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2500 Media, the Los Angeles-based production company founded by former WME non-scripted packaging agent and partner Sean Perry, has named its senior management team.

Perry launched 2500 Media early last summer and a few months later signed a deal with Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media, which includes an exclusive unscripted agreement between 2500 Media and Pilgrim, as well as a first-look scripted pact with Lionsgate Television.

Perry has tapped Kendall Horn, who previously worked in development at Pilgrim, as head of development for 2500 Media. Nicole Taylor Perry (Scarred) has been named managing director, overseeing all operations and new business development. Pilgrim’s Nicole Urban will coordinate development for 2500 Media.

Under 2500 Media’s deal with Pilgrim/Lionsgate, the company works closely with Pilgrim’s development team, including Tom Huffman, Lauren LeMiex and Scott Eldridge, as well as Lionsgate’s Max Elins on the scripted side.

“I have immense gratitude for the staff at Lionsgate Alternative Television...

Lionsgate Alternative Television has signed with UTA as the major studio gets deeper into unscripted TV.

The talent, entertainment and sports agency will represent the Lionsgate TV division as it looks to get more of its unscripted content into the global marketplace. The move also follows Lionsgate tapping Craig Piligian as managing director of the newly restructured unit after Lionsgate acquired certain film and TV assets of Entertainment One from Hasbro.

Piligian in a statement said the Hollywood studio would look to leverage UTA’s buyer relationships and industry expertise as Lionsgate Alternative Television ramps up in unscripted TV. “I am especially pleased to expand my relationship with David and Geoff and their team, as they help spearhead the future of this division,” he added of his coming partnership with David Kirsch and Geoff Suddleson, UTA partners and co-heads of unscripted television.

The Lionsgate unscripted TV unit spans Pilgrim Media Group,...

Fresh from its launch earlier this month, Lionsgate Alternative Television is getting a little agency help.

The unscripted arm of the studio has signed with UTA for representation.

Lionsgate launched the division earlier in January, bringing together its own Pilgrim Media Group, with eOne’s U.S. and U.K. non-scripted groups, Blackfin, Renegade and Daisybeck Studios following the $375M deal to buy eOne.

It is run by Managing Director Craig Piligian, who was previously represented by WME.

All of the eOne labels will remain intact including Naked & Afraid producer Renegade, Blackfin, which produced Netflix’s Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, The Yorkshire Vet producer Daisybeck and eOne UK, which is behind MTV’s Ex On The Beach.

Lionsgate Alternative Television’s management team will include Pilgrim Media Group’s President Gretchen Stockdale and EVP Nicholas Caprio, while Renegade bosses David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe will serve...

Lionsgate is expanding in unscripted TV programming by launching an alternative TV division led by Craig Piligian.

Lionsgate Alternative Television will encompass the studio’s unscripted TV brands like Pilgrim Media Group, Blackfin, Renegade, Daisybeck Studios and more recently Entertainment One after the acquisition of key film and TV assets from Hasbro.

Piligian, the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer, becomes managing director of the new division that has unscripted franchises like Naked and Afraid, Street Outlaws, Wicked Tuna, The Yorkshire Vet, Ex on the Beach, Selling Sunset and Milf Manor. Lionsgate’s unscripted TV output includes limited series like Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez and Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre.

The management team at Lionsgate Alternative Television also includes Pilgrim Media Group president and COO Gretchen Stockdale and top Renegade execs David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe. Former History Channel and Half Yard Productions exec Dirk Hoogstra joins...

Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group has signed an exclusive unscripted deal with Sean Perry’s production company 2500 Media, the company announced Thursday.

Under the agreement, 2500 Media, which focuses on unscripted series, documentaries and scripted projects, will immediately enter into Pilgrim Media Group’s development and production staff. The deal also covers a first look scripted component with Lionsgate Television.

“When I looked around at ways to super charge my new company 2500 Media and deliver high quality production at a reasonable cost, it was clear that locking arms with Lionsgate and Pilgrim was the best and fastest way to accomplish our goals,” Perry said in a statement. “When you see what Kevin Beggs, Sandra Stern and their team have accomplished across Lionsgate Television and my good friend Craig Piligian has built with Pilgrim, it was a no brainer to dive in fully with them.”

Perry, who serves as founder and CEO of 2500 Media,...

Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group has signed an exclusive unscripted deal with Sean Perry’s recently launched 2500 Media production company.

As part of the deal, 2500 Media will immediately plug into the worldwide development and production staff at Pilgrim and the agreement includes a first-look scripted component with Lionsgate Television

“When I looked around at ways to super charge my new company 2500 Media and deliver high quality production at a reasonable cost, it was clear that locking arms with Lionsgate and Pilgrim was the best and fastest way to accomplish our goals,” said Perry. “When you see what Kevin Beggs, Sandra Stern and their team have accomplished across Lionsgate Television and my good friend Craig Piligian has built with Pilgrim, it was a no brainer to dive in fully with them.”

2500 Media focuses on unscripted series, documentaries and scripted projects. Perry, 2500 Media founder and CEO, is an industry veteran who previously founded the Endeavor non-scripted department.

Ask the most powerful people in podcasting whether we’ve reached “peak podcast” and the answer is a resounding no. Or, more specifically, a “hell no,” an “absolutely not” and a “don’t be ridiculous!” Still, the medium isn’t without its challenges. “Podcasting has gone from being an industry that had a ton of speculative money thrown at it, to an industry that now has to figure out how to make money,” notes Audacy’s Jenna Weiss-Berman when asked to describe how it has transformed over the last five years. Here, many of the top hosts, executives and agents in the business, all featured on THR‘s annual list of The 40(ish) Names to Know in Podcasting Now, weigh in with their hopes, plans and pet peeves.

My podcasting pet peeves are…

Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM The idea that all it takes to make a good podcast is a mic and a computer.

Exclusive: Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group, which is behind series such as A&e’s upcoming Stone Cold Takes America, has promoted Lauren LeMieux.

LeMieux has been upped to SVP and Head of Development. It’s been a relatively quick rise for former VP LeMieux at the company after a promotion in December 2021.

In her new role, LeMieux will focus on packaging producers and talent with creative concepts, identifying foreign formats for adaptation and opportunities for exploiting internally-developed concepts in foreign markets, and helping to nurture third-party producer and talent relationships.

LeMieux currently oversees a team of creative executives as well as the operations of the development department’s post-production. In addition to creative services, she works side-by-side with production personnel in the field to produce presentations and pilots.

In addition to Stone Cold Takes America, Pilgrim produces Renovation Impossible for HGTV, and David Dobrik’s Dodgeball Thunderdome and Tyson v.

Lionsgate, the studio behind “John Wick,” “The Hunger Games” and Starz, has entered the podcasting space. The company launched a new division called Lionsgate Sound, which will operate as a full-service podcast production company, handling titles for the studio’s film and television business while also overseeing projects for third-party clients.

Lionsgate Sound will launch with four shows, including a podcast from rapper 50 Cent. It has more than a dozen additional projects in the pipeline.

The current slate includes “Cuate/twin: The Downfall of El Chapo (working title),” hosted and produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and his newly established G-Unit Audio; an interview podcast “Playing Dead”; the FBI-focused show “A Nation for Thieves”; and “Died and Survived,” which details near-death experiences. Lionsgate Sound is also producing true-crime thriller “The Lives and Deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman” for exclusive distribution by CBC. The podcast from 50 Cent will be exclusively distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network,...

A Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson-hosted and produced show about former Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” is among the first projects set for the launch of Lionsgate’s new podcast division, Lionsgate Sound.

Jackson’s show has the working title “Cuate/twin/: the downfall of El Chapo” and is part of his newly established G-Unit Audio, exclusively distributed by the iHeartPodcast Network.

In “Cuate/twin/: the downfall of El Chapo,” speaking publicly for the first time ever, Chicago-born identical twins Peter and Jay Flores will explore how they became two of the biggest drug traffickers in America, peddling tons of cocaine across the country and eventually become seated at the right hand of El Chapo himself, only to eventually betray him in a desperate attempt to escape.

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Adam Fogelson to Exit STX and Named Vice Chair at Lionsgate Motion Picture Group

Three other shows will also launch along with Lionsgate Sound,...

Lionsgate is moving into the world of podcasts.

The studio joins the long list of television companies that have set up an audio division to respond to the increasingly booming world of podcasting.

It is launching with shows from 50 Cent and Michael Nathanson (The Punisher).

Lionsgate Sound will operate as a full-service podcast production company, handling podcast production for the studio’s film and television businesses while also overseeing all elements of podcast production for third party clients.

It will overseen by Gretchen Stockdale and Nicholas Caprio with Charlie Webster heading up creative for the division. Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group is a minority owner in Lionsgate Sound and will handle the day-to-day operations of the group.

The division will launch with four shows: Cuate/twin/: the downfall of El Chapo (w/t), hosted and produced by Curtis ‘50’ Cent Jackson and his newly established G-Unit Audio, and exclusively distributed...

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Lionsgate has launched a podcasting division with shows by Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, and Michael Nathanson of Netflix’s Marvel’s The Punisher.

Lionsgate Sound will handle podcast production for the studio’s film and TV businesses while also producing audio product for third party clients. Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group, headed by producer Craig Piligian, becomes a minority owner in Lionsgate Sound and will handle the day-to-day operations of the group to be overseen by Gretchen Stockdale and Nicholas Caprio.

And broadcast-journalist and producer Charlie Webster will head up creative for the new division. Lionsgate Sound will kick off with four shows, including the podcast with a working title Cuate/twin/: the downfall of El Chapo, hosted and produced by Curtis Jackson — executive producer of the Power franchise from Lionsgate-owned cable and streaming network Starz — and his newly established G-Unit Audio.

discovery+, the definitive non-fiction, real-life subscription streaming service, announced today the launch of the powerful and timely documentary written, directed and executive produced by acclaimed filmmaker Eli Roth, Fin, on Tuesday, July 13, 2021. The film is produced by Lionsgate and its Pilgrim Media Group company in association with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Away productions.

In Fin, Roth and a professional group of scientists, researchers and activists sail around the globe to unveil the truth behind the death of millions of sharks, exposing the criminal enterprise that is impacting the extinction of the misunderstood creatures. Fin features work from photographer Michael Muller and the support of organizations such as Oceana, Sea Shepherd, and Wild Aid. Oscar® winner Leonardo DiCaprio executive produces the film along with actor, producer and shark activist Nina Dobrev and President of Lionsgate Nonfiction Television and Pilgrim CEO and Chair Craig Piligian.

“Fin is the scariest film I’ve ever made,...

Eli Roth, the horror filmmaker behind such blood-spattered classics as “Hostel” and “The Green Inferno,” wants to scare viewers into social action with his latest film, the documentary “Fin.” He’s devoting his cinematic prowess to an important environmental cause, exposing a vast criminal enterprise that has led to the deaths of millions of sharks. These creatures are being needlessly slaughtered to feed the continued demand for shark fin soup and other shark fin dishes, and the killings threaten the species with extinction.

Subscription streaming service Discovery Plus acquired the documentary and will air the film on July 13, 2021.

“‘Fin’ is the scariest film I’ve ever made, and certainly the most dangerous, but I wanted to send a message of hope to end this needless massacre of sharks,” Roth said. “They keep our oceans clean to produce half our oxygen, and they deserve our respect and deserve to be saved.

Netflix has acquired the documentary “Giving Voice” and will release it on the streaming service later this year.

“Giving Voice” won the Sundance Film Festival favorite award, a plaudit that’s selected by audience votes from the 128 features screened at the 2020 event.

Directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena, “Giving Voice” follows the lives of six students as they compete against fellow high schoolers from around the country in the August Wilson Monologue Competition in New York City. It features the original song “Never Break” performed by John Legend.

“This is my fifth project with Netflix and nothing thrills me more than to be able to bring ‘Giving Voice’ to a place that I consider home,” Stern said.

The movie was produced by Endgame Entertainment and Pilgrim Media Group Production, in association with Endeavor Content, Impact Partners, Get Lifted Film Co and JuVee Productions. Stern and Villena also produced the film,...

Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to “Giving Voice,” a documentary about the August Wilson Monologue Competition that won the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

“Giving Voice” is directed by James D. Stern and Fernando Villena and follows six students as they advance through the monologue competition, which highlights the work of the playwright behind “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson” and allows winners the chance to perform at the August Wilson Theater on Broadway.

The documentary specifically looks at students from public schools pursuing careers in performance arts, and it uses Wilson’s words to focus on the black experience in America and how words and voices can be ignited to inspire change. Netflix plans to release “Giving Voice” later this year.

Also Read: Watch Dave Chappelle Respond to George Floyd's Death in Surprise Netflix Special '8:46' (Video)

“This is my fifth project...

Netflix has secured the right to Giving Voice, the James D. Stern and Fernando Villena-directed documentary which earned the Festival Favorite Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The pic, which will be released in the streamer later this year, surrounds a new generation of performers and follows the emotional journey of six students as they advance through the high-stakes August Wilson Monologue Competition, an event that highlights the work of one of America’s preeminent playwrights. The national event brings Wilson’s work to public school students pursuing careers in the performance arts. The students who commit to the demanding and rewarding competition process are encouraged to explore themselves and the world around them through the monologues from Wilson’s century cycle of ten plays focused on the Black experience in America.

It also features an original song, Never Break, performed by John Legend and written Legend,...

After making its world premiere earlier this month at the SXSW Film Festival, The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story has set a limited theatrical run in Los Angeles and New York ahead of its April 3 debut on YouTube.

The Pilgrim Media Group and Lance Bass Productions’ YouTube Original feature documentary will premiere March 27 at ArcLight Cinema in Sherman Oaks and March 29 at AMC 34th St. in New York City. Screenings in both cities will be followed by panels and Q&As featuring Lance Bass, director Aaron Kunkel as well as other cast members and special guests.

The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story tracks the life of boy band impresario Lou Pearlman from his childhood in Queens, New York through discovering mega-bands the Backstreet Boys and *Nsync, and chronicles his later life, including his perpetration of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in American history.

The docu...

Exclusive: Fast N’ Loud and American Chopper producer Pilgrim Media Group has teamed up with Digital Circus, run by former Discovery Channel President Clark Bunting, to produce a range of programming around the Isle of Man Tt, often called the most dangerous motorsports race in the world.

Craig Piligian’s and Bunting’s new media company, which produced HBO doc The Cold Blue and Nat Geo’s Yellowstone Live, are to develop Tt race-driven content for TV, film, online streaming and gaming platforms after striking a deal with the Isle of Man government which operates the race.

British broadcaster ITV has previously aired the event in the UK, but this marks the first time that a live and all-media programming rights deal has been struck. Piligian and Bunting have established Global Motorsports Ventures, an Isle of Man company operating out of the small tax-generous island off the coast of the UK,...

Exclusive: Lionsgate has bolstered its Afm sales lineup with romance The Kiss Quotient, based on the well-received 2018 book by Helen Hoang.

Combining elements of 50 Shades Of Grey, Pretty Woman and Crazy Rich Asians, The Kiss Quotient follows Stella, a brilliant econometrician on the autism spectrum who knows everything about algorithms but nothing about romance. In an effort to grow comfortable with the idea of dating, she hires a male escort to help her better understand relationships — but she doesn’t expect that they will find themselves completely entranced by one another.

Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group is collaborating on the project’s development and production with subsidiary production house Pilgrim Media Group, which won screen rights to the novel in a competitive situation earlier this year shortly after it was published by Penguin Random House imprint Berkley Jove Trade Paperback Originals. A screenwriter has yet to be set.

In 2016, Hoang...