Small Screen: HBO’s ‘Euphoria’ To Air Two Special Episodes, Plus ViacomCBS and Hulu Bring In New Writers

ViacomCBS

Broadcast: ViacomCBS recently published a press release announcing the 11 writers, chosen from a pool of over 1,600 applicants, to participate in its 2020-2021 Writers Mentoring Program. The mentorship program will be headlined by Sara Casey, Rishi Chitkara, Manuel Herrera, Nina Kim and Janene Lin writing for comedy, as well as drama writers Yakira Chambers, Bradley Estrin-Barks, Natasha M. Hall, Obiageli Odimegwu, Melissa Park and Andrew Saito. ViacomCBS’ program pairs participants with mentors who spend eight months helping them to develop their own original content, followed by a 16-week workshop connecting them with agents, managers, executives, showrunners and producers as they immerse themselves in the television industry. ViacomCBS’ Executive Vice President of Entertainment Diversity and Global Inclusion Tiffany Smith-Anoa’i emphasized the program’s focus on “supporting emerging writers in their craft and providing opportunities to build relationships with Network executives and showrunners.” Smith-Anoa’i went on to reference the success of last year’s program in helping participants land work on network series, including Mom, Bull, Magnum P.I., The Equalizer (upcoming) and Clarice (upcoming), with many previous participants “[having] gone on to become executive producers and showrunners on various television series.”

Sylvia Bugg has been promoted to PBS’ new Chief Programming Executive and General Manager of General Audience Programming, in which she will oversee all non-children’s programming for broadcast and streaming. In addition, her new role will also entail acquiring and developing original series for PBS and its member stations with a focus on finding content that highlights American diversity. Prior to working with PBS, Bugg worked in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Discovery Communications.

Adrienne Warren is set to star as Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, for ABC’s upcoming limited series Women of the Movement. Created and written by showrunner Marissa Jo Cerar, the six-episode series is based on Devery S. Anderson’s book, Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement, and centers on Till-Mobley’s lifelong quest for justice following the brutal lynching of her son in 1955 that would go on to become a major catalyst for the civil rights movement. Women of the Movement features a massive executive production slate that includes Cerar along with Roc Nation’s Jay-Z, Jay Brown and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith, Overbrook’s Will Smith and James Lassiter, Kapital Entertainment’s Aaron Kaplan, Dana Honor and Michael Lohmann, Middleton Media Group’s Alex Foster and John Powers Middleton, as well as the pilot episode's Director Gina Prince-Bythewood, Seredipity Film Group's Rosanna Grace and Mazo Partner's David Clark. Developed by Kapital Entertainment studios, the upcoming series is slated for a 2021 premier.

ViacomCBS has promoted Wincie Knight to the position of Vice President of Global Inclusion Strategy, in which she will oversee diversity-boosting efforts in Britain, Europe, Israel, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Knight has been with ViacomCBS’ team in London since 1999.

Cable: HBO recently released the official trailer for Season 2 of His Dark Materials, picking up where the previous season left off. Set in a magical world plagued by war, the series centers on the struggle between witches and the mysterious figures of the Magisterium to find and harness the power of Lyra, played by Dafne Keen, whose whereabouts are never certain as she explores the world with her companion, Will Parry, played by Amir Wilson. While the witches see Lyra as the key to peace, the Magisterium seeks to restrict the girl. The witches and members of the Magisterium are not the only ones in pursuit of Lyra, as the duo of Lee Scoresby and Colonel John Parry, played respectively by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Scott, also hope to locate her. The hit fantasy drama is a co-production between Bad Wolf and New Line Cinema for BBC One and HBO, and is executively produced by Philip Pullman, Jack Thorne and Tom Hooper alongside Bad Wolf’s Jane Tranter, Dan McCulloch, Joel Collins and Julie Gardner, New Line Cinema’s Deborah Forte, Toby Emmerich and Carolyn Blackwood and BBC’s Ben Irving and Piers Wenger. In addition to Keen, Wilson, Miranda and Scott, the series also stars Ruth Wilson, Ariyon Bakare, Will Keen and Ruta Gedmintas. The second season of His Dark Materials premiers November 16.

Two hit cable series have recently been renewed, with Showtime renewing the Don Cheadle-starred Black Monday for a third season and Tracy Morgan’s The Last O.G. coming back for a fourth season at TBS. Created by David Caspe and Jordan Cahan via Showtime and Sony Pictures Television, Black Monday follows Cheadle's Mo, Andrew Rannells's Blair, Regina Hall's Dawn and Paul Scheer's Keith, a group of outsiders who cause Wall Street’s absolute worst market crash. The series is produced by Rannells and Hall with a team of executive producers that includes Cheadle, Caspe, Cahan, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Season 3 will be filmed in 2021 and is planned to air sometime during the year. Showtime’s announcement that it would be renewing Black Monday was later followed by news that star Regina Hall has signed a first-look deal to develop and produce original series for the premium cable channel through her Rh Negative production company. At TBS, The Last O.G. will return for another season, but without star Tiffany Haddish, and with a new showrunner, Owen Smith. Created by John Carcieri and Jordan Peele, the series stars Morgan, Allen Maldonado, Ryan Gaul and Cedric the Entertainer in a story about an ex-con who experiences a major culture shock when he is released from prison and gets a fresh start in the newly gentrified Brooklyn. The Last O.G. features an executive production slate composed of Morgan, Peele and Win Rosenfeld (via Monkeypaw Productions), Eric Tannenbaum, Kim Tannenbaum and Jason Wang (via The Tannenbaum Company), Joel Zadak (via Artists First), Owen Smith and Steve Ast. A return date for The Last O.G. has yet to be announced.

Television executive Channing Dungey is joining Warner Bros. Television Group to become its new Chairman. Having already worked with Warner Bros. early in her career, Dungey has previously worked with ABC, where she originally joined as a member of its drama development department before ascending to become the President of ABC Entertainment, and most recently acted as Netflix’s Vice President of Original Series. Her new role with Warner Bros. will see the executive lead the studio’s television department with a specialized focus on the continuing growth of HBO Max.

HBO will air two special episodes of its hit series Euphoria that will bridge the gap between Seasons 1 and 2. The first, Christmas-themed special will air December 6 and follows Rue, played by Zendaya, suffering a relapse as she tries to celebrate Christmas; no details have been released yet on the second episode. Production on Season 2 of Euphoria was originally slated to begin in March but has been delayed due to the pandemic. Despite the setbacks, Euphoria received acclaim when its star Zendaya recently won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama, becoming the youngest actress to do so. Created and written by Sam Levinson, who also is writing and directing the Christmas special, Euphoria is executively produced by Levinson, Ravi Nandan, Kevin Turen, Drake, Future the Prince, Hadas Mozes Lichtenstein, Ron Leshem, Daphna Levin, Tmira Yardeni, Mirit Toovi, Yoram Mokady, Gary Lennon and Will Greenfield, in a co-production between HBO and A24.

Lil rey Howery - Joe Scarnici / Stringer

Streaming: Dominic Colón, Juan Carlos Fernandez and Anna Salinas were recently selected from The Black List’s inaugural Latinx TV List to receive blind script deals with Hulu. Out of over 650 applicants and 10 finalists, the three writers were selected after sharing their pilots with Hulu and are now in a position in which they may choose whether to accept a WGA minimum blind pilot script deal from the streaming service. Said Beatrice Springborn, Hulu’s Vice President of Content, the streaming giant is “excited to work with these three writers, who through their voices and storytelling, will continue to advance Latinx representation on Hulu and in the industry.” The Black List’s Franklin Leonard went on to champion the success of the partnership, calling it “a reflection of just how much talent is out there yet to be discovered.” News of Hulu’s push to find new Latinx voices comes on the heels of the Untitled Latinx Project publishing an open letter calling for more inclusivity and representation in the film and television industries. Signed by over 270 Latinx film and television writers, the group penned the letter to close out Hispanic Heritage Month by bringing attention to five key issues regarding Latinx representation in Hollywood: bringing Latinx stories from Latinx writers; developing more projects from Latinx creators; presenting a wider scope of Latinx representation, with consideration to the diversity of Latinx cultures; putting Latinx writers in higher positions and hiring more Latinx writers for non-Latinx stories.

Netflix will release its first African Christmas original with How to Ruin Christmas, a three-part special starring Busisiwe Lurayi and Thando Thabethe. Set in South Africa, the series explores family dynamics such as secrets, tensions, sibling rivalries and “judgmental aunties,” as well as romance and the stress of planning and successfully executing a wedding. How to Ruin Christmas comes from the television sibling trio of Katleho, Rethabile and Tshepo Ramaphakela. The trio most recently worked together on Seriously Single (2020), a Netflix original film produced through their Burnt Onion Productions.

Hulu is set to adapt Charles Yu's 2020 novel Interior Chinatown into a series for the platform. The upcoming series, which is about an Asian American actor who deals with stereotyping in his roles and personal life, will be executively produced by Yu along with Rideback’s Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore and Elsie Choi, as well as Participant’s Miura Kite. Produced by Participant TV, the series adds to the growing list of high-profile series from the production company, including Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us and the hit BBC series Noughts + Crosses. Yu’s previous television experience includes writing for episodes of HBO's Westworld, FX's Legion, AMC's Lodge 49 and Facebook Watch's Sorry For Your Loss.

Comedian Lil Rel Howery, known especially for his role in Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017), has been named as the new Head of Comedy for kweliTV, the streaming platform focused on Black indie cinema that includes films, series, documentaries and children’s programming from around the world. In his new role, Howery will work with DeShuna Spencer, the streamer’s Founder and CEO, to secure comedy content, new partnerships and opportunities within comedy, with later plans to produce original programming. In addition, the comedian will be curating a new monthly channel for the streaming platform. Titled “Comedy Curated by Lil Rel,” the channel consists of a collection of films, series and stand-up performances selected by Howery. In addition to being available for free on its website, kweliTV can also be viewed on DistroTV, Comcast Xfinity, Roku, Amazon Fire, Android TV, Apple TV, iOS and Google Play.