Small Screen: George Cheeks Outlines Changes At Paramount; Ana Ortiz Takes Over Lead Role In HBO Max Series ‘More’

Ana Ortiz - Araya Doheny / Stringer

Streaming: Series creator Diane Ademu-John has stepped down as co-showrunner for the HBO Max’s Dune prequel series Dune: The Sisterhood. She will continue to serve as an executive producer while Alison Schapker takes over as the show’s lone showrunner. Schapker also executive produces alongside Ademu-John and pilot’s director Johan Renck, plus the 2021 film director Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, Scott Z. Burns, Matthew King, John Cameron, Cait Collins, Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt, and Kim Herbert. The novel that the series is based on was written by Dune author Frank Herbert’s eldest son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson and is set 10,000 years before the events of the original book. Filming has reportedly begun in Budapest for the series, which stars Emily Watson, Shirley Henderson, Indira Varma, Travis Fimmel, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Faoileann Cunningham, Aoife Hinds and Chloe Lea.

The HBO Max drama More has cast Ugly Betty’s Ana Ortiz to replace Veronica Falcón as the show’s main character. Ortiz will star opposite Christian Serratos in the drama series written by journalist Amy Chozick. Ortiz takes over the role of Leona Lorenz, the matriarch of a billion-dollar media dynasty not unlike Kris Jenner and the Kardashians. Serratos, Ceci Fernandez, Yvette Monreal, Georgie Flores also star as Leona’s four daughters. Writer Chozizk also executive produces the series with her co-showrunner Natalie Chaidez, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Leigh London Redman.

Also on HBO Max, the second season of Tokyo Vice has added Takayuki Suzuki to its cast. Created by J.T. Rogers and inspired by American reporter Jake Edlestein’s memoir about his time covering the Tokyo Metropolitan police beat, Tokyo Vice was renewed for a second season in June of 2022 following the show’s premiere in April. Suzuki joins star Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi, Rachel Keller, Ella Rumpf, Hideaki Ito, Show Kasamatsu, and Tomohisa Yamashita. He will be playing an architect named Masahito Ohno who frequents the club around which the second season is centered, a role which is only his second on American television, following his appearance on the Apple sci-fi series Invasion. The drama series is executive produced by Rogers, Adelstein, Watanabe, Alan Poul, Emily Gerson Saines, Brad Kane, Destin Daniel Cretton, Kayo Washio, and John Lesher.

Brandy and Rita Ora have joined the cast of The Pocketwatch, a new Disney+ musical that takes place in the world of the Disney television movie The Descendants and its sequels. Brandy is set to reprise her role as Cinderella from the popular 1997 television version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, while British singer/songwriter Ora will play the villainous ruler of Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts. Other cast members include Kylie Cantrall as the Queen’s daughter Red, Mia Baker as the daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming, China Anne McClain as Uma, daughter of sea witch Ursula; Dara Reneé as Ursula’s sister Ulyana; Ruby Rose Turner Bridget, the younger version of the Queen of Hearts; Morgan Dudley as Ella, the younger version of Cinderella; Joshua Colley as Hook; and Melanie Paxson as the Fairy Godmother. Written by Dan Frey and Russell Sommer, The Pocketwatch is directed by Jennifer Zhang, who executive produces with Suzanne Todd and Gary Marsh.

Director Nzingha Stewart has been tapped to helm the first two episodes of the upcoming Alex Cross series for Amazon. Based on the best-selling book series from author James Patterson, Cross stars Aldis Hodge as the titular forensic psychologist comes from showrunner Ben Watkins, Paramount Television Studios, and Skydance Television. In addition to directing, Stewart will also executive produce the first two episodes along with Watkins, Sam Ernst, Jim Dunn, Craig Siebels, James Patterson, Bill Robinson, Patrick Santa, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Matt Thunell. Previously, Stewart has directed episodes of Netflix’s Inventing Anna and Maid, and Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere.

Mike actress Ash Santos has been added to the cast of the Paramount+ series Mayor of Kingstown. She is set to play a nightclub dancer named Coco for the drama’s second season. The series centers on a powerful family involved in the incarceration industry in Kingstown, Michigan and stars Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, Hugh Dillon, Taylor Handley, Emma Laird, Tobi Bamtefa, Derek Webster, Nishi Munshi, Hamish Allan-Headley and Aidan Gillen. Renner also executive produces Mayor of Kingstown along with the show’s co-creators Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, Antoine Fuqua, David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, Michael Friedman, Dave Erickson, Regina Corrado and Stephen Kay.

Kareem Daniel and Deniese Davis - Arturo Holmes /Tyler Perry Studios

Industry: Disney’s Head of Media and Entertainment Distribution Kareem Daniel has exited in the wake of his mentor CEO Bob Chapek being replaced by former Disney CEO Bob Iger. In response, Iger has appointed Disney General Entertainment Content chair Dana Walden, Disney Studios Content ESPN and Sports Content chairs Alan Bergman and Jimmy Pitaro, and CFO Christine McCarthy in charge of a new initiative to reorganize Disney’s Media & Entertainment Distribution division. Chapek had created the DMED in order to streamline the process of creating the optimal release plan for all film and TV titles by controlling P&Ls and distribution decisions for all divisions, a move that had frustrated veteran execs and creatives and was expected to be challenged by Iger going forward. According to a memo from Iger, “elements of DMED will remain” while they “begin implementing organizational and operating changes within the company” that should be in place in the next few months.

Reform Media Group and its creator, three-time Emmy nominee Deniese Davis have signed a development deal with Tyler Perry Studios covering TV, unscripted, and first-look feature film projects with the aim of bringing more diverse storytelling across both television and film. This is only the second deal of its kind for Perry, who’s only other partnership with an outside creator/writer/producer is with former Lionsgate executive and Peachtree & Vine Productions co-creator Tim Palen. Davis previously served as co-executive producer of Issa Rae’s two HBO series Insecure and Rap Sh!t, and was also a producer on A Black Lady Sketch Show. In 2020, she launched Reform Media Group with the goal of producing socially and culturally relevant content and amplifying marginalized voices across the entertainment industry.

Changes are ahead for the television divisions at Paramount Global. To start, the global media conglomerate is laying off employees as a part of its consolidation, restructuring, and merger of CBS Studios, Paramount TV Studios, and Paramount+. Thirty employees will lose their jobs as part of these changes. President & CEO of CBS Entertainment/Chief Content Officer, News & Sports Paramount+, George Cheeks, released a memo to all employees to reassure them of the company’s strength and to lay out the vision going forward. 

Read the full memo below.

Studios Teams – Thank you for your patience as we’ve organized our new television studios group. I’m reaching out today with an update and a look ahead.

To reiterate, this new structure will feature two independently operated brands – CBS Studios and Paramount Television Studios (PTVS) – led respectively by David Stapf and Nicole Clemens, each with their own separate creative teams. This will maintain two dynamic entry points for creative talent to bring a wide range of broadcast, cable, and streaming content into our company. It also provides us the desired balance of having dedicated brands and divisional/creative leadership bolstered by streamlined support operations.

As part of this reorganization, the creative executives from the Paramount+ scripted Originals team that has reported to Nicole will become part of the Paramount TV Studios team, and Jana Helman has been named head of development for PTVS.

Looking more broadly across the group, we have also identified the leaders of important centralized functions that will support our creative process and business operations.

● Finance – Eric Gray will be head of finance for both studios, continuing to report to Bryon Rubin, Chief Operating and Financial Officer for CBS. 

● Law – Kim Doneche will oversee Law matters for both studios and continue to report to Christa D’Alimonte, EVP and General Counsel for Paramount Global.

● Production – Kevin Berg will lead CBS Studios and Liz Miller will oversee production for PTVS.

● Business Affairs – Erika Kirkwood will oversee BA for PTVS with Allison Brightman leading for CBS Studios.

● Casting – Deborah Aquila will head casting for PTVS series and Meg Liberman for CBS Studios shows.

In each of these centralized areas, most of the team members under these department heads will begin to support and work across both CBS and PTVS projects, either immediately or over time. This is a new way of operating for many of us and will require healthy collaboration among leaders and teams. 

Unfortunately, this organizational change also comes with the departures of valued colleagues. It hurts to say goodbye to teammates and friends who have contributed so much to our respective studios. I hope you will join me in thanking each and every one of them for their immeasurable achievements and contributions. We will miss them all and wish them much success in their next roles.

Going forward, our next step is to put this new structure into action while clearly communicating the vision for our two studios system. Below are some key tenets of the new structure that we want to make clear to our internal and external partners.

● Each studio is free to pursue content of all genres for all mediums. There are no exclusive lanes. 

● We want to take full advantage of the Paramount Global broadcast/cable/streaming ecosystem as well as third-party platforms.

● With the international free-to-air networks now part of my purview, both studios will be collaborating more with Maria Kyriacou (UK and Australia) and Dario Turovelzky (LatAm) to see how we can support the company’s increased focus on globalization of content.

The bottom line – we have two prestigious, major studios that are laser focused on being global, multi-platform and collaborative. And, we have the framework, resources, and platforms to be an attractive creative destination for anyone.

Thank you all for everything you have done to position these two storied brands for success. And I truly appreciate everything you’ll do in the days ahead to take us to even greater heights.

George