Black Earth Rising
The deal, signed July 1, between French and German media giants Mediawan and Leonine to acquire a majority stake in Britain’s Drama Republic — the Emmy-nominated producer of Patrick Melrose, The Honourable Woman, The Irregulars and Black Earth Rising, not to mention the global hit Doctor Foster — has quietly created a new European television powerhouse.
Last year, Mediawan, which counts pan-European shingle Lagardère Studios and labels such as Call My Agent! producer Mon Voisin Productions among its subsidiaries, joined forces with Leonine, forming a joint venture with the fast-growing German film and TV group whose assets include Dark producer Wiedemann & Berg, and the libraries of former indie film giants Universum and Tele München. Together, they are already among the biggest independent producer/distributor in Europe. But the addition of Drama Republic – Mediawan and Leonine paid an undisclosed sum for a 51 percent stake in the London-based group – puts the new studio firmly on Hollywood’s radar.
Set up by industry veterans Greg Brenman (Peaky Blinders, Ripper Street) and Roanna Benn (Prisoner’s Wives) in 2013, who run the company as joint CEOs together with chief creative officer Jude Liknaitzky, Drama Republic is home to some of the most acclaimed and successful television dramas of the past decade. Successful collaborations with the best in British writing talent, including Hugo Blick (The Honourable Woman), David Nicholls (Patrick Melrose, Us), Tom Bidwell (The Irregulars, My Mad Fat Diary) and Mike Bartlett (Doctor Foster, King Charles III), have helped the boutique operation build a reputation for top-notch fiction that can travel. Bartlett’s Doctor Foster is among the world’s most successful international series, sold to more than 100 territories with numerous local-language spin-offs, including versions in France, Germany, India and South Korea.
Along the way, Drama Republic has successfully teamed up both with local broadcasters – with the BBC on Doctor Foster and the Tom Hollander/Saskia Reeves starrer Us (2020), as well as with global streamers on projects including The Irregulars and Black Earth Rising (Netflix), Charly Clive’s sex addict sitcom Pure (HBO Max) and the upcoming Western series The English, starring Emily Blunt, currently shooting in Spain and which the company is making together with Amazon and the BBC.
Video: CBS Signs New Overall Deal With ‘Star Trek’ Showrunner Alex Kurtzman (TheWrap)
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MSNBC Host Jonathan Capehart Got the ‘Twisties’ and Tried to End His Show Too Soon
MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart blamed the “twisties” for mistakenly trying to end his Saturday a show a few minutes before it was actually over. Capehart, who was filling in for Tiffany Cross and her Saturday show “The Cross Connection,” had just finished an interview with actor-director Ruben Santiago-Hudson about Broadway’s planned return after the pandemic shutdown. “That’s our show for today,” he said — before doubting himself while still on air. “No, that is not our show for today. Is that our show for today?” “That is our show for today,” he confirmed seconds later, signing off that Cross would be back next week for the regular show and moving to a commercial break. He then handed off “The Saturday Show” to MSNBC’s Alex Witt for football news. The host laughed it off and was lighthearted about the mixup afterward on social media, blaming the mistake on the “twisties” — the term that elite gymnasts like Olympian Simone Biles ues to describe a dangerous condition when they lose control of their bodies as they spin through the air are no longer able to complete their maneuvers or tell up from down. Talk about the twisties… 🤭😆 https://t.co/bAYs9WASAY — Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) July 31, 2021 LOL happens to the best of us! @CapehartJ doesn’t know whether or not his show is over 😂 cc @TiffanyDCross pic.twitter.com/VFQHLqmSNE — Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) July 31, 2021 I told you it’s all of a sudden the end of the show when it seems like we’re in the middle. Guess it’s the opposite on your side of the camera @CapehartJ . Can’t wait to see Reiner with you tomorrow. — Jane Hudson (@hane_does) July 31, 2021 Love him for pure honesty. — Leisure Time (@carlenelee10) July 31, 2021 Read original story MSNBC Host Jonathan Capehart Got the ‘Twisties’ and Tried to End His Show Too Soon At TheWrap
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Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart Are the Olympic Commentators We Need: ‘Look at That Horse, He’s Crip-Walking’ (Video)
For fans of Snoop Dogg’s “Plizzanet Earth” narration, we present another instant classic in the legendary rapper’s comedic repertoire: Snoop Dogg narration of the Olympics — with the help of Kevin Hart. Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, tapped the duo to host a special aptly titled, “Olympic Highlights With Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg,” in which the unlikely duo comment on random, out-of-context clips from the Tokyo Games. The result is as hilarious as you’d expect. Two clips from the show began circulating on Twitter Saturday, the first from the Olympic Games’ equestrian event, which quickly caught Snoop’s attention. “Horses. I like this. This is equestrian,” Snoop begins before exclaiming, “Oh, the horse crip-walking, cuh! You see that? On the set! That’s gangsta as a motherf—er.” Snoop Dogg on the call can make anything entertaining pic.twitter.com/3l4ncMS6xA — Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) July 31, 2021 Snoop continued to praise the hoofed Olympian’s deft trotting, cracking up his co-host all the while.“Aw man, this horse is off the chain! I gotta get this motherf—er in a video!” the rapper said. That tickled Hart even more. “Horse crip-walking is officially in the Olympics.” Hart said. The other widely retweeted clip from the special is a tad raunchier. Earlier in the same episode from Friday, Snoop and Hart watched skeet-shooting (which apparently is an official event) when, um, this is what was said. Snoop over on Peacock WIDE OPEN! 😂 pic.twitter.com/MvzZfl2HFz — Roy Wood Jr- Ex Jedi (@roywoodjr) July 31, 2021 “Gold medals for skeet shooting?” Snoop asks. “I got a couple gold medals in skeet shooting but not that kind of skeeting.” Hart attempts to derail Snoop Dogg’s train of thought but fails. “But I do skeet skeet!” he continued. “Skeet skeet motherf—er!” Hart can’t help but snicker and neither can we. “Olympic Highlights With Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg” is produced by Hart’s LOL Studios. Read original story Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart Are the Olympic Commentators We Need: ‘Look at That Horse, He’s Crip-Walking’ (Video) At TheWrap
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Olympic Swimmer Lydia Jacoby Powered Through After Losing Her Goggles
U.S. swimmer Lydia Jacoby’s hot pink goggles have become her trademark, but during the mixed relay at the Tokyo Olympics, they were her downfall when they fell off and got stuck around her mouth during the race. The 17-year-old was about to kick off the breaststroke leg of the men’s and women’s relay race Saturday when every swimmer’s nightmare became a reality: her goggles fell from her eyes just as she dove into the pool. Watch Jacoby power through the setback and complete her heat of the race by clicking here. Note that the U.S. team is in Lane 5. “It’s hard to breath with a pair of goggles on your mouth,” the NBC Sports commentator said. Fortunately, Jacoby said afterwards that she was still able to breathe despite the positioning of the goggles. She admitted, however, that she was “definitely panicking a little.” “I think my turn was where it was the most rough because I couldn’t see the wall but other than that I feel like I pulled through as best as I could,” she told reporters. There were no hard feelings on Team USA, who finished fifth in the race with Great Britain winning the gold, followed by China then Australia. “I mean, anyone that’s swam with their goggles in their mouth, like she did, she did fantastic and the rest of the relay did really nice as well,” Jacoby’s relay-mate Ryan Murphy said, adding that he was “really proud of how she handled those circumstances.” Despite Saturday’s proceedings, we highly doubt Jacoby will be retiring those pink beauties anytime soon. For one, she won the gold wearing them in the women’s 100 meter breaststroke on Tuesday. But they’re also the same pair she wore as a child, which were gifted to her by former Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy. Hardy tweeted about the story earlier this week. “Pink goggle watch!” she wrote. “Help me cheer on Lydia Jacoby in tonight’s 100 breaststroke final 7:17PM PST. Met this girl hosting a clinic at her home pool in Alaska 5 years ago & she’s still racing in my goggles since. Go get em Lydia proud of you no matter what happens!” You can watch the full race via NBC Sports here. Pink goggle watch! ⚠️ Help me cheer on Lydia Jacoby in tonight’s 100 breaststroke final 7:17PM PST. Met this girl hosting a clinic at her home pool in Alaska 5 years ago & she’s still racing in my goggles since. Go get em Lydia 💪🏼🇺🇸💕 proud of you no matter what happens! pic.twitter.com/yI0W262O2i — Jessica Hardy Meichtry (@swimhardy) July 26, 2021 Read original story Olympic Swimmer Lydia Jacoby Powered Through After Losing Her Goggles At TheWrap
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“We honestly had a lot of options about where we wanted to go with the company,” Brenman tells THR. “What we were really struck by with Mediawan and Leonine was the creative synergy. We really admired the work they were doing [and] they were genuinely excited about both our past shows and our shows in development. We felt they were the right partners who would really support and back all our ambitions for the future, for the kind of shows that we like making.”
Brenman acknowledges that in the current marketplace, with television series budgets “going sky-high,” it has become impossible to finance many shows out of a single territory. By linking up with a pan-European studio, Drama Republic hopes to broaden its options. “Obviously with a big-budget show you can do a deal with a global streamer,” he says. “But if you can finance your project out of a couple of territories, whether that’s the U.K. and America or the U.K. and several European territories, it can be commercially beneficial, since you still have the rest of the globe to sell to once you finance your show.”
Access to Mediawan and Leonine’s catalog of European originals was also a deciding factor in the deal, notes Benn, although Drama Republic missed out on adapting Call My Agent! Mediawan’s hit comedy series about the French film industry, which features cameos from both French and Hollywood A-listers, is being given a British remake courtesy of Bron Studios and Headline Pictures.
“European IP seems to be getting better and better and much more visible because foreign-language stuff is coming to our screens more and more, whether it’s Call My Agent! or Lupin or all the Spanish shows,” says Benn. “To have so many companies [within the Mediawan/Leonine group] with so many ideas and shows and to be able to adapt them into English, or work with the people behind them, is a really exciting possibility.”
Quips Liknaitzky: “The idea that we’ll be working with German, French, Spanish and Italian talent, is just really exciting. We would all like to reverse Brexit. And if we can do it like this, in our own little way, it will be worth it.”
