English Entertainment
BBC joins forces with ‘That 70s Show’ producer for comedy development
MUMBAI: In a bid to strengthen comedy offerings in the future the BBC has joined forces with renowned US comedy producer Caryn Mandabach (The Cosby Show, Roseanne, 3rd Rock From The Sun, That 70s Show). The two parties have signed a development deal. In India, the last two shows mentioned air on Star World.
The BBC will fund Mandabach to develop five comedy scripts. The move by Mandabach has resulted in her starting a UK company, Caryn Mandabach Productions.
The company will retain complete ownership of all projects and their respective formats. Working directly with the BBC’s Head of Comedy Commissioning, Mark Freeland, Mandabach already has one script in development with writer Simon Nye called Men Behaving Badly.
Mandabach said, “I’ve been a fan of British comedy for all my career. I am overjoyed to have the opportunity to work with so many great artists and for such a legendary institution.” Freeland says, “The BBC is delighted to be in business with someone as uniquely dynamic and productive as Caryn. With her brilliant track record and nose for mainstream hits, we hope that she will complement all the work we already do with UK comedy talent.”
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
