Film and TV Briefing: Friday 27 March 2026
Welcome to this week’s round-up of news, commentary and industry announcements that you may have missed from the past week.
If you are looking for advice in relation to any of the issues mentioned, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
In the news
Shareholder vote set by Warner Bros. Discovery on sale to Paramount (Deadline)
Stephen Colbert's new ‘Lord of the Rings’ film in development at Warner Bros (BBC News)
Focus of ‘Bridgerton’ season 5 revealed (IndieWire)
First trailer for new ‘Harry Potter’ TV show revealed (BBC News)
Amazon MGM Studio's biggest opening weekend to date with ‘Project Hail Mary’ and ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ success (ScreenDaily)
Upcoming BBC film about Damilola Taylor murder to star John Boyega (BBC News)
Why new Robert Pattinson Zendaya romcom is clouded in controversy (The Guardian)
Singer Duffy to talk about sexual assault ordeal in new Disney+ documentary (BBC News)
Ex-Google boss Matt Brittin appointed as new BBC Director General (BBC News)
Features and commentary
‘Manosphere' Opinion: should men make documentaries about sexism? (IndieWire)
Why ‘The Bachelor’ franchise should not have broken the rules for Taylor Frankie Paul (The Hollywood Reporter)
‘Doctor Who’ boss on the dangers of online hate being assumed as fan voice (Variety)
Death of groundbreaking deal between Disney and OpenAI demonstrates threat of Big Tech to Hollywood (Deadline)
Ryan Gosling on whose job it is to save cinema (Variety)
A word from the writers as 'The Office' celebrates its twentieth birthday (The Hollywood Reporter)
Industry announcements
BFI announces Global Screen Fund budget increases for 2026 to 2029 (BFI)
2026 BAFTA Television Awards: nominations announced (Guardian)
Scott Sargeant appointed head of UK theatrical distribution at Amazon MGM Studios (ScreenDaily)
Strategy to expand scripted production revenues includes BBC studio development investment increase (Broadcast)
Legal updates
Producer of ‘House of Cards' loses $29m insurance trial due to 2017 Kevin Spacey dismissal (Variety)
