News

Hollywood icon and Pulp Fiction star John Travolta joins forces with Mission: Impossible star Jonathan Rhys Meyers and the director and writer behind the Liam Neeson action movie hit Taken, Pierre Morel and Luc Besson, respectively, for the action thriller From Paris with Love, which is all set to land on free streaming. This tale of a CIA rookie who’s partnered with a gun-toting veteran spy may have been largely panned upon release, but is worth a second look when it streams for free in 2025.

Helmed by Pierre Morel, written by Adi Hasak, and based on a story by Luc Besson, From Paris with Love reached just 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, with audiences a little more enamored at 54%. “Though not without its charms -- chief among them John Travolta's endearingly over-the-top performance -- From Paris with Love is too muddled and disjointed to satisfy,” the critics’ consensus reads. You can...

Exclusive: Yasmina El-Abd has signed with David Unger’s Artist International Group (Aig) for U.S. representation.

The rising Mena actress is currently starring in Mbc Studios’ ground breaking Arabic-language musical feature Sukkar, which is due to hit streamer Shahid on December 24 following a strong box office run that began in October. She is signed up to star in a follow up, we hear.

El-Abd has also had parts in Middle Eastern Netflix original Finding Ola and HBO Max and Cbbc kids series Theodosia, and is co-starring in Adi Hasak’s upcoming James Franco series Karantina, which has Adi TV Studios, Dynamic Television, Mbc, Zdf, Asacha Media Group, Blond and Tanweer attached.

She is also reprise her role as Zeina in season 2 of the Netflix’s Egyptian comedy-drama Finding Ola. Season 1 launched in February 2022 and made it into the Top 10 worldwide and topped the charts in the Arab-speaking world for three weeks.

Exclusive: It’s been a year of evolution for the European Film Market and its TV track Berlinale Series Market. Management is changing at sister festival Berlinale, with Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian exiting amid worries about finances, and the number of films screened reducing.

Meanwhile, Berlinale Series boss Julia Fidel has also departed, with the track was discontinued as an independent program. Series will instead be highlighted as part of the Berlinale Series Gala — a move the festival thinks brings it closer in line with other European film fests such as Cannes and Venice.

Notably for the TV biz, the Berlinale Series Market industry conference remains unaffected and will be running a full program. Last year the likes of The White Lotus exec producer David Bernad, Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak and The Tinder Swindler director Felicity Morris took the stage in sessions hosted by myself and Max Goldbart.

Good afternoon Insiders. We’re back after a busy week in Cannes and Max Goldbart is here helming your weekly dose of news and analysis. Read on and sign up here.

Conflict Week Two

Here for the long haul: We are approaching the two-week anniversary of the bloody Hamas massacre on Israel, and there is now a terrifying recognition that the region is in it for the long haul. This week has been about attempted damage limitation as Israel takes revenge on its attackers and Western nations rush to stem the flow of a crisis that is so far estimated to have claimed around 5,000 lives. Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have both visited, attempting to walk a tightrope in pledging their support for Israel while stressing the need for international law to be observed and innocent Palestinian lives to be spared. Biden was the most successful, securing...

Exclusive: James Franco is starring in a Middle Eastern TV crime drama penned by Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak. Check out a teaser below.

Alongside a cast of actors who hail from the Mena region, the Oscar-nominated 127 Hours star recently wrapped on Karantina, which is being shopped for the first time at Mipcom Cannes this week. Hasak told Deadline he hopes the “gamechanger” crime drama will “do for Mena what Fauda did for Israel and Squid Game did for Korea.”

Based on the German series Tempel, Franco plays an American laying low from the FBI in Beirut who has opened a club called the Miami Rainbow Club, a “taste of Americana,” according to Hasak.

The show’s lead is Yaqoub Al Farhan as Dahab, who is released from jail and promises his paraplegic wife and teenage daughter that he will never return to a world of crime, instead...

Exclusive: Artist International Group, the globally minded management and production company founded by David Unger, on Thursday announced its signing of Umut Aral, the award-winning director behind the hit Turkish-language Netflix series, Who Were We Running From?.

“It’s truly exciting to be a part of the internationally focused, dynamic Aig family, and a member of their extraordinary ensemble of talent,” said Aral in a statement to Deadline.

Added Aig CEO Unger, “Umut Aral fits perfectly into the DNA of Artist International Group, where we represent the best of the best of regional talent with global market ambitions.”

When it debuted on Netflix in March, Who Were We Running From? became one of the first Turkish productions to crack the streamer’s Top 10 in the U.S., registering on Top 10 TV charts in a total of 78 countries and spending four weeks on the platform’s Top 10 list for international Non-English series.

Good afternoon Insider team, Max Goldbart here. It has been a wild ride of a week with Berlin drawing to a close. Read below for a good ol’ recap.

A Year At War

Commemorating: A year is a long time in anyone’s calendar but, for the people of Ukraine, the 12 months that have followed that dreadful day on February 24, 2022, must have felt like a lifetime. Commemorative programs dominated the schedules yesterday and today as the global community marks the anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion by highlighting the plight of an embattled nation, and considering what’s to come. In the U.S., our political correspondent Ted Johnson had this handy rundown of all the major coverage from the news networks, which was preceded by Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine. “I’m here to show our unwavering support for the nation’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,...

The restructures, layoffs, cancellations and a maybe-strike currently impacting the U.S. TV industry rippled through the halls of the Berlinale Series Market this week as senior execs forecasted an international future.

Mass redundancies at the likes of Disney, AMC, Paramount and Netflix in recent months and major strategic rethinks from the studios and streamers were the talk of the market. Among the chatter was a sense this may lead to a wave of non-u.S. activity.

Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak didn’t mince his words when he described U.S. TV as a “disaster zone” Monday. Hasak, who is currently making shows in Scandinavia and the Middle East, was heavily critical of Disney in particular for a strategy that he deemed akin to a “mental breakdown.”

And he wasn’t the only big name pointing to U.S. strife — albeit the others perhaps less forcefully.

‘The Good Mothers’

Danna Stern,...

The White Lotus is almost certainly checking into an Asian hotel for its third season — and it’s been revealed Netflix’s Dahmer star Evan Peters nearly starred in the second run.

Rumors the Mike White-created comedy-drama would be set in Asia have abounded for several weeks and the HBO series’ executive producer David Bernad all but confirmed the news here at the Berlinale Series Market in Germany this morning.

“We’ve tried to work in Asia a lot and hopefully season three will be our chance to make something happen there,” he said during a keynote chat.

Notably, Emmy winner Bernad said himself and White almost filmed in Asia on another project for Amazon Prime Video back in 2016. He said the pair still harbour ambitions to work in the continent on future projects.

Season one of The White Lotus was filmed during Covid and set at a hotel in Maui,...

Exclusive: Members of the first ever Berlinale Series Award jury have predicted that TV awards could soon rival film at the world’s major festivals.

Former Yes Studios boss Danna Stern, Moonlight star André Holland and Danish writer Mette Heeno sat down with Deadline on day one of the Series Market – the TV section of the European Film Market – to discuss their role choosing the debut Berlinale Series Award winner, which is the first ever TV series award at an A-list festival. They forecasted more recognition for the small screen in the not-too-distant future.

“I have been doing international TV for years and the fact that an A-list festival is finally recognizing us and putting us at the same level as big budget films and filmmakers is really special,” said Stern. “I hope [other festivals] will follow suit.”

Stern said the “time feels right” for TV to be put in the same category as film.

Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak didn’t mince his words when discussing the state of U.S. television at the EFM’s Berlinale Series Market today.

“America is a disaster zone right now,” he said during a panel on entrepreneurial showrunners. “Nothing is working.”

His comments come after a bruising year in the U.S., where most major media companies have been forced into layoffs and some have engaged in content write downs that the creative community has taken hard.

Hasak – best known for creating the Jennifer Lopez-starring NBC drama Shades of Blue — also took aim at Disney, noting it has just laid off 7,000 staff and claiming its current strategy is akin to “a mental breakdown.”

Related: Deadline’s Berlin Film Festival Coverage

“Everyone thought Disney was genius to buy Fox and now it’s all revisionist – ‘they overpaid for it.’ People freaked out because Disney can’t launch any of their shows,...

Exclusive: MGM has acquired global distribution rights to the upcoming supernatural-psychological thriller series The Box, starring Anna Friel, from Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak and Nordic Entertainment Group. The deal excludes the Nordics, Baltics and Poland, where The Box will premiere on Nent Group’s streaming service Viaplay Nov. 28, and the Netherlands and the UK, where Viaplay will launch in 2022.

Created by Hasak, the English-language series stars Friel as Sharon Pici, a Kansas City police officer who is surrounded by headstrong men who are convinced she is losing her mind – when, through no fault of her own, she’s targeted by supernatural powers far greater than herself. As Sharon finally realizes her true strength, she takes her life into her own hands.

Starring alongside Friel are Olivia Grant (Stardust), Letitia Hector (Venus vs. Mars), Peter Stormare (American Gods), Alexander Karim (Zero Dark Thirty), Helen Behan (The Virtues), Nina Yndis...

Susan Sarandon and Anna Friel are set to star in Fox’s straight-to-series country music dynasty drama Monarch, produced by Fox Entertainment.

Created by Melissa London Hilfers, Monarch is described as a Texas-sized, multigenerational musical drama about America’s first family of country music, the Romans. The Romans are headed by the insanely talented, but tough as nails Queen of Country Music Dottie Cantrell Roman (Sarandon). Along with her beloved husband, Albie, Dottie has created a country music dynasty. But even though the Roman name is synonymous with authenticity, the very foundation of their success is a lie. And when their reign as country royalty is put in jeopardy, heir to the crown Nicolette “Nicky” Roman (Friel) will stop at nothing to protect her family’s legacy, while ensuring her own quest for stardom.

Hilfers will write and exec produce, while Instinct creator and Royal Pains exec producer Michael Rauch,...

Nent Group’s new series, co-produced by German outfit Night Train Media, will star Alexander Karim, Peter Stormare and Anna Friel in the leading roles. A new Nent Group production is now in the making – namely, the seven-part psycho-thriller series The Box, penned and created by Adi Hasak (the TV series Shades of Blue and Eyewitness). The project, helmed by seasoned British director Steve Shill, has just begun filming in one indoor location in Stockholm, where a US police station has been purposely recreated. The story follows Sharon Pici, a Kansas City police officer (played by award-winning actress Anna Friel), who gets obsessed with an investigation and ends up experiencing a supernatural nightmare. Alexander Karim (the TV series The Lawyer) will play her partner, Loveall, whilst veteran thesp Peter Stormare will portray Jed, the police station manager. The Box is...

Exclusive: Anna Friel, star of Netflix/ITV crime drama Marcella, is to front a television adaption of Karen Hamilton’s novel The Perfect Girlfriend.

The drama will be produced by Pulse Films, the Vice-owned company behind Sky/AMC drama Gangs of London, and co-produced by Friel’s new production company Wonder Well Productions.

Friel, who also starred in ABC’s Pushing Daisies, will play Juliette, an attractive, confident and driven woman who is training for her new career as a flight attendant.

The darkness in her past doesn’t matter, because she’s moved beyond all that, and she’s building a great new life for herself—one that will impress her ex-boyfriend, Nate, who left her in a foolish moment of commitment-phobia, one that he surely regrets now. But he’ll be so proud of her once he sees how much she’s grown. And he will see her.

Exclusive: Adi Hasak, creator of NBC series Shades Of Blue and USA Network thriller Eyewitness, is teaming up with Nordic Entertainment Group on supernatural anthology series The Box, which will star Emmy-winner Anna Friel (Marcella).

The English-language series was green-lit off Hasak’s series bible. Plot details are largely being kept under wraps but we understand Friel will play the lead role of Sharon Pici, a Kansas City Police Detective who is locked in a room that she cannot escape. The drama will begin as a character-driven psychological thriller but evolve into a supernatural horror.

Hasak will serve as showrunner and has written or co-written all eight, 30-minute episodes. Co-writers are Paula Killen, Josh Azouz and Clare Siobhan Byrne. Production is due to begin in February 2021 in Stockholm, Sweden, and will follow the country’s Covid-19 protocols.

Series is being produced by Nent subsidiary Nice Drama, creator of series Midnight...

The name EuropaCorp might not mean much on first glance, but any self-respecting fan of the action genre has seen at least a handful of the production company’s movies. Founded by Luc Besson, EuropaCorp specializes in mid-budget and almost universally mediocre actioners that tend to provide a halfway decent slice of Friday night entertainment before fading entirely from memory. Responsible for the Transporter and Taken franchises along with Colombiana, Lockout, 3 Days to Kill, Brick Mansions, Anna and many more, you know exactly what to expect when you see their logo play in front of the credits.

Now, one of the studio’s more forgotten titles has become the latest unremarkable movie to have found an unexpected second life on Netflix, as From Paris with Love currently ranks as the eighth most-watched film on the streaming service in the United States. Though the reason behind its sudden burst of...

Sky Studios has signed an exclusive deal with Philipp Leinemann, under which the German filmmaker will develop, write and direct local and international dramas for the company.

His 2014 debut film Wir Waren Könige (The King’s Surrender) won awards including best feature at the Torino Film Festival, while his German TV series Tempel is being developed in the U.S. by Shades of Blue and Eyewitness creator Adi Hasak and Dynamic Television.

Sky Studios CEO Gary Davey said: “This is great news for Sky Studios’ ambitions in Germany. Phillip is a top-level talent with the creativity and work ethic that is a perfect fit for us.”

Leinemann added: “Sky is now offering me the opportunity to tell bold and ambitious stories and to develop freely. It reminds me why I came into film-making in the first place and I have a great sense of excitement and joy.”...

Swedish Dicks backer Nordic Entertainment Group has refocused its studio division to focus on scripted drama and is to sell its non-scripted units.

The company, which has been ramping up its drama titles with projects including Perfect People from Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak, and The Professionals, a Brendan Fraser-fronted remake of action movie Soldiers of Fortune, is also looking for a minority equity partner to help finance its scripted moves.

The company, which operates Scandinavian streamer Viaplay, is reorganizing its content production and distribution business that comprises 32 companies in 17 countries into a new organization focused on scripted drama production and distribution.

As part of the move, it will divest its non-scripted production, branded entertainment and events businesses.

Last year, Viaplay premiered 21 original productions, expects to premiere more than 30 original productions in 2020, and plans a minimum of 40 original productions per year in the future.

The new scripted production...

Deutschland 83 commissioner Philipp Steffens is to leave German broadcaster Rtl as it merges its broadcast and streaming drama units.

Steffens, who was head of fiction at the commercial broadcaster since 2014, is departing to move back into production.

He will be replaced by Frauke Neeb and Hauke ​​Bartel, who will now be responsible for all drama programming across the group. This comes after Rtl brought together its drama divisions for its linear TV channels and streaming platform TV Now. Neeb has been fiction editor at Rtl network Vox since January 2018, while Bartel has been head of fiction at Vox since April 2017.

The pair will report to Rtl Managing Director Jörg Graf and Vox Managing Director Sascha Schwingel.

In addition to Deutschland 83, which aired on Sundance in the U.S., Steffens also ordered hit German series The Teacher, which is in its eighth season. He was previously the creator of The Last Cop,...

With studios in the U.S. and the U.K., the Scandinavian major Nent Group is becoming ever more global with Filippa Wallestam, who became COO of the company and heads up originals, both local and international, along with content acquisitions and programming.

Wallestam, who started in this position in October, spoke to Variety about Nent Group’s global ambitions for the coming years while attending Content London to look for acquisitions, production and co-production opportunities.

“We’re done about 20 originals this year and we plan on doing a lot more going forward, especially more English language series — we already have a handful in the pipeline including two non-scripted series and a documentary,” said Wallestam.

In the vein of its first international hit, the L.A.-based comedy “Swedish Dicks” which Peter Stormare and Keanu Reeves, the company is aiming for projects combining Nordic ideas and stories with international potential.

Exclusive: Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak has lined up his next European TV project – an adaptation of Peter James’ psychological thriller Perfect People for Scandinavian streamer Viaplay with German producer Leonine.

The event series is based on James’ book, which was published in 2011, and is a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller and family drama set in the world of genetically-engineered children who, as they hit puberty, are revealed to be not as “perfect” as their designers had intended.

Hasak will serve as showrunner and executive producer of the international co-production, which is planned to shoot in the UK. It will be produced in association with German firm Leonine, the Kkr-backed business that brought together Tele München Group, Universum Film, i&u TV, Wiedemann & Berg Film and W&b TV.

It is the latest international series for the Netherlands-born, Israeli-raised Hasak. He is currently working with Viaplay, which is run by Nordic Entertainment Group,...

Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent), the company behind growing Scandinavian Svod service Viaplay, is planning to launch a U.S. division following its investment in Erik Feig’s Picturestart.

This comes after the company unveiled a major management restructure across its business.

Nent Studios Us is being established following Nent Group’s strategic investment in Feig’s production and financing vehicle Picturestart in May. It is in the process of hiring a CEO. Nent was one of the initial backers of the venture alongside Warner Bros, Scholastic and Endeavor Content.

Nent has been attracting international attention for its raft of originals with Hollywood stars. Earlier this week, it commissioned Swedish-Norwegian action thriller The Machinery featuring The Revenant and Mission: Impossible – Fallout star Kristoffer Joner, while Brendan Fraser is to star in The Professionals, a loose remake of the Christian Slater-fronted action movie Soldiers of Fortune for the platform, and Shades of Blue...

The Revenant and Mission: Impossible – Fallout star Kristoffer Joner is to front Swedish-Norwegian action thriller The Machinery for Svod service Viaplay.

The Nordic Entertainment Group-backed streaming service has ordered the eight-part series, to debut in 2020.

It is the latest original for the company, which is rapidly ramping up its slate of originals with A-list talent. In May, Deadline revealed that Brendan Fraser is to star in The Professionals, a loose remake of the Christian Slater-fronted action movie Soldiers of Fortune for the platform, and in March it signed up Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak to create Margeaux, an international drama about the Munich Olympic massacre.

In The Machinery, Joner plays family man Olle, who wakes up on a ferry between Sweden and Norway with no memory of how he got there. What happened? Why is there a gun, a balaclava and a suitcase full of cash next to him?...

Nordic TV player Nent has inked new deals with MGM and NBCUniversal that guarantee it a raft of their content for its Viasat and Viaplay services. The MGM deal covers the James Bond catalogue as well as the upcoming “Bond 25,” and also gives Nent local rights to the studio’s upcoming TV series “Perpetual Grace” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

MGM will also co-produce three original series with Nent and distribute them internationally. The pair already had a programming deal, but it mostly covered older series. The new agreement hands Nent new MGM movies in the first pay-tv window.

“Partnerships are at the heart of our vision to become the leading Nordic streaming service provider and content producer with a global appeal,” said Anders Jensen, Nent Group CEO. “Our cooperation secures some of the world’s most attractive films and series for Nent Group’s customers, while giving...

Exclusive: Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak has a new series. Margeaux, an international drama about the Munich Olympic massacre, hails from Scandinavian Svod service Viaplay and Leaving Neverland distributor Kew Media.

The drama is told from the point of view of an Israeli Mossad psychologist as well as the Palestinian co-ordinator behind the attack. The series will be produced in multiple languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, English and German.

Margeaux, which is set to set production this fall, is the latest straight-to-series order for the Netherlands-born, Israeli-raised Hasak. It follows the Jennifer Lopez-fronted cop drama Shades of Blue, which ran for three seasons on NBC, as well as Hasak’s adaptation of Norwegian crime thriller Øyevitne as Eyewitness for USA Network. He is also developing a U.S. remake of German drama The Last Cop with Red Arrow Studios International and Universal Television. Additionally, Hasak has teamed up with Dynamic TV for a U.

Berlin — The international boom in prestige TV has put a spotlight on the industry’s top writing talents, yet many screenwriters still struggle to break out of the writers’ room and into the business.

At a packed afternoon session on day two of the Berlinale’s Drama Series Days, Adi Hasak and Anna Winger (“Deutschland 83/86”) discussed starting their own businesses, collaborating with studios, networks, and streaming services, and keeping control of their IP as they develop projects from scratch to screen.

“The whole idea of showrunning…is very different from just writing it,” said Winger. “There are so many parts to it: How to make something, how to make it with the budget that you have, how to make it with the people you’re working with, how to take something that’s in your head and execute it

She continued: “It really takes a village to make a TV show.

There was certainly a buzz in the air at this week’s Mipcom. The market felt genuinely busy and a raft of A-list talent such as Ben Stiller, Issa Rae and Jenna Coleman gave it a spark of glamor. Some 13,800 delegates, including 4,800 buyers from 110 countries attended the international television market, which was dominated by chatter about the growth of digital buyers and the “never-ending” drama boom as well as concerns over what media consolidation means for the global market (as well as traditional complaints about the rain and the airport-style security).

Endeavor boss Ari Emanuel talked up his plans to acquire more content companies, Insecure star Rae discussed the importance of diverse storytellers, while joking that even “white people are tired of seeing white-people shows” and Facebook made a splash with the news that it was rebooting The Real World online.

NBC Universal was conspicuous in Cannes thanks to its...

Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak is teaming with Red Arrow Studios International and Universal Television to develop a U.S. version of popular German series The Last Cop (Der Letzte Bulle), under his Adi TV Studios banner.

Hasak will write the pilot script and serve as executive producer and showrunner. Dean Parisot, who directed last year’s NBC hit Good Girls, will direct the pilot and serve as executive producer. Philipp Steffens also executive produces with Red Arrow Studios International’s Jan David Frouman and Shirley Bowers.

The Last Cop tells the story of Mick Briggs, an alpha male detective, who wakes up from a 25-year coma and struggles to find his identity as a man, husband and father in a world he neither recognizes nor understands.

The award-winning series was originally written and developed by Robert Dannenberg and Stefan Scheich and created and produced by ITV Studios Germany for Sat.

Spoiler Alert: This story contains details of tonight’s Shades of Blue series finale.

“You’ve got all your tomorrows lined up,” Ray Liotta’s on the run NYPD Lt. Matt Wozniak unintentionally ironically reassured his Jennifer Lopez played protégée Det. Harlee Santos tonight on the Season 3 ender and series finale of Shades of Blue.

While a Goodfellas alum led spinoff for the low rated cliché filled corrupt cop drama could feasibly be launched off the close of Shades, the fact is unless World of Dance judge JLo is looking to crossover to the next season of Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black, the NBC show’s tomorrows will thankfully be no more.

Oddly, with months to finesse things since the end of the series was announced in April and the “By Virtue Fall” episode that just aired, Shades of Blue failed the clutch test. Full of courtroom drama...

Since inking a first-look deal with NBCUniversal in 2013, Jennifer Lopez has found a strong collaborative partner that has taken her TV career to new heights.

Taking on the dramatic front over the past several years with crime drama Shades of Blue, in which she stars opposite Ray Liotta, Lopez has Bye Bye Birdie Live! on the horizon as the Adi Hasak-created cop series comes to an end and her Las Vegas residency winds down in September.

But the star has found her greatest hit of late in the network’s competition series World of Dance. Returning last month for a second season, the program promptly was picked up for a third.

A judge and executive producer on the visually immersive series—which features solo acts, larger groups and all styles—Lopez has always taken the opportunity to cultivate new generations of talent. “It’s what I loved about doing...

Shades of Blue and Eyewitness creator Adi Hasak is teaming with Dynamic Television for a U.S. version of German series Tempel. The project is being developed as a straight-to-series drama under Hasak’s Adi TV Studios banner.

Hasak has written a pilot script and an extensive series bible for the potential eight-episode series. As he did on Eyewitness, Hasak will write or co-write all episodes of the show with Jj Wienkers, who also will serve as a producer. German writer-director Michael Wenning, who introduced the format to Hasak will serve as executive producer. Dynamic Television will produce and handle worldwide distribution if the project is picked up to series. Dynamic’s Daniel March and Klaus Zimmerman will serve as executive producers.

Tempel tells the story of Mark Tempel, an ex-con who struggles to pay the bills working as an elderly care giver. When...

USA Network has opted not to order a second season of crime thriller anthology Eyewitness. The series, from Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak and adapted from the Norwegian drama Øyevitne, was an experiment for USA. It was done under a different business model: given a 10-episode straight-to-series order at a reduced budget. The serialized murder story was designed as a companion to USA’s venerable off-network crime drama procedural Law & Order: Svu on Sunday. Despite…...

One of USA Network’s Eyewitness characters is revealing his true self.

On Sunday’s episode, titled “Crème Brulee,” Philip (Tyler Young) is revealing to his adoptive parents, Tivoli sheriff Helen Torrance (Julianne Nicholson) and her husband Gabe Caldwell (Gil Bellows), that he is gay.

Related: 'Eyewitness' Star Warren Christie Dishes on the Stunning Twist

Et has the exclusive first look at the emotional moment when Philip, who has been in a blossoming (and complicated) relationship with Lukas Waldenbeck (James Paxton), tells his parents for the first time, and the conversation that follows between the trio.

“Tyler and James have really exploded off the show, and the feedback I’ve been getting from fans about their love story is extraordinary,” Eyewitness creator Adi Hasak tells Et exclusively.

Related: Why USA's Gripping Crime Drama 'Eyewitness' Is Your New Obsession

Philip and Lukas have a lot on their plate. After witnessing...

Last Week’S Podcast: ‘Eyewitness’ Producer Adi Hasak Bucks the System and Greg Nicotero Previews ‘The Walking Dead’ – IndieWire’s Turn It On Podcast

Producer Jason Katims is a bit of a remake whisperer, adapting films like “Parenthood” and “Friday Night Lights” into critically acclaimed dramas. But his next show, CBS’ “Pure Genius,” is an original idea that comes from a very personal place.

Augustus Prew stars in the drama as James Bell, a tech billionaire who has built the state-of-the art hospital Bunker Hill – an unconventional facility that utilizes technology and modern tools to treat patients. In the series opener, famed surgeon Dr. Walter Wallace, played by Dermot Mulroney, is recruited to join the facility.

Odette Annable, Reshma Shetty, Ward Horton and Brenda Song also star in the show, as part of the team enthusiastically charged with revolutionizing health care. Katims (who’s also behind Hulu’s “The Path...

Very Good Television Podcast has dug into some tricky topics over the past year and a half, but the best questions Liz and Ben have answered have definitely come from their humble listeners.

Last Week’S Episode: ’30 Rock’: 10 Reasons Tina Fey Made One of TV’s Most Important Comedies

What’s their favorite thing about The CW? What actors would they love to see return to television, and what would their dream George Clooney limited series look like? Which mid-1990s sci-fi show does Liz manage to bring up twice? How often does Ben find a way to turn the conversation to “The Leftovers”?

Get all the answers in this week’s Very Good TV Podcast, hosted by IndieWire TV Editor Liz Shannon Miller and TV Critic Ben Travers. Don’t forget to subscribe via Soundcloud or iTunes, and follow IndieWire on Twitter and Facebook for all your pertinent TV news.

If you look at the Gotham Awards nominations from a traditional standpoint, they aren’t predictors of Oscar season. This year’s nominees, some of which were selected by members of IndieWire’s staff, certainly leave out a few potential contenders. But at least one well-received movie from the nominees stands a good chance of gaining steam: Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight.” The artful look at a young black child growing up under challenging circumstances in Miami was a breakout hit on the festival circuit and continues to gain momentum as A24 releases it this weekend. It’s not your typical Oscar bait, but this isn’t your typical Oscar season. So could “Moonlight” go all the way?

See MoreBarry Jenkins’ ‘Moonlight’ Journey: How the Year’s Great Discovery Became an American Cinema Milestone

That theory is a big part of this week’s episode of Screen Talk, in which Eric Kohn...

Barry Jenkins didn’t want to have to explain anything to his audience as he welcomes them into the world of Chiron, a young boy growing up in the Liberty City neighborhood of Miami. Tracking the evolution of Chiron from grade school to manhood — the film is split into three chapters with a different actor playing Chiron in each — the film relies on audiences being able to access the internal world of a boy whose life is shaped by the world around him.

Read More: Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast: ‘Fire at Sea’ Oscar Contender Gianfranco Rosi is a Documentary Auteur You Need to Know (Episode 9)

In this week’s Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, Jenkins breaks down how he used everything from movement to music to access the character’s emotions, and how he carefully structured a story so those emotions tracked through two big jumps in time. He also reveals his unique...

Don’t say that Greg Nicotero didn’t warn you.

“The Walking Dead” fans are already braced for the worst on Sunday night, when it’s finally revealed which character is killed by supervillain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his barbed-wire bat Lucille. But executive producer and director Nicotero told IndieWire that viewers should still prepare themselves for heartache.

“I think people are going to be really, really sad,” Nicotero told IndieWire. “Grab a box of Kleenex when you watch it and understand that everything happens for a reason and whatever the result of the first episode is that it serves a very distinct purpose. Just like other characters who have died in the show, their death propels people and propels our story in a very specific and meaningful way and that’s what we’re looking for.”

IndieWire spoke with Nicotero right after AMC picked up “The Walking Dead” for an eighth season,...

Last Week’S Podcast: ‘Goliath’ Executive Producer David E. Kelley on Billy Bob Thornton and Amazon – IndieWire’s Turn It On Podcast

Producer Adi Hasak likes to play by his own rules. He doesn’t have an agent, and doesn’t have an overall deal anywhere. Yet over the past year he has sold two straight to-series TV shows: NBC’s “Shades of Blue,” starring Jennifer Lopez, and now USA Network’s new thriller “Eyewitness,” starring Julianne Nicholson.

“Eyewitness” is based on a Norwegian drama and follows two teenage boys who are secretly hooking up in a cabin when they witness a gangland-style killing. One of the boys’ foster mother happens to be the local sheriff, played by Julianne Nicholson, who’s investigating the crime. Hasak adapted “Eyewitness” and executive produces the show. On this week’s edition of IndieWire’s “Turn It On” podcast, Hasak shares his grand vision...

Writer and creator Shonda Rhimes looks back at career; maverick showrunner Adi Hasak; Mipcom posts record attendance.

If content is king in an age of proliferating platforms and windows, local content reigns supreme for home-grown platforms competing with international players.

This was the message of top programming and acquisitions executives speaking on a Mipcom panel on global TV trends on Wednesday (October 19).

Mike Sneesby, CEO of Australian Svod company Stan, said original local content such as the comedy show No Activity and its psychological thriller series Wolf Creek - a spin-off the hit genre film franchise starring John Jarrett as serial killer Mike Taylor - had been at the heart of its strategy to win over local audiences.

“Initially we focused on big network and studio shows, securing a deal with the likes of Showtime, and then moved very quickly into original shows, boarding our first original show just six weeks after launching,” said Sneesby...

Shades Of Blue creator and Eyewitness guru Adi Hasak told a Mipcom audience in Cannes today that he’s working on an adaptation of Black Widows, based on the Nordic noir format and which he calls "Desperate Housewives on acid." The rare bird in Hollywood who’s gone from being a writer with no TV credits — and still no agency representation — to back-to-back straight-to-series orders is attacking the international community first on Black Widows and is in negotiations with…...

What's next for Eyewitness? Recently, creator Adi Hasak spoke with Deadline about the future of the USA Network series.Based on the Norwegian show Øyevitne, the drama follows two teenage boys who witness a murder while trying to hide a secret of their own. The cast includes Gil Bellows, Tyler Young, James Paxton, Julianne Nicholson, Matt Murray, and Tattiawna Jones.Read More…...

All ten episodes were provided prior to broadcast.

Rural, small town crime dramas have become a genre unto themselves over the past few years, recently epitomized in the largely flawless second season of FX’s adaptation of Fargo. Although the beats remain the same, it’s hard to argue against the viewer satisfaction that comes from witnessing cataclysmic events ravaging a traditionally pristine, podunk town in some godforsaken stretch of the country.

In adapting the Norwegian drama “Øyevitne” into its own small town crime spree serial, USA ends up with Eyewitness, a show about a big city cop (Buffalo, New York being the big city) who decides to wind down the rest of her career in the middle of nowhere (Tivoli, New York being the middle of nowhere). It’s languid and gloomy and so clearly attempting to do effortless noir on the level of AMC’s The Killing that it hurts the show,...

Adi Hasak has the rare distinction of going from a writer with no TV credits and no agency representation to back-to-back straight-to-series orders for dramas Shades Of Blue at NBC and Eyewitness, which is set to debut on USA this Sunday, October 16. The latter, a crime thriller adapted from the Norwegian drama Øyevitne, follows two small-town teenage boys who, while hooking up in a cabin, witness a murder that is being investigated by the local sheriff, played by…...

Shades of Blue

After five episodes having aired, NBC has renewed Jennifer Lopez's rookie cop series "Shades of Blue" for a second season. Ray Liotta and Drea de Matteo also star in the show which has been averaging a 2.5 rating and 11.2 million viewers in Live+3 ratings.

No word on the episode count of the second season, though it's likely to match the thirteen of the first. The series will continue its first season through until April. [Source: The Live Feed]

Daredevil

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, Marvel has released a brief new teaser for the upcoming second season of Netflix's "Daredevil" which goes live on the service on March 18th.

Eyewitness

"Twilight" and "Thirteen" director Catherine Hardwicke has signed on to direct and executive produce the first two episode of USA Network's straight-to-series crime thriller "Eyewitness". Adapted from a Norwegian series, Adi Hasak is serving as showrunner on the series which begins production later this year.

Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) is set to direct and executive produce the first two episodes of USA Network’s 10-episode straight-to-series drama Eyewitness. Tyler Young has been cast as one of the two young leads in the project, an adaptation of the Norwegian crime thriller Øyevitne. Additionally, Scott Peters (V) has joined as an executive producer and will direct multiple episodes of the Universal Cable Prods. series, from Shades Of Blue creator Adi Hasak, who wrote it…...

USA Network has ordered the Eyewitness TV show, straight to series. An adaptation of a Norwegian crime thriller, the first season of Eyewitness will consist of ten episodes. Adi Hasak is set as showrunner and will executive produce, along with Jarl Emsell Larsen.

USA Network says, "When two innocent teenaged boys secretly meet up in the forest, they bear witness to a shooting and barely escape with their lives. Desperate to keep their relationship a secret and in fear of being found by the perpetrator, they remain silent but soon learn that what has been seen cannot be unseen and when you witness a horrible event it changes everything, forever."

Read More…...

USA has given a straight-to-series order to “Eyewitness” from “Shades of Blue” creator Adi Hasak, the network announced on Tuesday. The 10-episode drama is an adaptation of the Norwegian series “Øyevitne,” and follows two innocent teenage boys who bear witness to a shooting when they secretly meet up in the forest, barely escaping with their lives. “Eyewitness,” from Universal Cable Productions, comes from Ep/showrunner Hasak. Jarl Emsell Larsen will also serve as executive producer. Also read: Jennifer Lopez Show Creator: 'The White Man's 15 Minutes Are Up' “Norway’s incredible show ‘Eyewitness’ follows a horrific crime story through...

USA Network has given a 10-episode, straight-to-series order to Eyewitness, an adaptation of the Norwegian crime thriller Øyevitne. The project comes from Shades Of Blue creator Adi Hasak, who wrote it and will serve as executive producer/showrunner. The original series’ creator Jarl Emsell Larsen also will executive produce. The series, in the popular Nordic noir genre, explores a grisly crime from the point of view of the eyewitnesses. It is produced by Universal Cable…...