Netflix says its influence among people who want to watch commercrials is growing. The streaming titan said Wednesday during its “upfront” presentation to advertisers that its ad-supported subscription tier reaches reaches more than 250 million global monthly active viewers, up from the 190 million it cited in November of 2025. Over 80% of these members […]

Netflix is plunging deeper into the Harlan Coben business with a new series based on his Myron Bolitar novels. The 12-novel thriller series will make its screen adaptation debut with help from David E. Kelley (creator of “Big Little Lies,” “Ally McBeal” and more), who will write and executive produce the series with Coben. Netflix […]

Netflix has ordered a series adaptation of the New York Times and Serial Productions podcast “The Retrievals.” The announcement was made as part of the Netflix upfront presentation to advertisers in New York on Wednesday. Molly Smith Metzler serves as writer, executive producer and showrunner. Per the official logline, the show “follows one woman’s crusade […]

Morgan Wandell is exiting Apple TV as head of international development after nearly a decade at the company, and has launched his own production shingle, dubbed Kismet. The company will focus on producing premium scripted series for the international market. Wandell announced the launch of his company, which will be based in Los Angeles, on […]

Tracking the movements and insights of film sales agents – especially in the indie market – is about as inside baseball as it gets in Hollywood. They are hardline negotiators, wining and dining, cajoling and haggling to get filmmakers and producers the best deal possible.  Those agents also happen to be some of the most press-averse figures in the industry […]

This year’s Student Academy Awards presentation ceremony will be held at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday. The awards will take place inside the TIFF Lightbox on Sept. 14. Student Academy Award winners will have access to the festival, market, education panels and networking opportunities in […]

There’s a new film marketing and distribution company on the market: Aero Films.  The theatrical-first company, founded by Warner Bros. veteran Ryan Pallas, will launch with its first film acquisition, Steve Pink’s “Terrestrial.”  “Our goal with Aero Films is to curate bold, distinctive films from filmmakers with unique perspectives and to connect them with audiences […]

o paraphrase a famous baseball film: If you legislate it, they will come. That has been the experience of the Australian film industry after the government boosted the Location Offset from 16.5% to 30% in July 2024 after a period of uncertainty. Another sweetener was the removal of the 20% above-the-line cap from the Producer […]

Breeda Wool and Natasha Halevi are set to lead Sander Gusinow’s female-driven thriller “Cottontail.”  Wool stars as Gwynnie Vail, described as a “cunning escaped convict hiding out in a remote cabin near the Idaho–Oregon border.” Per the official logline, “When sisters Autumn (Halevi) and Summer (Leah Shannon) arrive after crossing state lines in search of […]

Showrunners and writers for some of TV’s hottest shows including “Hacks,” “Nobody Wants This” and “Jury Duty: Company Retreat” took to the stage at Variety’s Night in the Writers Room: The Comedy Series on May 7 in Los Angeles to give audiences a behind-the-scenes look into the process of crafting each humorous hit. Moderated by […]

A coming-of-age drama that gradually turns morose, Blerta Basholli’s sophomore feature “Dua” follows up her Sundance-winning 2021 debut “Hive” as a reflection of Kosovan women in the late 1990s. This time, however, the director draws from her own experiences as a girl who came of age in the shadow of the Kosovo War. The conflict […]

Ahead of this year’s Marché du Film in Cannes, former festival distributor Moritz Schneider is launching Miralot, a data-driven film festival matching and submission platform aimed at helping filmmakers navigate the increasingly fragmented global festival landscape more strategically. The Berlin-based platform, founded by Schneider and Justus Timm, is backed by Roger Crotti, former Disney chief […]