Michael Ellenberg: Last News

EXCLUSIVE: The Jewish non-profit Reboot has launched its own production company Reboot Studios, which will provide seed funding for and develop Jewish content across theater, television, film, podcasts, music and publishing.

The multigenerational saga of Pachinko will continue at Apple TV+, which has renewed the family drama for a second season. The series comes from creator/showrunner Soo Hugh and executive producers Theresa Kang-Lowe and Michael Ellenberg.

Andrew Wallenstein President and Chief Media AnalystWhen Michael Ellenberg worked at HBO developing hit series including “Westworld” and “True Detective,” he was producing in a very difference climate than the one in which he finds himself now.He’s nearly five years into his own production company, Media Res, where he works on the other side of the fence selling series including “Pachinko” and “The Morning Show” to a growing roster of buyers — in sharp contrast to the days when his previous employer had the field to high-end premium entertainment all to itself.“There used to be, as you know, really one buyer for these kinds of shows,” Ellenberg said on the latest episode of the Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” “For the really big stuff, there were never that many networks, right? So there’s way more than there used to be.” Ellenberg dishes on what it’s been like to put together buzzed-about programming in the streaming era, including “Pachinko,” which just wrapped up its first season on Apple TV+. No word yet on whether there will be more episodes of the trilingual epic drama in the future, but he says Media Res is more than ready to make more of the critically acclaimed series if Apple gives the greenlight.“We actually only finish a portion of the events of the book in Season 1,” he said of the Min Jin Lee novel.

In the Apple TV+ series Pachinko, Solomon (Jin Ha) speaks Korean, Japanese and English. The show, based on Min Jin Lee’s book, traces four generations of his family from Korea and Japan (as Zainichi Koreans), so all three languages are involved. Ha does not speak Japanese and studied the different dialects with vocal coach Yu-Mi Kang.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res, the production company behind high-profile scripted series such as Apple TV+’s The Morning Show and upcoming Pachinko, is expanding into nonfiction. The company has launched a new division, focused on premium nonfiction content, including docuseries, documentary films and unscripted programming.

Diane Garrett Ambitious in scope and storytelling, “Pachinko” seems tailor-made for today’s international streaming wars. It arrives March 25 on Apple TV Plus with a literary pedigree and “Minari” Oscar winner Yuh-jung Youn in a starring role.

Angelique Jackson Korean superstar Lee Minho sent camera flashbulbs into a frenzy on Wednesday night at the premiere of his new Apple TV Plus series “Pachinko” at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles.Based on the bestselling book by Min Jin Lee, “Pachinko” chronicles a Korean immigrant family across four generations, with its story centered around matriarch Sunja, played by newcomers Yu-na Jeon and Minha Kim, as well as Oscar-winner Yuh-Jung Youn. Lee plays Hansu, whose romance with Sunja changes the course of both their lives.Despite his lengthy resume, and his worldwide celebrity, Lee Minho actively pursued the producers behind the show and auditioned for the role.

EXCLUSIVE: Brett Gray (On My Block), Kara Young (The Punisher), Allius Barnes (Cruel Summer) and Olivia Washington (Lee Daniels’ The Butler) have been cast as series regulars opposite lead Jharrel Jerome in Prime Video’s absurdist dark comedy series I’m a Virgo, created, written, directed and executive produced by Sorry to Bother You writer-director Boots Riley. Mike Epps and Carmen Ejogo are set to recur in the project, which is a co-production between Media Res and Amazon Studios.

EXCLUSIVE: Dani Gorin, most recently SVP Television at Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res, has joined Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment as President of Television. This marks the first TV President hire for the company, founded by Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara, as LuckyChap is quickly building a television footprint with such shows as Netflix’s hugely popular limited series Maid, Hulu’s Dollface and the upcoming Iron Mike.

William Earl PGA-nominated producers will gather on Feb. 23 for Variety FYC Fest: The Producers, for exclusive conversations about the top films and television shows of the year.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe climate change anthology series “Extrapolations” at Apple has added eight new cast members, Variety has learned exclusively.Murray Bartlett (“The White Lotus”), Yara Shahidi (“Grown-ish,” “Black-ish”), Diane Lane (“Unfaithful,” “Under the Tuscan Sun”), Heather Graham (“Boogie Nights,” “Wander”), Grammy Award-winner Ben Harper, Judd Hirsch (“Uncut Gems,” “The Goldbergs”), Hari Nef (“Transparent,” “You”), and Neska Rose (“Drama Club”) have all joined the series. This is the second Apple series role announced for Bartlett in recent days, as Variety exclusively reported he would also star in “Physical” Season 2.They join previously announced cast members Meryl Streep, Matthew Rhys, Marion Cotillard, Eiza Gonzalez, Tobey Maguire, Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton, Kit Harrington, Sienna Miller, Gemma Chan, Tahar Rahim, Daveed Diggs, David Schwimmer, Adarsh Gourav, Indira Varma, Keri Russell, Cherry Jones, and Michael Gandolfini.

The words and characters of Min Jin Lee’s multigenerational novel Pachinko have come to life in the first look images for Apple TV+’s upcoming drama of the same name.

I’m a Virgo, a dark absurdist comedy from Sorry to Bother You writer-director Boots Riley, has been ordered to series by Amazon.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAmazon has given a series order to “I’m a Virgo” from Boots Riley with Jharrel Jerome attached to star.The half-hour series is described as an absurdist, coming of age story about a 13-foot-tall Black man (Jerome) who lives in Oakland, CA.Riley wrote the series and will also direct. He serves as executive producer along with Michael Ellenberg of Media Res, Tze Chun, and Jerome.