movies

Octavia Spencer’s Orit Entertainment Names New Heads Of Film & TV

Published

1 day ago

June 25, 2026

EXCLUSIVE: Octavia Spencer‘s Orit Entertainment has made two key executive hires, naming Kathryn Tyus-Adair as Head of Film and Adam Wagner as Head of Television.

“Kathryn and Adam are exceptional executives, and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome them to the company, said Spencer. “They each bring an incredible depth of experience and a passion for storytelling. Their leadership and relationships make them invaluable additions as we continue to build the next chapter at Orit.”

As Head of Film, Tyus-Adair will oversee the company’s feature film development and production strategy. A veteran executive and producer, she most recently served as Senior Vice President of Original Programming at Starz, where she oversaw series including BMF, The Serpent Queen, Blindspotting, Run the World, Step Up, Vida and Ava DuVernay’s UNT. She also served as an executive on Power, Outlander and The Spanish Princess.

Prior to Starz, Tyus-Adair worked in development at NBCUniversal’s UTV Studios, where her credits include producing St. Vincent starring Bill Murray and overseeing projects including House of Lies, The Guard, Kidnap, The Horse Whisperer, A Civil Action, Soul Food, Barbershop and Men of Honor.

“What an honor it is to join forces with a visionary like Octavia Spencer and the delightful Adam Wagner as Orit mines and expands its already prolific slate,” said Tyus-Adair. “Octavia’s Academy award-winning talent as an actor echoes in her impeccable taste in the material she produces that crosses genres and speaks to myriad audiences. I’m inspired by her voracious appetite for quality content and by her incredible work ethic. Plus, she is exactly the wonderful human you’d want her to be. Feeling lucky, humbled and grateful to be part of her team.”

As Head of Television, Wagner will oversee Orit’s scripted television development and production slate. He joins the company from MRC, where he served as Senior Vice President of Television and was part of the senior creative team behind Amazon’s The Terminal List franchise, including the upcoming second season of The Terminal List and The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. While at MRC, he also developed Rabbit, Rabbit, which sold to Netflix and is currently in production. Previously, Wagner served as President of Miguel Sapochnik’s 1:26 Pictures, which produced HBO’s House of the Dragon. Earlier in his career, he held executive positions at Jason Bateman’s Aggregate Films, 20th Century Fox under Emma Watts, Scott Rudin Productions and Alexander Payne’s Ad Hominem Enterprises.

“It’s a privilege to join Octavia at Orit Entertainment,” added Wagner. “She is one of the most celebrated actresses of her generation, having earned every bit of her success through determination and hard work. I couldn’t ask to join a more exciting team alongside Kathryn. As we endeavor to identify rich, complex stories and collaborate with the best storytellers to bring them to the screen, we’re eager to push boundaries for audiences around the globe.”

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Catherine Herridge Petitions Supreme Court To Halt $800 Daily Fine

Published

3 minutes ago

June 27, 2026

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With an $800 daily fine soon going into effect over her 2024 civil contempt ruling, Fox News alum Catherine Herridge‘s legal team has petitioned for a stay after she was ordered to reveal her sources for her 2017 stories about Yanping Chen.

After the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit upheld judge Christopher R. Cooper’s ruling on Tuesday, Herridge’s appellate attorney Paul D. Clement filed the petition on Friday, to which supreme court chief justice John Roberts issued a stay of the appeal’s courts rulings, giving Chen until July 1 to file a response.

As free press advocates rail against the privacy act lawsuit, Fox News commended the stay in a statement shared with The Guardian.

“We are pleased with the supreme court’s decision to temporarily stay the deeply troubling contempt order,” a spokesperson said. “Fox News stands firmly behind the first amendment and the principle that reporters must be able to do their jobs without the threat of crippling fines or forced exposure of their sources.”

Meanwhile, Chen’s attorney Andy Phillips said, “Both the district and circuit courts have now ruled five times over that Ms Herridge has no privilege to continue to shield the identity of a federal official who broke the law and abused his or her position to cause harm to an American citizen by leaking protected materials. We are confident that the supreme court will reach the same result.”

In February 2024, Judge Cooper found Herridge in civil contempt of his order that she reveal the source of stories that reported on a federal investigation of Chen, a naturalized U.S. citizen who founded the University of Management and Technology in Virginia. The stories had to do with Chen’s affiliations with the Chinese military. The FBI investigation examined statements she made on immigration forms about her work in China in the 1980s.

Chen was not charged, but sued the federal government, claiming that someone leaked information about her to Herridge and Fox in violation of the Privacy Act.

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Mira Sorvino Marks First Day Of ‘Romy & Michele’ Sequel Filming

Published

2 hours ago

June 27, 2026

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Mira Sorvino is giving fans a long-awaited reunion with the Romy and Michele sequel, which kicked off production this month.

On Friday, the Oscar winner expressed her gratitude and shared “thoughts from our first day” of filming the Tim Federle-helmed sequel to Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997), for which writer Robin Schiff has returned to pen the script.

“OK, I just want to document the fact that we finished the first day of Romy and Michele 2, and ‘one day’ has become day one,” she said in a video on Instagram. “After 30 years, we have a sequel. This is the biggest dream project ever, and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Sorvino added in the caption, “I am so full of gratitude my heart could burst!!”

Earlier this month, Sorvino and co-star Lisa Kudrow reunited as the eponymous fashionistas, as 20th Century Studios announced that production had begun on the film, which will stream as a Hulu Original.

In the first film, former outcasts Romy (Sorvino) and Michele (Kudrow) travel from Los Angeles to Tucson for their 10-year high school reunion, where they pose as the inventors of Post-its to impress their fellow alums, only for the pair to realize their life is so much more fun when they’re being themselves.

Alan Cumming, Janeane Garofalo, Camryn Manheim and Julia Campbell are confirmed to reprise their roles, with Keegan-Michael Key, Rob Huebel, Breckin Meyer, Patrick Warburton and Nathan Lee Graham also joining the ensemble.

Directed and produced by Federle and written by Schiff, Laurence Mark is returning as producer. Barry Kemp returns as executive producer, alongside Sorvino, Kudrow and Schiff. Kimberly McCullough serves as co-producer.

With costume designer Mona May returning, the creative team also includes director of photography Marco Fargnoli, production designer Hillary Gurtler and editor Brian Olds. Sarah Shepard is overseeing the project for 20th Century Studios.

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Harvey Weinstein L.A. Sex Crimes Conviction Upheld; Sentence To Be Revised

Published

2 hours ago

June 27, 2026

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A day after scoring a mistrial win of sorts in his latest New York rape case, Harvey Weinstein was hit with a big loss in L.A. as an appeals court refused to overturn the once powerful and much accused producer’s 2022 West Coast sexual assault conviction – with a twist.

`The sentence is vacated and the matter is remanded for re-sentencing,” a posting online for California 2nd District Court of Appeal said Friday. “In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed,” the unanimous decision by a trio of judges added of the 2024 launched appeal.

That re-sentencing order will see the 16 years stint in prison for rape and other sex crimes that LA Superior Court Judge Lisa B. Lench put forth in February 2023 tossed out with the reset button swiped

That sentence three years ago against the now 74-year-old ailing Weinstein was based in part on the 23 years in prison that the Pulp Fiction producer was given in in 2020 after being convicted by a NYC jury. All good and done, until that 2020 sex crimes sentence was tossed out in April 2024 and a new Empire State trial ordered by the New York Court of Appeals in a 4-3 ruling.

Today, the appeal panel stated in their 112-page ruling that Judge Lench “imposed an upper term sentence based on a now-invalid aggravating factor.”

More than likely, based on Golden State statutes, the eight years Weinstein received for the forcible oral copulation conviction will be reduced by a couple of years. All in all, Weinstein will probably end up with a 12 to 14 year new total sentence from Judge Lench.

Also in the mix on the other side of the nation, after two more mixed verdict trials, the June 25 choice by the Manhattan D.A. not to pursue a fourth rape trial for the incarcerated Weinstein came after accuser Jessica Mann understandably decided she did not want to testify again. A sentencing in the convictions out of the retrials is expected in the fall in NYC.

Out West, a parallel legal process has had its own stops and starts.

Following an almost two-month City of Angels trial, the jury found Weinstein guilty on December 19 2022 on all counts in relation to Jane Doe #1. Yet, the panel of eight men and four women in the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center said the producer was not guilty of sexual battery of Jane Doe #2. Further complicating things, the jury were deadlocked on charges on Jane Doe #3 and Jane Doe #4, that latter being California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

In Friday’s ruling itself, after April 23 oral arguments by prosecutors and defense, the panel of judges made a point of dismissing Weinstein’s defense teams contention that Judge Lench incorrectly allowed other accusers to take the stand in LA in 2002 to tell of their horrific experiences with the innocence insisting producer. The words from those women “was relevant to show his propensity to commit the sexual offenses charged in this case,” the appeal panel stated.

Unsurprisingly, Weinstein’s team aren’t taking the hit laying down.

“This is not the end of the appellate process,” a Weinstein rep said Friday after the appeal ruling. “We intend to seek review in the California Supreme Court because we continue to believe significant legal errors affected the proceedings and warrant further review.”