Exclusive: Leslie Greif’s new company, Big Dreams Entertainment, has signed a deal with Lifetime to produce a slate of 10 TV movies over the next 18 months.
This is one of the largest TV movie orders for Lifetime, which has been ramping up film production as part of a scripted original programming strategy shift away from scripted series toward TV movies where the network has long traditions and a proven ratings track record.
It also marks the biggest order to date for Big Dreams Entertainment, the production company Greif launched in January after exiting his post as CEO of ITV-owned Thinkfactory Media, the company he had founded in 2011.
Additionally, the deal extends Greif’s long relationship with A+E Networks where he previously produced History’s miniseries Hatfields & McCoys and Texas Rising, and Lifetime’s Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le, Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer and Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta.
This is one of the largest TV movie orders for Lifetime, which has been ramping up film production as part of a scripted original programming strategy shift away from scripted series toward TV movies where the network has long traditions and a proven ratings track record.
It also marks the biggest order to date for Big Dreams Entertainment, the production company Greif launched in January after exiting his post as CEO of ITV-owned Thinkfactory Media, the company he had founded in 2011.
Additionally, the deal extends Greif’s long relationship with A+E Networks where he previously produced History’s miniseries Hatfields & McCoys and Texas Rising, and Lifetime’s Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le, Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer and Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta.
- 11/15/2019
- by Nellie Andreeva and Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Ashley Greene, Andrew Walker and Jackée Harry are set as the leads in Christmas On My Mind (fka An Unforgettable Christmas), a new Hallmark Channel holiday movie.
Written by Kristen Hansen, in Christmas On My Mind, when Lucy (Greene) wakes up with a wedding dress in hand, she believes that she is late to her wedding with her ex-boyfriend Zac (Walker). However, she has no recollection of the past 2 years, including the fact that she is engaged to another man. With Zac’s help, Lucy sets off on an adventure in Bedford Harbor to fill the gaps in her memory, and finds old romantic feelings reigniting during the Christmas season. Harry plays Dr. Caroline Albright.
Tim Johnson and Maura Dunbar executive produce.
Christmas On My Mind is slated to air Thursday, December 19 on Hallmark Channel.
Greene, best known for her role in the Twilight series, recently starred in Accident Man and the TV series Rogue.
Written by Kristen Hansen, in Christmas On My Mind, when Lucy (Greene) wakes up with a wedding dress in hand, she believes that she is late to her wedding with her ex-boyfriend Zac (Walker). However, she has no recollection of the past 2 years, including the fact that she is engaged to another man. With Zac’s help, Lucy sets off on an adventure in Bedford Harbor to fill the gaps in her memory, and finds old romantic feelings reigniting during the Christmas season. Harry plays Dr. Caroline Albright.
Tim Johnson and Maura Dunbar executive produce.
Christmas On My Mind is slated to air Thursday, December 19 on Hallmark Channel.
Greene, best known for her role in the Twilight series, recently starred in Accident Man and the TV series Rogue.
- 10/16/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Twenty women of color from the film and TV sectors have formed The Reel Divas, a group that aims to promote black writers, producers and directors and increase awareness of Atlanta as a production hub.
Among the women spearheading the group are actresses Jasmine Guy (A Different World) and Terri J. Vaughn (The Steve Harvey Show), writer-producer Cas Sigers-Beedles (Hamlet & Hutch), producers Tamra Simmons (Surviving R. Kelly) and Wanda Shelley (Being Bobby Brown), and writer-director Rhonda Baraka (Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta). (See the full list of members below.)
“With our brother-in-film, Tyler Perry, getting so much acclaim for opening his 330-acre lot here in Atlanta, we feel that the time is now,” said Sigers-Beedles, co-creator of the group. “Atlanta has already served as the home base and mecca for a lot of TV and film projects, so we are doing our part to continue pushing this narrative to the masses.
Among the women spearheading the group are actresses Jasmine Guy (A Different World) and Terri J. Vaughn (The Steve Harvey Show), writer-producer Cas Sigers-Beedles (Hamlet & Hutch), producers Tamra Simmons (Surviving R. Kelly) and Wanda Shelley (Being Bobby Brown), and writer-director Rhonda Baraka (Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta). (See the full list of members below.)
“With our brother-in-film, Tyler Perry, getting so much acclaim for opening his 330-acre lot here in Atlanta, we feel that the time is now,” said Sigers-Beedles, co-creator of the group. “Atlanta has already served as the home base and mecca for a lot of TV and film projects, so we are doing our part to continue pushing this narrative to the masses.
- 10/16/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Emmy winner Jackée Harry (227), Alexandra Breckenridge (This Is Us) and Robert Buckley (iZombie) are set to star in Love In Store, a new original movie set for premiere in September on the Hallmark Channel.
In the movie, Breckenridge and Buckley play shopping network hosts Terrie and David, who have different selling styles that draw large audiences, but off-camera their personalities clash. Each hopes to replace Sharyn (Harry), the network star, when she retires, but first they’ll have to get along as co-hosts because Sharyn needs them to team up when a co-worker goes into labor. Selling a high-tech umbrella, the two are in the middle of their presentation when Terrie turns on her phone to demonstrate the umbrella’s tracking device and sees a text from her boyfriend breaking up with her. Suddenly speechless, she breaks the cardinal rule of live television, “No Dead Air,” and although David steps in to help,...
In the movie, Breckenridge and Buckley play shopping network hosts Terrie and David, who have different selling styles that draw large audiences, but off-camera their personalities clash. Each hopes to replace Sharyn (Harry), the network star, when she retires, but first they’ll have to get along as co-hosts because Sharyn needs them to team up when a co-worker goes into labor. Selling a high-tech umbrella, the two are in the middle of their presentation when Terrie turns on her phone to demonstrate the umbrella’s tracking device and sees a text from her boyfriend breaking up with her. Suddenly speechless, she breaks the cardinal rule of live television, “No Dead Air,” and although David steps in to help,...
- 7/25/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Juan Antonio (Empire) and Shawntay Dalon (Detroiters) are set for recurring roles on the second season of Freeform’s Good Trouble.
Antonio will play Marcus, a smart and confident lawyer at Legal Aid who likes to play by the rules. Dalon will portray Lisa, a smart, charismatic, single mother who is facing potential eviction from her apartment building.
Season 2 of Good Trouble continues to explore the trials and tribulations of the tenants of Downtown La’s hippest residence, The Coterie. This season, Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), Callie (Maia Mitchell) and the rest of The Coterie crew continue to navigate their early 20s as they deal with breakups, demand equality, find happiness and discover what it means to fight for what you believe in.
Good Trouble was created by Joanna Johnson, Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg, who serve as executive producers along with Gregory Gugliotta, Christine Sacani, Maia Mitchell, Cierra Ramirez, Jennifer Lopez,...
Antonio will play Marcus, a smart and confident lawyer at Legal Aid who likes to play by the rules. Dalon will portray Lisa, a smart, charismatic, single mother who is facing potential eviction from her apartment building.
Season 2 of Good Trouble continues to explore the trials and tribulations of the tenants of Downtown La’s hippest residence, The Coterie. This season, Mariana (Cierra Ramirez), Callie (Maia Mitchell) and the rest of The Coterie crew continue to navigate their early 20s as they deal with breakups, demand equality, find happiness and discover what it means to fight for what you believe in.
Good Trouble was created by Joanna Johnson, Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg, who serve as executive producers along with Gregory Gugliotta, Christine Sacani, Maia Mitchell, Cierra Ramirez, Jennifer Lopez,...
- 7/8/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Lifetime has set premiere dates for three upcoming movies: Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal will debut Memorial Day, May 27 at 8 Pm; Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta will premiere at 8 Pm Saturday, June 1; and Adriana Trigiani’s Very Valentine is set for at 8 Pm. Saturday, June 8.
Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal, the sequel to the 2018 movie, continues the love story of newlyweds Prince Harry (Charlie Field) and American actress Meghan Markle (Tiffany Smith). Jordan Whalen, Maggie Sullivun, Timothy Temple, Charles Shaughnessy, Deborah Ramsay, Natalie Moon, James Dreyfus, Louise Bond and Bonnie Soper also star. Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal is executive produced by Merideth Finn and Michele Weiss. Menhaj Huda directs from a script by Scarlett Lacey.
Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta, featuring an all-African-American cast, is Lifetime’s modern take on the Jane Austen classic. It follows Reverend Bennet (Reginald VelJohnson), a pastor of a prominent Southern Baptist church, and his wife Mrs. Bennet (Jackée Harry...
Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal, the sequel to the 2018 movie, continues the love story of newlyweds Prince Harry (Charlie Field) and American actress Meghan Markle (Tiffany Smith). Jordan Whalen, Maggie Sullivun, Timothy Temple, Charles Shaughnessy, Deborah Ramsay, Natalie Moon, James Dreyfus, Louise Bond and Bonnie Soper also star. Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal is executive produced by Merideth Finn and Michele Weiss. Menhaj Huda directs from a script by Scarlett Lacey.
Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta, featuring an all-African-American cast, is Lifetime’s modern take on the Jane Austen classic. It follows Reverend Bennet (Reginald VelJohnson), a pastor of a prominent Southern Baptist church, and his wife Mrs. Bennet (Jackée Harry...
- 3/25/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
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