A24 has found “Friendship.”

The indie powerhouse has acquired U.S. distribution for “Friendship,” the Andrew DeYoung film that stars Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, out of the Toronto International Film Festival. The deal is said to be in the low 7-figure range, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap.

Robinson plays Craig Waterman, a suburban dad whose life takes an unexpected turn when he befriends his enigmatic new neighbor, Austin Carmichael, played by Rudd. Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer, Josh Segarra, Billy Bryk, Jason Veasey and Jon Glaser also star.

DeYoung also wrote the screenplay for the movie, which was one of the breakout titles at TIFF this year, with the film receiving raves for how hilarious and uncomfortable the movie made audiences. The movie played as part of the Midnight Madness program at the festival.

“Friendship” was produced by Nick Weidenfeld, Raphael Margules, J.D. Lifshitz and John Holland. Rudd,...

A24 has landed rights to “Friendship,” a comedy starring Tim Robinson of “I Think You Should Leave” fame and Paul Rudd. The movie had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival as part of the Midnight Madness program.

Andrew DeYoung wrote and directed “Friendship” in his feature debut. Channeling the cringe comedy of “I Think You Should Leave,” Robinson plays a suburban dad who obsessively pursues a bond with his charming neighbor (Rudd). Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer, Josh Segarra and Billy Bryk also appear in the film.

“Friendship” is Robinson’s first starring role in a movie. Rudd is known for comedies like “Anchorman,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Clueless” and “I Love You, Man.” DeYoung has directed episodes of “The Other Two,” “Pen15,” “High Fidelity” and “Our Flag Means Death.”

Daily Beast critic Nick Schager called “Friendship” the “funniest film of the year,” adding that “what truly elevates Robinson...

Exclusive: Universal has pre-emptively purchased the short story thriller package Don’t Look, with Janelle Monáe in talks to star.

Akela Cooper is set to adapt the screenplay based on the short story by Colin Bannon.

Monáe is in talks to produce through her Wondaland Pictures’ first-look deal with Universal Pictures, along with Scott Glassgold’s Ground Control. They are keeping the logline under wraps, based on Bannon’s unpublished short story.

Bannon is fresh from making a Universal deal for his horror short story Long Lost, produced by Steven Spielberg, Simon Kinberg and Glassgold. Glassgold and Cooper teamed on the short story sale It’s Over to Sony Pictures, with Glassgold and Roy Lee producing.

The short story deal brokering was led by Verve, its second of the day in a turbulent week after the Sony deal for Cola Wars.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards selected A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once as its Best Feature on Saturday to culminate its 38th edition, one of seven wins for the metaverse-set pic that solidifies its frontrunner status in one of the last major awards stops ahead of March 12’s Academy Awards.

Everything, which had a leading eight nominations coming into daytime ceremony on the beach at the Santa Monica Pier, also scored wins for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu in the awards’ inaugural gender-neutral performance categories across film and TV. The film also won for The Daniels’ directing and screenplay, and for Paul Rogers’ editing.

Related Story ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Continues Awards Season Victory March With Sweep At Indie Spirits Heading Into Oscars Related Story How To Watch Saturday's Film Independent Spirit Awards Online Related Story Oscar Week 2023 Parties & Events: The List Ke Huy Quan,...

Film Independent announced the TV nominations for the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Tuesday morning, with four shows in particular leading the pack. ABC’s beloved comedy “Abbott Elementary,” FX’s critical darling “The Bear,” the HBO Max limited series “Station Eleven” and the acclaimed Apple TV+ drama “Severance” scored the most nominations of any show with three each.

The Apple TV+ series “Pachinko” won the Best Ensemble award.

New this year, as with the film nominees, is a switch to gender neutral acting awards with the Best Actor and Best Actress categories replaced by a 10-nominee Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series award. In addition to this change, a Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series award has been added to honor performances outside of the leading roles.

The 38th Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held on March 4, 2023, in Santa Monica. Check out the film nominees here.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are unveiling their 2023 nominees for television Tuesday morning. The reveal marks a previously announced expansion of the TV categories, as well as a move to gender-neutral acting races this year in both television and film, the latter of which were revealed last month during the Spirits’ film nominations.

The organization has combined both actor and actress in TV’s Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series, and in the new category of Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series.

Related Story Spirit Award Noms 2023: ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Leads & Will Vie For Best Picture With ‘Bones And All’, ‘Our Father, The Devil’, ‘Tár’ & ‘Women Talking’ Related Story Spirit Awards Set 2023 Date, Go Gender-Neutral And Increase Budget Cap Related Story Film Independent Spirit Awards: 'The Lost Daughter' Takes Home Best Feature As Netflix Reigns With Six Wins

Billions star Asia Kate Dillon...

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Film Independent has revealed the TV nominees for the 2023 Spirit Awards.

Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Severance and Station Eleven landed three nominations each, the most of any series.

Notable nominees include Emmy winners Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph of Abbott Elementary, who earned Emmys in September for best writing for a comedy series and supporting actress, respectively, for the ABC sitcom. Emmy nominee Janelle James was also honored with a supporting performance nomination. Other nominees from September’s Emmys include Yellowjackets‘ Melanie Lynskey, Station Eleven‘s Himesh Patel and Severance‘s Adam Scott.

While Till star Danielle Deadwyler was not recognized in the film categories for her acclaimed performance in the United Artists drama, she did earn a supporting performance nod for her role in Station Eleven.

While lead actor Jeremy Allen White was not nominated for his performance on The Bear,...

HBO has ordered a Season 2 of Nathan Fielder’s “The Rehearsal.”

Per the official description: “The Rehearsal” explores the lengths one man will go to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life. With a construction crew, a legion of actors, and seemingly unlimited resources, Fielder allows ordinary people to prepare for life’s biggest moments by “rehearsing” them in carefully crafted simulations of his own design. When a single misstep could shatter your entire world, why leave life to chance?

“Nathan has sparked such a lively conversation with ‘The Rehearsal.’ We have no idea where Season 2 will take us, and that is the delight of this boundary-pushing show from a truly singular talent,” said HBO’s executive vice president of programming, Amy Gravitt.

In its first season, which concludes Friday with its sixth and final episode, Fielder took viewers as well as participants through a variety of situations as they explored...

Nathan Fielder will be staging some more real-life interactions.

HBO has renewed his quirky comedy series The Rehearsal for a second season ahead of the season one finale, which airs tonight (August 19).

The show is somewhat hard to describe; Fielder allows ordinary people to prepare for life’s biggest moments by “rehearsing” them in carefully crafted simulations of his own design with the use of a construction crew, a legion of actors, and seemingly unlimited resources.

The first episode, for instance, helped a trivia-obsessed man confess to a friend on his trivia team that he didn’t have a master’s degree and built an entire New York bar to help him prepare for the reveal. Then there was Angela, an aromatherapy-loving Christian massage therapist who wanted to have a baby.

Fielder stars, directs, writes and exec produces. Clark Reinking exec produced the first episode of season one with Dave Paige...

There will be more Nathan Fielder for you coming soon.

HBO has renewed Fielder’s “The Rehearsal” for Season 2. The critically acclaimed dramedy concludes its first season this week.

The genre-bending series explores the lengths one man (Fielder) will go to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life. With a construction crew, a legion of actors, and seemingly unlimited resources, Fielder allows ordinary people to prepare for life’s biggest moments by “rehearsing” them in carefully crafted simulations of his own design. When a single misstep could shatter your entire world, why leave life to chance?

Fielder writes, directs, stars, and serves as executive producer of the series.

“Nathan has sparked such a lively conversation with ‘The Rehearsal,'” Amy Gravitt, executive vice president of HBO Programming, said. “We have no idea where Season 2 will take us, and that is the delight of this boundary-pushing show from a truly singular talent.

Nathan Fielder’s going to need some new guinea pigs: The docu-comedy The Rehearsal has been renewed for Season 2, HBO announced Friday.

The series (which airs its Season 1 finale Friday at 11/10c) “explores the lengths one man will go to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life,” according to its official description. “With a construction crew, a legion of actors, and seemingly unlimited resources, Fielder allows ordinary people to prepare for life’s biggest moments by ‘rehearsing’ them in carefully crafted simulations of his own design. When a single misstep could shatter your entire world, why leave life to chance?”

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HBO has renewed Nathan Fielder’s critically acclaimed comedy sketch series, “The Rehearsal,” for a second season. The news comes ahead of Season 1’s finale, which airs Friday night.

“The Rehearsal” explores the lengths one man will go to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life. With a construction crew, a legion of hired actors and seemingly limitless resources, Fielder gives space to ordinary people to prepare for life’s biggest moments by “rehearsing” them in carefully curated simulations of his own design. “When a single misstep could shatter your entire world, why leave life to chance?” the show’s logline reads.

Also Read:

‘The Rehearsal’ Review: Nathan Fielder Commits Even Harder in Intricate, Surprisingly Emotional Series

A hit with fans and critics alike, TheWrap’s review called the hybrid pseudo-docuseries “more than impressive” and an “absolute creative feat.” Vanity Fair wrote that it was “as enthralling and bizarre as life itself.

Click here to read the full article.

Nathan Fielder is getting more Rehearsal time at HBO.

The premium cabler has ordered a second season of Fielder’s comedy series The Rehearsal, in which the Nathan for You creator stages elaborate trial runs for people (and himself) who are facing significant events in their lives and want to practice getting them just right. The renewal comes just ahead of the show’s first season finale on Friday.

“Nathan has sparked such a lively conversation with The Rehearsal. We have no idea where season two will take us, and that is the delight of this boundary pushing show from a truly singular talent,” said HBO Programming executive vp Amy Gravitt in a statement.

The Rehearsal has earned widespread critical praise (and spawned a number of think-piece analyses of Fielder’s Mo). The Hollywood Reporter critic Daniel Fienberg wrote that the series “isn...

Five years after the conclusion of his critically-acclaimed Comedy Central series “Nathan for You,” Nathan Fielder is back in front of the camera with HBO’s “The Rehearsal.” On Wednesday, the pay cabler released the trailer for the new show.

In the series, Fielder visits real people who need to undergo a difficult conversation of some kind, and helps them meticulously “rehearse” the event. Using actors and a construction crew to replicate where and how these talks will be held, “The Rehearsal” explores potential scenarios for each event, with Fielder treating the experience with the utmost seriousness.

“With this show, if your performance isn’t accurate, you could ruin someone’s life,” Fielder tells a group of actors in the trailer.

In addition to hosting the series, Fielder directs, writes and executive produces “The Rehearsal.” Clark Reinking executive produces the first episode, while Dave Paige executive produces the remaining five.

The Rehearsal is coming to HBO. The comedy, which comes from comedian Nathan Fielder. Fielder will write, direct, executive produce, and star in the show. Christie Smith and Dan McManus will also executive produce.

Fielder previously starred in Comedy Central’s unscripted Nathan For You and served as an executive producer on Showtime's docu-series How to with John Wilson.

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Nathan Fielder, star of Comedy Central’s Nathan For You and exec producer of lo-fi laugher How To With John Wilson, has set up his latest project with HBO.

The comedian has scored a series order for half-hour comedy The Rehearsal. It comes after he struck an overall deal with HBO in 2019 and comes as he is working on another comedy for HBO rival Showtime.

The series is set in a world where nothing seems to ever work out as you had hoped, Nathan Fielder gives people the opportunity to rehearse for their own lives. HBO wouldn’t say whether it was scripted or more in the vein of Nathan For You.

Fielder is writing, directing, starring in and will exec produce. Christie Smith and Dan McManus also exec produce for Rise Management.

It is the latest premium network that Fielder is working with, having also secured a series order for The Curse,...

HBO has given a series order to Canadian comedian Nathan Fielder’s “The Rehearsal,” a new half-hour series from the co-creator behind Comedy Central’s cringe docu-reality show “Nathan for You.”

“The Rehearsal’s” official description is as follows: “In a world where nothing seems to ever work out as you had hoped, Nathan Fielder gives people the opportunity to rehearse for their own lives.” So far, the only cast confirmed is Fielder himself.

Executive producing the new comedy are Fielder, who is also writing and directing, and Christie Smith and Dan McManus via Rise Management. The project is part of a pre-existing relationship with HBO, as the comedian inked a one-year overall deal at HBO back in August 2019.

Under the terms of that pact, Fielder served as an executive producer on “How To With John Wilson,” which premiered this past October on the premium cabler and garnered a 100% average...

HBO has given a series order to a new project from Nathan Fielder, the network announced Friday.

The half-hour series “The Rehearsal” will be written and directed by Fielder, who also stars. “In a world where nothing seems to ever work out as you had hoped,” the “Nathan for You” creator will give people the chance to “rehearse for their own lives,” the series description reads.

Christie Smith and Dan McManus of Rise Management will executive produce alongside Fielder.

The new project follows the four-season run of the critically acclaimed “Nathan for You” at Comedy Central, in which Fielder offered outlandish business advice to struggling businesses.

Fielder currently serves as an executive producer on another HBO series, “How to With John Wilson.” He is next set to star alongside Emma Stone in the Showtime comedy series “The Curse,” which Fielder co-created with “Uncut Gems” director Benny Safdie.

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A funny thing happened at HBO Max today. The WarnerMedia streamer has inked with Comedy Central to run all episodes of the cable net’s comedies Chappelle’s Show, Inside Amy Schumer, Key & Peele, Nathan for You and the original Reno 911!

The nonexclusive streaming deal adds to HBO Max’s trove of Comedy Central content that also includes the full South Park series and upcoming seasons of The Other Two and South Side produced by Comedy Central Productions as Max Originals.

As a refresher for the converted or a primer for the uninitiated, here are descriptions of the five series included in the new deal:

Chappelle’S Show

Featuring stand-up, sketch comedy and musical performances, Dave Chappelle takes on culture with a no-holds-barred attitude. And with themes like race and fame at the forefront of the series, nothing is off limits. Creators Chappelle and Neal Brennan executive produced the Emmy-nominated series along with Michelle Armour.

Exclusive: Saturday Night Live cast member Ego Nwodim has signed with CAA for representation.

Nwodim joined the venerable late-night sketch show SNL as a featured cast member in 2018 and is now heading into her third season. She can also be seen in the Hulu series Shrill, IFC’s Brockmire, and the upcoming feature, The Broken Hearts Gallery. Additionally, she is a fan favorite and regular on the Comedy Bang Bang podcast.

Nwodim, who graduated from USC with a degree in biology, was a regular cast member at the Ucb Theatre in Los Angeles prior to SNL, where she performed her one-woman show Great Black Women … and Then There’s Me. She performed as a New Face at the 2016 Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and was featured that same year in the CBS Diversity Showcase. In 2019, Nwodim was also recognized by Variety in their Comedy Impact issue.

Nwodim also has...

Nathan Fielder has signed a one-year overall deal with HBO. The comedian and former star of acclaimed series Nathan for You will write, direct and star in an as-yet-untitled comedy pilot for the network, Variety reports.

As part of the deal, Fielder will also executive produce the upcoming How To…With John Wilson, which Variety calls a “half-hour, first-person documentary series hosted by an anxious New Yorker (Wilson) who attempts to give everyday advice while dealing with his own personal issues.”

Wilson will serve as writer, director, narrator and executive producer of How to…...

Nathan Fielder has signed a one year overall deal at HBO, Variety has learned exclusively.

Under the deal, Fielder will serve as executive producer on”How To…With John Wilson,” which has been ordered to series at HBO, and an untitled comedy pilot in which Fielder will star as well as write and direct.

“How To…With John Wilson” is a half-hour, first person documentary series hosted by an anxious New Yorker (Wilson) who attempts to give everyday advice while dealing with his own personal issues. Acting as both cameraman and narrator, he covertly documents the lives of fellow New Yorkers in a comic odyssey of self-discovery, inevitably making the audience comfortable with the awkward contradictions of modern life.

Wilson is the writer, director, narrator and executive producer on the series, with Fielder and Clark Reinking also executive producing. Reinking was previously a supervising producer on Fielder’s Comedy Central series “Nathan For You,...