Small Screen: Dania Ramirez To Star in Fox’s ‘Alert’; ‘The Chi’ Renewed For Sixth Season; Netflix’s Jinny Howe Talks Drama Development; Warner Bros Cuts Top OWN Execs
Dania Ramirez - Unique Nicole / Stringer
Broadcast: Dania Ramirez (Devious Maids, Sweet Tooth) has been cast as the lead in the upcoming police procedural Alert, from Sony Pictures and Fox Entertainment. Written by The Blacklist showrunner John Eisendrath, Alert stars Ramirez as Los Angeles police officer Nikki Parker, who joins the department’s Missing Persons Unit when her 11-year-old son goes missing. Eisendrath will serve as showrunner as well as executive produce the drama with actor Jaime Foxx and Datari Turner.
Blue Bloods’ Roslyn Ruff will star opposite Neve Campbell in a new drama series for ABC from A+E Studios and 20th Television. Based on a short story by Michael Connelly, Avalon is about an L.A. Sheriff’s Department Detective (played by Campbell) who heads a small office on Catalina Island. Ruff will reportedly join the cast as a police administrative dispatcher characterized as “self-reliant, very spiritual, and independent.” Created by David E. Kelley and Connelly, it was given a straight-to-series order and will be executive produced by the two along with Dana Calvo, Ross Fineman of Fineman Entertainment, A+E’s Barry Jossen & Tana Jamieson, and Matthew Tinker for DEK Productions.
Also on ABC, The Rookie is gaining a new trainee: Chicago P.D., and Legends of Tomorrow’s Lisseth Chavez is set to guest star in a number of episodes opposite star Nathan Fillion. Chavez will play confident new rookie Celina in the Entertainment One and ABC Signature co-production.
Amy - Aniobi - Matt Winkelmeyer
Cable: Showtime’s The Chi has officially been renewed for a sixth season. The coming-of-age story set in Chicago’s South Side is currently in its fifth season, with the finale set to stream on September 2nd and air on September 4th. The series is the creation of Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe and Oscar-winning musician Common, both of whom serve as executive producers alongside Aaron Kaplan, Rick Famuyiwa, Derek Dudley and Shelby Stone of ID8 Multimedia, Rishi Rajani, and showrunner Justin Hillian.
Amy Aniobi, a writer, director, and executive producer on Insecure will develop Vanessa Walter’s upcoming novel The Nigerwife into a drama series for HBO. The book, set to be released in June of 2023, centers on a UK ex-pat and mother named Nicole Oruwari who married a Nigerian man and moved to Lagos, but then mysteriously disappears. Aniobi has an overall deal with the network under her production company Superspecial and will executive produce the show with Walters and Aanch Khaneja.
The Last Man On Earth’s Cleopatra Coleman will star alongside Laurence Fishburne, Ed O’Neill, and Jackie Weaver in the FX limited series based on true events, The Sterling Affairs. Coleman will play the mistress of noted racist Donald Sterling (O’Neill), owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Other cast members include Kelly Aucoin, Austin Scott, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Sheldon “Shel” Bailey, Sarunas J. Jackson, and Charlie McElveen. The story was first documented in ESPN’s 30 for 30 Podcast of the same name hosted by Ramona Shelburne. Gina Welch will write the show and executive produce with Nina Jacobson, Shelburne, Zanne Devine, Brad Simpson, and Nellie Reed.
Jinny Howe - Netflix
Streaming: Moroccan-American actor Youssef Kerkour has been cast opposite Katherine Parkinson in an upcoming comedy-drama for ITVX titled Significant Other. Kerkour will play Sam, whose drastic but the fateful first meeting with neighbor Anna (Parkinson) leads to a life-changing, obstacle-filled relationship. The six-episode series will be an adaption of the Israeli series of the same name from Yes Studios and directed by Spitting Image’s David Sant. Filming will begin in Manchester U.K. next month and the show will air in 2023.
Netflix’s Sex Education has added six new regulars to the cast of its upcoming fourth season, which is currently in production. Thaddea Graham, Marie Reuther, Felix Mufti, Anthony Lexa, Alexandra James, and Imani Yahshua will all be featured in the show’s upcoming season along with Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy, who has a recurring guest role as Maeve’s course tutor at her American Ivy League university. The character details for the rest of the new additions have not been revealed.
The Head of Drama, Development at Netflix Jinny Howe, a self-proclaimed lover of lush romances and champion of such popular series as Bridgerton, Inventing Anna, and Maid, has put a slate of projects into development and now oversees acquisitions and licensed content for all drama. She spoke at length with Deadline about what’s to come on the streaming service, including a series based on Jodi Thomas’ novel Ransom Canyon, as well as new seasons of Virgin River, Firefly Lane, You, and Manifest. Howe has also been adamant about increasing on-screen representation of underrepresented voices which has resulted in upcoming programs like Partner Track starring romantic comedy-drama starring Arden Cho, The Lincoln Lawyer led by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo; From Scratch starring Zoe Saldana, and Beef, with Steven Yeun and Ali Wong. Howe is also the one responsible for licensing The CW’s flagship series created by Nkechi Okoro Carroll, All American: Homecoming. Howe says they will continue to bet on first-time creators and that she is “always looking for a really varied and diverse slate of programming” however she does think there is comfort in romantic escapist fare that viewers relate to.
Apple TV+’s The Morning Show is adding Miss Juneteenth’s Nicole Beharie to the cast for season three. She is set to play a new anchor on the fictional morning program named Christina Hunter opposite stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, who also executive produce the series alongside Mimi Leder and Michael Ellenberg.
Amazon Studios and Hivemind are developing a live-action series based on the Yasutaka Tsutsui novel Paprika that will reportedly be executive produced and directed by Emmy nominee Cathy Yan. The Birds of Prey director’s producing partner Ash Sarohia will also executive produce under their Rewild banner, along with Masi Oka and Hivemind’s Jason F. Brown. Paprika is described as “a character-driven sci-fi series with a mind-bending narrative centering around a technology that allows us to invade people’s dreams.”
Benny Boom - Udo Salters
Industry: Director Benny Boom, known for music videos and work on television franchises such as Chicago P.D., NCIS: LA, and CSI: Vegas, has signed with the Gersh Agency for representation.
Olympic Gold Medalist Chloe Kim is pursuing a career change by signing with Buchwald for representation. The snowboarding champion, who had a cameo in the 2019 Charlie’s Angels reboot and was a semi-finalist on Fox’s The Masked Singer, is also the co-founder of a new media and commerce company with Alex Morgan, Simone Manuel, and Sue Bird.
Warner Bros Discovery has dismissed four top executives at the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), adding to the number of high-profile exits sparked by the recent merger. General counsel Karen Grant-Selma, chief marketing officer Jennifer Giddens, executive vice president of communications Nicole Nichols, and head of programming and scheduling MaryBeth Cunin are the first major cuts to the Discovery side of the merger as most departures have come from Warner Bros. OWN was established in 2008 by Winfrey with Discovery and her production company Harpo each owning 50% but Discovery’s stake grew over time to just under 95% as of 2020.
Google is teaming up with The Black List and Youtube Originals to create a new fellowship opportunity for TV writers producing stories about the Black experience. Four fellows out of a list of 15 writers will be chosen to receive $40,000 in financial support that will go towards producing a proof of concept and developing a pitch. The recipients will be chosen in February 2023 and will pair up for six months with a showrunner mentor. This opportunity was brokered by UTA’s brand consulting division UTA Entertainment & Culture Marketing, which represents Google.
Alexa Demie, one of the stars of HBO’s hit series Euphoria, has just signed with UTA. The agency will expand Demie’s business beyond acting in film and television, but across fashion and fine arts as well.
L.A.-based AGC Studio has hired Aghi Koh, a veteran in children’s entertainment, to consult regarding its major push to move into family and young adult markets. Previously, Koh held senior creative executive positions at DreamWorks TV Animation, Nickelodeon, and Universal Studios Kids and Family and was an executive producer on the Walt Disney animated feature The Princess and the Frog. The independent content studio from Stuart Ford will utilize Koh’s expertise and experience to produce quality kids, family, and young adult projects.
Consultant Maria Thrasher has been hired by Hearst Media Production Group as a business partnership and development executive. She’ll be working directly under the senior VP, managing director of sales for educational/informational programming at Hearst, Amy DeGregorio.
America’s largest local television and media company Nexstar Media Group now owns 75% of The CW Network. Both Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global now own 12.5% each, will continue to produce original scripted content and are keeping Mark Pedowitz on as Chairman and CEO.
Soumya Sriraman is stepping down from her role as the head of Amazon Prime Video Channels. Previous to her two years with Amazon, Sriraman was responsible for launching the SVOD service Britbox, which let British studios like BBC and ITV expand to U.S., Australian, and Canadian markets. Before that she served as executive VP of the franchise and digital enterprises at BBC Studios – Americas.
NBC is deliberating giving its third hour of prime time programming back to local affiliates. This decision is reflective of recent changes regarding the expense and popularity of programming, increases in competition, and the addition of streaming platforms. While local broadcasters also encounter these issues, they also receive sizable revenue from political advertising and their news programming is much less expensive to produce. While this complex shift would take at least a year to implement, one possibility is that NBC would move The Tonight show With Jimmy Fallon earlier as it had originally promised to do in 2020 via Peacock Premium, but that move was shelved due to Covid.