“Winning Time” Showrunner Max Borenstein on Crafting an American Epic

Before Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty showrunner Max Borenstein sat down to write the show’s pilot episode, executive producer Adam McKay gave him one simple note: “Have fun with it.” Crammed with boisterous performances, Winning Time (its season finale aired this past Sunday, May 8, and is now renewed by HBO for a second season) does offer fun to spare but the series also brims with drama as it chronicles the betrayals,

“The Offer” Makeup Department Head Katy Fray Couldn’t Refuse

The limited series The Offer, now streaming on Paramount+, tells the deliciously dramatic story of how one of the greatest films ever made, The Godfather, almost never came to the screen. It is based on the memories of the film’s Oscar-winning producer Al Ruddy, here played by Miles Teller, and spans from the release of Mario Puzo’s bestseller in 1969, through the film’s production to its release in 1972. What makes the show so compelling is the spot-on portrayal of real-life figures important to the creation of Francis Ford Coppola’s deathless film to life.

Dragons, Deceit, & Danger Highlight Official “House of the Dragon” Trailer

“Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne.” This piece of brutal real talk is delivered to Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Milly Alcock as a child, Emma Darcy as an adult) in the official teaser trailer for House of the Dragon, the first Game of Thrones prequel to make it through the development gauntlet and appear on HBO. For Game of Thrones fans,

A Young Luke Skywalker Appears in Official “Obi-Wan Kenobi” Trailer

There are some seriously sinister forces aligned against Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) in the official trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi. From the opening seconds, we see the Inquisitor Fifth Brother (Sung Kang) appear on the scene as Obi-Wan implores the other, scattered Jedi to “stay hidden…or will we not survive.” Fifth Brother is but one of the people hunting Obi-Wan.

Yet Obi-Wan is not only a nearly peerless Jedi Master on the lam,

Viola Davis in Talks to Play Amanda Waller in “Peacemaker” Spinoff Series on HBO Max

In James Gunn’s Peacemaker, the beefy titular superhero (John Cena) was unaware that (spoiler alert) one of his colleagues and new almost-best friends Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) was actually the daughter of the ruthless Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). Amanda Waller was the one who tapped Peacemaker to take part in an insanely dangerous mission in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad that saw Peacemaker get shot, have a building fall on top of him,

Producer Autumn Bailey-Ford on Making Movies & Shows She Loves in Georgia

Autumn Bailey-Ford has been an independent film and TV producer working out of Georgia for the past 13 years. Originally from York, Pennsylvania, Bailey-Ford has worked her way up from production assistant—that invaluable, multifaceted job that has been the starting point to many successful film careers—to running her own studio…and co-running a second.

“I love film and TV,” Bailey-Ford says, reflecting on a career that began with her daydreaming as a little girl watching Bob Hope and Bing Cosby movies on Turner Movie Classics.

Celebrating World IP Day’s Focus on Young Creators With Teenage TV & Film Buff Ruby Gentz

Earlier today, we published our video with teenage artist Patrick Jackson in part of our celebration World Intellectual Property Day. The connection is that this year, World IP Day is specifically focused on how young people across the globe are helping foster a brighter, more inclusive, and more robust creative future. The importance of protecting intellectual property is not just about securing the present for a vibrant creative community, but the future of all of our young artists.

Celebrating World IP Day’s Focus on Young Creators With Teenage Artist Patrick Jackson

Today is World Intellectual Property Day, and this year’s focus is on the ways in which young creators are making a big impact on safeguarding IP and making the world a more creatively vibrant place. As the World IP Day’s official site explains, “Across the globe, young people are stepping up to innovation challenges, using their energy and ingenuity, their curiosity and creativity to steer a course towards a better future.”

We thought one excellent way of celebrating World IP Day this year would be to shine a light on some of those young people who are going to help us create a better,

New “Obi-Wan Kenobi” Images Reveal Darth Vader & More

Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) is back. After being only hinted at in the Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer, we have our first official look at the Sith Lord’s return, with Christensen reprising the role for the first time in 17-years, since George Lucas’s final film in his prequel trilogy, 2005’s Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith. In that film, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) might have beaten Annakin Skywalker (Christensen) in a lightsaber duel in the film’s climactic final battle,

“They Call Me Magic” Trailer Reveals the Rise of Earvin “Magic” Johnson

There are currently two Magic Johnsons streaming right now. There is the fictionalized Magic, played by Quincy Isaiah, on HBO’s dazzling, gleefully dramatic Winning Time, based on Jeff Pearlman’s book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.” And now, there is the actual Magic in Apple TV’s They Call Me Magic, a four-part documentary series that hopes to do for the Lakers legend and business titan what The Last Dance did for Michael Jordan—give Magic the kind of in-depth,

“The Man Who Fell to Earth” Creator Jenny Lumet Turns an Iconic Alien Tale Into a Modern Epic

The new Showtime limited series The Man Who Fell to Earth is inspired by the 1963 novel and subsequent 1976 cult classic of the same name. Highly anticipated, it is created by award-winners Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman, of Star Trek Discovery and Strange New Worlds. In this story, Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as an alien called Faraday on an urgent mission to save his homeworld. He tracks down genius scientist Justin Falls (Naomie Harris) who somehow holds part of the secret to saving both his world and ours.

Nicole Kassell on Producing & Directing HBO’s Devilish New Comedy/Horror “The Baby”

Shooting a television series under any circumstance is arduous at best. But when your title character is too young to even walk, it certainly increases the degree of difficulty. Producer/director Nicole Kassell discovered this fact quickly on her latest project, The Baby, a sly horror/comedy created by Siân Robins-Grace and Lucy Gaymer. 

“Even with everything I’ve already done before, I think this might have been the hardest shoot I’ve ever done,” says Kassell during a recent Zoom interview.

Paramount Makes Nickelodeon Content Free For Ukrainian Refugees in Europe

There are many ways to help Ukrainians in their ongoing time of need, from donating to charities like the World Food Programme, Share The Meal and many, many more (for a list of charitable organizations, this is a good place to start). For Paramount Global, their contributions began with a $1 million donation to support humanitarian relief organizations and, now, to make their Nickelodeon kids content free on various platforms in Europe and beyond for Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russia’s onslaught.

Disney+’s “Willow” Series Casts “Game of Thrones” Star

The cast for Lucasfilm and Disney+’s upcoming Willow series just got a major boost. Deadline reports that Game of Thrones alum Rosabell Laurenti Sellers is joining the eagerly-anticipated series, which is a spinoff of director Ron Howard’s 1988 classic fantasy feature film. The original Willow followed the journey of a young farmer named Willow (Warwick Davis) who was tasked to go on a dangerous quest to protect a special baby from the evil sorceress Queen Bavmorda (Jean Marsh).

“Stranger Things” Season 4 Trailer is a Dark, Thrilling Rollercoaster Ride

The Stranger Things season 4 trailer is here, and it’s an absolute smash. Revealing a much darker tone and tenor, raised stakes, and a terrifying new threat, the Duffer Brothers’ promise that would be the biggest, scariest season yet looks utterly confirmed. It seems the years worth of trauma is really taking its toll on our assorted heroes. What’s more, season 4 will find these friends scattered, and all of it speaks to why the Duffer Brothers couldn’t fit the entirety of season 4 into a traditional single-volume release schedule.

“Squid Game” Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk Reveals Which Characters Are Returning For Season 2

Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has revealed that two of the big stars from his global phenomenon series will be returning for another round of devilish games in season two.

Deadline reveals that two characters you will be seeing again are SAG Award-winning actor Lee Jung-jae’s Gi-hun, season one’s main protagonist and the survivor of the deadly games, and Front Man, played by Korean superstar Lee Byung-hun,

“Winning Time” Scores a Second Season With HBO

When we spoke with Winning Time co-creator, writer, and executive producer Jim Hecht, he said he and his fellow writers were already at work on season two. Well, it seems like Hecht and the Winning Time team got out on a fast break a few steps ahead. HBO has officially renewed Winning Time for a season second, which will pick up where season one left off,

“Russian Doll” Season 2 Trailer Reveals Natasha Lyonne’s Even Stranger Trip

“The universe finally found something worse than death,” Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne) says at the top of the first trailer for Russian Doll, season two. “I broke time.” And a nation rejoices at the sound of Lyonne’s inimitable voice as she reprises the role she was born to play. Created by Lyonne, Lesley Headland, and Amy Poehler, Russian Doll appeared on Netflix in 2019, right before the real world became a time-subverting nightmare,

“The Dropout” Composer Anne Nikitin Takes a Synthetic Approach to Elizabeth Holmes’s Treachery

Hulu’s limited biographical series The Dropout, which stars Amanda Seyfried as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, has been getting rave reviews for both Seyfried’s performance and for its sharp take on the shocking real-life story of corporate and personal hubris. The show follows Holmes from her beginnings as an ambitious college student with Steve Jobs as her role model, through her attempts to develop healthcare technology, and then to her astonishingly fast rise to fame and fortune as CEO of a billion-dollar company.

“Winning Time” Co-Creator Jim Hecht on His Love Letter to the Lakers

Jim Hecht‘s road to co-creating Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers began in 2014. Hecht was, by his own admission, at a low point, and he was looking for a project that really spoke to him. During his daily meditation, which he admitted with the qualifier “this sounds very LA,” he had a thought: “You gotta stop writing sh*t that you think other people would want to see and start writing the show that you would want to watch.”