Micaela Diamond Set For Jenny Lester Directing Debut; God’s Gang Adds To Advisory Board; ‘The Rest Is…’ Franchise Expands; Prime Video India Updates — Global Briefs

Micaela Diamond Set For Jenny Lester's Directing Debut 'Our Bodies & Other Shames'

EXCLUSIVE: Actor and producer Jenny Lester is making her directorial debut with Our Bodies & Other Shames, with Micaela Diamond among the leads. The indie flick is written by Malka Wallick, who will also star alongside Diamond (Grotesquerie), Gideon Adlon (Blockers) and Alyssa Reiner (The Diplomat). The plot follows three childhood girlfriends, who gather together for a sleepover in the Brooklyn of their youth when one is diagnosed with breast cancer and are confronted by their younger shelves for a night of memories, secrets and the meaning what it is to truly go home. Producers say Our Bodies & Other Shames "transports us to a world where friendship is the religion and The Spice Girls are the prayer." Production has just wrapped in Brooklyn, with Girl Gang Productions, Monica Arsenault and Wallick producing. "In a time of rising and violent anti-semitism, it feels more vital than ever to be telling stories of Jewish humanity and joy," said Lester, who is co-founder of Shallow Graves Productions and has acting credits including HBO's The Other Two and Bad Jews. "I feel so lucky to be working on this beautiful script that centers Jewish women and girls in all their beautiful, chaotic and complicated fullness," she added. Adlon is represented by UTA, Diamond by CAA and Viking Entertainment, Wallick by Girl Gang and Reiner by Paradigm Talent Agency.

God's Gang Adds Réka Temple To Advisory Board

EXCLUSIVE: Kids company God's Gang Ltd. has added Cinemon Entertainment exec producer Réka Temple to it advisory board. The industry veteran has three decades of experience in the film and TV businesses, with over 300 series episodes and 12 feature film credits. Notably, she worked at Loonland Media, overseeing productions in New York, LA, London, Munich and Seoul. She has Secretary General of the Hungarian Producers Association and has led several other bodies. Cinemon's 2023 film Four Souls of Coyote won the Beast Feature Jury Award at Annoy and Best Animation Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival. At God's Gang, Temple will oversee timelines, deliveries and quality processes of new episodes in production, along with development and production of future eps. The God's Gang advisory board includes Bruce Daitch, former COO and CFO of DreamWorks Animation and VP of Animation at Netflix; Sheri Conn, former Vice President of Marketing at Disney and Head of Worldwide Television Brand Marketing at DreamWorks Animation; and Bruno Zarka, former President of Distribution, and Co-Production for the TV Division of Toonz Media Group. A restructured board will now see Jon Sumroy moving from a CMO role to COO, working alongside Nimrod Avraham May, who founded God's Gang and created the animated series of the same name, to deliver more episodes. Libby Alpert has been promoted to CMO to replace him. Martial arts expert and Shaolin monk Gene Ching is also joining God's Gang's interfaith council as Buddhism advisor. The group already includes a rabbi, an imam, a pastor and a Hindu specialist. The God's Gang pilot, which has been viewed three million times, brings together martial arts heroes from Islamic, Christian, Hindu and Jewish backgrounds who go on adventures together.

'The Rest Is...' Franchise Expands To Espionage

The Rest is... universe is expanding once again, this time into the world of espionage. The popular podcast franchise has unveiled The Rest is Classified, which it said will "plunge listeners into the secretive world of espionage, spies, and covert operations." Hosted by former CIA analyst David McCloskey and national security journalist Gordon Corera, the show will provide insight into global intelligence from down the years. Episode 1 is the first of a two-part series exploring the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, uncovering the secret history behind the event. The Rest is... franchise includes the likes of The Rest is History, The Rest is Politics and The Rest is Football, all of which perform well in podcast charts. "The Rest Is Classified will delve deep into the world of espionage, giving listeners an insider's perspective. It won't just debunk myths or challenge fictional portrayals of spies — it will reveal the real, often astonishing, events behind these stories revealing how the truth is often wilder than the fiction," said Corera.

Prime Video India To Premiere 'The Rana Daggubati Show' At IFFI

Prime Video India is headed to the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to premiere Telugu-language series The Rana Daggubati Show, a celebrity talk show in which Rana Daggubati welcomes gusts such as S.S. Rajamouli, Dulquer Salmaan, Naga Chaitanya Akkineni, Nani, Rishab Shetty. The eight-ep show launches globally later this week, with new episodes dropping every Saturday. At IFFI, Prime Video will also be giving an international premier feature film The Mehta Boys, which is Boman Irani's directorial debut. Further news sees Prime Video India acquiring rights to New Zealand's upcoming cricket matches. Prime members will be able to stream T20s, ODIs and tests. This follows New Zealand's historic 3-0 victory in the recent Test series in India, marking the first time the Indian team had lost on home soil since 2012 and New Zealand's first test wins in India since the 1988/89 season.