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Exclusive: Netflix has won an auction for the Stephen Chbosky-directed comedy Nonnas in a deal Deadline hears is $20 million-plus for worldwide rights. Several bidders were in the mix on a film that had been invited to be part of the Toronto International Film Festival slate. That has changed and the film won’t make the trip. Netflix will release the film globally in 2025.

Scripted by Liz Maccie, and based on a true story, Nonnas stars Vince Vaughn, Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire, Brenda Vaccaro, Linda Cardellini, Drea De Matteo, Joe Manganiello, Michael Rispoli, and Campbell Scott.

Vaughn plays Joe, a single man in a dead-end job whose mother has spoiled him with her cooking. When she dies, he tries to pull himself out of grief mode by risking everything to open an Italian restaurants and honor his mother. He enlists a group of Italian grandmothers, who feed his love for home cooking, and they become surrogate moms. Chbosky has a knack for this kind of material, directing Wonder and The Perks of Being a Wallflower among others.

Nonnas is produced by Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane for Madison Wells, and Jack Turner for Matador Content. The exec producers are Alexis Garcia, Scott Budnick and Ameet Shukla for 1Community, Vince Vaughn, Jay Peterson and Todd Lubin for Matador Content, Amanda Morgan Palmer and Stacy Calabrese for Madison Wells.

Related: The 7 Best Vince Vaughn Movies To Stream From ‘The Break-Up’ To ‘Swingers’

Netflix confirmed the deal, and offered reaction from Nonnas‘ filmmaking team:

Gigi Pritzker, whose Madison Wells originated the film, said she was “delighted that Nonnas has found a great home at Netflix, where it will be widely seen and enjoyed. The film focuses on family, food and community, and in this turbulent time those are things we can all celebrate.”

Said Fifth Season Head of Film Christopher Slager: “Once again Stephen Chbosky has brought magic to the screen in this heartfelt and joyous film. We cannot wait for audiences everywhere to sit down at the table with us and share this fantastic film thanks to our partners at Netflix.”

Scott Budnick, 1Community Executive Producer added that “Nonnas is a celebration of family – the ones you’re born into and the ones you create. We are thrilled to bring this family to Netflix.”

Related: Jimmy Tatro Joins Vince Vaughn In 20th Century’s ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’

The deal was brokered by WME Independent and Fifth Season, latter of which was the studio on the film. It marks the third deal in the run-up to a Toronto Festival that is chock full of acquisition titles, including some titles that played Telluride. This after the Dito Montiel-directed Riff Raff was acquired for US by Roadside Attractions, and Sony Pictures Classics acquired Jane Austen Wrecked My Life before its TIFF premiere.

The available titles that buyers saw at Telluride include September 5, about how ABC Sports team broadcasting the 1972 Olympics in Munich, German rose to the moment and covered the kidnap and massacre of 11 members of the Israeli team in real time. The twists and turns and split-second decisions they made under Roone Arledge make for a harrowing thriller. Also in that mix is The Friend. In that film, Bill Murray plays an acclaimed writer whose companion is a Great Dane named Apollo. When he dies, the dog is adopted by one of the writer’s protegees (Naomi Watts) who tries to stash the oversized high-maintenance pooch in her Manhattan rent-controlled apartment, which has a firm no dogs allowed policy. Scott McGehee and David Siegel direct a film that was one of the buzz titles of Tellurides.

While recent TIFF deal making has been slow going each year since the pandemic, the abundance of plum titles with strong casts, and an expected buyer appetite could portend a strong atmosphere for deals. TIFF begins tomorrow night.

Related: ‘Dodgeball’ Sequel In Works At 20th With Vince Vaughn Returning; Jordan VanDina To Write The Script...

Exclusive: Filming is due to get underway in Spain on September 4 on Samuel L. Jackson and Joel Kinnaman action film The Beast.

The film’s title refers to a presidential limousine nicknamed ‘The Beast’ by the Secret Service. In the movie, when a militia of unidentified hostiles coordinates a coup against the U.S., the President (Jackson) uncovers the extent of The Beast’s highly classified offensive capabilities.

Guy Burnet (Oppenheimer) is joining the cast as the main adversary to Jackson’s President. Filming is due to take place in the Canary Islands and Madrid.

James Madigan (The Meg second unit director) is directing off a script by Umair Aleems (Kate).

Keith Kjarval (upcoming Tin Soldier) is producing through his Unified Pictures banner alongside Wayne Marc Godfrey (Wind River) and Nicki Cortese (Ricky Stanicky) for Bright White Light who are also financing the film. Fifth Season (Ambulance), John Logan Pierson...

Exclusive: Robert Alonzo, a two-time SAG Award winner known as one of the top action design professionals in Hollywood, is getting into producing at the action-focused production company Tremor House. His partner in the endeavor is longtime friend and collaborator Jonathan Spano, an entrepreneur and philanthropist whose film technology and stunt work have also earned him a SAG Award.

Tremor House will develop, produce, and/or finance mid-range budget action films. As its first deal, Tremor House has entered into a joint venture to co-finance and co-produce commercial action projects with CAT5, the burgeoning action label from Alexis Garcia.

“Tremor House provides us an opportunity to combine our talents, experience, relationships and resources to create projects with maximum entertainment impact,” said Alonzo and Spano in a joint statement to Deadline. “Using the precision and perspective that comes with understanding how to run a business and putting the right people in the right jobs,...

Exclusive: More details are emerging about the restructuring in the film division of Fifth Season earlier this week. Along with the change at the top of the unit, with Alexis Garcia stepping down to launch a new venture Fifth Season’s backing and Christopher Slager being promoted to replace him as Head of Film, there were layoffs across the division, sources tell Deadline.

A total of nine employees were impacted, the majority of them in BA as the indie studio no longer will have an in-house BA team. Instead BA services will be outsourced to firms that have larger infrastructure to accommodate a growing development and production slate while also delivering cost savings.

Also leaving as part of the cuts are one creative executive, Janice Lee, VP Film Development and Production, and a VP Physical Production, sources said. Fifth Season’s TV operation was not impacted.

In a recent Q&a with Deadline,...

Fifth Season has promoted Christopher Slager to head of film as it expands in-house production and development and announced that Alexis Garcia is leaving to set up his own venture with backing from the company.

Slager, who has been at Fifth Season for some time, previously served as a partner and SVP of film finance and sales at Endeavor Content, and before that worked at WME.

Prior to that he was at Focus Features. Credits include The Florida Project, Mudbound, The Banker, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Pig, and the Book Club franchise.

Slager will take charge of the film studio...

Fifth Season has upped Christopher Slager to Head of Film as the studio expands its in-house production and development of feature films.

Slager will oversee the studio’s anticipated productions including Netflix/Artists Equity’s Animals, starring Matt Damon and directed by Ben Affleck, as well as the Samuel L. Jackson and Joel Kinnaman movie The Beast directed by Emmy winner James Madigan.

Alexis Garcia, who previously managed features, will launch a new venture with backing from Fifth Season, details to be announced down the road. Garcia will remain a consultant to the studio during his transition.

Among those titles on the horizon for Fifth Season under Slager’s watch are Stephen Chbosky’s Nonnas, starring Vince Vaughn, Susan Sarandon, and Linda Cardellini; Jan Komasa’s Anniversary, starring Diane Lane, Kyle Chandler, Dylan O’Brien, Zoey Deutch, Phoebe Dynevor, Madeline Brewer, Mckenna Grace, and Daryl McCormack; Nick Rowland’s She Rides Shotgun,...

Christopher Slager has been promoted to head film operations at Fifth Season, with longtime features head Alexis Garcia exiting the company to launch a yet-to-be revealed venture.

Garcia, whose new outfit is receiving backing from Fifth Season, will remain with the company as a consultant through the transition.

According to Wednesday’s announcement from Fifth Season co-CEOs Graham Taylor and Chris Rice, Slager will focus on in-house production and development. The company’s recent film credits include 80 for Brady, the Apple Sundance acquisition Flora and Son and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter.

“Christopher is one of the most dynamic and entrepreneurial executives working today,” said Taylor and Rice. “We believe there is a huge opportunity ahead in the film space, and we are committed to expanding our focus on in-house production and development under his leadership.”

Added Slager, “Over the last decade and a half, I’ve been inspired...

Ryan Gosling and producer Jessie Henderson have launched General Admission with a three-year, first-look film deal at Amazon MGM Studios.

The co-founders said the production company will collaborate with “world-class filmmakers to create bold theatrical and streaming events within all genres – fun, transportive entertainment for everyone”.

Under the pact with Amazon MGM Studios General Admission will produce features for theatrical and streaming, some of which Gosling will star in.

Gosling earned a supporting actor Oscar nomination this year for Barbie in addition to two prior lead actor nods for La La Land and Half Nelson.

Among his feature credits are Drive,...

In 2021, Paramount was testing a new movie called “Something’s Wrong With Rose” — a supernatural horror film about a therapist named Rose who loses touch with reality after witnessing a patient’s bizarre suicide.

Audiences at the research screening were responding enthusiastically to the scary movie, but studio executives noticed that they were stumbling over its name.

“Walking out of the theater, we were like, ‘We need a simpler title,’” remembers Marc Weinstock, Paramount’s president of global marketing and distribution.

One component in the story — the bone-chilling grins that slowly creep over the faces of victims — distinguished this horror film from others, and Paramount knew those scenes would frighten crowds in a big way. So they landed on “Smile,” a common word that took on a new, more sinister meaning after the studio’s inescapable, smirk-centric marketing campaign. The movie became a huge hit, to the tune of more than $200 million worldwide.

After two years of being virtual-only, the Sundance Film Festival returns — at least, partially — to an in-person format. And the return to Park City comes with a whole lot of questions.

“We’ve been back at Cannes, we’ve been back at Toronto, but we haven’t yet been back to Sundance. And, for us, Sundance is the Super Bowl of festivals. It’s really the most important festival for domestic buyers,” notes IFC Films president Arianna Bocco.

The Hollywood Reporter spoke to some two dozen Sundance veterans — including distributors, producers, and sales agents — and top of mind for attendees are questions about the festival’s commitment to a hybrid format, the shake-up in the programming team, and, of course, what a return to in-person screenings will mean for the market. Ask Sight Unseen’s Julia Lebedev, “Is it gonna be the same feeling in the room?”

Like the rest of the industry,...

Exclusive: Former Netflix exec Janice Lee has joined Fifth Season as Vice President, Film Development and Production, with longtime team member Kara Duncan being promoted to the same role. The news comes as the global film and TV studio, formerly known as Endeavor Content, kicks off the year with four films heading to Sundance and another two soon heading to theaters.

As members of the team led by EVP, Film Development and Production, Alexis Garcia, Lee and Duncan will be responsible for expanding the studio’s slate of indie and big- budget features, made with top-tier talent for distribution on streaming platforms and in theaters. The pair will report to SVPs, Film Development and Production, Dan Guando and Negeen Yazdi.

After seeing major success at Sundance 2022 with Cha Cha Real Smooth, the Cooper Raiff Audience Award winner that went to Apple in the largest sale of the festival, Fifth Season...

In a move aimed at powering up more content for the massive U.S. Hispanic market and beyond, leading indie production shingle Btf Media has teamed up with L.A.-based American Cinema Inspires (Aci) to develop and produce a slew of Hispanic productions with predominantly U.S. Latino talent.

Leading the vanguard is Sandra Martin’s “Finding Love in San Antonio,” which follows Adela, a successful Latina chef in L.A. (played by Valentina Izarra), who is offered a plum job at a new network series that will send her across Europe. While visiting San Antonio, she meets David (George Akram), a local food writer who wrote a blistering piece about her. Their unlikely romance will lead to Adela’s rediscovery of her hometown and force her to decide whether she should stay in San Antonio or accept the once-in-a-lifetime job offer.

“Giving women a voice has always been important to me.

Exclusive: Endeavor Content has made a partnership with veteran producer and former studio executive Brad Weston and his Makeready banner. They’ve made a multi-year deal to finance and produce film, TV and documentary content. It positions Weston to become a cornerstone content supplier to the global film/TV studio that just generated the Venice prize-winner The Lost Daughter and the hit Hulu series Nine Perfect Strangers.

Makeready will become a label of Endeavor Content, with full development and production funding, as well as all of Endeavor Content’s studio and production infrastructure. EC will provide Makeready with the resources to build a formidable slate of premium, filmmaker- and talent-driven film, TV series and documentaries across all platforms. Joining Weston at Makeready will be Oscar Montemayor and Liz Zorn. Weston is in talks to bring in a senior executive in the next few weeks.

Led by EC’s head of...

Endeavor announced the launch of Nxt/Latinx, the latest series in Endeavor Impact’s virtual education and development programs created to expand industry access.

Nxt/Latinx is slated to begin on Nov. 8 and will be free to all. The program is designed to provide Latinx and Hispanic individuals and allies with the opportunity to participate in educational courses about the music, entertainment, sports and fashion industries taught by various speakers, including Sunny Hostin, Ana Navarro, Snow Tha Product, María Isabel, Arturo Castro and Tenoch Huerta. In addition to an industry-based curriculum, the program will address a spectrum of social issues, including LGBTQ intersectionality, how to be civic-minded in your work, and the categorization of international versus U.S.-based Latinx content and talent.

The program — which was made in partnership with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (Nalip), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (Hacu), LA Collab and Ltx...

Endeavor Content is in talks to reteam with the filmmakers behind the hit “Blue Miracle,” in the wake of its success on Netflix, where it ranked second on its opening weekend, and is reported to have resonated in the U.S. across all ethnic groups.

Starring a relatively unknown Latino cast, the most high-profile actor in it is Dennis Quaid who plays a washed-up and cantankerous boat captain who reluctantly teams up with a guardian, played by Jimmy Gonzales (“Mayans M.C.”), and some of his charges from a cash-strapped orphanage in order to win a lucrative fishing tournament.

“Judging from the online chatter, it was seen in middle America so it not only appealed to Latino families,” said Alexis Garcia, executive VP, Endeavor Content, Advisory, Film Group, who describes it as an inspirational sports movie.

Endeavor Content’s next film with “Blue Miracle” director Julio Quintana and his partners...

Agents Will Maxfield, Gerren Crochet, Zach Glueck, Katie Irwin, Nelson Mok, Abraham Bengio, Laurel Charnetsky on board.

Alex Walton and Deborah McIntosh will lead the newly formed WME Independent after the sales team completed its split from Endeavor Content.

The agency division will handle US / North American and international film sales – the current sales slate includes recent Toronto world premiere The Survivor starring Ben Foster and all-star noir package Sniff in a co-rep with CAA – and offer film financing consultancy services. Walton and McIntosh lead a team that comprises agents Will Maxfield, Gerren Crochet, Zach Glueck, Katie Irwin, Nelson Mok,...

Move follows February agreement between WME, Writers Guild of America.

Endeavor Content expects to commence talks with potential investors in the coming weeks to divest parent company Endeavor’s majority stake in the studio in compliance with the recent Writers Guild of America (WGA) agreement.

After Endeavor Content co-presidents Graham Taylor and Chris Rice spoke to staff on Tuesday (June 8), it is understood some film sales executives will return to stablemate agency WME in the coming months as the sale process goes on. A small number of executives in film sales will be affected. There were no further details at time of writing.

Move follows February agreement between WME, Writers Guild of America.

Endeavor Content expects to commence talks with potential investors in the coming weeks to divest parent company Endeavor’s majority stake in the studio in compliance with the recent Writers Guild of America (WGA) agreement.

After Endeavor Content co-presidents Graham Taylor and Chris Rice spoke to staff on Tuesday (June 8), it is understood some film sales executives will return to stablemate agency WME in the coming months as the sale process goes on. There were no further details at time of writing.

The development comes as Alex Walton’s international...

Gerard Butler thriller had been bought by Lionsgate last year for US, UK other markets.

Lionsgate has pulled out as distributor of forthcoming Gerard Butler thriller The Plane because producers were unable to secure production insurance covering a coronavirus outbreak.

The move highlights one of the big challenges currently facing US producers and distributors, who have found pandemic insurance all but impossible to come by. Attempts to get the US government to provide an insurance backstop scheme have so far come to nothing.

Lionsgate took rights to the film for North America, the UK and other territories at last year’s AFM.

“Anybody who’s trying to make content in this challenging time wants as many options on the table as possible.”

Heading into their first market as joint heads of the newly merged Endeavor Content Film Group, Alex Walton and Alexis Garcia talk to Screen about the group’s ambitions, and how they see the marketplace.

“It creates a very different kind of company,” say Garcia, who previously led the film advisory group, and international sales head Walton.

The executives were recently named EVPs, film, advisory, Endeavor Content and have worked together for years. Garcia introduced Walton to producer and Garmin heir Ken Kao,...

Alexis Garcia, Alex Walton named EVPs, film, advisory, Endeavor Content.

Endeavor Content has merged its film advisory group led by Alexis Garcia and the international sales team lead by Alex Walton to form Endeavor Content Film Group.

Garcia and Walton will oversee a one-stop shop for talent, financing and production partners that enables the executives to work even more closely together on film projects from inception through sales and distribution.

Speaking to Screen on Wednesday (October 28), the executives – who are named EVPs, film, advisory, Endeavor Content – said the move was a natural dovetailing of operations.

“It creates a very different kind of company,...

Alexis Garcia, Alex Walton named EVPs, film, advisory, Endeavor Content.

Endeavor Content has merged its film advisory group led by Alexis Garcia and the international sales team lead by Alex Walton to form Endeavor Content Film Group.

Garcia and Walton will oversee a one-stop shop for talent, financing and production partners that enables the executives to work even more closely together on film projects from inception through sales and distribution.

Speaking to Screen on Wednesday (October 28), the executives – who are named EVPs, film, advisory, Endeavor Content – said the move was a natural dovetailing of operations.

“It creates a very different kind of company,...

With a goal of doubling Latino representation in Hollywood within 10 years, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday announced the creation of a new initiative, La Collab. The effort, which has the backing of major agencies, studios, and talent, is launching with deals for features, podcasts, and documentaries.

The effort comes amid bleak statistics about Latinos in Hollywood. While Latinos represent one-fifth of the Us population and about 25% of moviegoers, a recent USC Annenberg study found that their representation in the industry has halved over the last decade — from 6% of the entertainment workforce in 2009 to 3% today.

La Collab’s backers want to reverse this trend by connecting Latinos with skill development, promoting collaboration with Latinx creators and top producers, filmmakers, buyers, showrunners, and others in the business.

La Collab is launching with a finance development deal for a feature script with Endeavor Content, a scripted proof-of-concept deal with WarnerMedia’s content incubator OneFifty,...

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday announced an initiative that will aim to connect Latinx talent, executives and creators with opportunities throughout the entertainment industry and double Latinx representation in Hollywood by 2030.

La Collab is an initiative co-founded by Garcetti along with Beatriz Acevedo, founder of MiTu and president of Acevedo Foundation, and Ivette Rodriguez, president of Aem.

The collaboration kicks off with support from more than 50 industry leaders and organizations in Hollywood, including Eva Longoria, J.J. Abrams, Eli Roth, Devon Franklin, Jason Blum and Zoe Saldana. Initial funders include the Annenberg Foundation, WarnerMedia and Endeavor Content.

Also Read: 'Revenge' Sequel Series With Latinx Lead in the Works at ABC

“The Latinx community is a growing force across La’s economy, and our trademark industry should tap into that diverse pool of talent in our own backyard,” Garcetti said in a statement. “On big screens or small, in front...