Working Title News

Universal Pictures shares a look inside the upcoming Cats movie and announces that the first trailer will be released on Friday! Watch the video below!

Abrons Arts Center, the Lower East Side arts institution that has long been a nexus of communities and cultures, today shares its 2019-2020 lineup, which offers an array of art experiences as well as dance, theater, and interdisciplinary performances, exploring the concepts of authorship, agency, activism, and collaboration.

Brooklyn-born, Berlin-based songwriter Hans Bilger is excited to announce his debut solo albumMeridian, out September 5, 2019 via Good Child Music. To ring in the announcement, Hans has shared the album's first single 'Had It And Lost It'. 

Paramount Network today ordered a 10-episode first season of Sexy Beast, a series adaptation from Paramount Television and Anonymous Content based on the critically-acclaimed and award-winning feature film. Michael Caleo (The Sopranos) is set to write and executive produce the series. Karyn Kusama (Destroyer) is directing and executive producing through her company, Familystyle, which is also comprised of Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay (Destroyer), who will also serve as executive producers on the show. Also serving as executive producers are Louis Mellis and David Scinto, the original screenwriters of the film Sexy Beast.

National New Play Network, the country's alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, announces its 2019-20 grant recipients, including the 2019 Smith Prize for Political Theatre, seven Producer Residencies, and eight Collaboration Fund awards that will support partnerships between multiple Member Theaters, playwrights, and other theater makers in various projects.

The Turbine Theatre is a brand new theatre on the banks of the Thames next to the iconic Battersea Power Station, presented by Bill Kenwright and founded and led by Artistic Director Paul Taylor-Mills. The theatre will be located under the Grosvenor Bridge railway arches at Circus West Village, the first chapter of the iconic Battersea Power Station's regeneration, which is already a thriving riverside destination located at the foot of the iconic Grade II* listed landmark. 

Cameron Mackintosh today announces he is delighted that in honour of Stephen Sondheim's 90th birthday next March, the Queen's Theatre will be renamed the Sondheim Theatre, making him the only living artist to have a theatre named in his honour both in the West End and on Broadway. Following the renovation of wartime bomb damage and a major restoration of the auditorium and the complete backstage, the newly named Sondheim Theatre will continue as the home of world's longest running musical Les Miserables as it enters its 35th year.

Paramount Network's hit series Yellowstone is driving the network's first quarterly year-over-year ratings gain since 2014. For the second calendar quarter of 2019, Paramount Network averaged a .16 rating among P18-49, a +3% increase from the same quarter last year. The brand jumped +4% compared to the same quarter last year in M18-49 ratings (.16) and +2% in W18-49 ratings (.15).

Paramount Network's hit series Yellowstone ranks as the #1 summer series on cable and continues to achieve massive demo growth and break series records, driven by increases in young viewers and female audiences in L+3 viewing. In all key demos, Yellowstone episode 202 ratings jumped at least +60% year-over-year from episode 102 (L+3).

HERE has announced its 2019-2020 season, which marks the OBIE-winning institution's 27th year of producing daring new hybrid performances by artists from all disciplines - theatre, opera, music, art, dance, puppetry, and media art.

Lifetime has greenlit the new movie, NXIVM Cult: A Mother's Nightmare (working title), centering on the shocking true story of Catherine Oxenberg and her fight to save her daughter India from a dangerous sex cult. Andrea Roth (Rescue Me) takes on the role of Catherine while Peter Facinelli (Twilight) stars as Keith Raniere, the charming and charismatic secret organization leader with devious motives. Jasper Polish (Devil's Whisper) also stars as India and Sara Fletcher (Secret Girlfriend) portrays Keith's associate in the cult, actress Allison Mack.

Award-winning storyteller, playwright, and Bay Area local Brenda Wong Aoki, is pleased to announce that she has been selected as a recipient of the 2019 MAP Fund for New Works. In celebration of its 30th anniversary of grantmaking, the MAP Fund will present grants to 42 original, live performance projects that will receive funding, totaling $1.3 million in direct support for development and production. www.mapfundblog.org 

Award-winning storyteller, playwright, and Bay Area local Brenda Wong Aoki, is pleased to announce that she has been selected as a recipient of the 2019 MAP Fund for New Works. In celebration of its 30th anniversary of grantmaking, the MAP Fund will present grants to 42 original, live performance projects that will receive funding, totaling $1.3 million in direct support for development and production. www.mapfundblog.org

Live Source Theatre Group unveiled its next three productions at its recent Spring Gala event, celebrating its 8th season, held on June 18th at The Spanish Benevolent Society (239 West 14th Street). 

A&E Network dives back into the unexplained paranormal universe, greenlighting five compelling shows including the revival of 'Ghost Hunters,' one of the most successful paranormal series of all time. The network has also greenlit four additional supernatural-focused shows and specials including reimagined versions of A+E Networks' hit series 'Psychic Kids' and 'Celebrity Ghost Stories,' the brand new series 'Trey the Texas Medium' (working title) and the two-hour special 'World's Biggest Ghost Hunt' (working title.)

Paramount Network today ordered a 10-episode first season of one-hour scripted drama Coyote from Sony Pictures Television. Emmy Award-winning executive producer Michelle MacLaren (Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad), will direct the pilot and executive produce the series. Emmy Award-winning Michael Chiklis is attached to star and executive produce the series. Coyote, which is scheduled to debut in 2020, comes to Paramount Network from MacLaren Entertainment, Dark Horse Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television.

Word for Word and Z Space will stage an immersive production of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's legendary Rime of the Ancient Mariner  with a press night of Saturday September 21 at 8pm running through October 12 (Previews Sept 11-15, 18-20) .   Rime of the Ancient Mariner is to be directed by Jim Cave and Delia MacDougall with a cast that features Nathaniel Andalis, Lucas Brandt, Robert Ernst*, Darryl V. Jones, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong*, Earl Paus, Charles Shaw Robinson and Patricia Silver*. (*member AEA)

With updated L+3 viewing numbers, the season two premiere of Paramount Network's hit series Yellowstone continues to break brand and series records, reaching record-high ratings across all key demos. With more than 5 million total viewers tuning in, Yellowstone is the most-watched premiere in the history of the brand (covering both Paramount Network and Spike TV). Total viewers jumped +109% over LSD viewership for the season two premiere and increased +6% from the 2018 series premiere in L+3. Against the competitive landscape, Yellowstone ranks as the most-watched original cable telecast this summer and the highest-rated original cable telecast of the summer among P25-54, M25-54, and M18-49 (excluding sports and news).

Interrobang Theatre Project launches its tenth anniversary season, "No Man's Land," with the U.S. premiere of Elinor Cook's fiery British drama OUT OF LOVE, directed by Artistic Director Georgette Verdin*. Cook deftly portrays a female friendship through all its ups and downs, and the effects of a patriarchal society on the emotional trajectory of young women.

A&E Network has partnered with Essential Media Group, part of the KEW Media Group, to produce the most ambitious live stunt series ever attempted, 'The Impossible Live' (working title). In addition to this ten-hour series order, A&E and Essential have also been partnering with world-renowned daredevil Bello Nock and his company Opportunity Nocks, Inc. to create 'Volcano Walk Live' (working title), a live special showcasing the longest, most complicated and dangerous stunt ever attempted - a world record high-wire walk over an active volcano. The announcement was made today by Elaine Frontain Bryant, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming for A&E.