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News
Judd Apatow ’85 has received a series order from HBO for his comedy pilot Crashing, about a wholesome comedian who has to crash on the couches of all his comedian friends after his wife leaves him.
John August ’94 is receiving the WGA Valentine Davies Award for his role in fostering a community of writers, particularly with his blog and popular Scriptnotes podcast.
Victoria Aveyard ’12 had her debut novels Red Queen and Glass Sword reach #1 and #2 on the New York Times YA Hardcover Bestseller List.
Walt Becker ’95 is writing and executive producing Storyville, a drama pilot project focusing on the historical background of the Storyville red-light district in New Orleans.
Jason Michael Berman ’06 is producing Amateur, an independent film set to be released on Netflix about a fourteen year old basketball phenom who struggles to fit in with the older kids on his new team.
Jeffrey Blitz ’97 will be directing the NBC pilot The Trail, a serialized comedy following a young big-city lawyer and his quirky defense team during a murder trial in a small Southern town.
Helen Childress ’91 had her script Model Woman, a soapy period drama set in the fashion world, ordered to pilot by ABC.
Ryan Coogler ’10 will direct Marvel’s Black Panther, which stars Chadwick Boseman in the role of the titular comic book superhero. Coogler has also been appointed the first Warner Bros Creative Talent Ambassador. The studio program helps to support the next generation of UK talent with scholarships, mentoring and work placement. He is also collaborating with fellow alum Chinaka Hodge ’13, to develop Minors, a drama series focusing on children who grow up in the foster care system.
RJ Cutler will be directing and executive producing the drama pilot Four Stars, which centers on two rival military families that hold America’s national security fate in their hands.
Caroline Dries ’04 wrote Recon, a Fox drama pilot about a rookie FBI agent who embeds herself in a family with terrorist ties.
David Ellison is in talks with Ryan Reynolds to star in Life, a Skydance Production film focusing on a Mars mission that finds intelligent alien life. He is also producing Altered Carbon, a futuristic sci-fi drama where souls can move from one body to another, which was recently picked up by Netflix. Garrett Lerner ’95 and Russel Friend ’95 will also produce.
Bryan Fuller is fulfilling a long-time dream as he returns to the Star Trek franchise as the co-creator and executive producer of the new CBS Star Trek series debuting in 2017.
Richie Gordon ’11 has started a new production company called Tesselation. Their first project is Headliners, an alternative-format online show following the lives of a young pop-punk band at the height of the pop-punk craze in 2003.
Jason Hall will be making his directorial debut on his adapted script of David Finkel’s book Thank You For Your Service, which follows the lives of returning U.S. soldiers who struggle to re-acclimate. Miles Teller and Amy Schumer are also attached to the project.
Angela Kang ’09 just signed an overall deal with AMC, where she is currently a co-executive producer of The Walking Dead. Under the new deal Kang will develop new shows and projects for AMC.
Eric Kripke ’96 wrote and executive produced the drama pilot Time for NBC, described as “Back to the Future meets Mission: Impossible”.
Kicking & Screaming, a competition reality series that pairs 10 survival experts with pampered partners in a trek through the wilderness was just picked up for an eight episode order by Fox. Matthew Kunitz ’90 will be executive producing.
Shawn Levy ‘94 will direct a feature film based on the autobiography of legendary music producer Bill Graham.
The innovative new scripted VR series Invisible is being directed by Doug Liman and will premiere on the Samsung Milk VR platform.
Jaffar Mahmood ‘02 has just finished directing an episode of ABC’s The Middle, and has been tapped to direct additional episodes next season.
Joseph Mazzello ’05 just sold his feature script Undrafted to Vertical Entertainment. Undrafted is a fictionalized story of Joseph’s brother who must come to grips with being passed over by the MLB. Joseph will also be directing.
Jay Roach ’86 will be receiving the Cinema Audio Society’s Filmmaker Award for his body of directing and producing work including Trumbo, Meet the Parents, and the Austin Powers trilogy.
Shonda Rhimes ’94 received the 2016 Norman Lear Achievement Award from the PGA, and will be working with Mr. Lear on an Epix docu-series called America Divided, which explores the key issues shaping the current presidential campaign.
Charles Roven will be producing an adaptation of Keep Calm, an action-thriller novel that mixes conspiracy and intrigue at 10 Downing Street.
Josh Schwartz is teaming up with Mila Kunis for the fashion-themed project Made in LA, based on a memoir by the founders of Juicy Couture. The show will air on Freeform.
Stacey Sher ’85 has been selected as the co-president of Activision-Blizzard Studios, where she will be creating film and TV titles from the company’s deep library of games including Call of Duty, Skylander, and Starcraft.
Andrew Silver ’83 will be the supervising music editor on Going In Style, a heist film directed by Zach Braff.
’89 will direct and produce a new Fox adaptation of the classic Jules Verne novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Jason Taylor ’00 will be also be producing.
Tim Story ’94 will direct and executive produce What Goes Around Comes Around, CBS’ new single camera comedy pilot about two forty-something parents who were wild growing up and now have to raise three teens of their own. Aaron Kaplan ‘90 is also an executive producer.
Matt Stuecken ’01 sold his spec script Horizon Line, about a couple on a small airplane that gets lost over the Pacific,to Svensk Filmindustri. Production is set to begin this fall with Babak Najafi attached to direct.
Syfy has given a 13-episode series order to Incorporated, a futuristic thriller pilot set in the near future where corporations have unlimited power. The show comes from Pearl Street Films, a production company led by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd.
Louiza Vick ’08 was made partner at the Worldwide Production Agency.
Kurt Voelker’s script The Bachelor about a widower and his 17-year old son moving to LA,is heading to production with JK Simmons and Julie Delpy set to star.
Jeff Wadlow ’01 is set to direct Hitman’s Bodyguard, an intense action thriller starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek.
Freddie Wong ’08, Matthew Arnold ’02 and Desmond Dolly will be executive producing and directing a new sci-fi anthology series called Dimension 404, which explores the weird and wonderful dark side of the Internet. Dolly is also the co-creator and showrunner. The series will be a RocketJump/Lionsgate co-production.
Stu Zicherman ’93 is writing and executive producing the pilot Mating, a half-hour anthology comedy project exploring modern dating, which was recently picked up by Showtime (cast dependent).
TV Shows on the Air
11.22.63
Bryan Burk ’91, Executive Producer
Athena Wickham ’02, Producer
American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson
Scott Alexander ‘85, Writer/Producer
Larry Karaszewski ‘85, Writer/Producer
Nelson Cragg ‘03, Cinematographer
John Singleton ‘90, Director
Billions
Young Il Kim ‘04, Writer
James Foley ‘79, Director
Legends of Tomorrow
Chris Fedak ‘98, Writer/Executive Producer
Love
Judd Apatow ’85, Writer/Executive Producer
Lucifer
Nathan Hope ‘95, Producer/Director
Recovery Road
Patricia Resnick ‘75, Writer/Consulting Producer
Shades of Blue
Jack Orman ‘93, Writer/Executive Producer
Julian Meiojas ‘06, Writer
Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments
Angel Dean Lopez ‘91, Writer/Supervising Producer
Shannara Chronicles
Al Gough ‘04, Writer/Executive Producer
Miles Millar ‘04, Writer/Executive Producer
Matthew Okumura ‘02, Co-Producer
Films in Release
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Erik Aadahl ’98, Supervising Sound Editor
The Benefactor
Jason Michael Berman ‘06, Producer
Andrew Kortschak ’13, Co-Producer
The Finest Hours
James Whitaker ’94, Producer
How to Be Single
Dana Fox ‘00, Writer/Producer
Nancy Juvonen, Producer
Abby Kohn ‘96, Writer
Marc Silverstein ‘96, Writer
Tia Nolan ‘91, Editor
Ride Along 2
Tim Story ’94, Director
Risen
Kevin Reynolds ’81, Writer/Director
Triple 9
Bard Dorros ’99, Producer
Zoolander 2
Greg Hayden, Editor