Michael Showalter joins Annapurna Television with new production deal

Erik Anderson March 29, 2018

Showalter Establishes New Production Company Semi-Formal Productions with Jordana Mollick as President of Development and Production

Los Angeles, CA (MARCH 29, 2018) – Annapurna Television has partnered with writer, director Michael Showalter and his new production company Semi-Formal Productions, it was announced today. The multi-year, first-look deal to produce, direct, and write will cover both a current TV project in development at the company and future TV projects.

The creative alliance comes in the wake of Showalter’s critically acclaimed Critic’s Choice winner and Oscar nominated, THE BIG SICK. His other projects include the feature film, HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS, he is the co-creator of the TBS series Search Party and the co-creator for Netflix’s Wet Hot American Summer. He’s currently an executive producer and director of the Corinne Kingsbury CW pilot In The Dark with CBS TV Studios and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films. It was recently announced, that he will direct an untitled holiday comedy for Universal Pictures starring Academy Award® nominee Jessica Chastain and Academy Award® winner Octavia Spencer.

“I’m thrilled to launch Semi-Formal Productions with Jordana,” said Showalter. “She has long been a trusted colleague who always inspires me with her incredible taste in material and passion for championing artists and we are honored to partner with Sue Naegle and her team at Annapurna, who are defined by their reputation for nurturing diverse and talented writers and directors, and telling daring, inventive and contemporary stories.”

Jordana Mollick joins Semi-Formal Productions as the President of Development and Production. Mollick, an award-winning producer, was a partner at Haven Entertainment where she managed writers and directors and produced film and television. She has served as an executive producer on various shows including, In the Vault, Play by Play, and Embeds, as well as produced films such as Susanna Fogel’s directorial debut Life Partners. She also was a producer and collaborator with Showalter on HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS. Showalter’s newly formed company, Semi-Formal Productions, produces film and television that is edgy, contemporary, and socially aware, and tells commercial stories with unconventional characters that have as much heart as they do humor.

Showalter and Semi-Formal Productions are repped by Principato-Young Entertainment, UTA and Stone, Genow, Smelkinson, Binder & Christopher, LLP.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.