World
‘Those About to Die’ Producer AGC Studios Ups Lourdes Diaz to Partner, Board Member
AGC Studios chief creative officer Lourdes Diaz has signed a new multi-year employment agreement and has been elevated to partner with a seat on the board of the independent film and television studio.
The promotion comes on the back of founders Stuart Ford, chairman and CEO, and Miguel Palos, chief operating office, themselves signing new multi-year agreements late last year.
Since AGC launched in 2018, it has become one of Hollywood’s leading production and financing players, with 41 major film and TV productions under its belt.
In a statement, Ford and Palos said Diaz had been a “hugely influential contributor to the company’s explosive growth.”
They added: “Aside from building a highly respected scripted television operation, in her broader role as chief creative officer she has shaped key decisions on the feature film and unscripted sides of the company, helped kickstart our Family and YA division and has made us a very visible player in the Hispanic film and TV sector.”
This year is shaping up to be AGC’s busiest yet. In July, Peacock will launch the studio’s $155 million 10-hour first season of ancient Rome gladiatorial epic “Those About to Die” from director Roland Emmerich.
AGC is also in post-production on Ron Howard’s psychological thriller feature “Eden,” starring Ana De Armas, Jude Law, Sydney Sweeney, Vanessa Kirby and Daniel Brühl, and Justin Kurzel’s white supremacist thriller “The Order,” starring Law, Nicholas Hoult and Tye Sheridan. Will Smith action thriller “Sugar Bandits” is in pre-production.
AGC-financed and produced features “Poolman,” from director Chris Pine, Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man,” starring Glen Powell and Adria Arjona, Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut “Woman of the Hour” and Brad Anderson’s crime thriller “The Silent Hour,” starring Joel Kinnaman and Mark Strong, will be released this year, along with season 2 of Amazon crime drama “Troppo,” starring Thomas Jane.
Other 2024 releases are Christian Ditter’s family comedy “The Present,” starring Greg Kinnear and Isla Fisher, eight-part espionage drama “Gray,” starring Patricia Clarkson, Lydia West and Rupert Everett, and feature documentary “Transition,” co-produced with Matthew Heineman’s Our Time Projects.
AGC Intl. is also a worldwide sales and distribution partner on Rupert Wyatt’s Arabian epic “Desert Warrior,” starring Anthony Mackie and Ben Kingsley, Matt Tyrenaur’s feature documentary biopic “Nobu,” upcoming Sylvester Stallone thriller “The Epiphany,” and Michelle Yeoh action thriller “The Mother.”
Responding to news of her promotion, Diaz said that it had been “an incredibly rewarding experience” working at AGC, which she joined as head of television, later becoming chief creative officer.
She added: “The level of collaboration, trust, and creative fearlessness shown by Stuart and Miguel is unparalleled, and I’m excited to continue here as a partner and board member to continue building this studio as the go-to home for filmmaker-driven features and television in the independent market.”
Prior to joining AGC, Diaz served as president of entertainment for Univision Communications Inc., diversifying its entertainment content and working closely with Televisa, Netflix, Globo, Endemol and other partners. Prior to UCI, Diaz was head of global production and development at Viacom Intl., where she oversaw its development across all Comedy Central Intl. channels and was the executive producer on numerous international scripted and unscripted series and shows.
Before Comedy Central, Diaz was vice president, primetime programming at NBC and Universal Media Studios. She also served as executive producer for multiple NBC comedies and dramas, including “House,” “Parenthood” and “The Office.”
Prior to NBC, Diaz founded Agua Entertainment Group, specializing in film, television and new media, and was head of creative affairs for Green Moon Productions, a company formed and operated by Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith.
Diaz began her career as an agent at ICM, representing over 50 writers and directors.
Since its inception, AGC Studios has been backed by the same three key strategic investors: Latin American private asset management firm MediaNet Partners; Image Nation Abu Dhabi, one of the leading media and entertainment companies in the Arabic-speaking world; and leading Silicon Valley entrepreneur Greg Clark.
Ford was awarded Variety’s Billion Dollar Producer award last year and is also a member of Variety 500, which profiles the world’s most influential media and entertainment leaders.
World
U.S. and China Will Start Discussing A.I. Safety, Bessent Says
The United States and China will discuss guardrails on artificial intelligence, including establishing a protocol for keeping powerful A.I. models out of the hands of nonstate actors, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday.
Mr. Bessent, who was speaking from Beijing in an interview with CNBC, did not give more details, including when these discussions would take place. But Xi Jinping, China’s leader, and President Trump had been expected to discuss A.I. during their summit in the Chinese capital.
If these talks happen, it would be the first time the two countries formally take up the issue during Mr. Trump’s second term. The capabilities and usage of A.I. have grown rapidly, and so have concerns that this technology could be weaponized by hackers and terrorists, or spiral out of human control.
“The two A.I. superpowers are going to start talking,” Mr. Bessent said. “We’re going to set up a protocol in terms of, how do we go forward with best practices for A.I. to make sure nonstate actors don’t get ahold of these models.”
Still, Mr. Bessent made clear that the fierce competition between the United States and China for supremacy in A.I. — which has been a major hurdle to cooperation on safety — remained front of mind for U.S. policymakers. Officials and experts in both countries have argued that they cannot slow technological development and risk losing out to their rivals.
Mr. Bessent said that the United States was willing to cooperate with China on A.I. safety because “the Chinese are substantially behind us” in terms of the technology’s development.
“I do not think we would be having the same discussions if they were this far ahead of us. So we’re going to put in U.S. best practices, U.S. values, on this, and then roll those out to the world,” Mr. Bessent said.
Experts have suggested that China’s A.I. models may be a few months behind the leading U.S. models.
Another hurdle to the United States and China working together on A.I. safety is that they have generally focused on different potential threats.
American experts have generally highlighted existential risks, such as the possibility of artificial general intelligence, or super-intelligence that exceeds that of humans. Chinese researchers and officials have more often highlighted risks related to social stability and information control, such as the possibility of chatbots producing content that challenges China’s leadership and policies.
Still, researchers in both countries have highlighted some shared risks, such as the possibility of A.I. being used to develop new biological weapons.
World
Ship seized off coast of UAE near Strait of Hormuz may have been ‘floating armory’: report
Ship SEIZED near UAE coast, UK military says
Iranian forces seized a vessel 38 nautical miles off the UAE coast early Thursday, a brazen provocation occurring just as President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met in Beijing discussing key issues like the Strait of Hormuz.
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A ship was seized off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) near the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday morning, the British military reported.
The ship was boarded and “taken by unauthorized personnel” while it was roughly 38 nautical miles northeast of the United Arab Emirates’ oil export terminal Fujairah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported Thursday.
UKMTO spotted the ship heading toward Iranian territorial waters after the seizure, it reported Thursday.
British authorities did not release information on who the ship belonged to or who seized it. Despite the lack of official corroboration, the BBC reported that the Honduras-flagged Hui Chuan was seized in the Strait on Thursday.
CARGO SHIP ATTACKED BY SMALL CRAFT NEAR STRAIT OF HORMUZ, UK MARITIME AGENCY SAYS
Ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on May 4. A report on May 15 said a ship was seized off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and is being brought toward Iranian waters. (Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA/AFP)
Citing the risk-management company Vanguard, the BBC reported that the ship’s operators told Vanguard that the Hui Chuan was operating as a “floating armory” for ships in the Strait to defend themselves from pirates.
A container ship sits at anchor in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, as a motorboat passes in the foreground on May 2, 2026. (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA via AP)
At least two other ships have already been seized in the Strait of Hormuz since February.
IRAN SAYS ITS SMALL SUBS DEPLOYED TO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS EXPERT EXPLAINS THREAT: ‘VULNERABLE TO DETECTION’
A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz on April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
In April, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the Panamanian-flagged MSC Francesca and the Epaminondes ships in the Strait.
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Fox News Digital contacted UKMTO and Vanguard for further information but did not immediately receive a response.
World
Israel-Lebanon talks held in Washington as expiration of ceasefire nears
Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo reports from Washington, where the first of two days of US-mediated ambassador-level talks between Israel and Lebanon concluded on Thursday. A ceasefire between them expires on Sunday, though Israel has killed 512 Lebanese since its implementation on April 17.
Published On 15 May 2026
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