Exclusive: Christine Lubrano is swapping oddball comedies for the wrestling ring after joining WWE.
Lubrano, who was previously SVP of Original Programming & Development at the AMC Networks-owned cable channel, has joined the WWE as Senior Vice President, Creative Writing Operations.
Reporting to Brad Blum, WWE Executive Vice President, Operations, she will be responsible for overseeing all strategic operations for the company’s Creative Writing division and is charged with developing and leading a team of writers for WWE’s weekly flagship programs, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
Having spent 18 years at IFC, Lubrano (left) helped Emmy-winner Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s Portlandia and Documentary Now, created by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Armisen, become breakout hits. She also spearheaded a slate of international co-productions, including three seasons of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margret, Year of the Rabbit, and four seasons of the all-female Canadian sketch comedy show,...
Lubrano, who was previously SVP of Original Programming & Development at the AMC Networks-owned cable channel, has joined the WWE as Senior Vice President, Creative Writing Operations.
Reporting to Brad Blum, WWE Executive Vice President, Operations, she will be responsible for overseeing all strategic operations for the company’s Creative Writing division and is charged with developing and leading a team of writers for WWE’s weekly flagship programs, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
Having spent 18 years at IFC, Lubrano (left) helped Emmy-winner Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s Portlandia and Documentary Now, created by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Armisen, become breakout hits. She also spearheaded a slate of international co-productions, including three seasons of The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margret, Year of the Rabbit, and four seasons of the all-female Canadian sketch comedy show,...
- 2/1/2021
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Emmy-nominated Christine Lubrano has signed with Buchwald for scripted and unscripted programming.
She is the former SVP of Original Programming & Development for IFC with over 20 years of experience producing and developing television with deep knowledge in both scripted and unscripted programming across domestic and international marketplaces.
She was integral to the success of the Emmy Award-winning Portlandia, starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, and was the lead creative force behind the acclaimed, Emmy nominated Documentary Now, created by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Fred Armisen.
Lubrano spearheaded a slate of international co-productions, including three seasons of the comedy The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret starring David Cross, The Victorian Era comedy Year of the Rabbit starring BAFTA winner Matt Berry and four seasons of the all female Canadian sketch comedy show, The Baroness Von Sketch Show. She was also responsible for Funny or Die’s The Spoils Before Dying starring Will Ferrell,...
She is the former SVP of Original Programming & Development for IFC with over 20 years of experience producing and developing television with deep knowledge in both scripted and unscripted programming across domestic and international marketplaces.
She was integral to the success of the Emmy Award-winning Portlandia, starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, and was the lead creative force behind the acclaimed, Emmy nominated Documentary Now, created by Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Fred Armisen.
Lubrano spearheaded a slate of international co-productions, including three seasons of the comedy The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret starring David Cross, The Victorian Era comedy Year of the Rabbit starring BAFTA winner Matt Berry and four seasons of the all female Canadian sketch comedy show, The Baroness Von Sketch Show. She was also responsible for Funny or Die’s The Spoils Before Dying starring Will Ferrell,...
- 7/30/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Comedy network IFC has acquired British cult comedy Toast of London, starring The It Crowd and Disenchantment’s Matt Berry.
The cable broadcaster has picked up all three seasons of the show, totalling 18 episodes, in a deal with All3Media International.
The series, which is produced by Objective Fiction, is set to launch in 2019. Episodes have previously been available via Netflix in the U.S.
Created by Arthur Mathews and Berry, the BAFTA award winning comedy stars Berry as Steven Toast, an eccentric, middle-aged actor with a sketchy past who spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it.
The show has been a cult hit on Channel 4 in the UK and has included guest appearances from the likes of Mad Men’s Jon Hamm and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme.
IFC’s Svp of Original Programming, Christine Lubrano said, “Matt Berry is absolutely the toast of IFC,...
The cable broadcaster has picked up all three seasons of the show, totalling 18 episodes, in a deal with All3Media International.
The series, which is produced by Objective Fiction, is set to launch in 2019. Episodes have previously been available via Netflix in the U.S.
Created by Arthur Mathews and Berry, the BAFTA award winning comedy stars Berry as Steven Toast, an eccentric, middle-aged actor with a sketchy past who spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it.
The show has been a cult hit on Channel 4 in the UK and has included guest appearances from the likes of Mad Men’s Jon Hamm and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme.
IFC’s Svp of Original Programming, Christine Lubrano said, “Matt Berry is absolutely the toast of IFC,...
- 9/12/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
In real estate, location is everything, and that’s equally true of the TV business, where tax incentives, production costs and travel logistics can make the difference between whether a series set in Boston is actually shot in Boston or on a Paramount Studios soundstage. There was a time, in fact, when Los Angeles and New York were dueling hubs for small-screen productions, when if you wanted to carve out a career in TV you had to live in either city. There were no filming locations, no post-production houses. Then came cities including Vancouver and Toronto. And then Chicago, where such series as “Shameless,” “Suits,” “The Chi” and “Empire” shoot, adding an aesthetic authenticity to the storyline and poetic pulse of each show. More recently, similar up-and-coming hubs have been formed in places from coast to coast.
Portland, Ore., is a city whose reputation and identity is almost singularly informed by IFC’s “Portlandia,...
Portland, Ore., is a city whose reputation and identity is almost singularly informed by IFC’s “Portlandia,...
- 6/5/2018
- by Malina Saval
- Variety Film + TV
The line-up for the 13th Annual New York Television Festival has been officially revealed for a choice week of screenings, educational panels, fan events, and red carpets premieres. This year, truTV will present a screening of “At Home With Amy Sedaris,” while Amy Sedaris herself makes an appearance to celebrate and discuss the launch of her new comedy series.
In addition, “The Deuce” executive producer and director Michelle MacLaren, executive producer Nina Kostoff-Noble, and VP of programming Kathleen McCaffrey will discuss the HBO’s series depiction of the rise of the porn industry in 1970s New York. Executive producer and talent Dana Gould, producer and talent John C. McGinley, and talent Janet Varney will also offer fans a behind-the-scenes look into thse second season of IFC’s comedy-horror series “Stan Against Evil.”
Other standout screenings include the Season 2 premiere of TBS’s “Search Party,” where festival-goers can catch a panel...
In addition, “The Deuce” executive producer and director Michelle MacLaren, executive producer Nina Kostoff-Noble, and VP of programming Kathleen McCaffrey will discuss the HBO’s series depiction of the rise of the porn industry in 1970s New York. Executive producer and talent Dana Gould, producer and talent John C. McGinley, and talent Janet Varney will also offer fans a behind-the-scenes look into thse second season of IFC’s comedy-horror series “Stan Against Evil.”
Other standout screenings include the Season 2 premiere of TBS’s “Search Party,” where festival-goers can catch a panel...
- 9/22/2017
- by Raelyn Giansanti
- Indiewire
A little over half a year as the head of IFC's programming, Peter Aronson has put together his team. The executive vice president of original programming and production began by promoting Christine Lubrano from vice president of current series to senior vice president of original programming. Based in the network's NYC headquarters, she'll oversee all development and creative for scripted series, live events and specials and will report to Aronson. Along with Lubrano's promotion, Aronson has brought in three new hires, all of whom will report to Lubrano. Maura Madden and Jeff Meyerson will join the network as vice presidents of original programming,
read more...
read more...
- 10/21/2014
- by Bryn Elise Sandberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jon Hamm is nominated for an Emmy once again for his dramatic turn as Don Draper on "Mad Men," but he's shown that he can be a flat out comedy star, too. With his various guest appearances on "Saturday Night Live" and supporting role as Kristen Wiig's jerky non-boyfriend in "Bridesmaids," he's established a reputation as a promising funnyman, and now, he's got a brand new TV role to flex that humor muscle.
IFC today announced that Hamm has joined their series, "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret," a goofball comedy starring David Cross as a mailroom loser who fakes his way into running an energy drink company in England -- thanks to the equal incompetence of his bizarre CEO, played by "Arrested Development" co-star Will Arnett.
No role has been announced, but it will air starting in January, just as the fifth season of "Mad Men" kicks off.
IFC today announced that Hamm has joined their series, "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret," a goofball comedy starring David Cross as a mailroom loser who fakes his way into running an energy drink company in England -- thanks to the equal incompetence of his bizarre CEO, played by "Arrested Development" co-star Will Arnett.
No role has been announced, but it will air starting in January, just as the fifth season of "Mad Men" kicks off.
- 7/25/2011
- by Jordan Zakarin
- Huffington Post
Local area online faux news program to make television debut in January. The Onion News Network - the online video arm of satirical newspaper of past, present, and future, The Onion - announced in March it would make the transition to TV. The Independent Film Channel said it would develop an Onn series as part of a new, late-night line-up of comedy programming. Said series will make its debut on January 21 at 10Pm Est. Onn on IFC will showcase "the network’s top-rated prime time show, a hyperactive graphics and sound effect-laden news explosion called FactZone with Brooke Alvarez, hosted by the world’s most respected news-reader (played by real-life, former Fox News anchor Suzanne Sena). Co-host Tucker Hope (played by Todd Alan Crain, who recently hosted a special edition of Jeopardy where humans played against Hal 9000) will join Alvarez at her news desk as the duo throws to a...
- 11/22/2010
- by Joshua Cohen
- Tubefilter.com
Los Angeles (March 5, 2010) – Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, handed out top honors to Precious and Crazy Heart at this evening’s 25th Spirit Awards. (500) Days of Summer, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, An Education, Humpday, The Messenger, and A Serious Man also received awards at the milestone ceremony, held at La Live’s event deck in downtown Los Angeles and broadcast live and uncut on IFC. Acclaimed comedian Eddie Izzard was Master of Ceremonies, and Ben Stiller served as Honorary Chair.
The Spirit Awards was the first event to exclusively honor independent film, and over the past 25 years, has become the premier awards show for the independent film community, celebrating films made by filmmakers who embody independence and originality. Artists receiving industry recognition first at the Spirit Awards include Joel & Ethan Coen, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, Ashley Judd,...
The Spirit Awards was the first event to exclusively honor independent film, and over the past 25 years, has become the premier awards show for the independent film community, celebrating films made by filmmakers who embody independence and originality. Artists receiving industry recognition first at the Spirit Awards include Joel & Ethan Coen, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, Ashley Judd,...
- 3/6/2010
- Film Independent
South by Southwest
AUSTIN -- The documentary makers behind Hoop Dreams and Stevie turn their lens on capital punishment in At the Death House Door, an involving film with fresh perspectives that should ensure appeal on the activist and festival circuits.
Basically a conversion story, it centers on Carroll Pickett, a proud and righteous jailhouse chaplain in Huntsville, Texas, who sticks with a troubling job -- in almost 100 executions, he has sat with condemned men during their final hours -- despite a growing conviction that the death penalty should be abolished.
Pickett's self-administered therapy through the years has been an audio diary: cases full of audiocassettes that he makes after each execution. As he picks through the tapes, Pickett recalls details that stirringly drive home his unique perspective.
The filmmakers alternate Pickett's tale with that of a man executed on his watch: Carlos De Luna, who seems now almost certainly innocent of the crime for which he was condemned.
The investigation into his wrongful conviction (conducted by Chicago Tribune reporters) has blood-boiling dramatic potential, but the filmmakers play this angle down, using it mainly to bolster Pickett's recent anti-death-penalty activism.
The result is a picture whose appeal might not be as broad as some of the team's earlier work (or of Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line) but is strong enough in its content that it could sway fence-sitters on the issue.
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR
Independent Film Channel
Kartemquin Films
Credits:
Director-producers: Steve James, Peter Gilbert
Executive producers: Gordon Quinn, Christine Lubrano, Debbie Demontreux, Evan Shapiro, Alison Bourke
Director of photography: Peter Gilbert
Music: Leo Sidran
Co-producer: Zak Piper
Editors: Steve James, Aaron Wickenden
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
AUSTIN -- The documentary makers behind Hoop Dreams and Stevie turn their lens on capital punishment in At the Death House Door, an involving film with fresh perspectives that should ensure appeal on the activist and festival circuits.
Basically a conversion story, it centers on Carroll Pickett, a proud and righteous jailhouse chaplain in Huntsville, Texas, who sticks with a troubling job -- in almost 100 executions, he has sat with condemned men during their final hours -- despite a growing conviction that the death penalty should be abolished.
Pickett's self-administered therapy through the years has been an audio diary: cases full of audiocassettes that he makes after each execution. As he picks through the tapes, Pickett recalls details that stirringly drive home his unique perspective.
The filmmakers alternate Pickett's tale with that of a man executed on his watch: Carlos De Luna, who seems now almost certainly innocent of the crime for which he was condemned.
The investigation into his wrongful conviction (conducted by Chicago Tribune reporters) has blood-boiling dramatic potential, but the filmmakers play this angle down, using it mainly to bolster Pickett's recent anti-death-penalty activism.
The result is a picture whose appeal might not be as broad as some of the team's earlier work (or of Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line) but is strong enough in its content that it could sway fence-sitters on the issue.
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR
Independent Film Channel
Kartemquin Films
Credits:
Director-producers: Steve James, Peter Gilbert
Executive producers: Gordon Quinn, Christine Lubrano, Debbie Demontreux, Evan Shapiro, Alison Bourke
Director of photography: Peter Gilbert
Music: Leo Sidran
Co-producer: Zak Piper
Editors: Steve James, Aaron Wickenden
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/10/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
South By Southwest
AUSTIN -- Although it isn't the kind of critical investigation viewers may walk in expecting, Mike Mills' "Does Your Soul Have a Cold?" presents refreshingly sensitive, sympathetic portraits of Japanese youths suffering from clinical depression. It may not have the muckraking appeal that helps many docus at the boxoffice, but its lyrical depiction of a novel subject will be welcomed on the festival circuit and could find a niche in theatrical and small-screen exhibition.
After dramatizing a skeptical attitude toward mood-regulating pharmaceuticals in his feature debut "Thumbsucker", director Mills at first seems to have found a natural follow-up: In Japan, where the concept of depression as an illness didn't even exist a decade ago, cultural attitudes have been reinvented by the heavy-duty PR campaigns of American drug companies. Introductory titles, depicting corporations bent on popularizing a disease so they can sell its cure, indicate a critique of the ethics of drug advertising (the film's title was a widely used ad slogan); at the very least, the topic offers a unique sociological appeal.
Over the course of his interviews, though, Mills is so attuned to the micro that he largely abandons the macro. We meet individuals across the spectrum of depression, from those who are almost healthy to others on the verge of suicide. Mills is deeply curious about the daily rituals and lifestyle strategies each employs to cope with illness, and he questions subjects thoroughly about how their lives have changed since the widespread demystification of depression.
The characters aren't uniformly engaging. While Mills connects particularly well with a flamboyant S&M aficionado, whose sexual inclinations may both contribute to and help alleviate his difficulties relating to those around him, other subjects are so emotionally drained that they threaten to drag the film to a standstill.
Mills hints at a discomfort with the number of drugs these youths are being prescribed -- listing brand names and dosages, listening as they worry about life without them -- but never quite marshals these observations into a coherent point of view. Some viewers will be disappointed by the film's lack of clear polemics, seeing the occasional hard factoid as a tease and faulting Mills for an incoherent documentary perspective. Others, though, will intuit that the director's receptiveness to a subject's mood (and his knack, honed in his music-video career, for translating those moods into images) is valuable in itself, despite making him not particularly well suited to journalism.
DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD?
IFC /Netflix/Mabel Longhetti Group
Credits:
Director: Mike Mills
Producers: Callum Greene, Mike Mills, Takuo Yasuda
Executive producers: Alison Palmer Bourke, Christine Lubrano, Debbie Demontreux, Evan Shapiro
Directors of photography: James Frohna, D.J. Harder
Editor: Andrew Dickler
Running time -- 81 minutes
No MPAA rating...
AUSTIN -- Although it isn't the kind of critical investigation viewers may walk in expecting, Mike Mills' "Does Your Soul Have a Cold?" presents refreshingly sensitive, sympathetic portraits of Japanese youths suffering from clinical depression. It may not have the muckraking appeal that helps many docus at the boxoffice, but its lyrical depiction of a novel subject will be welcomed on the festival circuit and could find a niche in theatrical and small-screen exhibition.
After dramatizing a skeptical attitude toward mood-regulating pharmaceuticals in his feature debut "Thumbsucker", director Mills at first seems to have found a natural follow-up: In Japan, where the concept of depression as an illness didn't even exist a decade ago, cultural attitudes have been reinvented by the heavy-duty PR campaigns of American drug companies. Introductory titles, depicting corporations bent on popularizing a disease so they can sell its cure, indicate a critique of the ethics of drug advertising (the film's title was a widely used ad slogan); at the very least, the topic offers a unique sociological appeal.
Over the course of his interviews, though, Mills is so attuned to the micro that he largely abandons the macro. We meet individuals across the spectrum of depression, from those who are almost healthy to others on the verge of suicide. Mills is deeply curious about the daily rituals and lifestyle strategies each employs to cope with illness, and he questions subjects thoroughly about how their lives have changed since the widespread demystification of depression.
The characters aren't uniformly engaging. While Mills connects particularly well with a flamboyant S&M aficionado, whose sexual inclinations may both contribute to and help alleviate his difficulties relating to those around him, other subjects are so emotionally drained that they threaten to drag the film to a standstill.
Mills hints at a discomfort with the number of drugs these youths are being prescribed -- listing brand names and dosages, listening as they worry about life without them -- but never quite marshals these observations into a coherent point of view. Some viewers will be disappointed by the film's lack of clear polemics, seeing the occasional hard factoid as a tease and faulting Mills for an incoherent documentary perspective. Others, though, will intuit that the director's receptiveness to a subject's mood (and his knack, honed in his music-video career, for translating those moods into images) is valuable in itself, despite making him not particularly well suited to journalism.
DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD?
IFC /Netflix/Mabel Longhetti Group
Credits:
Director: Mike Mills
Producers: Callum Greene, Mike Mills, Takuo Yasuda
Executive producers: Alison Palmer Bourke, Christine Lubrano, Debbie Demontreux, Evan Shapiro
Directors of photography: James Frohna, D.J. Harder
Editor: Andrew Dickler
Running time -- 81 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 4/17/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.