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Freeform has ordered a pilot for the comedy Single Drunk Female. The series is to star Sofia Black-D’Elia as an alcoholic who is forced to move back with her mother, played by Ally Sheedy, to sober up. The pilot will also star Rebecca Henderson, Lily Mae Harrington, and Garrick Bernard.

Simone Finch serves as writer and executive producer on the pilot. Leslye Headland will direct and executive produce; Jenni Konner and Phil Traill will also executive produce. 20th Television will produce. Finch is represented by Matt Sugarman and Shaun Gordon.

You can read the full Variety article here.

Treefort Media, the podcast company behind the audio series Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood, has struck a deal with Village Roadshow Entertainment Group to cross-develop and produce podcasts and television series.

In addition to Fatal Voyage, Treefort Media is also known for Keegan-Michael Key’s NFL series Drafted and podcast spin-offs of TV series and films including Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story and For Life. Treefort Media is represented by Shaun Gordon.

Read the full Deadline article here.

Sacramento, CA (January 1, 2021) – Weintraub Tobin, a leading California full-service law firm, is pleased to announce that Meagan D. Bainbridge, Jessica R. Corpuz, Josh H. Escovedo, and Daniel C. Kim have been elected Shareholders in the Firm.

Meagan Bainbridge is a member of Weintraub’s Labor and Employment and Litigation practice groups, where she assists employers in all aspects of their employment relationship with their employees. Meagan is an experienced trial attorney, and has successfully litigated a wide variety of issues in both state and federal courts as well as before various administrative agencies for clients in a wide range of industries. In addition, she provides advice, counsel, and training to employers concerning their workplace policies, practices, and personnel decisions. Meagan is a frequent presenter on employment law topics and contributes regularly to the Labor and Employment Law Blog.

Jessica Corpuz is a member of the Firm’s Litigation practice group, where she handles complex commercial disputes with a focus on entertainment and intellectual property litigation. Jessica has successfully represented clients in trial, arbitration, and appeal, including securing multimillion-dollar jury verdicts, resolving or eliminating high-value adverse claims prior to trial, as well as published reversals of adverse trial court rulings on appeal. Jessica has handled litigation related to licensing and distribution agreements, private equity acquisitions and corporate transactions, international law, breach of contract, fraud, and complex judgment collection, among others.  Jessica gives presentations on civil procedure and trial strategy and writes for the Intellectual Property Law Blog.

In an article in the Sacramento Business Journal, Felicia Alvarez writes that the owner of popular local sushi restaurant Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine has filed a lawsuit against his business partners Madrow-Bazett, Inc. for alleged acts of misconduct and mismanagement of funds. Gary Bradus, who represents Madrow-Bazett, is quoted in the story:

Modrow-Bazett denies the allegations that are in the complaint,” he said. “There have been disagreements regarding the operations of the business.

You can read the full article here.

Feature adaptation Black of comic series Black Mask by co-creators Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith 3 has been acquired by Warner Bros. The script was written by DC’s  Titans producer Jeff Robinov, who will also produce along with Guy Danella, and John Graham from Studio 8 with Black Mask Studio’s Matteo Pizzolo and Brett Gurewitz. Osajyefo and Smith are also co-producers on the project. Osajyefo came up with the concept about a universe where only Black people possess superpowers for the comic, which has gained recognition after raising money from a Kickstarter campaign. Matt Sugarman represents Osajyefo and Smith.

Read the full Deadline article here.

Made Up Stories and Snoot Entertainment have partnered up and optioned the rights to the adult sci-fi novel written by Christopher Paolini To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. Paolini will adapt the book along with his sister and collaborator Angela Paolini.  The Paolinis are clients of Matt Sugarman.

Paolini is author of Eragon which landed him #1 on the New York Times best selling authors list by the age of 19. The book was adapted into a major motion picture in 2006.

You can read the full article on Deadline.

Matt Sugarman’s client Noelle Stevenson will write and executive produce Lumberjanes, an animated series. The special is currently in development for HBO Max. Lumberjanes is a comic book originally created by Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Brooklyn A. Allen in 2014. The book has won many awards for its strong LGBTQ representation and female friendship.

Stevenson was a showrunner for She-Ra and the Princesses of Power for Netflix and DreamWorks Animation which received many GLAAD and Emmy nominations. Her other works include graphic novels, Nimona, and The Fire Never Goes Out: A Memoir in Pictures. 

You can read the full Hollywood Reporter article here.