EXCLUSIVE: The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan and Jake Epstein (Degrassi: The Next Generation) are set to lead the ensemble cast of working-titled indie romantic comedy Both Sides Now.

Actor and director Eric Stoltz (Madam Secretary, Nashville) is directing from a screenplay by Hailey Lustig, founder of Three Birds Landing Productions, and composer Robbie Roth, which takes inspiration from their real lives.

The ensemble cast also features Erich Bergen (Love Story), Justin Chatwin (Shameless) and Brian Norris (The Cleaning Lady).

Both Sides Now follows a group of lifelong friends nearing 40 who return to the Jewish summer camp where they came of age to celebrate the impending wedding of Eddie (Epstein).

But when his best friend Lloyd (Bergen) invites Eddie’s first love and former camp sweetheart Erin (Cohan) to the bachelor weekend, the reunion becomes a reckoning with old relationships, unresolved love, and the question of what might have been.

Co-writers Lustig and Roth were born in the same Toronto maternity ward on either side of midnight and grew up together at summer camp and have been best friends for decades. Their friendship and shared experience of summer camp helped inspire the characters, relationships and world of the film.

The romantic comedy also features six original songs written by Roth and performed by the cast.

“We’ve been making each other laugh and sharing music and stories for as long as we can remember. Writing this film together feels wonderfully full circle,” said Lustig and Roth. “We share a history and a shorthand that made the process incredibly natural, and seeing these characters come to life, with original music woven through the story, has been thrilling.”

Stoltz said: “This script made me laugh, made me a bit nostalgic, and then caught me off guard emotionally – which is exactly what I love in a film. Hailey and Robbie have written something funny and deeply personal about friendship, first love, and the lives we choose for ourselves. Robbie’s songs are woven beautifully through that world.”

Both Sides Now is independently financed by Three Birds Landing Productions and marks the company’s debut feature film. The film is produced by Lustig, Carrie Mudd and Erin Berry, in association with Peacock Alley Entertainment.

Production began September 19 in Muskoka, Ontario, and is scheduled to wrap October 20.

Top TV talent and drama will “end up on YouTube or TikTok over time,” Sister boss Jane Featherstone has predicted.

Featherstone, whose credits include Black Doves, The Split and Chernobyl, said the funding model for premium drama on TV isn’t going anywhere for the time being, but she anticipates big changes in the medium to long term.

“Talent is like water, they will find the shortest way to the audience past all obstacles and our job is to make sure we’re on top of where audiences are,” Featherstone told the RTS London Convention. “Talent wants legitimacy and audience on main channels. I think that will change and premium will end up on YouTube or TikTok over time because great talent will jump out of mainstream organizations.”

Sister, which is run by Featherstone, Liz Murdoch and Lucinda Hicks, is keeping up with the times, Featherstone stressed, as she pointed to digital labels the company has struck deals with like After Party Studios and BBC broadcaster Amol Rajan’s new outfit.

“For us to be able to shift in this way is exciting,” said Featherstone.

She was speaking to one of the biggest talking points in the TV industry today on a panel at the RTS Convention alongside the likes of Expectation CEO Tim Hincks, whose firm makes Clarkson’s Farm.

Also looking to the future, Hincks predicted the UK TV industry’s terms of trade, which have been a financial bedrock for UK production companies for more than two decades, are “not long for this world.”

He stressed that indies will survive, adding: “There are lots of great independently minded people who have authority issues and have a burning desire to not be in a meeting for three hours where at the end of it someone says, ‘Shall we have a meeting about this?’.”

The producers were speaking at the same event as head honchos from Amazon, the BBC and Channel 4, along with talent like Jeremy Clarkson.

In the new trailer for Netflix The One About Matthew Perry, the late Friends star reflects on his TV success and the toll it took. In a voiceover early in the clip, Perry says, “I said God, you can do anything you want to me just please make me famous.” When fame arrived, Perry reflected, “God did not forget the other part.”

The three-episode series, described by Netflix as “an intimate documentary series exploring the life and legacy of Matthew Perry,” premieres globally on the streamer October 27. Check out the trailer above.

Directed by Mary Robertson, the docuseries features interviews with Perry’s family and friends, including sister Mia Perry Bowick, close friends David Pressman and Roger Castillo, former NBC President Warren Littlefield and others who knew or worked with the late Friends star.

The two-minute trailer chronicles Perry’s experience with fame and the realization that it was not actually everything he wanted. Using testimonies from his sister Mia Perry Bowick, several other close friends and unreleased photos and videos from the Perry family’s private archive, the three-part series explores his career as a beloved actor and comedian while also revealing details about his long-term struggle with drug use and his attempts to get sober (he spent more than $7 million in those efforts, the doc says).

The release of the film comes on the third anniversary of Perry’s death.

In a statement accompanying the Netflix premiere date announcement, Perry’s sister said, “It’s taken time for me to feel ready to share these memories and what it was like to love Matthew through all the complexity of his life—to see him as a whole person, not just as Chandler, and not just as someone who struggled with addiction. As his sister, he shaped who I am today, the person I strive to be, and the work to which I’ve devoted my life.

“Matthew had a beautiful heart,” she continues, “and a generous spirit, and even in his darkest moments, he could still make you laugh and feel loved. I hope this series gives everyone who loved him, whether personally or from afar, a deeper appreciation for who he truly was, and the legacy he leaves behind.”

“Matthew Perry was one of the comedic geniuses of our time,” said director Robertson. “Through his many films, TV and stage performances, and his unforgettable portrayal of Chandler Bing, he made millions of us laugh, connect, and feel a little less alone. He also gave us so much more by bravely speaking about addiction. Yet the public only knew part of his story. That’s why we set out to make this film: to let the people who knew and loved Matthew reveal the person behind the public figure.”

Netflix’s The One About Matthew Perry is executive produced by Mary Robertson, Lisa Kalikow, Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman; co-executive produced by Lora Moftah; and produced by Jessica Call. Maxine Productions, a part of Sony Pictures Television, is the production company.

Check out the trailer above.