World Screen

UNIVERSAL CITY: Celebrity chef and restaurateur Bobby Flay is the first of five culinary luminaries to join NBC’s new reality competition series America’s Next Great Restaurant (working title). Flay will serve as a mentor, investor and judge for contestants who …

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK: The Screen Actors Guild’s national board has agreed to joint bargaining with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) for a new prime-time TV and theatrical contract. AFTRA’s board agreed to the joint bargaining two weeks ago. …

ROME: A new report from ITMedia Consulting predicts that online video revenues in Western Europe will reach 2.7 billion euros in 2013. This reflects a compound annual growth rate of 39 percent from the 737 million euros in online video …

LONDON: Victoria Ashbourne has been tapped to serve as the senior VP of creative development for international production at Sony Pictures Television (SPT). Based in London, Ashbourne is charged with helping to stimulate and guide the creation of new shows across …

CULVER CITY: Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has reworked its Animax channel to focus more broadly on youth culture, along with extending its programming to alternate platforms. Starting in April, the new Animax will begin rolling out worldwide to a target …

TORONTO/STOCKHOLM: The original format Battle of the Blades, which highlights an ice-skating competition, has been added to the portfolio of Sparks Network, which picked up the series from Insight Production Company. The show has been a hit in Canada on …

MONTREAL: The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has teamed up with YouTube for the U.S. premiere of the feature-length documentary The "Socalled" Movie, centered on a young Canadian pianist, singer, rapper, producer and composer. The film will debut tomorrow …

BUENOS AIRES: Among Telefe International’s highlights for MIPTV are the teen telenovela The Resistance and romantic comedy WAGs, Love for the Game. The 150×1-hour The Resistance is from the Cris Morena Group and RGB Entertainment. It tells of a group …

LOS ANGELES: Moving Pictures Film & TV is to showcase its latest theatrical acquisition, Deadfall Trail, at the upcoming Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart). The movie centers on three male friends who enter the Kalibab National Forest …

COLLINGWOOD: The Australia-based factual outfit Looking Glass International has landed new sales for the hour-long Megawheel, produced by Film Formations of Singapore. Megawheel, about the 557 foot Singapore Flyer, has been picked up by RAI, Discovery Latin America and Viasat. …