Top Stories

BURBANK: Actress Zelda Williams (Dead of Summer) has come on board Freeform’s unscripted series The Letter, slated to premiere later this year.

NEW YORK: Atlas Media Corp. has established a digital unit to create and develop IP, launch multiplatform channels and sell sponsorships and branded integrations.

NEW YORK: Next month, Smithsonian Channel is slated to begin airing Behind the Lost Empires, a new programming block focused on the secrets of ancient civilizations from around the world.

TORONTO: Big Coat Productions has named Christine Diakos, a former Bristow Global Media senior producer, as head of production.

LONDON: Kim Shillinglaw, a former BBC executive, has been hired by Endemol Shine UK as director of factual, effective in September.

LONDON: Passion Distribution has licensed the new U.K. version of the competition series Robot Wars to Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 TV Deutschland.

NEW YORK: Investigation Discovery (ID) has greenlit season three of the true-crime documentary series Vanity Fair Confidential.

SINGAPORE: Bomanbridge Media has signed a volume agreement with Vietnam's VTV for a number of nature and science-themed factual titles from such producers as Sky Vision, Secuoya, Earth Touch and Peace Point.

LONDON: A+E Networks has ordered a factual crime series hosted by Robbie Coltrane that is due to premiere globally on Crime + Investigation.

NEW YORK: WWE star John Cena has inked a development deal with ITV America’s Leftfield Entertainment (LFE) to co-create and produce unscripted projects.