‘Mad Men’ Star Christina Hendricks Heads To Series Mania
Mad Men star Christina Hendricks is heading to Series Mania. The six-time Emmy nominated actress will be promoting Chris O’Dowd’s Small Town, Big Story, in which she stars opposite Paddy Considine. Having just launched on Sky, the show about a Hollywood producer who returns to a small Northern Irish town will be given its international premiere at Series Mania. Hendricks is best known for playing Joan Holloway in Mad Men across seven seasons, for which she was six-time Emmy nominated. She led four seasons of NBC’s Good Girls and recent credits include Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers and Good American Family for Hulu. Series Mania kicks off later this month in Lille. Hendricks joins a buzzy line-up including Amanda Seyfried, Pamela Adlon and James Norton.
Banijay Arranges ‘Game Of Chairs’
Banijay Entertainment’s latest format is a shiny-floor twist on the game of musical chairs. Billed as a “nostalgia-driven, family-friendly, competition format,” Game of Chairs sees ten contestants circle around nine chairs, with one left standing when the music stops. The loser then battles it out with another contestant to determine who stays in the game. The winning player then faces the Master Chair, where they compere to win a grand prize. If they fail, they compete the next day against the last four eliminated players. Show comes from Shine Iberia, which is part of Banijay Iberia. Macarena Rey, CEO of Shine Iberia, said: “Our dynamic blend of game show and nostalgia elevates the party favourite, resulting in a dynamic format with international appeal.” The series was launched to buyers at last week’s London TV Screenings.
BBC Studios Hires Oz Streaming Chief From CNN
BBC Studios (BBCS), the commercial arm of the BBC, has a new streaming chief in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Robi Stanton is a former Warner Bros Discovery and Turner International exec who’s currently Commercial Director for CNN International. At BBCS, she will be EVP and General Manager of Global Media and Streaming for ANZ, overseeing content sales, channels and streaming, and advertising sales. Stanton has worked in the business for 25 years, and joins BBCS soon after it launched six FAST channels in partnership with Nine Network and the launch of BBC First in New Zealand. The company has also re-upped natural history deals with Nine and TVNZ and renewed its long-standing output pact with the ABC. Stanton will begin her role on March 26, working closely with BBCS’s EVP and GM of Global Entertainment ANZ, Kylie Washington, and reporting to President of Global Markets Nick Percy.
‘Sankranthiki Vasthunam’ Claims ZEE5 Streaming Records
Following its strong theater run, Sankrantiki Vasthunam is now claiming records on streamer ZEE5 Global and affiliate ZEE5 Telugu. The comedy-drama’s producer, Sri Venkateswara Creations, took to social media to claim 13 million people had viewed it on the streamer in the first 12 hours after launch on ZEE5 Global, Zee Entertainment Enterprises’ global streamer. The producer added the film had broken “all previous records” on ZEE5 Telugu in six hours. The film follows a retired police officer (Venkatesh Daggubati) who’s living a quiet life with his wife (Aishwarya Rajesh) and ex-girlfriend (Meenakshi Chowdary), until he is forced back into action when a renowned tech entrepreneur. ZEE5 noted it had been watched for a cumulative 100 million minutes in the first 12 hours after launch. Anil Ravipudi directs the breakout film, which is shot in Telugu.
