producing a live-action re-boot of The Jetsons, which has just landed at ABC with a pilot commitment. Zemeckis is also producing a mystery thriller pilot titled Manifest.
Peter Zhou ‘17, Amanda Tasse ‘15, Devon Manney ‘17, Li Xia ‘16 and Ariel Heller ‘17 were finalists for the 2017 Student Academy Awards. Heller won Best Narrative for Mammoth, and Manney won Best Animation for Cradle.
Stu Zicherman ‘93 wrote the half-hour drama Sweetbitter, which is being put into development for Starz Network. The series will follow a young woman moving to New York for an amazing opportunity at a restaurant where she navigates the world of love, drugs, and fine dining.
New TV Shows on the Air
Baltimore Boys
Sheldon Candis ‘03, Director
Justin Wilson ‘98, Producer
Gerald’s Game
Michael Fimognari ‘01, Director of Photography
Little Evil
Eli Craig ‘04, Writer/Director
Jason Michael Berman ‘06, Producer
Tia Nolan ‘91, Editor
Lost in Oz
Abram Makowka ‘03, Writer/Executive Producer/Creator
Darin Mark ‘03, Writer/Executive Producer/Creator
Jared Mark ‘08, Writer/Executive Producer/Creator
Me, Myself & I
Aaron Kaplan ‘90, Executive Producer
SEAL Team
Spencer Hudnut ‘08, Writer/Supervising Producer
A Season With Navy Football
Scott Stone ‘79, Executive Producer
Snowfall
John Singleton ‘90, Writer/Executive Producer/Director
Trevor Engleson ‘98, Executive Producer
Meera Menon ‘11, Director
Michael Lehmann ‘85, Director
Hiro Murai ‘06, Director
New Films in Release
The Dark Tower
Brian Grazer ‘74, Producer
Ron Howard, Producer
Detroit
Megan Ellison, Producer
The Emoji Movie
Michelle Raimo ‘95, Producer
Get Big
Dylan Moran ‘15, Writer/Director
Girls Trip
Tracy Oliver ‘10, Writer
Ingrid Goes West
Matt Spicer ‘06, Writer/Director
Hitman’s Bodyguard
David Ellison, Producer
Jigsaw
Josh Stolberg ‘97, Writer
Rebel In The Rye
Danny Strong ‘96, Director
Jason Shuman ‘96, Producer
Step
Steven Cantor ‘95, Producer
War for the Planet of the Apes
Matt Reeves ‘88, Writer/Director
Amanda Silver ‘89, Producer