World Screen

PREMIUM: Lisa Kudrow, who the world first fell in love with as Phoebe Buffay on Friends, talks to World Screen about playing Dr. Fiona Wallice, the self-absorbed psychiatrist on Showtime’s Web Therapy.   WS: What served as inspiration for the show? KUDROW: The fact that while people are at work on …

NEW YORK: News Corporation is losing its chief digital officer, Jonathan Miller, who is exiting the company at the end of September. Miller will serve as an outside advisor to the company for digital issues through fall 2013. Miller’s exit comes at a time when the company is moving towards …

MIAMI: Customers of Comcast’s Xfinity TV service in the U.S. have gained access to the beIN Sports channel, featuring coverage of all the top soccer leagues and tournaments from Europe and South America. beIN Sport will be available in Spanish through the Xfinity TV MultiLatino package and in English on the Xfinity TV Sports …

SEATTLE: Amazon.com has secured a new content licensing deal with NBCUniversal Cable & New Media Distribution, bringing episodes from hit shows such as Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights and others to the Prime Instant Video service. Hundreds of TV episodes from the NBCU slate are joining Prime Instant Video. Among …

PREMIUM: Marc Cherry, the creator of Desperate Housewives, talks to World Screen about his upcoming show, Devious Maids, for Lifetime. WS: Devious Maids is based on a Mexican telenovela. What appealed to you about the world it depicts? CHERRY: Many years ago, before I became a professional writer, I was …

LOS ANGELES: MGM Television and Nigel Lythgoe are bringing back the classic 1980s film and series Fame as a brand-new scripted series. Lythgoe, executive producer of American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance and others, will serve as executive producer on the project, alongside Kary McHoul, the president of …

BURBANK: Andrew Kubitz has become ABC Entertainment Group’s new executive VP of programming, planning and scheduling, joining the network from a scheduling role at CBS Television. Kubitz will work under Paul Lee, the president of ABC Entertainment Group. He will be responsible for managing daytime, primetime and late-night programming and …

BURBANK: ABC has ordered a pilot for S.H.I.E.L.D. from The Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon, Marvel TV and ABC Studios. S.H.I.E.L.D. will focus on the top-secret defense organization—Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistic Directorate—that is often featured in Marvel productions. According to reports, Whedon will write the pilot alongside his brother, Jed …

LOS ANGELES: Entertainment One (eOne) has aligned with Steve Lanning and Philip Hobbs to develop and produce two projects from filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Downslope and God Fearing Man. Downslope was written by Kubrick and is based on a true story by Civil War historian Shelby Foote. The Civil War drama …

LOS ANGELES: Mammoth Distribution’s Allyson Hall has been selected to serve as a sales consultant for Osiris Entertainment’s international film library. Hall possesses more than two decades of experience in television and film distribution, programming and brand building. Her speciality is in worldwide film distribution at Mammoth, where she has …