News

Ted Danson is going back on the case for Netflix.

The streamer has ordered a second season of A Man on the Inside, a comedy series starring Danson as Charles, a widower who, in the first season, goes to work for a private investigator (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) to investigate thefts in a retirement community. The series is inspired by the Oscar-nominated documentary The Mole Agent.

The renewal comes a few weeks after A Man on the Inside’s Nov. 21 premiere and on the heels of Danson earning a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. The series, created by Mike Schur (The Good Place, Parks and Recreation) and produced by Universal Television, was also named one of the American Film Institute’s TV programs of the year.

“We are thrilled to make another season of A Man on the Inside, starring young up-and-comer Ted Danson,” Schur said in a statement. “From...

On Monday, Netflix announced a Season 2 renewal for “A Man on the Inside,” its Golden Globe-nominated comedy series from creator Michael Schur and star Ted Danson (Emmy winner for “Cheers”).

The series, which premiered in November, tells the story of Charles (Danson), a lonely retiree grieving the death of his beloved wife, who gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a private investigator and becomes a mole in a secret investigation into a theft at a San Francisco retirement home. He goes in under false pretenses, but discovers a true community.

In addition to Danson, the cast includes Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Stephanie Beatriz, Lilah Richcreek Estrada, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Emmy winner Sally Struthers. Executive producers are Schur, Morgan Sackett, David Miner, Maite Alberdi, Marcela Santibañez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements. The series is based on the Academy Award-nominated documentary “The Mole Agent.”

“We are...

Netflix today announced that the critically acclaimed comedy series A Man on the Inside has been renewed for a second season, slated to premiere in 2025.

A Man on the Inside debuted atop Netflix’s most popular English TV List and has remained in the top 10 for three weeks since its release. It was named one of AFI’s 2024 TV programs of the year and Ted Danson has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance as an actor in a comedy series.

“We are thrilled to make another season of A Man on the Inside, starring young up-and-comer Ted Danson,” said creator and executive producer Mike Schur.

“From our partners at Netflix and Universal TV to the writers, cast, and crew, it’s a truly exceptional team of talented and lovely people, with one notable exception.”

“A Man on The Inside found that sweet spot between funny, authentic and heartfelt,...

Just three weeks following its Season 1 release, Netflix has renewed the critically-acclaimed comedy series A Man on the Inside, starring Ted Danson, for a second season. It’s slated to premiere in 2025.

Created by Mike Schur, A Man on the Inside stars Danson as Charles, a retired man who gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a Pi and becomes a mole in a secret investigation. It’s based on the documentary The Mole Agent, a 2021 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary feature.

The series debuted atop Netflix’s most popular English TV List and has remained in the top 10 for three weeks since release. It was named one of AFI’s 2024 TV programs of the year and Danson has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance by an actor in a comedy series.

“We are thrilled to make another season of A Man on the Inside,...

“A Man on the Inside” has been renewed for Season 2 at Netflix.

Netflix made the announcement on their official X account on Monday. The second season of the show is now slated to debut in 2025. The series debuted on Netflix on Nov. 21.

Ted Danson stars in the single-camera comedy, which is based on the Oscar-nominated Chilean documentary “The Mole Agent.”

The official series description states, “Retired professor Charles (Danson) feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife’s passing, he’s become stuck in his routine and grown distant from his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). But when he spies a classified ad from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he’s inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure. Charles’ mission: to go undercover inside the Pacific View Retirement Home in San Francisco and solve the mystery of a stolen family heirloom.

In Netflix’s A Man On The Inside, Ted Danson stars as Charles a retired professor who goes undercover in a retirement community to solve the mystery of a resident’s family heirloom that’s disappeared.

Based on the Maite Alberdi’s documentary The Mole Agent, the series, which launches today, could be seen as a limited project, a one and done investigation, but Danson and showrunner Mike Schur are hoping for more cases.

In the finale episode [Spoilers Alert], Danson’s Charles answers his phone from private investigator Julie, played by Lilah Richcreek Estrada. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but I have another job for you,” she says.

“Say no more,” replies Charles before hanging up the phone. “Hey, sorry I do need you to say more but whatever it is, I’m in,” he adds as he calls her back.

The setup is designed for a second season.

Netflix has released the trailer for A Man on the Inside, which is based on the documentary The Mole Agent, a 2021 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature.

From creator Mike Schur and starring Ted Danson, the series will premiere on November 21 and consists of eight 30-minute episodes. Danson plays Charles, a retired man who gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a Pi and becomes a mole in a secret investigation.

Retired professor Charles (Ted Danson) feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife’s passing, he’s become stuck in his routine and grown distant from his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis).

But when he spies a classified ad from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he’s inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure. Charles’ mission: to go undercover inside the Pacific View Retirement Home...

Netflix has released a trailer for its upcoming comedy series A Man on the Inside, which features a reunion of star Ted Danson and creator Mike Schur after they worked together on The Good Place.

The show, which Netflix gave a straight-to-series order in March 2023, is based on the Oscar-nominated documentary The Mole Agent. Danson plays Charles, a retired professor who’s in a rut following the death of his wife, having grown distant from his daughter, Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). Netflix describes the show this way:

“When Charles spies a classified ad from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he’s inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure. Charles’ mission: to go undercover inside the Pacific View Retirement Home in San Francisco and solve the mystery of a stolen family heirloom. Everyone, residents and staff alike, is a potential suspect, and it’s up to Charles to...

“For the majority of seniors, the biggest threat to their wellbeing isn’t an accident or health, it’s loneliness,” says Stephanie Beatriz’s Didi, director of the Pacific View Retirement Home in Netflix’s upcoming series A Man On The Inside.

To combat this Ted Danson’s retired professor Charles becomes a mole agent at the home. “I don’t know how to be a spy, but it’s good for me, makes me feel useful,” he says in the first trailer for the show.

A Man On The Inside, a sweet, scripted adaptation of Maite Alberdi’s documentary The Mole Agent, debuts on Netflix on November 21.

The series, which is exec produced by Mike Schur among others, follows Charles as he feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife’s passing, he’s become stuck in his routine and grown distant from...

Ted Danson is going undercover to solve crime in the unlikeliest of places — a retirement home.

The “Cheers” icon leads Netflix series “A Man on the Inside,” which is based on Maite Alberdi‘s Oscar-nominated 2021 documentary “The Mole Agent.” Danson’s “The Good Place” showrunner Mike Schur is the creator of the series, with Alberdi executive producing.

The official synopsis reads: “Retired professor Charles (Danson) feels life has nothing new in store for him. A year after his wife’s passing, he’s become stuck in his routine and grown distant from his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). But when he spies a classified ad from private investigator Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada), he’s inspired to roll the dice on a new adventure. Charles’ mission: to go undercover inside the Pacific View Retirement Home in San Francisco and solve the mystery of a stolen family heirloom. Everyone, residents and staff alike,...

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ directorial debut My Dead Friend Zoe took the Grand Jury prize for Best Feature Narrative Saturday night as the Woodstock Film Festival presented awards for its silver jubilee edition.

The film stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, and Morgan Freeman in a tale of a female veteran of the war in Afghanistan who “comes head to head with her Vietnam vet grandfather at the family’s ancestral lake house.” The feature grew out of a short film directed by Hausmann-Stokes, himself a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq.

The jury, comprised of Oren Moverman, Roger Ross Williams, and Debra Granik, wrote, “For a standout central performance that delves into the darkness of the human psyche in the aftermath of its most extreme brutality, and for shining a light on the tragic consequences of war on those who are sent in our name to fight, we the...

Our ongoing Member Lens feature spotlights current Film Independent Members to see how they got started, where they are now and what being part of Film Independent means to them. This month: producer Diane Becker.

***

Film Independent Member Diane Becker has always had non-fiction in her blood. The Academy Award winning producer of Navalny started off going to school for photojournalism, ended up working for big news networks, but couldn’t help but think that going into film was what she needed to do.

After graduating from AFI, she was exposed to the world of documentary filmmaking, and found that it was a collision of two worlds she loved. Now she has produced films like King Coal, Stutz, the Netflix docuseries The Program: Cons Cults and Kidnapping, and Blink, which is premiering this fall for National Geographic.

We spoke with her earlier this month about the high-highs and low-lows of...

Netflix has shared a first look at A Man on the Inside (formerly known as “A Classic Spy”), a new comedy series from creator Mike Schur. Starring Ted Danson, the series premieres this November on Netflix.

Charles (Danson), a retired man, gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a Pi and becomes a mole in a secret investigation.

A Man on the Inside is based on the documentary The Mole Agent, a 2021 Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Feature. The series will consist of eight 30-minute episodes.

The cast includes Ted Danson, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Stephanie Beatriz, Lilah Richcreek Estrada, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sally Struthers, Margaret Avery, and John Getz.

Susan Ruttan, Lori Tan Chinn, Clyde Kusatsu, Marc Evan Jackson, Jama Williamson, Wyatt Yang, Deuce Basco, Lincoln Lambert, and Kerry O’Malley round out the cast of the Universal Television show.

The executive producers include Mike Schur (Fremulon), Morgan Sackett,...

Netflix has dropped first look images for the upcoming comedy series “A Man on the Inside” starring Ted Danson.

The half-hour show hails from creator Mike Schur, who is reuniting with Danson following their time working together on “The Good Place.” It is a series adaptation of the 2021 documentary feature “The Mole Agent.” Netflix ordered the show to series in 2023. It will premiere in November, though an official date has yet to be set.

The official logline states, “Charles (Danson), a retired man, gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a Pi and becomes a mole in a secret investigation.”

Along with Danson, the cast includes: Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Stephanie Beatriz, Lilah Richcreek Estrada, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sally Struthers, Margaret Avery, John Getz, Susan Ruttan, Lori Tan Chinn, Clyde Kusatsu, Marc Evan Jackson, Jama Williamson, Wyatt Yang, Deuce Basco, Lincoln Lambert, and Kerry O’Malley.

Schur...

We’re getting the first look at Ted Danson in A Man on the Inside (fka A Classic Spy), the new Netflix comedy series from Mike Schur, set for premiere this November.

Created by Schur, the eight-episode half-hour series is based on the 2021 Oscar-nominated documentary The Mole Agent. It revolves around Charles, played by Danson, who gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a Pi and becomes a mole in a secret investigation.

In addition to Danson, the cast includes Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Stephanie Beatriz, Lilah Richcreek Estrada, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Sally Struthers, Margaret Avery, John Getz, Susan Ruttan, Lori Tan Chinn, Clyde Kusatsu, Marc Evan Jackson, Jama Williamson, Wyatt Yang, Deuce Basco, Lincoln Lambert, Kerry O’Malley.

Schur executive produces via his Fremulon banner along with Morgan Sackett as well as David Miner for 3 Arts Entertainment, Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibañez for Micromundo Producciones...

PodcastOne (Nasdaq: Podc), a leading podcast platform and a subsidiary of LiveOne (Nasdaq: Lvo), announced today that it has acquired the exclusive sales and distribution rights to top society and culture podcast, Dumb Gay Podcast hosted by Bravo stars and comedians Julie Goldman and Brandy Howard. Dumb Gay Podcast launches on PodcastOne on May 7, 2024.

If you know who NeNe Leakes is but not Nancy Pelosi, then this is the podcast for you! Join Bravo stars and comedians Julie Goldman (the gay) and Brandy Howard (the dumb) as they talk about politics & current events, like they are talking about reality TV. Dumb Gay Podcast is a weekly comedy podcast with lots of feelings, lots of facts, and zero f*cks. Hosts Goldman and Howard rose to popularity as cast members of Bravo's hit show, The People's Couch.

“Julie and Brandy are the comedic voices of a generation and we’re excited...

The Concordia Fellowship provides crucial financial and professional support to diverse non-fiction storytellers in sixth class. Concordia Studio, the company behind the acclaimed Emmy-winning documentary film, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, directed by founder Davis Guggenheim, is awarding four filmmakers the Concordia Fellowship for 2024.

As the artist development program housed within Concordia Studio, the Concordia Fellowship aims to elevate the creative and professional career of each selected filmmaker through significant financial awards and a professional program to accelerate the creative development of a new non-fiction project. The program helps its Fellows build sustainable careers, offering foundational mentorships with veteran talent, industry executives, as well as exclusive access to Concordia’s production and studio facilities. Year-round virtual and in-person programming includes guest visits and masterclasses with renowned filmmakers and industry talent such as Sheila Nevins, Lisa Cortes, Liz Garbus, Julie Goldman, and executives at Participant Media, Magnolia Pictures, Sundance Institute,...

After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck’s documentary “Eternal You” is set to be theatrical released by Dogwoof in the U.K. and Farbfilm in Germany.

The buzzed-about documentary explores ways that AI is being used by help people cope with grief, allowing them to interact with avatars of their deceased loved ones. Dogwoof, which is repping worldwide sales, is negotiating a U.S. deal and sales in other territories. “Eternal You” is now premiering at Cph:dox in Denmark.

Block and Riesewieck also examine the moral and emotional ramifications of this segment of the digital afterlife industry, as well as the ethics of startup companies which are using AI to create digital replicas of the dead.

“Eternal You” is produced by Davis Guggenheim’s Concordia Studio, Julie Goldman and Chris Clements’ Motto Pictures, Christian Beetz and Georg Tschurtschenthaler’s Beetz Brothers, as well as Jenny Raskin’s Impact Partners.

MTV Documentary Films is making its Oscar-nominated documentary The Eternal Memory available for free on YouTube through the rest of the month.

The film, winner of the Goya Award for Best Iberoamerican Film and the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival among many other awards, earned director Maite Alberdi the second Oscar nomination of her career. The Chilean filmmaker was nominated in 2021 for her documentary feature The Mole Agent.

“The Eternal Memory tells a profound and moving love story that balances vibrant individual and collective remembrance with the longevity of an unbreakable human bond,” notes a release about the film. “Augusto and Paulina have been together and in love for 25 years. Eight years ago, their lives were forever changed by Augusto’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. As one of Chile’s most prominent cultural commentators and television presenters, Augusto is no stranger to building an archive of memory.

Exclusive: MTV Documentary Films has announced a return theatrical engagement for its Oscar-nominated documentary The Eternal Memory, beginning today and extending throughout the month of February.

Maite Alberdi’s film, a love story that Deadline has compared to the narrative features Amour and Doctor Zhivago, will play exclusively at IFC Center in New York and in the Los Angeles area at two locations: Laemmle Monica Film Center in Santa Monica and Laemmle Glendale. In addition, MTV Documentary Films has set what it describes as “a very special Valentine’s Day Drive-In event on the evening of February 14 in the San Francisco Bay Area at the West Wind Drive-In theater, where couples can celebrate the love story of Paulina and Augusto that Alberdi so wonderfully captured in the film.”

‘The Eternal Memory’

A description of the film notes, “Augusto and Paulina have been together and in love for more than two decades.

Stephanie Beatriz, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, and Lilah Richcreek Estrada join ‘A Classic Spy’

Netflix’s untitled Mike Schur/Ted Danson comedy series has an official title – A Classic Spy – and 13 new cast members. The comedy, based on the Oscar-nominated documentary The Mole Agent, follows Ted Danson as Charles, a retired man who fills his hours working for a private investigator as a mole inside a secret organization.

Mike Schur created the series and serves as an executive producer. Additional executive producers include Morgan Sackett, David Miner, Maite Alberdi, Marcela Santibañez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements. The series is produced by Universal Television.

Netflix released the following A Classic Spy cast and character descriptions:

Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) plays Emily, a married mother of three boys who has to adjust when her father Charles (Danson) makes a surprising late-life career move and becomes an undercover detective. Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) plays Didi,...

Which familiar faces will join Ted Danson in his Netflix detective comedy, created by Mike Schur? Consider that mystery solved.

A Classic Spy, which stars Danson as a retiree named Charles who becomes a mole in a secret investigation, just announced its ensemble cast, including several actors from previous Schur projects The Good Place and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

More from TVLineTVLine Items: Brenda Song Joins Mindy Kaling Series, Priscilla on Max and MoreNetflix Cancels Cobra Kai Creators' Action-Comedy Obliterated After 1 SeasonMatthew Macfadyen, Michael Shannon to Star in James Garfield Drama From Game of Thrones EPs

Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Rosa) will play Didi,...

Exclusive: Netflix has assembled the cast around Ted Danson in the upcoming Mike Schur/Ted Danson comedy series, which now has a name, A Classic Spy. Joining Danson in the project are Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Stephanie Beatriz, Lilah Richcreek Estrada (Chicago Med), two-time Tony nominee Stephen Mckinley Henderson (Dune), two-time Emmy Award winner Sally Struthers, Eugene Cordero (Loki), Academy Award nominee Margaret Avery (The Color Purple), John Getz (Grace and Frankie), four-time Emmy nominee Susan Ruttan, Lori Tan Chinn (Joy Ride), Clyde Kusatsu (Never Have I Ever), Marc Evan Jackson (Lessons In Chemistry) and Jama Williamson (Single Parents).

A Classic Spy reunites Cordero and Jackson with Danson and Schur. Cordero and Jackson both recurred on NBC’s The Good Place, which was created/executive produced by Schur and starred Danson. Jackson also...

Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck’s documentary “Eternal You,” which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the world cinema doc competition section on Saturday, explores ways that artificial intelligence is being used to comfort the bereaved.

The doc follows people from around the globe who are using AI to to create avatars of the deceased people to allow their loved ones to interact with them. The 87-minute film features one subject who chats with the digital clone of his deceased first love and lets her take part in his everyday life. Another subject meets the VR clone of her deceased seven year-old daughter.

Block and Riesewieck, whose debut film, “The Cleaners,” made its world premiere at Sundance in 2018, also explore the moral responsibility of the startup companies that are using AI to create digital replicas of the dead.

“Moritz and I discovered a void that hundreds of millions people feel,...

Exclusive: Germany’s Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion is gearing up for Sundance Film Festival by changing its corporate identity to Beetz Brothers Film Production, and unveiling new projects on Boney M and the Titan Disaster as part of an international push.

The Leonine Studios-owned producer’s new name reflects the relationship of its co-founders, brothers Christian and Reinhardt Beetz, and comes as the company lines up a series of new projects that form part of its push into international premium docs. It also comes ahead of Beetz Brothers’ latest doc, Eternal You, competing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance in Utah, as announced earlier this week.

Christian Beetz told Deadline the company will is also co-developing a feature-length doc about the Germany cult music group Boney M alongside the Twilight saga producer Temple Hill. Beetz Brothers senior producer Kerstin Meyer-Beetz is developing the project alongside Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen,...

As we wrap up our year-end coverage, IndieWire looks back at the people, projects, and ideas that defined 2023 — and what’s coming next.

As golden ages go, this one was more of a blip.

Five years ago, the box office celebrated nonfiction films: $22 million for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” $14 million for “Rbg,” $17.5 million for “Free Solo.” Critical favorites and Oscar nominees included films from exciting American first-time directors, including RaMell Ross’s lyrical breakthrough about life in rural Alabama, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” and Bing Liu’s moving personal exposé of domestic abuse in northern Illinois, “Minding the Gap.”

2023 lacked documentary touchstones. A few faith-based documentaries succeeded by preaching to the choir, but the most successful (non-concert) documentary released in theaters this year was the Yogi Berra baseball portrait “It Ain’t Over”. You also could include Magnolia Pictures’ “Joan Baez: I Am A Noise” or — if you...

MTV Documentary Films’ “The Eternal Memory,” directed by Maite Alberdi, will exclusively debut on Paramount+ in the U.S. on Nov. 7.

“The Eternal Memory” tells the story of Augusto Góngora and Paulina Urrutia, a Chilean couple whose lives are irrevocably impacted by Augusto’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

The film’s description reads, “As one of Chile’s most prominent cultural commentators and television presenters, Augusto is no stranger to building an archive of memory. Now he turns that work to his own life, trying to hold on to his identity with the help of his beloved Paulina, whose own pre-eminence as a famous actress and Chilean Minister of Culture predates her ceaselessly inventive manner of engaging with her husband.”

The summary concludes, “Day by day, the couple face this challenge head-on, relying on the tender affection and sense of humor shared between them that remains, remarkably, fully intact.”

Alberdi’s...

Exclusive: The Eternal Memory, the latest film from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent), has landed a series of international deals for Dogwoof and MTV Documentary Films ahead of its UK premiere this week at the London Film Festival.

Following what both companies have described as “competitive bidding,” new all-rights deals have been confirmed with Cinemex (Mexico), who will release the film this fall, Mediawaan (France), Piffl, Golden Scene (Hong Kong and Macau), and DDDream (China).

Dogwoof will release the doc across the UK and Ireland on November 10. Other theatrical releases set for this winter and early 2024, with previously announced markets, include Edge Entertainment (Nordic and Baltics), Madman (Australia and New Zealand), I Wonder Pictures (Italy), Periscoop (Benelux), Lev (Israel), Synca (Japan), Restart (Former Yugoslavia), and Spain’s B-Team.

The Eternal Memory debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it picked up the Grand Jury Prize.

September. Labor Day, come and gone. Fall… theoretically. Back to school, back to theaters. That’s right: despite Hollywood’s ongoing labor shutdown, new product continues to leech out from the national Don’t-Miss Indies reserves, spilling its way onto screens in art houses cinemas worldwide. And yeah, a piping hot pumpkin-spice latte probably sounds like the last thing you want to consume after a long, hot day on the picket line. But you gotta admit: it’s nice to have the option.

Scouts Honor: The Secret Files Of The Scouts Of America

When You Can Watch: September 6

Where You Can Watch: Netflix

Director: Brian Knappenberger

Executive Producers: Diane Becker, Nan Goldin, Amy Ziering

Why We’re Excited: “The length certain people were going to [in order to] try and get you to shut up got me the angriest.” So says one of the 80,000+ documented survivors embroiled in the Boy Scouts of America...

Even if professional wrestling may not be everyone’s cup of tea, numerous stories behind the sports entertainment phenomena are usually quite engaging. Darren Aronofsky has been able to give a heartbreaking look into the complex life using various real-life inspirations for his film, The Wrestler. We will also be getting an equally rough drama with the upcoming Von Erich biopic, The Iron Claw. Even a lighter, more inspiring film like Fighting with My Family can prove to be just as compelling. Prime Video has just released a trailer for a film that gives us a look at the Mexican legacy of pro wrestling, the Lucha Libre, with Cassandro. The film is a biopic of real-life luchador, Saúl Armendáriz.

The official synopsis from Prime Video reads,

“Saúl Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso, rises to international stardom after he creates the character ‘Cassandro,’ the “Liberace of Lucha Libre.

Gael García Bernal transformed into an iconic gay amateur wrestler, luchador Saúl Armendáriz, for “Cassandro,” based on Armendáriz’s legacy as the “Liberace of Lucha Libre.”

“Cassandro” follows Armendáriz as he upends not just the macho wrestling world but also his own life. The film is based on a true story, with “Life, Animated” Oscar winner Roger Ross Williams directing from a script he co-wrote with David Teague. The real-life Armendáriz served as a consultant on the film.

In addition to Bernal, Roberta Colindrez, Perla de la Rosa, Joaquín Cosío, and Raúl Castillo also star, with with special appearances from El Hijo del Santo and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.

Director Williams previously collaborated with Armendáriz for 2016 Prime Video documentary short “The Man Without a Mask.” Williams was inspired to fictionalize Armendáriz’s story to showcase the dichotomy of macho Mexican culture along with Armendáriz’s fandom.

“All of these macho guys were embracing him backstage,...

As the SAG-AFTRA strike gets underway, documentary filmmakers are still at work. But despite the fact that the dual strike by actors and their writer counterparts in the WGA could lead to gaps in narrative content for broadcast networks and streaming companies, the doc industry isn’t holding out much hope that studios will start flooding money into documentaries.

“There’s a feeling of solidarity and support for SAG and for the WGA,” says Bryn Mooser, founder of nonfiction film and television studio Xtr. “The struggle they are facing is a struggle that doc filmmakers have also faced since the beginning of the industry on the documentary side, which is fair pay and making sure we are represented in the right way, et cetera. But if anybody thought that this would mean that (studios) will just shift resources to a different part of the industry like docs while this gets figured out,...

Exclusive: Vanderpump Rules has had a major renaissance thanks to its recent “Scandoval” with Bravo and Peacock scoring record ratings for the show.

Deadline understands that the NBCUniversal cable network is now plotting another spinoff.

The series will follow a group of tightknit friends, who are trading in their glamorous West Hollywood lives and swapping bottle service for baby bottles as they adapt to the next chapter of their fun-loving lifestyle in The Valley.

We hear that Jax Taylor and his wife Brittany Cartwright, who welcomed their first child, Cruz, in April 2021, are among those set to be involved. Kristen Doute, who returned to the reality series as the cheating scandal – where Tom Sandoval was having an affair with co-star Raquel Leviss behind his girlfriend Ariana Madix’s back – is also expected to be involved.

Deals are not completely done, but we understand it will be an eight-episode series.

It...

MTV Documentary Films has released a first look teaser for “The Eternal Memory,” a look at love and Alzheimer’s disease that won the grand jury prize for world documentary at this year’s Sundance.

A U.S. theatrical release kicks off on Aug. 11 in New York. It will be followed by engagements in Los Angeles and San Francisco on Aug. 18, with a limited national roll out to follow. Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi directed the movie, which could be a contender for the documentary Oscar. Alberdi is the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker behind “The Mole Agent.”

To that end, “The Eternal Memory” played at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was the runner up for the audience award. A robust international festival campaign is already in the works, including stops at Cph:Dox, Hot Docs, and DocAviv, Hamptons Summer Docs and DC Dox.

“The Eternal Memory” centers around Augusto Góngora and Paulina Urrutia,...

Here is a wrap-up of all the news you need to know from Monday, May 8, 2023.

As the fate of the bulk of The CW's scripted series remains Tba, the network has picked up another Canadian import.

Son of a Critch is set to air on the network this summer.

The series is a coming-of-age story based on the childhood and adolescence of Canadian comedian Mark Critch.

At the beginning of the series, 11-year-old Mark is growing up in 1980s Newfoundland, where he navigates starting junior high school, making friends, and connecting with the small collection of people in his limited world.

“When I was a young kid watching American TV in the ‘80s, I never dreamed that one day my own story would be beamed back over the border,” said Mark Critch.

“Having enjoyed so many CW shows with my own family, I’m excited to invite our American friends over to ‘my house.

The breakdown of the Writers Guild of America’s contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers could benefit the documentary industry. Especially those documentary filmmakers with projects seeking distribution.

At least that’s the hope.

Like film and television scribes worried about the survival of screenwriting as a viable profession, hundreds of nonfiction filmmakers with independently made docus are grappling with the streamers’ new distribution landscape, which, for the most part, no longer includes acquiring titles that aren’t commissioned.

If the writers strike lasts for several months, the thought is that not only broadcast networks but also streaming companies will begin to face holes in their narrative content, which could, in turn, lead to the purchase of indie docus to fill the void.

At the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto, documentary producers, programmers and filmmakers are not only celebrating independently made fare but also...

HBO Original documentary Love To Love You, Donna Summer, directed by Oscar® and Emmy®-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano, daughter of Donna Summer, debuts Saturday, May 20 (8:00-10:00 p.m. Et/Pt) on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. The documentary had its international premiere at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival and its domestic premiere at SXSW.

Synopsis: Shaped by Summer’s own reflections, the memories of close family, friends and colleagues, and filled with the sounds of Summer’s songs, Love To Love You, Donna Summer is an in-depth look at the iconic artist as she creates music that takes her from the avant-garde music scene in Germany, to the glitter and bright lights of dance clubs in New York, to worldwide acclaim, her voice becoming the defining soundtrack of an era. A deeply personal portrait of Summer on and off the stage,...

"It's only in the details that you start seeing how a reporting victim becomes a suspect." Netflix debuted their official trailer for a documentary titled Victim/Suspect, made by doc director Nancy Schwartzman, arriving this May. This premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and also screened Cph:dox in Denmark. Victim/Suspect chronicles journalist Rae de Leon's investigation into a shocking nationwide pattern: Women tell the police they’ve been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they’re charged with the crime of making a false report, arrested, and even imprisoned by the system they believed would protect them. This all sounds horrifying, and it absolutely is horrifying. But worst of all it's true – it's happening all the time. Produced by Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Alice Henty, Rachel De Leon, Amanda Pike, Nancy Schwartzman. Reviews remind us, "all of this should rattle us and move us..." // Continue Reading ›...

Rae de Leon discovered a disturbing pattern while working as a reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting. It seemed that, nationwide, there was a pipeline from women reporting sexual assault to the police to criminal charges made against them.

Director Nancy Schwartzman follows de Leon’s solo investigation in her Netflix documentary feature “Victim/Suspect,” a film that unveils how policing across the U.S. enables law enforcement to turn survivors of sexual assault into accused criminals.

Leon and other journalists use video and audio footage of police interrogations, firsthand accounts from these young women and interviews with legal experts to get a better sense of where potential flaws in the police system may lie. “Victim/Suspect” premiered this year at Sundance Film Festival and will be released on Netflix on May 23.

Schwartzman’s documentary debut, the Peabody nominated feature “Roll Red Roll,” follows a similar beat, investigating a sexual assault...

When Cph:dox shifted from a fall festival to a spring-based fest in 2017, it got out of IDFA’s shadow and grew into one of the most influential documentary events of the year.

“It made a big jump in prominence when it moved to March because it fit into the calendar in a more exciting way for a lot of documentary stakeholders,” Thom Powers, lead documentary programmer for Toronto Film Festival, says. “It became a great place for films coming out of Sundance to have a European launch. It’s also become a very significant place for films to make world premieres near the beginning of the year, which can then send them on a circuit, traveling to other festivals like Hot Docs or Doc NYC.”

Now in its 20th year, Cph:dox is among the largest documentary film festivals in the world. This year’s lineup includes 200 docus, more than half...

Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi’s documentary about love, memory and Alzheimer’s disease “The Eternal Memory” has scored a slew of international sales after making a splash at Sundance and Berlin.

Dogwoof, the British sales company specialized in high-profile docs, has announced multiple deals on “Eternal Memory,” which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for World Documentary in January and was a recent standout at the Berlinale where it had its European bow. The hot doc is screening later this week at the Cph:dox documentary film festival in Copenhagen.

Dogwoof partnered with MTV Documentary Films to represent “The Eternal Memory” for international sales soon after its Sundance premiere. They have now scored sales on the doc to: Edge Entertainment (Nordics); Madman (Australia and New Zealand); Sherry Media (Canada); I Wonder Pictures (Italy); BTeam Pictures (Spain); Periscoop (Benelux); Atnine Film (South Korea); Synca (Japan); Lev (Israel), and Restart (Former Yugoslavia).

“The Eternal Memory...

Leading documentary sales agent Philippa Kowarsky – who handled Oscar nominees “The Act of Killing,” “Collective” and “Flee” – gave a masterclass at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival this week.

Kowarsky recently returned to Cinephil, the documentary sales company she founded, as executive chair, after a brief stint at BBC’s doc strand Storyville. Cinephil’s current lineup includes Oscar nominee “A House Made of Splinters.”

Cinephil’s previous experience on “Flee” helped pave the way for “A House Made of Splinters,” but obstacles emerged she said. “The film had won best directing at Sundance and no one wanted it. We’ve been everywhere with this film – no one wanted it, or there were distributors that wanted it for deals that were so unattractive, we weren’t going to do it. But we had more and more festivals and we were winning more and more awards around the globe, and nothing in America.

Days after it was announced that the acclaimed documentary “Fire of Love” would get adapted into a narrative feature film, another Oscar-nominated doc, Maite Alberdi’s 2021 film “The Mole Agent,” is also being adapted, this time for the small screen. But this adaptation just happens to also be a reunion between the star and creator of NBC’s hit series “The Good Place.”

Ted Danson and Mike Schur are reuniting for a series adaptation of Alberdi’s “The Mole Agent,” which Netflix has ordered to series with an eight-episode order. And the film’s original director Alberdi is also involved as an executive producer.

The series, which is still untitled, will star Danson as Charles, a retired man who gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a private investigator and becomes a mole in a secret investigation.

That’s just the logline via Netflix, as...

Netflix is getting into the Mike Schur business.

The creator of The Good Place is reuniting with star Ted Danson for a scripted comedy series based on the 2021 Oscar-nominated best documentary feature The Mole Agent. The series, which was shopped to streamers earlier this year, has landed at Netflix with an eight-episode straight-to-series order.

Here’s how the series is described: “Charles (Danson), a retired man, gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a Pi and becomes a mole in a secret investigation.”

Mike Schur and his Fremulon banner’s Morgan Sackett will exec produce alongside 3 Arts’ David Miner. Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibañez exec produce for Micromundo Producciones. Julie Goldman and Christopher Clements also executive produce for Motto Pictures.

The untitled comedy reunites Schur with Danson following their four-season run on NBC’s The Good Place.

The series hails from Universal Television, where Schur...

Ted Danson and Mike Schur are officially reuniting for a series adaptation of the documentary “The Mole Agent” at Netflix, Variety has learned.

The streaming giant has ordered eight episodes of the untitled project after it was originally reported that it was being taken out to market in early February. Per the official logline, Danson will star as Charles, “a retired man who gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a Pi and becomes a mole in a secret investigation.”

“The Mole Agent” was directed by Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi. It originally debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and went on to receive an Oscar nomination for best documentary feature.

Schur is the writer of the Netflix series and also serves as executive producer along with Morgan Sackett via Fremulon. David Miner of 3 Arts Entertainment, Alberdi and Marcela Santibañez of Micromundo Producciones, and Julie Goldman...

The new comedy series reuniting The Good Place creator Mike Schur and star Ted Danson has landed at Netflix with an eight-episode straight-to-series order. As Deadline reported exclusively last month, the project, based on the 2020 Chilean feature documentary The Mole Agent, sparked heated bidding when it hit the premium/streaming marketplace, with Netflix one of the four lead contenders. The untitled comedy, written/executive produced by Schur and starring/executive produced by Denson, hails from Schur’s longtime studio home Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

In it, Charles (Danson), a retired man, gets a new lease on life when he answers an ad from a Pi and becomes a mole in a secret investigation.

Schur and Morgan Sackett executive produce through Schur’s Fremulon, and David Miner via 3 Arts Entertainment. Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibañez are executive producers for Micromundo Producciones along with Julie Goldman and Christopher Clements for Motto Pictures.

Dogwoof has boarded MTV Documentary Films’ Sundance winner “The Eternal Memory” for international sales excluding the U.S.

The latest feature from Oscar-nominated “Mole Agent” director Maite Alberdi had its world premiere as part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance last month, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize before MTV Documentary Films acquired worldwide rights. Dogwoof will work in partnership with MTV Documentary Films to represent the film for international sales.

The project marks the second collaboration between Dogwoof and Alberdi, having represented “The Mole Agent” for international sales before it was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2021.

The film will have its premiere in Berlin on Feb. 18. Dogwoof is also bringing the pic to market at the European Film Market.

In “The Eternal Memory,” Augusto and Paulina have been together and in love for 25 years. Eight years ago, he...

HBO Original documentary Love To Love You, Donna Summer, directed by Oscar® and Emmy®-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano, daughter of Donna Summer, debuts May 2023 on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.

Synopsis: Shaped by Summer’s own reflections, the memories of close family, friends and colleagues, and filled with the sounds of Summer’s songs, Love To Love You, Donna Summer is an in-depth look at the iconic artist as she creates music that takes her from the avant-garde music scene in Germany, to the glitter and bright lights of dance clubs in New York, to worldwide acclaim, her voice and artistry becoming the defining soundtrack of an era. A deeply personal portrait of Summer on and off the stage, the film features a wealth of photographs and never-before-seen home video footage – often shot by Summer herself – and provides a rich window...

MTV Documentary Films has acquired The Eternal Memory, which screened in the world documentary competition section of the Sundance Film Festival. MTV is planning a theatrical release and robust awards campaign later this year.

Maite Alberdi, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc The Mole Agent, is behind the movie that follows veteran Chilean TV journalist and political commentator Augusto Góngora and actress turned arts and culture minister Paulina Urrutia who have been together and in love for 25 years and now must contend with Augusto’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

The synopsis for the feature reads: “Eight years ago, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and his wife has since become his caretaker. As one of Chile’s most prominent cultural commentators and television presenters, Augusto is no stranger to building an archive of memory, having been responsible for that herculean task following the Pinochet dictatorship and its systematic erasure of collective consciousness.

MTV Documentary Films has landed rights to “The Eternal Memory” out of its debut at Sundance.

Maite Alberdi’s sequel to “The Mole Agent,” nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2020 Academy Awards, chronicles an esteemed Chilean cultural commentator’s attempt to document his life as his memory recedes with Alzheimer’s disease.

Augusto and Paulina have been together for 25 loving years; eight years ago, she also became his caretaker after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Augusto, a television presenter and commentator, has devoted much of his career to building an archive of collective consciousness following the Pinochet dictatorship. With “The Eternal Memory,” he applies that work to his own life, preserving his identity with the help of his loved ones.

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