The Hideaway Entertainment and Fictionz have partnered to launch the podcast series Blue Is for Nightmares, based on Laurie Faria Stolarz’s bestselling YA witchcraft book series, and will also develop the books for TV.

The Hideaway Entertainment has promoted Kristy Grisham to SVP of Development and Production, upping Ryan Cassells to Director of Development and Production, and tapping Jennifer Cox as Creative Executive. The company’s expansion reflects a recent initiative to ramp up their slate by buying and optioning books, screenplays, life rights and other IP in all stages of development.

J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the creator-EPs behind Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, have set up their 2017 Black List screenplay Escape with The Hideaway Entertainment (Cherry), tapping James Watkins (AMC+’s upcoming The Ipcress File, The Woman in Black) to direct.

The Hideaway Entertainment has come aboard Sleep Train, a genre-bending comedy written by Andrew Nunnelly. The film billed as Game Night meets Inception follows a couple sleep training their child over the course of one delirious night.

The Wolf of Wall Street and The Sopranos scribe Terence Winter has been set to write the script for Otherwise Illegal Activity, based on the true story of a recently de-classified undercover operation. The film is centered on an American convict recruited from behind bars by the Joint Terrorism Task Force to infiltrate the circle of a prominent community leader suspected of harboring large-scale plans to commit acts of terrorism on U.S. soil.

The co-writer of 'Hacksaw Ridge' and Tony winner for 'All the Way' will adapt the best-selling book by Martin Gray, a Holocaust survivor who built a new life in post-war America and France.

The execs behind The Hideaway Entertainment discuss their move away from big-budget fare to more intimate dramas, why the theatrical business will survive the streaming age and what it’s like to bomb in Cannes.