Benjamin Percy: Last News

Paramount+ is venturing to the wild side.According to Deadline, a new series adapted from the 1980 film Urban Cowboy is in the works with the streaming service.The romantic western will be co-written and directed by James Ponsoldt and Benjamin Percy. A new twist:According to Deadline, a new adaption series of the 1980's Urban Cowboy is in the works with the streaming serviceParamount Television Studios will produce the film.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Amazon MGM Studios have landed rights to Benjamin Percy’s novella “American Criminal,” with Gavin O’Connor negotiating to direct. The film, which Hidden Pictures and NeoText will produce, follows a professional thief who, after being apprehended by an FBI agent, is coaxed into infiltrating a violent Midwestern gang with the goal of dismantling them from the inside.

Naman Ramachandran Fremantle has deepened its relationship with Artists, Writers & Artisans, Inc. (AWA) by making a minority investment in the company. Fremantle had struck a strategic development deal with AWA Studios, the film and television division of AWA, last year. AWA is backed by James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, SISTER, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. In 2021, the company established AWA Studios, helmed by Hollywood veteran Zach Studin as president. Marvel alum Axel Alonso serves as co-founder and chief creative officer overseeing editorial output. Matthew Anderson, co-chair and president and Jon Miller, co-founder and co-chair, lead AWA’s executive team.

Fremantle has acquired a minority stake in Artists, Writers & Artisans (AWA), the U.S.-based indie backed by Lis Murdoch’s Chernobyl producer Sister and James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems.

Megan Mullally isn't afraid to get candid in the upcoming film, .Directed by James Ponsoldt, the movie takes place in the final days of summer and centers on four best friends — Daisy, Lola, Mari and Dina -- who will soon be splitting up when they start middle school. When deciding how to spend their final summer weekend together, they come across a mystery that leads them on a life-changing adventure.

Paramount+ is heading to the honky tonk.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterParamount Plus revealed Tuesday it is moving forward on developing TV series remakes of classic ’80s movies “Urban Cowboy” and “Flashdance,” bringing on “Dear White People” creator Justin Simien to write and direct the latter project.Additionally, the ViacomCBS-owned streamer said during its virtual session at the Television Critics Association press tour it has put a docu-comedy series from “Mr. Show” duo Bob Odenkirk and David Cross in the works.The “Urban Cowboy” project comes after Paramount Television Studios first set up development on a TV series based on the film of the same name at Fox in 2015, which was later scrapped.

I might be tempted to call writer/director James Ponsoldt’s new coming of age film about four young girls who discover the dead body of a man on the last summer days before starting middle school, Stand By She. Okay I will. Its actual title is Summering and it is a sweet and sincere attempt to give young girls the kind of edge-of-turning-teen story of a last summer of no worries with your friends that has mostly been reserved for boys in classic Hollywood films in the genre. With a screenplay Ponsoldt with co-writer Benjamin Percy was inspired to create coming out of the pandemic, and new questions about life presented to our youngest members of the planet, they land on a somewhat dark situation. Four carefree young girls come face to face with death, and some special bonding in this unusual entry into the Kids section of the Sundance Film Festival where it is premiering today. Ponsoldt wanted to make this one for his daughter, and maybe he says even a sister or mother or any female who didn’t have the kind of role models on screen boys did as he was growing up.

James Ponsoldt is having the kind of career that future students of the business of film may study with some confusion. He made his name by turning out three indie dramas in four years – “Smashed,” “The Spectacular Now,” and “The End of the Tour” – all well-received, all running the Sundance-premiere-to-boutique-distributor pipeline.