Fresh News 7/15/21
Posted by NALIP on July 16, 2021
Emmy Nominations Set Records For Diversity In Combined Acting & Reality Hosting Categories
Courtesy of Deadline
Diversity showed up strong at the Primetime Emmy Nominations with a record 49 non-Anglo nominees recognized in the acting and reality hosting categories, +17% over last year’s diversity record of 42 nominees.
Of the 49 nominees, 43 were actors in the drama series, limited, comedy, supporting and guest categories — the biggest number we’ve ever seen to date besting 2020 and 2018’s actor diversity record which tied at 36 nominations. Similar to last year, six nominees in the reality/competition hosting category were of color.
Bowen Yang Makes History With Saturday Night Live Emmy Nomination
Courtesy of SNL
The Saturday Night Live freshman, who has made his mark on the long-running sketch comedy show, became the first Chinese American actor to receive an Emmy nomination. The Television Academy, with the help of Jasmine Cephas Jones and Ron Cephas Jones, revealed the list of 2021 Emmy contenders on Tuesday.
In addition to becoming the first Chinese American male acting nominee, the Nora From Queens actor became the first Saturday Night Live featured player to receive a nomination for the annual television awards show. It’s just the latest mark Yang has left on SNL since joining the cast in 2019, when he became the series’ first-ever Asian cast member.
Mj Rodriguez Reacts To Historic Emmy Nomination For Pose: “I Finally Feel Seen”
Courtesy of FX
Mj Rodriguez made history on Tuesday, becoming the first transgender performer to be nominated in a major category for her portrayal of nurse Blanca Rodriguez-Evangelista in FX’s highly lauded Pose. Through tears, Rodriguez talks of the impact of the accolade with Deadline.
“I’m feeling so many emotions. I’m feeling joy, and I’m feeling accomplished. I finally feel seen,” the Afro-Latinx star said during a phone call from France.
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Asian Shadows Scores Cannes Deals on Wayne Wang, Soda Kazuhiro Titles
Courtesy of Variety
Boutique sales agency Asian Shadows has struck deals in Cannes on two of its key titles, Coming Home Again, directed by Wayne Wang and Zero by Soda Kazuhiro.
Examining themes of family, roots and food, Coming Home Again was sold to Zeta Filmes for Brazil and to Dae Sung Films for release in South Korea. Dae Sung says that it plans a theatrical release before the end of 2021. France’s Art House Films has acquired rights to Zero. The film continues Soda’s already established style of “observational” filmmaking, but will be the first to enjoy a commercial theatrical release in France. Art House plans an outing in early 2022.
Joe Arroyo Salsa Biopic Rebellion Wraps; Colombia’s ChocQuibTown Does Cover on Titular Song
Courtesy of Rhayuela Films
Musical biopic Rebellion has wrapped after a four-week shoot in Bogota, Colombia, making it one of the few pics to have filmed in the country since the COVID-19 pandemic breakout in 2020. The film about Afro-Colombian salsa icon Joe Arroyo is directed by Jose Luis Rugeles, whose previous drama Alias María, about a pregnant 13-year-old member of a guerrilla unit, competed in the 2015 Cannes Un Certain Regard sidebar and represented Colombia at the 89th Academy Awards.
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Best Sellers, Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza Comedy, Sells to Screen Media
Courtesy of Variety
Screen Media has acquired Best Sellers, a comedy with Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza about a pair of misfits that has a literary twist. The deal is for all U.S. rights, and the company plans to release the film theatrically and on-demand in September.
Directed by Lina Roessler (Little Whispers: The Vow), Best Sellers centers on an ambitious young editor (Plaza) who decides to try to save the flailing publishing house her father left her by going on a book tour with the bitter, hard-drinking author (Caine) who helped establish the company several decades and an ocean of booze ago.
Ventana Sur to Launch Video Games Forum at 2021 Edition
Courtesy of Ventana Sur
Ventana Sur, Latin America’s biggest film-TV market, is adding a video games forum, Las Maquinitas, to its powerful arthouse, genre and animation focus.
Launching at this year’s Ventana Sur, which runs Nov. 29 to Dec. 3 onsite in Buenos Aires, the video game focus looks set to split two ways, Bernardo Bergeret, Ventana Sur co-executive director, said at the Cannes Marché du Film.
A Let’s Play team will walk delegates through the key steps in video game creation. In parallel, a conference panel series will analyze the reach and potential cross over between the film-TV industries and video game business.
Why Serving Diversity Within Diversity Matters
Courtesy of TBI
The lack of inclusive Black representation at the decision-making levels of networks contributes to an additional often hidden problem – the failure to acknowledge that Black audiences are not monolithic in their interests and in their viewing preferences, specifically the needs of the African diaspora. In the US, this foreign-born audience represents nearly 20% of the total Black American population.
Narendra Reddy, EVP & general manager at The Africa Channel, tells TBI about his company’s mission to serve the African Diaspora and why a cycle of economic inclusion is vital to improving diversity.
The War Next Door: Two Households, One Feud, and Several Misunderstandings
Courtesy of Netflix
When a lower-class family wins an unexpected raffle to a mansion in the best part of town, their newly acquired neighbors heavily object to having their bubbles popped into reality. Written and created by Carolina Rivera, The War Next Door (Guerra de Vecinos) is a thirty-minute comedy series that touches on the themes of classism, reverse sexism, family, and hard work. It is a fun family comedy that will make you chuckle a few times per scene.
Creator Carolina Rivera has worked on shows like Devious Maids and Jane the Virgin. Most recently, Carolina Rivera was the sole creator of the Mexican series Daughter From Another Mother (Madre Sólo hay Dos), starring Ludwika Paleta, also available on Netflix.
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Jennifer Lopez, Skydance and Concord Team to Develop Musical Projects
Courtesy of Variety
Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions, Skydance and Concord have teamed to develop TV projects based on the many musicals in Concord’s vault, including the Rodgers & Hammerstein catalog.
The focus of the pact is on developing TV projects although some may wind up as films.