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TELFAZ11 Commits to 9 Productions at NEOM Over Next 3 Years

The collaboration between NEOM and TELFAZ11 will accelerate the growth of NEOM’s media industries ecosystem
The collaboration between NEOM and TELFAZ11 will accelerate the growth of NEOM’s media industries ecosystem
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TELFAZ11 Commits to 9 Productions at NEOM Over Next 3 Years

The collaboration between NEOM and TELFAZ11 will accelerate the growth of NEOM’s media industries ecosystem
The collaboration between NEOM and TELFAZ11 will accelerate the growth of NEOM’s media industries ecosystem

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM and TELFAZ11 have announced a key partnership to create up to nine TV and film productions over the next three years, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The collaboration between NEOM and TELFAZ11 will accelerate the growth of NEOM’s media industries ecosystem, ensuring a rich pipeline of productions, including two feature films and one series currently in development under the new arrangement, SPA said.

Saturday’s announcement follows a recent drumbeat of high-profile TELFAZ11 successes, including the debut of its latest theatrical feature film ‘Sattar,’ which has become the highest-grossing Saudi film to date.

In addition to productions, TELFAZ11 plans to establish a physical presence at NEOM by opening offices in NEOM’s media hub this year. This new office will complement TELFAZ11’s existing offices in Riyadh and Dubai. NEOM will also leverage TELFAZ11’s new NEOM offices to diversify its industry learning activities and multi-disciplinary talent development programs, creating a vibrant talent pool across the value chain and vital career pathways for graduates.

“Our mission is to create a new world-class media hub at NEOM, one that supports the region’s industry to compete and succeed globally. This partnership with TELFAZ11 complements and accelerates this partnership, coupled with our evolving infrastructure, crew depth, industry learning programs, and highly competitive incentive scheme, showing we are well on our way to achieving these goals,” said Wayne Borg, Managing Director of Media Industries, Entertainment, and Culture at NEOM.

Alaa Faden, CEO and Co-Founder of TELFAZ11 said that TELFAZ11 has consistently operated on the leading edge of innovation.

NEOM has provided the backdrop for 30 productions in the last 18 months, including Rupert Wyatt’s ‘Desert Warrior’, starring Anthony Mackie and Sir Ben Kingsley; ‘Dunki’ directed by Rajkumar Hirani and starring Shah Rukh Khan; local acclaimed Saudi feature ‘Within Sand’ directed by Moe Alatawi; the first regional reality TV show ‘Million Dollar Island;’ and ‘Rise of The Witches’, the region’s biggest-ever budget TV show. MBC’s ‘Exceptional,’ a 200-episode-per-year TV drama series, is set to begin shooting in July.

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Doctor Charged in Connection with Matthew Perry’s Death to Appear in Court After Plea Deal 

Actor Matthew Perry poses at the CBS Studios rooftop summer soiree in West Hollywood, California May 18, 2015. (Reuters)
Actor Matthew Perry poses at the CBS Studios rooftop summer soiree in West Hollywood, California May 18, 2015. (Reuters)
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Doctor Charged in Connection with Matthew Perry’s Death to Appear in Court After Plea Deal 

Actor Matthew Perry poses at the CBS Studios rooftop summer soiree in West Hollywood, California May 18, 2015. (Reuters)
Actor Matthew Perry poses at the CBS Studios rooftop summer soiree in West Hollywood, California May 18, 2015. (Reuters)

One of two doctors charged in connection with Matthew Perry's death is set to appear Friday in a federal court in Los Angeles, where he is expected to plead guilty to conspiring to distribute the surgical anesthetic ketamine.

Dr. Mark Chavez, 54, of San Diego, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors earlier this month and would be the third person to plead guilty in the aftermath of the “Friends” star’s fatal overdose last year.

Chavez agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as they pursue others, including the doctor Chavez worked with to sell ketamine to Perry. Also working with the US Attorney's Office are Perry’s assistant, who admitted to helping him obtain and inject ketamine, and a Perry acquaintance, who admitted to acting as a drug messenger and middleman.

The three are helping prosecutors as they go after their main targets: Dr. Salvador Plasencia, charged with illegally selling ketamine to Perry in the month before his death, and Jasveen Sangha, a woman who authorities say is a dealer who sold the actor the lethal dose of ketamine. Both have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

Chavez admitted in his plea agreement that he obtained ketamine from his former clinic and from a wholesale distributor where he submitted a fraudulent prescription.

After a guilty plea, he could get up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced.

Perry was found dead by his assistant on Oct. 28. The medical examiner ruled ketamine was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal but off-label treatment for depression that has become increasingly common.

Seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him, about a month before his death Perry found Plasencia, who in turn asked Chavez to obtain the drug for him.

“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez. The two met up the same day in Costa Mesa, halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine.

After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500, Plasencia asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to.”

US Attorney Martin Estrada said in announcing the charges on Aug. 15 that “the doctors preyed on Perry’s history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to provide him with ketamine in amounts they knew were dangerous.”

Plasencia is charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two charges related to allegations he falsified records after Perry’s death. He and Sangha are scheduled to return to court next week. They have separate trial dates set for October, but prosecutors are seeking a single trial that likely would be delayed to next year.

Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit sitcom.