BET to Air Tyler Perry COVID-19 Special

BET to Air “COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community A Tyler Perry Special” Premiering Thursday, January 28 at 9 PM ET/PT on BET and BET Her

The Half Hour Special Features a Sitdown Interview with Tyler Perry and Top Medical Experts from Grady Health System Who Will Address the Public’s Concerns and Fears About the COVID-19 Vaccine

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, BET and media mogul Tyler Perry announced an exclusive news special, “COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community A Tyler Perry Special,” premiering Thursday, January 28, at 9 PM ET/PT on BET and BET Her. In the midst of a world health crisis, Perry sits down with top medical experts Carlos del Rio, MD Executive Associate Dean, Emory School of Medicine at Grady Health System, and Kimberly Dyan Manning, MD Professor of Medicine at Grady Health System to address the public's concerns and fears about the COVID-19 vaccine.

The half-hour special provides helpful and factual information for viewers looking to protect themselves and their families from this unprecedented crisis. Tackling issues head-on, Perry asks the hard-hitting questions to help the community gain insight into this new vaccine.

“COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community A Tyler Perry Special” joins BET’s roster of informative specials that address the impacts of COVID-19 on the Black community and answers questions about the vaccine.

“COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community A Tyler Perry Special” is Executive Produced by Tyler Perry for Tyler Perry Studios.

For more information on “COVID-19 Vaccine and the Black Community A Tyler Perry Special,” as well as daily reporting regarding what the African American community needs to know about COVID-19, and how it impacts our lives, please visit BET.com. Follow @bet across social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter).


ABOUT BET:
BET, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.

ABOUT TYLER PERRY STUDIOS:
Tyler Perry Studios is a state-of-the-art film and television production facility founded in 2006 by actor, producer, filmmaker, playwright, and philanthropist Tyler Perry. Located in Atlanta, Georgia on the historic grounds of the former Fort McPherson army base, the new 330-acre campus is one of the largest production studios in the country. It boasts a variety of shooting locations including 40 buildings on the national register of historic places, 12 purpose-built sound stages, 200 acres of green space and an expansive backlot.

ABOUT GRADY HEALTH SYSTEM:
Grady, located in Atlanta, is one of the nation’s leading academic safety net health systems, known for its trauma, stroke and burn care. Grady is also a leading research site and was proud to be part of the Moderna vaccine trials.

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USC Libraries Announce 33rd-Annual Scripter Awards Finalists

USC Libraries Name Finalists for 33rd-Annual Scripter Awards

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The USC Libraries named the finalists for the 33rd-annual USC Libraries Scripter Award, which honors the year’s most accomplished film and episodic series adaptations, as well as the works on which they are based.

The finalist writers for film adaptation are, in alphabetical order by film title:

•     Mike Makowsky for “Bad Education” based on the New York magazine article “The Bad Superintendent” by Robert Kolker
•     Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt for “First Cow” based on the novel “The Half-Life” by Jon Raymond
•     Screenwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson and playwright August Wilson for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
•     Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland” based on the nonfiction book “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” by Jessica Bruder
•     Screenwriter and playwright Kemp Powers for “One Night in Miami”

The finalist writers for episodic series are, in alphabetical order by series title:

•     Mark Richard and Ethan Hawke, for the episode “Meet the Lord,” from “The Good Lord Bird,” based on the novel by James McBride
•     Sally Rooney and Alice Birch for the fifth episode of “Normal People,” based on the novel by Sally Rooney
•     Ed Burns and David Simon for the sixth episode of “The Plot Against America,” based on the novel by Philip Roth
•     Scott Frank for the episode “Openings,” from “The Queen’s Gambit,” based on the novel by Walter Tevis
•     Anna Winger for the first episode of “Unorthodox,” based on the autobiography “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots” by Deborah Feldman

Traditionally held in the historic Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library at the University of Southern California, the USC Libraries will this year announce the winning authors and screenwriters to a worldwide audience on Saturday, Mar. 13, 2021, online at scripter.usc.edu.

The 2021 Scripter selection committee selected the finalists from a field of 87 film and 65 episodic series adaptations. Howard Rodman, USC professor and past president of the Writers Guild of America, West, chairs the 2021 committee.

Serving on the selection committee, among many others, are film critics Leonard Maltin, Anne Thompson and Kenneth Turan; authors Michael Chabon and Janet Fitch; screenwriters Mark Fergus, Greta Gerwig and Hawk Ostby; producers Jennifer Todd and Paula Wagner; and USC deans Elizabeth Daley of the School of Cinematic Arts and Catherine Quinlan of the USC Libraries.

The studios and streaming platforms distributing the finalist films and current publishers of the printed works are:

    “Bad Education”—HBO Films and New York magazine
    “First Cow”—A24 and Bloomsbury
    “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”—Netflix and Plume
    “Nomadland”—Fox Searchlight and W. W. Norton
    “One Night in Miami”—Amazon and Modern Classics

The networks and streaming platforms broadcasting the finalist episodic series and current publishers of the works are:

    “The Good Lord Bird”—Showtime and Riverhead Books
    “Normal People”—Hulu and Random House
    “The Plot Against America”—HBO and Vintage International
    “The Queen’s Gambit”—Netflix and Vintage Contemporaries
    “Unorthodox”—Netflix and Simon & Schuster

For more information about Scripter or how to join the March online ceremony and celebration, please email scripter@usc.edu or visit scripter.usc.edu.

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Sony Pictures Classics Acquires "12 Mighty Orphans"

Sony Pictures Classics Adopts Ty Roberts’ 12 Mighty Orphans Starring Luke Wilson, Martin Sheen, Vinessa Shaw, and Robert Duvall

NEW YORK – Sony Pictures Classics announced that they have acquired worldwide rights in all media to 12 MIGHTY ORPHANS directed by Ty Roberts and starring Luke Wilson, Martin Sheen, Vinessa Shaw, Wayne Knight, Jake Austin Walker, Treat Williams, Ron White, Scott Haze, and Robert Duvall. This marks Sheen and Duvall’s first onscreen reunion since APOCALYPSE NOW. Adapted from Jim Dent’s bestselling book of the same name, the screenplay is written by Roberts, Lane Garrison and Kevin Meyer.

The film is produced by Houston Hill and Roberts of Santa Rita Film Co., along with Michael De Luca and Angelique De Luca of Michael De Luca Productions. Producer Brinton Bryan of Greenbelt Films helped arrange the financing, along with The Forest Road Company who provided additional funding. George M. Young, Jr., J. Todd Harris, Rhett Bennett and Greg McCabe executive produced.

12 MIGHTY ORPHANS tells the true story of the Mighty Mites, the football team of a Fort Worth orphanage who, during the Great Depression, went from playing without shoes—or even a football—to playing for the Texas state championships. The architect of their success was Rusty Russell, a legendary high school coach who shocked his colleagues by giving up his privileged position to teach and coach at the orphanage. Few knew Rusty's secret: that he himself was an orphan. Recognizing that his scrawny players couldn't beat the other teams with brawn, Rusty developed innovative strategies that would come to define modern football. Over the course of their winning season, these ultimate underdogs became an inspiration to their city, state, and entire nation.

“There is a reason underdog stories hold so much weight in the popular imagination, and we know the Mighty Mites’ true story of triumph over adversity—set in a time when much of the country was suffering—will lift the spirits of audiences worldwide. We are very excited to work with Ty on what promises to be an emotional and life-affirming film,” said Sony Pictures Classics.

“It is an honor to be working with Sony Classics to bring this inspirational true story to the big screen,” said Roberts. “The story of Rusty and his underdog Orphans helped pull the country out of the Great Depression, and I know that it will be just as uplifting for audiences today.

The deal was negotiated by CAA Global Finance on behalf Santa Rita Film Co.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES CLASSICS:
Michael Barker and Tom Bernard serve as co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics—an autonomous division of Sony Pictures Entertainment they founded with Marcie Bloom in January 1992—which distributes, produces, and acquires independent films from around the world. Barker and Bernard have released prestigious films that have won 39 Academy Awards® (35 of those at Sony Pictures Classics) and have garnered 175 Academy Award® nominations (149 at Sony Pictures Classics) including Best Picture nominations for CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, WHIPLASH, AMOUR, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, AN EDUCATION, CAPOTE, HOWARDS END, AND CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON.

ABOUT SANTA RITA FILM CO.:
Santa Rita Film Co., headed up by partners Ty Roberts, Houston Hill and Greg McCabe, is a newly launched Texas production company that focuses on developing character-driven features and series. SRFC is currently raising a development fund; next projects in the pipeline are Robert's adaptation of Joshua Hammer's THE FALCON THIEF, the story of the real life con man who became the world's most successful thief of rare birds, as well as ANGELS IN EAST TEXAS, the inspirational true story of how a student play transformed a Bible Belt community, from director John Krokidas (KILL YOUR DARLINGS).

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT:
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition, and distribution; television production, acquisition, and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. SPE’s Motion Picture Group production organizations include Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Stage 6 Films, AFFIRM Films, and Sony Pictures Classics. For additional information, visit  http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/divisions.html.

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Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).

BOOM! Studios Shipping from Diamond Distributors for January 27, 2021

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