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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 …

BEVERLY HILLS: Marta Fernandez and Karen Bailey have both been elevated to the role of senior VPs of original programming at Starz. The two of them will be taking the lead on overseeing new development and current productions. Fernandez has been with Starz since 2007, serving as the VP of …

LOS ANGELES: Vivi Zigler, who most recently served as the president of NBCUniversal Digital Entertainment, has been named president of Shine 360° and digital at Shine America. Zigler will oversee all branded entertainment, licensing, digital and live experiences at the company. Shine 360° is the global commercial and rights management …

LONDON: Thom Beers, currently the CEO of Original Productions, is taking on the role of CEO at FremantleMedia North America as of September 1. In his new role, Beers will be based in Los Angeles and report directly to Cecile Frot-Coutaz, the CEO of FremantleMedia. He will be responsible for the …

SANTA MONICA: An additional 90 episodes of the Charlie Sheen comedy Anger Management are on their way to FX from Lionsgate Entertainment. The show surpassed a ratings threshold required for episodes three through ten that triggered an automatic order for an additional 90 episodes—part of Debmar-Mercury’s 10-90 model. The figure …

LOS ANGELES: Joe Earley has been elevated to chief operating officer at Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX), reporting to Kevin Reilly, who last week was upped to chairman of entertainment. Earley will be instrumental in the management of all areas of the network, including scripted programming, casting, scheduling, digital and business …

SAN FRANCISCO: While viewing of short-form video content remains high on the web, consumers with connected TVs have shown a strong preference for watching programming that is a half hour or longer, according to a new report from adRise. The Connected TV Market Report says that usage of connected TV (CTV) devices …

MOUNTAIN VIEW: After five years in operation, Google has decided to close its TV Ads business, which functions as an online marketplace for purchasing television advertising. The effort was launched in 2007 as a way to bring digital buying and measurement technologies to traditional TV advertising. Google says that within that time …