Nikki was like many young actresses with a screen dream: freshly graduated from Britain’s world-class performing arts education system, but needing to professionalize a résumé without any notable credits. Nikki, a pseudonym we are using to disguise her identity, asked for recommendations and thumbed through social media in search of someone who could help her film acting scenes for a showreel.
She alighted on Ryan Kirwan, a man whose business was booming at the height of the post-pandemic production frenzy. With a sharp eye for self-promotion and breezy self-confidence, Kirwan transformed himself from an actor holding puppies in pet store ads to one of the UK’s go-to showreel producers. He’d barely picked up a camera before throwing himself into a business that became a six-day-a-week job, filming scenes in the service of hundreds of Hollywood hopefuls.
After filming her showreel in June 2022, Kirwan started sending Nikki unsolicited dick pics. At first, the 33-year-old weaved an elaborate story as a way of gaining her consent for sending nude images. Later, he appeared to expose himself to Nikki in unsolicited body shots sent in the small hours of the morning. She was not alone in receiving this kind of attention from a man whom young actresses felt was a gateway to the film and TV industry. >>>Multiple Accusers |
|
| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
|
Netflix Sued Over Vax Mandate - Netflix's former Senior Manager of Risk Management is taking the streamer to court on claims ranging from sexual harassment to discrimination, retaliatory termination and now-expired Covid vaccine mandates. >>>Complaint Details
Deadpool & Wolverine Keep Clawing - Marvel Studios’ badass duo continues to rake in money for what’s shaping up to be a $21.5 million-plus Monday at the domestic box office. >>>Best-Ever Monday For R-Rated Film
Sigourney & Shakespeare - Sigourney Weaver will make her West End debut as storm-creating sorcerer Prospero in The Tempest, and Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell will play sparring lovers Benedick and Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing when Shakespeare returns this winter to the historic Theatre Royal Drury Lane. >>>Baz Bamigboye's Column
'It' Girl - KatzSmith Productions (It), the company founded by David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith, has brought on Wynn Wygal as President of Production. Wygal was most recently SVP of Production at Thomas Tull’s Teton Ridge Entertainment. >>>"The Perfect Partner"
In Brief - Earthquake signs with WME... Lance Bass signs with CAA |
|
French writer and director Fanny Herrero is best known internationally as the showrunner behind Paris set talent agency comedy-drama Call My Agent!, which was a hit in its original version and has since spawned a raft of remakes.
She has recently added a new string to her bow as one of the co-writers of the much talked about Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony, which unfolded on the River Seine on Friday.
Speaking to Deadline prior to the ceremony, Herrero said the invite from artistic director Thomas Jolly to join the co-writing team came out of the blue. >>>Read The Interview |
|
Exclusive
Emma Samms is making another comeback to General Hospital in September. Her last visit to the ABC soap kicked off in October of 2022. At that time, her character had been missing since 2020.
Exclusive
Nava Mau has joined the fifth and final season of Netflix‘s hit series You in the guest star role of Detective Marquez.
Phaedra Parks is getting her peach back and returning to The Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 16 following a six-season break and newfound fame after The Traitors USA Season 2.
In Brief - Tim Blake Nelson, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, Lois Smith, Anna Chlumsky & more to star in On The End... Lil Rel Howery, Maude Apatow & Katt Williams join buddy comedy from TriStar & Issa Rae |
|
More News
⚖️ Baby Reindeer creator and star Richard Gadd isn’t named as a defendant in Fiona Harvey’s $170 million defamation suit against Netflix over the hit black comedy, but he has filed a declaration backing the streamer in getting the action tossed out.
🎤 Usher is the next major pop star getting the theatrical concert documentary treatment. Movie theater circuit AMC Entertainment is teaming with Trafalgar Releasing and Sony Music Vision to release Usher: Rendezvous in Paris on Sept. 12 for a limited global run. Successful forays last year by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé amid a drought of releases during the strikes helped put more concert docs in the pipeline.
🤝 Unions representing 14,000 cast members at Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, Downtown Disney and the Disney hotels announced their members had voted to ratify new three-year contracts with Disney, averting a strike. 🏆 ABC is going to have to dig deep to find a host for the Oscars after Jimmy Kimmel and John Mulaney have both passed on the gig.
📺 Paramount Global has inked a multi-year affiliation agreement with Nexstar, the nation’s biggest broadcaster, covering 42 markets. The deal calls for two Paramount-owned independent stations in Miami, Florida, and Detroit, Michigan, both top 20 markets, to become affiliates of The CW Network. 🌴 The San Sebastián Film Festival has revealed a bumper Official Selection for its 72nd edition in September. The slate will include new work by established filmmakers such as Edward Berger, Gia Coppola, Costa-Gavras, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Mike Leigh, Diego Lerman, Joshua Oppenheimer, and François Ozon alongside titles by emerging filmmakers like Laura Carreira and Xin Huo.
💰 The FCC says it reached a $15 million settlement with Charter Communications after the company admitted to breaking rules surrounding 911 and network outages. |
|
Obituaries
🕯️ Survivor Africa runner up Kim Johnson, who remains the oldest woman to ever reach the final stage in the long-running reality competition, died on July 23 according to her children. She was 79. 🕯️ Erica Ash, who starred on the Starz dramedy Survivor’s Remorse and the BET series Real Husbands of Hollywood and In Contempt, and appeared in dozens of other films and TV shows including Mad TV, has died. She was 46. 🕯️ Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2024: Photo Gallery & Obituaries |
|
On the Radar
Wed - Meta earnings
Thu - Apple, Amazon earnings
Fri - Cinemark earnings
Sun - House of the Dragon S2 finale |
|
Moment Of Zen - Single-event specialist Stephen Nedoroscik waited two hours before his name was called to anchor the U.S. Men's Gymnastics team in the Summer Olympic finals, but when his time came, Nedoroscik took off his glasses and nailed his pommel horse routine. The performance earned the highest score of the night and clinching the team's first medal finish in the event in 16 years. |
|
|
