Top Stories

NEW YORK: Tentatively titled Hitmakers, a new elimination competition series for Bravo will feature undiscovered singer-songwriters who will compete to determine who’s ready for the top of the pop charts. Bravo is teaming up with True Entertainment and The Writing …

PARIS: The Transporter film franchise will serve as the basis for a new TV series from France’s Lagardère Entertainment and Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp, with a budget set at $4 million per episode. EuropaCorp created the original franchise, which, starring Jason Statham, delivered …

MIAMI: The Telemundo Internacional telenovela Looking for Dad has launched on Farsi 1 in the United Arab Emirates in a 7 p.m. time slot. Looking for Dad tells the story of a sensitive young boy, who despite having the unconditional …

LOS ANGELES/TORONTO: E1 Entertainment’s new drama series Haven has begun production in Nova Scotia and is set for a premiere in the U.S. on Syfy on July 9, to be followed by a launch on July 12 on Showcase in …

BURBANK: Cookie Jar Entertainment and NDi Media have teamed up to develop and distribute an online game based on the series Mudpit, which is currently in production. The game, Muzika, is set to launch in early 2011. Muzika is a …

LOS ANGELES: Janice Arouh, currently the executive VP of affiliate sales and marketing for Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel, is to take on the role of president of domestic distribution and marketing at Entertainment Studios Networks as of May 10. …

DUBLIN: Irish post-production outfit Windmill Lane Pictures has set up an international division that will be led by Michael Murphy, who previously set up and ran the general-entertainment network Channel 6. Murphy will serve as CEO of Windmill Lane Entertainment. …

NEW YORK: The debut of America: The Story of Us garnered 5.7 million total viewers on Sunday on HISTORY, making it the network’s highest rated, most watched special ever. The premiere episode brought in a 4.0 household rating. New episodes …

LONDON: BBC Worldwide Content & Production has named Matt Paice to the role of executive VP of international production. Paice comes to the new role from Diverse (Zodiak Entertainment), where he spent five years as executive producer on such commissions as …

UNIVERSAL CITY: NBC and FremantleMedia are working with YouTube to allow acts to audition online for the hit summer series America’s Got Talent, which returns to screens June 1. From now through June 18, artists can upload their audition videos to www.youtube.com/americasgottalent. …