Exclusive: Westbrook Inc., Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s studio, has named Denise Bailey-Castro as CFO.
Bailey-Castro will oversee all of Westbrook Inc.’s financial operations across new business development, funding, acquisitions and major deals and be based in Westbrook’s LA headquarters.
Bailey-Castro joins Westbrook from Paramount Global’s BET Media Group, where she most recently served as Head of Finance. There, she structured and executed landmark, multi-year deals that grew Betmg’s portfolio of assets to include new ventures such as BET+ and BET Studios, with Tyler Perry and Kenya Barris, respectively. Betmg sustained year-over-year growth across all lines of business, from advertising to streaming, under Bailey-Castro’s financial leadership and discipline.
Prior to Betmg, she managed affiliate accounts and led negotiations with cable, satellite, and streaming partners on Legacy Viacom Media Networks’ Distribution & Business Development Team. Bailey-Castro has held other media roles at Paramount Pictures and HBO,...
Bailey-Castro will oversee all of Westbrook Inc.’s financial operations across new business development, funding, acquisitions and major deals and be based in Westbrook’s LA headquarters.
Bailey-Castro joins Westbrook from Paramount Global’s BET Media Group, where she most recently served as Head of Finance. There, she structured and executed landmark, multi-year deals that grew Betmg’s portfolio of assets to include new ventures such as BET+ and BET Studios, with Tyler Perry and Kenya Barris, respectively. Betmg sustained year-over-year growth across all lines of business, from advertising to streaming, under Bailey-Castro’s financial leadership and discipline.
Prior to Betmg, she managed affiliate accounts and led negotiations with cable, satellite, and streaming partners on Legacy Viacom Media Networks’ Distribution & Business Development Team. Bailey-Castro has held other media roles at Paramount Pictures and HBO,...
- 5/29/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Following a competitive situation with what we hear were four offers, TriStar Pictures has snapped up film rights to Wesley Wang’s nothing, except everything., a short film that Wang will adapt for the big screen as writer and director, with Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa producing.
A 19-year-old currently studying economics at Harvard, Wang made nothing, except everything. during his senior year of high school, seeing it go viral on YouTube and win the Grand Jury Prize at Indianapolis’s Indy Shorts Film Festival. Billed as a romantic sci-fi thriller, the film watches as a graduating high schooler navigates a world of seemingly inevitable chaos by finding order in the number 7. Based on that logline, it’s not hard to see how Harvard alum Aronofsky might have sparked to the material, similar as it is to that of his 1998 debut feature, Pi.
An 11-time national chess champion who began making films at 11 years old,...
A 19-year-old currently studying economics at Harvard, Wang made nothing, except everything. during his senior year of high school, seeing it go viral on YouTube and win the Grand Jury Prize at Indianapolis’s Indy Shorts Film Festival. Billed as a romantic sci-fi thriller, the film watches as a graduating high schooler navigates a world of seemingly inevitable chaos by finding order in the number 7. Based on that logline, it’s not hard to see how Harvard alum Aronofsky might have sparked to the material, similar as it is to that of his 1998 debut feature, Pi.
An 11-time national chess champion who began making films at 11 years old,...
- 4/29/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: After strong start to 2024 with Masters of the Air and Dune Part 2, Oscar-nominee Austin Butler is looking to build on that success and is teaming up with another Oscar-nominated director. Sources tell Deadline Butler is set to star in Academy Award nominee Darren Aronofsky’s crime thriller Caught Stealing for Sony Pictures. The studio recently landed the package which is based on the book by Charlie Huston. The script will be written by Huston with Protozoa producing.
“I am excited to be teaming up with my old friends at Sony Pictures to bring Charlie’s adrenaline-soaked roller coaster ride to life. I can’t wait to start working with Austin and my family of NYC filmmakers,” said Aronofsky.
Written by and based on the books by Huston, Caught Stealing follows Hank Thompson, a burned-out former baseball player, as he’s unwittingly plunged into a wild...
“I am excited to be teaming up with my old friends at Sony Pictures to bring Charlie’s adrenaline-soaked roller coaster ride to life. I can’t wait to start working with Austin and my family of NYC filmmakers,” said Aronofsky.
Written by and based on the books by Huston, Caught Stealing follows Hank Thompson, a burned-out former baseball player, as he’s unwittingly plunged into a wild...
- 3/27/2024
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
National Geographic isn’t the first brand you think of designing a new theme park ride at Disney World but it’s a conversation that’s being had within the media conglomerate.
Tom McDonald, EVP, Global Factual and Unscripted, Nat Geo, who joined the company 18 months ago from the BBC has floated the idea of a Nat Geo series becoming an amusement attraction.
“I know this sounds outlandish but when I started, and I half meant it as a joke, one of the things I said was ‘Wouldn’t be great if one of our shows became a theme park ride at Disney World?’,” he said during a keynote session at the Realscreen event in New Orleans. “There are some really interesting conversations happening right now within the system, with Parks and beyond about how we might bring some of our shows to life in the physical world, interesting types of experiences.
Tom McDonald, EVP, Global Factual and Unscripted, Nat Geo, who joined the company 18 months ago from the BBC has floated the idea of a Nat Geo series becoming an amusement attraction.
“I know this sounds outlandish but when I started, and I half meant it as a joke, one of the things I said was ‘Wouldn’t be great if one of our shows became a theme park ride at Disney World?’,” he said during a keynote session at the Realscreen event in New Orleans. “There are some really interesting conversations happening right now within the system, with Parks and beyond about how we might bring some of our shows to life in the physical world, interesting types of experiences.
- 1/29/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Netflix is staffing up its unscripted division.
Sahara Bushue, who was previously head of unscripted at Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and more notably spent nearly 13 years at NBC, has joined Brandon Riegg’s team. She is a director of unscripted series.
Bushue had been consulting for the streamer for many months but recently closed a deal to join the company on a permanent basis.
Given that she was previously SVP, Alternative Development and Current at NBC, where she worked on shows such as America’s Got Talent, Ellen’s Game of Games, World of Dance, Little Big Shots, and Hollywood Game Night, she brings experience of shiny-floor stage formats, social experiment, game shows to the streamer, which has been moving further into these genres, as well as live, which is a new area for Netflix.
Between November 2020 and March 2023, she was SVP and Head of Unscripted Television for Westbrook Studios,...
Sahara Bushue, who was previously head of unscripted at Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and more notably spent nearly 13 years at NBC, has joined Brandon Riegg’s team. She is a director of unscripted series.
Bushue had been consulting for the streamer for many months but recently closed a deal to join the company on a permanent basis.
Given that she was previously SVP, Alternative Development and Current at NBC, where she worked on shows such as America’s Got Talent, Ellen’s Game of Games, World of Dance, Little Big Shots, and Hollywood Game Night, she brings experience of shiny-floor stage formats, social experiment, game shows to the streamer, which has been moving further into these genres, as well as live, which is a new area for Netflix.
Between November 2020 and March 2023, she was SVP and Head of Unscripted Television for Westbrook Studios,...
- 10/13/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Will Smith is slated to star in and executive produce a new travel series for Disney Plus titled Pole to Pole.
National Geographic announced that Tte show will be a part of the streaming service’s hub and will follow, as its title suggests, Smith and a film crew as they make the gruelling 26,000-mile trek from the South Pole to the North Pole.
Filming will last for more than 100 days, as the team spends time in various communities along the way, crossing all of Earth’s biomes.
The forthcoming series is among several series ordered by Nat Geo. Others include projects from Avatar director James Cameron, John Favreau and the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, as well as an unnamed adventure show hosted by magician David Blaine.
National Geographic Content president Courteney Monroe said in a statement about the news that the brand’s “strategy is to tell bold,...
National Geographic announced that Tte show will be a part of the streaming service’s hub and will follow, as its title suggests, Smith and a film crew as they make the gruelling 26,000-mile trek from the South Pole to the North Pole.
Filming will last for more than 100 days, as the team spends time in various communities along the way, crossing all of Earth’s biomes.
The forthcoming series is among several series ordered by Nat Geo. Others include projects from Avatar director James Cameron, John Favreau and the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, as well as an unnamed adventure show hosted by magician David Blaine.
National Geographic Content president Courteney Monroe said in a statement about the news that the brand’s “strategy is to tell bold,...
- 2/3/2023
- by Inga Parkel
- The Independent - TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.