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Exclusive: Freevee, Amazon’s ad-supported video streaming service is developing Arranged, a half-hour single-camera romantic comedy series co-written and executive produced by With Love creator Gloria Calderón Kellett and Saturday Night Live alum Taran Killam. The project stems from Kellett’s GloNation Studios under the company’s overall deal with Amazon Studios.

Arranged follows a self-destructive movie star (Killam) and an ambitious pop Latina diva who agree to a mutually beneficial “public relationship” in order to help sell her upcoming breakup album and save his declining career, a decision they immediately regret as they quickly realize they hate each other’s guts.

The series is fictional but there are obvious points of reference: the high-profile romances between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck as well as Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson.

Kellett and Killam will executive produce with Marc Provissiero (Pen15) for Kellett’s GloNation banner as part of her Amazon Studios deal.

TV actor Rithvik Dhanjani, who is playing the lead role in the short film ‘Arranged’, says whether it is an arranged marriage or a love marriage set up, in a futuristic relationship, all that matters is a non-judgmental communication. The short film ‘Arranged’ revolves around two people who meet up for their arranged marriage organised […]...

Exclusive: A+E Networks veteran Gena McCarthy is stepping down as EVP and Head of Programming, Lifetime Unscripted and Head of Programming. fyi, and is leaving the company after 10 years. Search is underway for her replacement.

“Gena is an exceptional person and creative executive,” said Paul Buccieri, President of A+E Networks Group. “We thank her for her leadership, and for her many lasting contributions to the company, and wish her ongoing success.”

McCarthy joined Lifetime in 2010 as SVP Reality and Alternative. She developed and produced the network’s first wave of homegrown hit reality shows following the acquisition of Project Runway, including Dance Moms, Bring It!, Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition, Project Runway All-Stars, Preachers’ Daughters, and The Week the Women Went. She also managed ongoing production of Project Runway.

In 2013, McCarthy moved to A+E’s Bio as content chief ahead of the network’s transformation into lifestyle brand fyi 10 months later.

Exclusive: In a competitive situation, Paramount Television Studios has landed the rights to develop a television series based on Catherine McKenzie’s recently released thriller novel You Can’t Catch Me. McKenzie will serve as an executive producer on the project, along with Broken Road Productions’ Todd Garner and Spencer Walken. You Can’t Catch Me was just published on June 9 by Lake Union.

The book’s official synopsis: “Twelve years ago Jessica Williams escaped a cult. Thanks to the private detective who rescued her, she reintegrated into society, endured an uncomfortable notoriety, and tried to put it all behind her. Then, at an airport bar, Jessica meets a woman with an identical name and birth date. It appears to be just an odd coincidence—until a week later, when Jessica finds her bank account drained and her personal information stolen.

Following a trail of the grifter’s victims, each with the same name,...

Pop has given a 10-episode series order to Florida Girls, its half-hour original scripted comedy pilot from The Mick writer-producer Laura Chinn, Lionsgate TV, Jax Media and 3 Arts Entertainment. Chinn created, executive produces and stars in the series, slated to begin production this fall.

Florida Girls, inspired by Chinn’s life, is a female-centered series in front and behind the camera. The pilot for the female ensemble comedy was written by Chinn and directed by Lilly Burns.

Florida Girls focuses on four girls living in Small Town, Florida who confront their stagnant lives when their only ambitious friend moves away to follow her dreams. It follows the four girlfriends who are partying under the poverty line while navigating very relatable problems as they try to better their situations. Living in a dilapidated beach town full of alcoholics, these street-wise women haphazardly attempt to find self-worth and learn to “adult...

For season three of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Aline Brosh McKenna wanted to “get inside of some of the more extreme aspects” of Rebecca Bunch’s (Rachel Bloom) personality to better understand her psychology. McKenna co-created the CW series with Bloom about a mentally-unbalanced lawyer who leaves a job at a successful New York firm to pursue the love of her life, Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III), in West Covina, CA. The creators “felt like we owed a diagnosis to really try and figure out what’s going on with Rebecca, because obviously ‘crazy’ doesn’t mean anything medically.” Watch our exclusive video interview with McKenna above.

See Emmys 2018 exclusive: CBS Studios categories for ‘The Good Fight,’ ‘Star Trek: The Discovery’ and more

Season three begins with Rebecca out for blood after Josh leaves her at the altar. “When you think of the title of the show, revenge is what you think of,...

Kiran Deol and Moses Storm are set as the leads in Arranged, a half-hour comedy pilot from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna and writer-producer Sono Patel and CBS Television Studios. The pilot begins shooting this week in Los Angeles.

Co-created and written by Brosh McKenna and Patel, Arranged is about two best friends who end up in a marriage of convenience.

Deol will play Ash, a sardonic stand-up comedian whose challenging relationship with her overbearing mother forces her into an uncomfortable decision. Storm will play Alex, Ash’s confident, offbeat, charming best friend and roommate. In addition to acting, both Deol and Storm have backgrounds as stand-up comedians and tour regularly.

Brosh McKenna and Patel executive produce and Brosh McKenna will direct the pilot. CBS Television Studios, where Brosh McKenna is under an overall deal, is the studio.

Multi-faceted filmmaker Deol...

Up TV will premiered the indie romantic comedy My Last Day Without You starring Nicole Beharie this today, Monday, April 21 at 9pm Est. The film will air again on April 26th at 5pm and 7pm, and on May 3rd at 9pm.  Written by Stefan Schaefer/Christoph Silber (Arranged) and directed by Schaefer, My Last Day takes place in Brooklyn NY, during the course of one day, in which "a young German business executive (Ken Duken) falls in love with a singer-songwriter (Nicole Beharie) who exposes him to her Brooklyn world and emotions he's never experienced before." Reg E. Cathey co-stars as Beharie's father. Read our review of the film Here. By the way,...

My Last Day Without You, starring Nicole Beharie and Ken Duken, has been touring the festival circuit for almost two years in the States. Tomorrow, October 4th, the indie romantic comedy will see a theater release in five cities: Atlanta, Seattle, Washington D.C., Chicago and New Orleans.   Written by Stefan Schaefer/Christoph Silber (Arranged) and directed by Schaefer, My Last Day takes place in Brooklyn NY, in the course of one day, in which "a young German business executive (Ken Duken) falls in love with a singer-songwriter (Nicole Beharie) who exposes him to her Brooklyn world and emotions he's never experienced before." Reg...

My Last Day Without You is a film we've covered quite a bit here on S&A since the beginning of 2011. The indie flick starring Nicole Beharie and Ken Duken, has been touring the festival circuit for almost two years, and has since been released overseas.   Written by Stefan Schaefer/Christoph Silber (Arranged) and directed by Schaefer, My Last Day takes place in Brooklyn NY, in the course of one day, in which "a young German business executive (Ken Duken) falls in love with a singer-songwriter (Nicole Beharie) who exposes him to her Brooklyn world and emotions he's never experienced before." Reg E. Cathey co-stars as Beharie's father. The romantic...

When Diane Crespo, who directed the 2007 indie friendship film "Arranged," received the script for "Clutter," she was enthralled.  "When you have a production company, you get a lot of scripts," Crespo told Indiewire.  "You get three pages into a script, and you know how you feel about it.  In this case, I got to page 23, and I realized I wasn't judging it, I was reading it, enjoying it. "It is a dark comedy with a rhythmic way of working with dialogue.  It seemed very natuarl to me.  I liked the three women in this family.  And I liked the idea of doing something about a hoarder.  Other than the TLC show, I haven't seen anything like it." "Clutter" stars Joshua Leonard ("Humpday," "The Blair Witch Project") as Charlie, an artist who is trying to keep himself away from the hectic home life he was raised in.  After a water stain on his mother's garage.

Cicala Filmworks, the New York-based production outfit behind IFFR’s opening film, The Hungry Ghosts is run by Stefan Schaefer and Diane Crespo. It is planning a Little Miss Sunshine-style comedy called Forth and Multiply. Sopranos star (and The Hungry Ghosts director) Michael Imperioli is expected to take a central role in the film, which is about a mother and two daughters at a transitional point in their lives. “It’s about fertility, love and loss,” Crespo (who will co-direct with Schaefer) says. The script is ready. Cicala is aiming to go into pre-production in the spring. This will be the second feature that Crespo and Schaefer have co-directed, after festival hit Arranged (2007), which was about the friendship between two women, one an orthodox Jew and the other a Muslim. Meanwhile, Cicala is looking to extend its working relationship with writer-actor-director Imperioli. Schaefer met Imperioli when they were appearing together in Icelandic film The Higher Force. Like Schaefer and Crespo, Imperioli is from a theatre background. He and his wife Victoria run Studio Dante, a theatre company in New York. Many of the actors in The Hungry Ghosts came from the company.

Film Movement

Well meaning but all too obvious in its message, Arranged depicts the burgeoning friendship between two women -- one Orthodox Jewish and the other Muslim -- with all the depth and sophistication of an Afterschool Special. The film, written by Stefan Schaefer and co-directed by him and Diane Crespo, is essentially preaching to the choir. It is playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York's Quad Cinema.

Rochel Zoe Lister Jones) and Nasira (Francis Benhamou) are beginning teachers at a public school in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Rochel's ultra-conservative clothing and Nasira's headscarf make them stand out at work, with even their principal Marcia Jean Kurtz), a secular Jew, urging them to adopt more modernistic ways.

Both women become caught up in their families' traditional efforts to see them married off. A matchmaker arranges a series of increasingly dire dates for Rochel, while Nasira's father imports a singularly appropriate relative from their home country.

The similarity of their predicaments helps bring the women together, with their growing bond becoming the cause of curiosity among the students and deep concern within their families. Ultimately, true friendship wins out, with the pair overcoming the prejudices of their community and even finding true love with suitable men along the way.

The beautiful lead actresses are appealing, even if their characters never prove particularly interesting. Less effective are the performances by several of the supporting players, who ultimately are unable to overcome the stereotypical aspects of their broadly written roles.