New representation is raining on Ryan Kwanten. The veteran actor and producer has inked with Rain for management representation.

Kwanten started acting young, with his first credits coming in the early 1990s. He worked steadily and caught an early break on the Australian television soap opera Home and Away. He segued to Summerland before catching another break on the role that he is perhaps best known for, playing Jason Stackhouse across seven seasons on HBO‘s hit True Blood, which ran for 81 episodes from 2008-14.

Kwanten’s other credits span genres and the big and small screens, including work opposite J.K. Simmons in Glorious, which he also executive produced, Nicolas Cage in Kill Chain and Anthony Hopkins in Kidnapping Mr. Heineken. He lent his voice to Zack Snyder’s Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole alongside Helen Mirren, Abbie Cornish, Joel Edgerton, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess and Geoffrey Rush.

His more recent credits include The Oath, which he starred in and produced alongside Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Them, Kindred, Head Count, The Portrait, Primitive War and the recently completed Seven Snipers with Tim Roth, Ioan Gruffudd and Radha Mitchell. He can next be seen in the post-apocalyptic werewolf thriller Dead Howling.

Kwanten continues to be repped by RGM Artists.

A trio of animated shorts set around the Christmas holiday and powered by artificial intelligence is in the works and poised to debut before the end of the year — for free.

The projects got unveiled at a panel discussion during the recent Toronto International Film Festival directly by the collaborators: Massive Studios co-founder Reza Sixo Safai, The Garfield Movie scribes Paul A. Kaplan and Mark Torgove, and veteran Hollywood producer Todd Garner. The three short films come from Massive Studios in partnership with content creation platform CapCut, and are being developed simultaneously using artificial intelligence tools like Video Studio and AI video generation model Seedance 2.5.

Safai, a co-founder at Massive Studios — a firm described as a “filmmaker-led” studio that develops film, TV, animation and branded entertainment using AI tools alongside traditional filmmaking ones — will direct the shorts from scripts by Kaplan and Torgove with Garner handling producing duties.

They provided a timeline, too: a trailer will debut Thanksgiving weekend in November, and the final films will be made available free of charge on Christmas Eve. There are some details yet to be announced like a streaming or distribution partner and some creative elements like titles, voice cast, creative collaborators and more.

That said, in statements provided to The Hollywood Reporter, the collaborators insist that the short films are creative-led animated projects that began as hand-drawn designs created by artists. The works will be combined with actor performances to establish the characters’ “proportions, expressions, costumes, textures and personalities before the technology is used to help bring them into motion.”

The team is also expected to include character artists, animators, editors, composers, sound designers, colorists and other creative collaborators. They also see their collaboration as a way to “demystify” new AI filmmaking tools, which can either be the focus of an enthusiastic or thorny conversation in town depending on which circle one is standing in.

Per the backstory, Garner came up with the original concept and brought it to Safai and the writers as a way to resuscitate the genre. “I grew up with Christmas specials, and I miss that tradition,” said Garner, the Broken Road Productions principal who has had a hand in 170 projects over the years including Runner, franchises like Mortal Kombat, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Vacation Friends, Zookeeper, Jack and Jill and more. “There is something wonderful about families discovering these stories together and then coming back to them every year. We wanted to make something new that could have that same feeling.”

Safai said the tools they are using should help them deliver something that feels “emotionally handmade” rather than artificial. He added, “For me, handcrafted doesn’t mean pretending technology wasn’t involved. It means you can still feel the human decisions in the work. The drawings, the performances, the writing, the imperfections, the choices. What matters to me is that you can still feel the people behind every frame.”

Both Safai and Garner noted how the process is allowing them to make something on a budget. “This is no different than any movie I’ve made. You come up with an idea, you find the right people, and you see how the audience responds. To me, it’s all about the artists, the story and the imagination behind it. The technology just gives us another way to get there,” said Garner.

Safai added: “The exciting thing isn’t simply that the tools can make production faster. It’s what becomes creatively and economically possible. We’re interested in using technology to make films possible that otherwise might never get made.”

Kaplan and Torgove previously worked on The Late Bloomer, Dr. Ken, Outsourced, George Lopez, Play Dates, Just Shoot Me! and Spin City.

EXCLUSIVE: It’s a Sin star Callum Scott Howells and Gabrielle Creevy (Black Doves) are leading an adaptation of Vanessa Savage’s romantic thriller The Night They Vanished for BBC Studios and Channel 4.

Cameras have rolled in Wales on the six-part series that tells the story of Anna (Creevy), whose world is blown apart when she discovers her childhood house listed on a true-crime website as the scene of her family’s future deaths. Intriguing blind date Cai (Scott Howells) runs the true-crime site but swears he didn’t post it. The police say it’s a hoax, but Anna’s family have vanished.

Angharad Elen (The Light In The Hall) and Hannah Daniel (Mudtown) are adapting Savage’s novel, her third thriller. BBC Studios’ new label CliffEdge Entertainment, which has just been unveiled to Deadline by scripted boss Jamie Hall, is producing and selling worldwide. Channel 4 has pre-bought the drama while we understand a deal with a U.S. buyer is close.

Additional cast includes Tamzin Outhwaite (The Wives, Ridley Road, The Tower) as Anna’s stepmum Jo and Steffan Rhodri (Gavin & Stacey) as Idris, Anna’s father, along with Matthew Gravelle (Mudtown), Lisa Victoria (Pobol y Cwm), Jack Quick (Pobol y Cwm), Andrew Lennon (Death Valley), Callum Hymers (The Pact), and Bella Shewan.

Scott Howells is best known for Russell T. Davies’ It’s a Sin and is starring in Deadpoint, another BBC Studios thriller for Channel 4. Creevy plays Eleanor in Netflix hit Black Doves, which will soon launch Season 2.

Creevy said: “Anna is a firecracker – sharp, loyal and carrying more hurt than she lets on. The moment her past comes roaring back, she’s forced into a nightmare she thought she’d escaped. It’s a gift of a role and I can’t wait for audiences to unravel the truth with her.”

Scott Howells added: “Cai is charming, complicated and never quite what he seems. He could be the love of Anna’s life… or the centre of a terrifying conspiracy. Playing someone who keeps you guessing is exactly the kind of challenge I love.”

The Night They Vanished has been pre-bought by Polly Scates, Channel 4 Head of Acquisitions and Felix Jones, Acquisitions Manager. EPs are Sarah Creasey, Sathe, Elen, and Branwen Williams for BBC Studios. Series producer is Sian Elen John and the Director is Geraint Todd.