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Words Across Europe VR Writing Program Unveils 2026 Cohort
EXCLUSIVE: Words Across Europe, the virtual reality-based writers’ room program, has unveiled its 2026 cohort.
Nine writers hailing from across the European continent will take part, having been selected from more than 60 applicants to form the third edition of the initiative. A full list of participants is below.
Running from this month until July, the group will develop original series concepts in fully immersive VR writers’ rooms. The sessions in virtual rooms will include industry expert masterclasses, talks and networking events. At the culmination, the participants pitch their work directly to European TV producers and commissioners.
The European Union‘s Creative Europe Media and Dublin-based production house Wide Eye Films co-fund the program, which has in the previous two editions featured input from the likes of Paramount UK commissioning editor Paul Testar, Fremantle acquisitions exec Hattie Burles, ITV Studios Germany CEO Christiane Ruff, Warner Bros. International TV Production Germany Managing Director René Jamm, Intaglio Films boss Robert Franke, Roku’s Brian Tannenbaum, former HBO Europe exec Johnathan Young and writer-producer Andre Bormanis, who has credits for the Star Trek franchise and The Orville.
The initiative was created to bridge the gap between the way European and U.S. writers work – the former broadly work solo, while American writers tend to develop scripts through writers’ rooms.
Franke, the former VP of Drama at ZDF Studios called the program “a genuinely valuable initiative for the European drama ecosystem.”
“European writers are often trained to work alone. Words Across Europe exists to change that,” said Nathalie Lichtenthaeler from Wide Eye. “We want to give them the experience of creative collaboration and show them what becomes possible when you build a story together.”
Here are the nine selected writers for the 2026 edition.
Sofia Rimskaya (Russia): Riga-based screenwriter with an MA from the London Film School and an alumna of Eureka and the TFL Series Lab. Her comedy series Honey, Bye! was selected for Writers Campus at Series Mania 2026.
Ioana Bogdana (Romania): A scriptwriter and producer based in Berlin, with credits spanning international film festivals and CEE video-on-demand platforms across all stages of production.
Andrija Ilić Prša (Serbia): A Cologne-based screenwriter, director and producer with a background in dramaturgy and serial storytelling.
Carlos Robisco Peña (Spain): A writer and director from Barcelona with experience across theatre, film and television.
Katie Murphy (Ireland): A screenwriter with a decade of experience in high-end TV and script development who was most recently attached to Netflix’s upcoming Grown Ups, based on the novel by Marian Keyes.
Maksim Nikiforovski (North Macedonia): A screenwriter whose work explores contemporary Europe from a distinctly underrepresented perspective.
Hanna Stock (Germany): A filmmaker trained in screenwriting at HFF Munich, with a background in documentary filmmaking across film and television.
Eve Tisler (Estonia): A screenwriter and creative producer with a background spanning journalism, communications and marketing.
Jonathan Farrelly (Ireland): A writer of audio drama, television and film.
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Robert Pattinson doesn’t see his version of Batman interacting with other DC superheroes within James Gunn‘s cinematic universe.
While Batman and Superman have one of the most famous friendships in DC Comics, the Primetime star recently explained to LADbible why it would be “tough” for director Matt Reeves’ version of Bruce Wayne to exist in Gunn’s DCU, such as with David Corenswet’s Superman.
“I think it would be kind of tough to have this version of Bruce outside of that world. It’s one of the only characters, I guess because of the length of the shoots but also it’s such a specific kind of [style], the tone of it gets inside you,” Pattinson said. “I remember that happened to me the last time I did it, it took a while. You’re just in the dark, the whole time. Both mood-wise and light-wise, I can’t see anything for like months. It does affect you; like you feel strange afterwards.”
Reeves’ The Batman, released in 2022, is a darker take on the iconic character, as it’s a grounded psychological crime noir rather than a typical superhero action pic. The film sees Pattinson’s Batman investigate Gotham’s hidden corruption after a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures.
Pattinson reprised his character for Reeves’ The Batman Part II, which is currently in production and set to hit theaters on Feb. 18, 2028.
The Odyssey actor recently teased to Collider that the sequel is “a real left turn from the first” movie, adding that “it’s so ambitious.”
“The first one was a different take on a Batman movie, and this one is another… It’s a real left turn from the first one, but somehow it keeps elements of the kind of feel of it,” he explained. “But it just feels really ambitious, and I’m excited to see how it turns out.”
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As Trump brushes off the need for additional guardrails around artificial intelligence, Bill Gates is sounding the alarm.
In a recent interview, the Microsoft co-founder urged the U.S. government to implement regulations around the development of AI, following a meeting with CEOs of several of biggest AI companies, who agreed it’s necessary to slow down the pace of the growing tech.
“No one thinks self-regulation is enough,” he said on NBC News’ Meet the Press. “You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like. And that has to be a required thing. And it will be a little bit of overhead for the industry, but not a dramatic slowing of what they’re doing.”
Gates added, “AI is certainly powerful enough to drive events that, you know, cause a billion deaths. You know, so even though it’s pretty hard to get to 100%, there’s never been a weapon as powerful as the combination of people with ill intent using the latest AI tools.”
Following recent warnings from those working in AI, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order this month to fast-track stringent oversight and control of AI. Convening “a group of world-leading experts” within the next 60 days, the order lays out a discussion of “safety plans” and “an emergency shutoff, or ‘kill switch,’ for frontier models.”
On a federal level, Trump has brushed off concerns about AI as “a hoax,” insisting the U.S. government “already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power” over AI companies.
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Although Paramount was one of several companies to roll back their DEI initiative when Trump was re-elected, Survivor continues to operate by it.
Host Jeff Probst recently noted that “nothing has changed” with how the reality competition series approaches diversity, equity and inclusion, noting that it was “one of the biggest positive changes ever” for the CBS show that launched in 2000.
“And if you watch our show, you know that we’re so diverse — and it’s not just skin color or ethnicity. It goes much deeper than that. It’s one of the biggest positive changes ever,” he told The New York Times. “Our stories are so much more interesting now because we have people from completely different walks of life.”
Probst continued, “I feel no pressure. No one ever says, can you count the numbers again? But Jesse Tannenbaum, who runs our casting team, knows: There’s no stopping, not because we’re told to do it. This is what we need. We need diversity. It’s for narrative. All those differences matter in the story when you throw people together and force them to rely on each other while conspiring against each other. The more diverse, the more interesting.”
In 2020, Paramount implemented a DEI initiative to make CBS and its other brands more inclusive, which the company rolled back last year amid the Trump administration’s attacks on such programs. Months later, Skydance pledged there would be no DEI policies under the Ellison’s reign as they sought the FCC’s approval of the merger.
Following its milestone 50th season, Probst returns to host Survivor for Season 51, airing Wednesdays at 8pm ET/PT on CBS and streaming live on Paramount+.
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