
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY – The lady may protest too much, but she’s about to get her due.
On Thursday, ABC announced it is partnering with Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap, as well as Hoodlum and ABC International, to produce a 10-part series retelling the works of Shakespeare from the female perspective.
According to ABC, the project will be led by a female creative team and produce 10 standalone episodes. Each episode will be based on one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated plays updated to reflect our contemporary world. The project will be produced in Australia and filming is set to begin in late 2018.
“We are thrilled about this Australian partnership as an opportunity to showcase unique, distinctly female voices in writing, and to demonstrate the high quality of the Australian film and television industry. The project will share diverse points of view, from writers representing the different cultures and areas within Australia, which many would not readily associate with works of Shakespeare,” said LuckyChap Entertainment in a statement.
The project is intended to reflect a wide range of cultures and areas. Giula Sandler created the concept and will oversee the series, as well as writing one episode.
Managing Director of ABC Studios International Keli Lee said, “ABC Studios International is thrilled to be a partner in this unique project. This production is a chance to create something classic yet boldly original and modern. The works of Shakespeare are iconic and this will present them in a way they’ve never been seen before.” (source)

DEADLINE – Bold Films will finance the Margot Robbie project Dangerous Odds in which the I, Tonya Best Actress Oscar nominee will play cleaning lady-turned-illegal sports betting empire boss Marisa Lankester. The project was picked up in turnaround from Warner Bros., where Robbie’s production company LuckyChap Entertainment has a first-look deal.
The project is based on Lankester’s memoir Dangerous Odds: My Secret Life Inside an Illegal Billion-Dollar Sports Betting Operation, which originally was won by Warner Bros. in a January 2015 auction as exclusively reported by Deadline. LuckyChap and Entertainment 360, the production arm of Management 360, will produce with Bold, and the feature is based on a script by Andrea Berloff (Straight Outta Compton).
Lankester’s rags-to-riches tale is set during the 1980s as she rises through the ranks and takes on a pivotal role establishing the first offshore gambling operation, growing it into a billion-dollar-a-year criminal empire.
Said Bold Films Chairman Michel Litvak: “We are incredibly excited to work with Oscar-nominated actress Margot Robbie at this momentous time in her career. She will do an amazing job bring this thrilling true story and fascinating character to life.”
Added Bold Films CEO Gary Michael Walters, who is serving as EP with Svetlana Metkina: “It’s a great character; it’s a female Scarface in the rise of this great criminal operation under the leadership of a very savvy woman. Margot Robbie is an extraordinary actress and couldn’t be hotter right now. She is so versatile and strong with comedy, drama and action — she really is the full package, and that’s rare. She’s built up a great production company with LuckyChap.”
These type of independent films in the budget range of $25M-$35M are Bold’s sweet spot, and there’s a strong appetite for such fare in the current indie marketplace. Robbie’s film canon has reaped close to $1.9 billion at the global box office.
“We are building LuckyChap off of a passion to tell female-driven stories that feel original, unique and rebellious in nature,” LuckyChap Entertainment said. “We found all of this in Marisa’s story and couldn’t be more excited to partner with Bold Films and 360 to bring Dangerous Odds to the screen.” (source)

THE WRAP – RLJE Films, a brand of RLJ Entertainment, has acquired the U.S. rights to Vaughn Stein’s noir thriller, “Terminal,” the company announced Wednesday.
Margot Robbie, Simon Pegg, Mike Myers, Max Irons and Dexter Fletcher star in the film, which has a planned release for the spring of 2018. Stein also wrote the screenplay for the film.
“Terminal” follows the intertwined tales of two assassins carrying out a mission, a teacher with a fatal illness, an enigmatic janitor and a waitress who lives a double life.
“We’re excited to work with Margot Robbie, who not only stars in, but also produced this amazing film,” said Mark Ward, Chief Acquisitions Officer for RLJE Films. “With her passion for the project, Margot leads a talented cast who takes audiences for a mystery ride in this highly anticipated thriller.”
“I am delighted and excited to be working with RLJE on ‘Terminal,’ who share both our vision and passion for the film,” said director Vaughn Stein. “We are all extremely proud of ‘Terminal’ and look forward to sharing it with the U.S. audiences later this year.” (source)

DEADLINE – Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment has closed a two-year first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television. The company already has sold its first project under the pact, drama Shattered Glass to NBC.
Created and written by Kat Blasband Page, Shattered Glass, which is not related to the journalism-themed movie of the same name, is described as House of Cards meets Revenge. It is an empowering post-feminist revenge fantasy set in the world of Wall Street in which a trio of modern women come together to shatter their respective glass ceilings, taking no prisoners along the way.
Robbie and Brett Hedblom will executive produce for LuckyChap Entertainment alongside Patti Carr who will serve as showrunner. Page is co-executive producing.
“We are so excited by this new relationship with Warner Brothers Television,” LuckyChap Principles Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara said in a joint statement. “It has come after a great year for LuckyChap in which we have gradually been building a television slate overseen by our executive Brett Hedblom. We continue to strive to tell female stories in both Film and TV, and are immensely proud that our first two shows are created by, written by and starring women.”
The first two TV series projects for the company are Shattered Glass and recently sold half-hour comedy Dollface, created/written by Jordan Weiss and starring Kat Denning, which is set up at Hulu.
On the feature side, LuckyChap, which has a first-look deal with Warner Bros., produced the Golden Globe-nominated film I, Tonya and just wrapped production on the independent film Dreamland. The company is repped by Management 360, CAA and attorney Jeff Bernstein. (source)