Aron Levitz: Celebs Rumors

Carson Burton Wattpad Webtoon Studios has expanded its structure with a new animation division and a variety of hires and promotions across international film and television departments. The expansion marks the first large reorganization the company has undergone since veteran TV executive David Madden joined the studio as head of global entertainment in July.Television executive Sera Tabb has joined Wattpad Webtoon Studios as head of global television, and Lindsey Weems Ramey has been elevated to head of global film.

EXCLUSIVE: Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment is partnering with Wattpad Webtoon Studios to develop a feature adaptation of Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell, the hit comic from the creator known as Unfins, which has thus far garnered more than 160 million views on digital comic publishing platform, Webtoon.

EXCLUSIVE: Venezuelan author Ariana Godoy’s Spanish-language webnovel Sigue Mi Voz is being adapted into a feature film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Online story platform Wattpad and Thai media firm GMMTV have joined forces to adapt digital comic “My ID Is Gangnam Beauty!” for TV. The show will begin production this summer and be known as “Beauty Newbie” when it begins airing on GMMTV in early 2024. The adaptation will follow Liu, a young woman who feels the need to get plastic surgery, and Guy, who is seen as having a perfect face. The show asks whether, in a world that judges and criticizes based on appearance, romance can blossom between two people who see themselves so differently?  The underlying webtoon by Maenggi Ki has been viewed 1.4 billion times and has a significant following in Thailand, where Korean culture is popular and beauty pageants remain a mainstay of mass TV.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla In a time of reboots, remakes and sequels, Wattpad Webtoon is aiming to bring more original stories to Hollywood and counter that franchise bloat. As Wattpad Webtoon Studios president Aron Levitz tells Variety, the goal is to show production banners and media platforms that loyal webcomic and series fans will tune in to their TV adaptations of those titles.

TV industry veteran David Madden, who most recently served as President of Berlanti Productions, has been named Head of Global Entertainment at Wattpad Webtoon Studios, the global entertainment and publishing arm for Webtoon and Wattpad.

Fremantle has struck a deal with Wattpad Webtoon Studios to develop a slate of European projects adapted from Spanish, Italian and English-language stories with existing global fandoms.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentWattpad Webtoon Studios, the user-generated fiction entertainment outfit, and Italy’s Leone Film Group have announced a deal to co-develop a slate of films for the Italian and international marketplace based on original fiction stories from Wattpad.The pact is an expansion of their previously announced deal to make a film based on Blair Holden’s “The Bad Boy’s Girl,” which is among the most popular stories on the storytelling platform.Australian writer Hannah Lehman, whose series “Two Sides,” released under Snapchat’s ‘Snap Originals’ in 2019, started out with a self-made pilot and reached 6.5 million views on Facebook, is set to pen the script.Lehman also wrote and directed Facebook Watch’s first ever digital series, “The Unboxing.” Leone Film Group has now also optioned the full series of novels in “The Bad Boy’s Girl” saga, which has more than 223 million reads on the platform.Aside from the “Bad Boy’s Girl” franchise, the plan is to develop 1-3 films per year through “a wide-ranging partnership on projects for young adult audiences that we select and co-develop and co-produce together,” Leone Film Group CEO Raffaella Leone (pictured) told Variety. “These will be Italian productions for global distribution,” she added.“Leone Film Group understands the power of listening to audiences and nurturing fandoms,” said Aron Levitz, president at Wattpad Webtoon Studios, in a statement.

EXCLUSIVE: Arrow and The Hobbit actor Manu Bennett is joining Kiana Madeira (Trinkets), Ross Butler (13 Reasons Why) and Matthew Noszka (Star) in YA movie Perfect Addiction.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla Following the success of Netflix Spanish-language teen flick “A través de mi ventana” (“Through My Window”), from Wattpad author and influencer, Ariana Godoy, Wattpad Webtoon Studios is doubling down on its Spanish-language content with plans to adapt two massive YA hits for the screen. Alex Mírez’s “Pefectos Mentirosos,” which has garnered over 105 million readers, will be produced out of Mexico as a TV series, and Flor.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorWattpad, a top user-contributed fiction app, is combining its TV, film and books division with the studio operations of digital comics platform Webtoon. The combo comes a month after South Korea-based Naver, Webtoon’s owner, closed the $600 million acquisition of Wattpad.Naver said it will fund the newly merged Wattpad Webtoon Studios with a commitment of $100 million for development and production financing — aiming to produce a broad new slate of fan-driven entertainment on a global basis.Wattpad Webtoon Studios will be led by president Aron Levitz (pictured above), who has overseen Wattpad Studios since it was formed in 2016.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThere may be 8 million stories in the naked city. But there are 1 billion — and counting — on the user-generated fiction app Wattpad.Wattpad Studios head Aron Levitz and his team comb through the contributions of more than 4 million writers from around the world on the platform.