Verve has hired longtime agent Valarie Phillips. The agency also recently hired Non-Fiction Agent Jacy Schleier.
Phillips, who brings more than two decades of agency experience to Verve, was most recently Co-Head of the Motion Picture Literary department at A3 Artists Agency, and prior to that, spent two decades at Paradigm Talent Agency where she started as an assistant, and worked her way up to Department Head.
Following Phillips to Verve are several of the busiest and highly sought after writers in town, including Guy Busick, Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, and Tory Kamen. Also following Phillips to Verve, Charles Leavitt, Anthony Jaswinski, Shiwani Srivastava and directors Andy Tennant, Tom Dey, Sasie Sealy, Todd Robinson and Patrick Lussier.
Throughout her career, Phillips has consistently demonstrated her commitment to excellence and a keen eye for discovering and nurturing talent, previously working with Nzingha Stewart, Eric Tuchman, Ehren Kruger and Kenny Ortega.
Phillips, who brings more than two decades of agency experience to Verve, was most recently Co-Head of the Motion Picture Literary department at A3 Artists Agency, and prior to that, spent two decades at Paradigm Talent Agency where she started as an assistant, and worked her way up to Department Head.
Following Phillips to Verve are several of the busiest and highly sought after writers in town, including Guy Busick, Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, and Tory Kamen. Also following Phillips to Verve, Charles Leavitt, Anthony Jaswinski, Shiwani Srivastava and directors Andy Tennant, Tom Dey, Sasie Sealy, Todd Robinson and Patrick Lussier.
Throughout her career, Phillips has consistently demonstrated her commitment to excellence and a keen eye for discovering and nurturing talent, previously working with Nzingha Stewart, Eric Tuchman, Ehren Kruger and Kenny Ortega.
- 3/12/2024
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Variety has announced this year’s list of 10 Screenwriters to Watch. The selected screenwriters will be honored at the 45th annual Mill Valley Film Festival with a dinner on Oct. 15. Andrea Berloff, the writer behind upcoming film “The Mother,” will also be honored with the Creative Impact in Screenwriting Award.
The annual 10 Screenwriters to Watch program celebrates breakthrough screenwriters, actors, directors, comics, animators, producers and cinematographers in the industry. Some of the screenwriters are being honored for films that have already been released and received critical acclaim, including “Fire Island” or “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.” Others, including the Brendan Fraser film “The Whale,” have yet to see wide release but are highly anticipated.
The list also includes the minds behind star-studded IP projects, including Carrie Solomon, who serves as writer for the untitled Margot Robbie “Ocean’s Eleven” prequel directed by Jay Roach. Solomon also is the writer for...
The annual 10 Screenwriters to Watch program celebrates breakthrough screenwriters, actors, directors, comics, animators, producers and cinematographers in the industry. Some of the screenwriters are being honored for films that have already been released and received critical acclaim, including “Fire Island” or “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.” Others, including the Brendan Fraser film “The Whale,” have yet to see wide release but are highly anticipated.
The list also includes the minds behind star-studded IP projects, including Carrie Solomon, who serves as writer for the untitled Margot Robbie “Ocean’s Eleven” prequel directed by Jay Roach. Solomon also is the writer for...
- 9/8/2022
- by Carson Burton
- Variety Film + TV
A couple fake-dates for Indian wedding season in a serviceable mashup of tropes that’s enjoyable enough to watch
Wedding Season, a lively romcom set in the Indian American community of Newark, New Jersey, has the full signature of the House of Netflix. Its plot is a blend of cliches, its set design somewhere between serviceable and cheap, its acting either solidly watchable or borderline parody. It rearranges deeply familiar tropes into easy listening. It depicts a community in the US with enough knowledge to feel grounded and respectful, but with enough frivolity and romance to cater to, naturally, the global audience. Because of or despite these things, it’s baseline enjoyable to watch, its entertainment value less in how it makes you think or feel and more in how easy it is to submit to floating along the emotional current.
Directed by Shanghai Noon’s Tom Dey and written by Shiwani Srivastava,...
Wedding Season, a lively romcom set in the Indian American community of Newark, New Jersey, has the full signature of the House of Netflix. Its plot is a blend of cliches, its set design somewhere between serviceable and cheap, its acting either solidly watchable or borderline parody. It rearranges deeply familiar tropes into easy listening. It depicts a community in the US with enough knowledge to feel grounded and respectful, but with enough frivolity and romance to cater to, naturally, the global audience. Because of or despite these things, it’s baseline enjoyable to watch, its entertainment value less in how it makes you think or feel and more in how easy it is to submit to floating along the emotional current.
Directed by Shanghai Noon’s Tom Dey and written by Shiwani Srivastava,...
- 8/3/2022
- by Adrian Horton
- The Guardian - Film News
Global Indian origin actors Pallavi Sharda and Suraj Sharma star in Netflix romantic comedy “Wedding Season,” directed by “Shanghai Noon” and “Showtime” filmmaker Tom Dey.
Variety has secured access to an exclusive clip from the film, which is produced by Imagine Entertainment, in association with Jax Media and Samosa Stories. The lead producer is Samosa’s Swati Shetty, who previously had senior management stints with Imagine, Netflix and Disney India and produced “Umrika,” starring Sharma, which won awards at Sundance, Palm Springs and Cairo.
As a studio executive, Shetty shepherded Disney India’s first live action film “Do Dooni Char,” and Netflix’s “Love Per Square Foot,” “Rajma Chawal” and “Lust Stories.” “All these were films that I pushed for and championed from the studio side — so clearly, this is not the first in that sense,” Shetty told Variety. “I love these kinds of films. Love is a universal emotion.
Variety has secured access to an exclusive clip from the film, which is produced by Imagine Entertainment, in association with Jax Media and Samosa Stories. The lead producer is Samosa’s Swati Shetty, who previously had senior management stints with Imagine, Netflix and Disney India and produced “Umrika,” starring Sharma, which won awards at Sundance, Palm Springs and Cairo.
As a studio executive, Shetty shepherded Disney India’s first live action film “Do Dooni Char,” and Netflix’s “Love Per Square Foot,” “Rajma Chawal” and “Lust Stories.” “All these were films that I pushed for and championed from the studio side — so clearly, this is not the first in that sense,” Shetty told Variety. “I love these kinds of films. Love is a universal emotion.
- 7/26/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Nitya Mehra (Baar Baar Dekho) and Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory) are teaming with Reel FX Originals on Diya—a new animated feature in the vein of its 2014 20th Century Fox title, The Book of Life. Mehra will direct the new film, with Nayyar serving as executive producer.
Directed by Jorge R. Gutiérrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro, The Book of Life was a tale based in Mexican mythology which followed Manolo (Diego Luna), a bullfighter embarking on a fantastical adventure on the Day of the Dead. Diya will also be a mythology-based fantasy adventure, honing in on the folklore of India.
Shiwani Srivastava (Netflix’s Wedding Season) and Dr. Amy Bhatt wrote the script. Producers are Steve O’Brien and Jared Mass of Reel FX Originals. Nayyar is exec producing through his company, Good Karma Productions, alongside his head of production, Jason Hiro Kim (Gook), with Lucas...
Directed by Jorge R. Gutiérrez and produced by Guillermo del Toro, The Book of Life was a tale based in Mexican mythology which followed Manolo (Diego Luna), a bullfighter embarking on a fantastical adventure on the Day of the Dead. Diya will also be a mythology-based fantasy adventure, honing in on the folklore of India.
Shiwani Srivastava (Netflix’s Wedding Season) and Dr. Amy Bhatt wrote the script. Producers are Steve O’Brien and Jared Mass of Reel FX Originals. Nayyar is exec producing through his company, Good Karma Productions, alongside his head of production, Jason Hiro Kim (Gook), with Lucas...
- 6/6/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Disney+ is close to unveiling its next UK scripted series, which hails from The Salisbury Poisonings producer Dancing Ledge Productions and Emily In Paris outfit Jax Media.
Deadline understands that the two companies are gearing up to go into production on Wedding Season, though the project has not yet been fully greenlit. Sources billed the series as a rom-com action-adventure story. Plot details are still under wraps.
Wedding Season is penned by Oliver Lyttelton, the breakout writer behind BBC Studios’ upcoming self-commissioned, short-form scripted series Cheaters, which is made by The End of the F***ing World producer Clerkenwell Films.
Lyttelton’s short film The Listener premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2015 and was longlisted for best short at the 2016 BAFTA Film Awards. He also has a number of other projects in development with Clerkenwell.
We also hear that George Kane has been attached to direct. Kane...
Deadline understands that the two companies are gearing up to go into production on Wedding Season, though the project has not yet been fully greenlit. Sources billed the series as a rom-com action-adventure story. Plot details are still under wraps.
Wedding Season is penned by Oliver Lyttelton, the breakout writer behind BBC Studios’ upcoming self-commissioned, short-form scripted series Cheaters, which is made by The End of the F***ing World producer Clerkenwell Films.
Lyttelton’s short film The Listener premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2015 and was longlisted for best short at the 2016 BAFTA Film Awards. He also has a number of other projects in development with Clerkenwell.
We also hear that George Kane has been attached to direct. Kane...
- 6/23/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sean Kleier (Odd Mom Out) is set to star opposite Suraj Sharma (Life Of Pi) and Pallavi Sharda (Tom & Jerry) in the Netflix comedy Wedding Season. He joins the previously announced Rizwan Manji and Ari Afsar, as Deadline first revealed. Written by Shiwani Srivastava and directed by Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon), the film follows two Indian-Americans who pretend to date in order to survive a summer of weddings, but find themselves falling for each other as they struggle to balance who they are with who their parents want them to be. Kleier will play “Nick” who is Priya’s (Ari Afsar) fiancé and the newest family member who tries a little too hard to fit into the Indian culture. Shooting is scheduled to start later this month in Toronto. Swati Shetty is producing for her Samosa Stories banner with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard for Imagine Entertainment, alongside...
- 4/15/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Rizwan Manji (Schitt’s Creek) and Ari Afsar (Hamilton) have joined the cast of Netflix comedy Wedding Season. They will star alongside Suraj Sharma (Life Of Pi) and Pallavi Sharda (Tom & Jerry), as Deadline previously revealed.
Written by Shiwani Srivastava and directed by Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon), the film follows two Indian-Americans who pretend to date in order to survive a summer of weddings, but find themselves falling for each other as they struggle to balance who they are with who their parents want them to be.
Shooting is scheduled to start in April in Toronto. Swati Shetty is producing for her Samosa Stories banner with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard for Imagine Entertainment, alongside Tony Hernandez and John Hodges for Emily In Paris outfit Jax Media. Ryan M. Murphy and John Rhodes are executive producers.
Manji will next be seen in James Gunn’s HBO Max series...
Written by Shiwani Srivastava and directed by Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon), the film follows two Indian-Americans who pretend to date in order to survive a summer of weddings, but find themselves falling for each other as they struggle to balance who they are with who their parents want them to be.
Shooting is scheduled to start in April in Toronto. Swati Shetty is producing for her Samosa Stories banner with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard for Imagine Entertainment, alongside Tony Hernandez and John Hodges for Emily In Paris outfit Jax Media. Ryan M. Murphy and John Rhodes are executive producers.
Manji will next be seen in James Gunn’s HBO Max series...
- 3/22/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Suraj Sharma (Life Of Pi) has landed the lead opposite Pallavi Sharda (Lion) in Wedding Season, the Netflix comedy being directed by Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon).
Unable to escape the pressure of her immigrant parents to find a spouse, Asha Maurya (Pallavi Sharda) teams up with bachelor Ravi Shah (Suraj Sharma) to get their extended South Asian family off their backs. The duo pretends to date in order to survive a summer of weddings, only to find themselves falling for each other as they struggle to balance who they are with who their parents want them to be.
Shooting is scheduled to start in April in Toronto. Imagine Entertainment’s Swati Shetty and Emily In Paris outfit Jax Media are producing for Netflix. Shiwani Srivastava wrote the screenplay.
Suraj is repped at CAA, Echo Lake Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.
Unable to escape the pressure of her immigrant parents to find a spouse, Asha Maurya (Pallavi Sharda) teams up with bachelor Ravi Shah (Suraj Sharma) to get their extended South Asian family off their backs. The duo pretends to date in order to survive a summer of weddings, only to find themselves falling for each other as they struggle to balance who they are with who their parents want them to be.
Shooting is scheduled to start in April in Toronto. Imagine Entertainment’s Swati Shetty and Emily In Paris outfit Jax Media are producing for Netflix. Shiwani Srivastava wrote the screenplay.
Suraj is repped at CAA, Echo Lake Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.
- 3/3/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
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