Reza Aslan’s series Rough Draft with Reza Aslan has landed at Topic, which will make the interview show the first original series for its upcoming streaming service. The eight-episode series will begin shooting next month and is set to debut later this fall.
The show will be a refreshed, new version of Rough Draft that bowed on Ovation in 2016, Topic said. The series featured conversations with contemporary novelists, screenwriters, journalists and songwriters about their creative process in front of an audience. The new iteration will be set at a bar in Los Angeles.
Topic Gm Ryan Chanatry said Tuesday that the series “demonstrates the type of programming Topic will offer audiences — smart, intriguing, and inviting, created especially for culturally engaged content enthusiasts.”
Rough Draft is executive produced by Topic, Reza Aslan for BoomGen Studios, Philip Alberstat for Ntology, David Andreone for Andreone Arts, Jesse Rogg for Mack Sennett Studios,...
The show will be a refreshed, new version of Rough Draft that bowed on Ovation in 2016, Topic said. The series featured conversations with contemporary novelists, screenwriters, journalists and songwriters about their creative process in front of an audience. The new iteration will be set at a bar in Los Angeles.
Topic Gm Ryan Chanatry said Tuesday that the series “demonstrates the type of programming Topic will offer audiences — smart, intriguing, and inviting, created especially for culturally engaged content enthusiasts.”
Rough Draft is executive produced by Topic, Reza Aslan for BoomGen Studios, Philip Alberstat for Ntology, David Andreone for Andreone Arts, Jesse Rogg for Mack Sennett Studios,...
- 8/6/2019
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Audience members of TheGrill got a special treat on Tuesday: a live drone flying over their heads. “This is an enormous opportunity in away to tell a story for Hollywood,” said Steven Amato, the CEO of Contend, a company that owns about a dozen drones that it rents out to production companies and filmmakers. “It’s completely changing every day.” Used for everything from shooting commercials to news programs to sports events and movies, drones are quickly becoming the latest “must-have” Hollywood gadget, thanks to their relative ease, agility and low cost. Also Read: TheGrill 2015: Conde Nast's Dawn Ostroff on Making Digital.
- 10/6/2015
- by Itay Hod
- The Wrap
Jon Sneider has joined the data-driven content creator and distributor as Chief Marketing Officer and evp of client partnerships and Kate Shepherd has been hired as evp of content.
Both Shepherd and Sneider will report directly to Contend founder, CEO and Chief Content Officer Steven Amato.
“With the marketing and entertainment industries transforming before us, having world-class talent like Kate and Jon are real game-changers for Contend,” said Amato.
“Their strategic, creative, production and thought leadership within the television and marketing industries are unrivaled. Now having offices in Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles, Contend is excited to continue to grow into the expanding opportunities that lay ahead.”
Sneider held advertising, digital and social media executive roles at start-up Redfin, Microsoft, LL Bean and Fidelity Investments, among others.
Shepherd developed and produced unscripted content for such companies as Shine, Endemol, BBC and Simon Fuller’s 19/Xix Entertainment.
Both Shepherd and Sneider will report directly to Contend founder, CEO and Chief Content Officer Steven Amato.
“With the marketing and entertainment industries transforming before us, having world-class talent like Kate and Jon are real game-changers for Contend,” said Amato.
“Their strategic, creative, production and thought leadership within the television and marketing industries are unrivaled. Now having offices in Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles, Contend is excited to continue to grow into the expanding opportunities that lay ahead.”
Sneider held advertising, digital and social media executive roles at start-up Redfin, Microsoft, LL Bean and Fidelity Investments, among others.
Shepherd developed and produced unscripted content for such companies as Shine, Endemol, BBC and Simon Fuller’s 19/Xix Entertainment.
- 5/27/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Former Omelet Studios chief Steven Amato announced a new business venture on Tuesday. The president and chief content officer of Omelet left the award-winning company he co-founded in 2004 to launch a new venture: Contend. Amato is the founder, CEO and Cco of Contend, based out of downtown Los Angeles, with additional offices in Chicago. The new venture is described in a press release as “a collective of data driven content creators with a mission to innovate, disrupt and produce short and long format content for multiple distribution channels and networks.” Also read: Killer Films, Glass Elevator Merge to Form Killer Content The.
- 8/13/2014
- by Jason Hughes
- The Wrap
Broken Lizard, the comedy team responsible for stoner classics like Super Troopers and Beerfest, is developing a TV project for TBS. According to Variety, Quality Time will follow the various members of the filmmaking group (assumedly fictionalized versions), focusing on their struggles with raising children and clinging to the responsibility-free lifestyle of their glory days.
The show will be written by Broken Lizard's Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske; they will also produce the project, along with Contend's Steven Amato. No timetable was reported for the...
The show will be written by Broken Lizard's Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske; they will also produce the project, along with Contend's Steven Amato. No timetable was reported for the...
- 8/6/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. "License to Operate" Tweetable Logline: A true story of former gang members turned street saviors, working to reverse the violence on the streets of L.A. Elevator Pitch: Shot over the summer of 2013, Lto: License to Operate is a feature-length documentary about former gang members who have come together on a mission to stop the violence they were once a part of. These men earned a “license to operate” based on their histories as leaders in their respective gangs. This status now empowers them to negotiate on behalf of the community, resolving conflicts and limiting retaliation killings. In a genre that focuses on violence, License to Operate is about a viable,...
- 9/26/2013
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
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