News round-up: Lionsgate inks overall deal with ‘Minx’s Rapoport; C4 appoints director of inclusion; Dreamchaser signs ‘McLeod’s Daughters’ creator

Ellen Rapoport

Lionsgate inks overall deal with ‘Minx’s Rapoport

Lionsgate TV Group has signed an overall deal with Ellen Rapoport, the creator, executive producer, and showrunner of HBO Max comedy series Minx. 

Under the terms of the new agreement, Rapoport will produce scripted content.

“All of us at Lionsgate are blown away by how the world of Minx has resonated with viewers as her work seamlessly weaves nuanced humor into complex and enticing stories. To be able to have a deal with a writer who puts the word shvantz back in the lexicon would make my Jewish grandmother proud” said Scott Herbst, head of scripted development and EVP, Lionsgate TV.

Marcia Williams

C4 appoints director of inclusion

UK broadcaster Channel 4 has appointed Marcia Williams as it first director of inclusion.

Reporting to CEO Alex Mahon, Williams will join Channel 4 in August 2022 and will also be a member of the executive management board.

As director of inclusion, Williams will have responsibility for the strategic direction of inclusion and diversity at Channel 4. To ensure greater alignment internally and externally, both on and off screen, the employee-focused 4Inclusion team will report into Marcia, and she will share dual reporting responsibility for the Creative Diversity team with Emma Hardy, director of commissioning operations.

“This newly created role not only recognises Channel 4’s successful history of pioneering change in diversity and inclusion that has inspired change in the creative industries and beyond, but also the ongoing imperative to ensure that inclusion and diversity is truly embedded in everything that we do,” commented Mahon.

Posie Graeme-Evans

Dreamchaser signs ‘McLeod’s Daughters’ creator

Endeavor Content-backed studio Dreamchaser has inked a multi-year development and production deal with novelist and producer, Posie Graeme-Evans, the creator behind Nine Network’s series Mcleod’s Daughters.

Joining as executive producer, partner: scripted, Graeme-Evans’ Millennium Pictures will develop and produce a slate of new scripted projects for the studio. Dreamchaser will serve as EP on all projects and take them out internationally.

Already in advanced development under the new partnership is the drama The McLeods of Drovers Run. Penned by Graeme-Evans, the prequel to the 2001 series received early support from the Tasmanian Government through Screen Tasmania.

Netflix orders David Beckham docuseries

Netflix has commissioned a documentary series about global football star David Beckham.

Produced by Studio 99 in association with Ventureland, the project is helmed by Fisher Stevens, who serves as director and executive producer, alongside producer John Battsek.

The series will go beyond the shine of stardom to explore Beckham’s humble working class beginnings in East London, and the drive and determination that led him to become one of the most recognisable and scrutinised athletes of all time.

It will feature a mixture of never-before-seen personal archive footage from the last 40 years and interviews with Beckham, his family and friends, and key figures who have been part of his journey both on and off the pitch.