Phyllida Law, the Scottish actress and mother of Emma and Sophie Thompson, has died. She was 94. “It is with great sadness we have to announce that Phyllida Law died supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all of her family, on Monday 27th July,” her manager, Jacky Leggo, reportedly told the BBC. “We had worked
Bill Rasmussen, a former local-news sports director who parlayed an interest in the nascent business of satellite television into the launch of the sports-media giant known as ESPN, has died after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. The entrepreneur and founder was 93 years old. Rasmussen in 1978 was idling in traffic on Connecticut’s Interstate 84
Ascend Literary Management has signed Robb Cullen for representation, Variety has learned exclusively. Cullen continues to be repped by IAG and Jared Levine, Sabrina Padwa and Jonathan Leiter of Yorn Levine. Cullen most recently created the series “Average Joe.” The series originally launched on BET+ in 2023, while the second season will debut on Paramount+
Nonprofit production venture Waterwell, co-founded by “Succession” player Arian Moayed, and nonprofit Nimruz has doubled the funding for their program of Unseen Iran Grants now in its second cycle. Funding for the grant program has grown to $100,000 to supporting 10 artists representing the Iranian diaspora with TV, film, theater and creative projects in other
The chaos, hard graft and — ultimately — privileged thrill of feature filmmaking were the central themes of conversation at the Variety Lounge at Edinburgh International Film Festival as the rising directors in official competition sat down to discuss their craft. Supported by VisitScotland and held in Edinburgh’s historic Caledonian Hotel, the Variety Lounge welcomed the 11
Disney’s ABC filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, raising the pitch of the company’s efforts to countermand unusual pressure from the federal government to force the company’s stations to submit licenses for early renewal proceedings. In its filing with U.S. District Court, ABC’s lawyers said the company was being
