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Michael Preece, the script supervisor turned director who called the shots on multiple episodes of series including Hunter, Dallas and Walker, Texas Ranger, died Thursday. He was 88.

Preece died of heart failure at his Brentwood home in Los Angeles, his daughter, Gretchen Preece-Newman — wife of two-time Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Randy Newman — told The Hollywood Reporter.

Preece directed 19 episodes of NBC’s Hunter from 1984-90 during the show’s first six seasons; 62 installments of CBS’ Dallas from 1981-91 (seasons four through 14), plus the 1997 reunion telefilm War of the Ewings; and 70 episodes of CBS’ Walker, Texas Ranger during its nine-season, 1993-2001 run.

Preece also worked on The Bionic Woman, Barnaby Jones, Fantasy Island, Flamingo Road, T.J. Hooker, The New Mike Hammer, Riptide, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, MacGyver, 7th Heaven and many other series before calling it a career in 2007.

Michael Conway Preece was born in Los Angeles on Sept. 15, 1936. His mother, Thelma, founded...

TaleFlick, the online story discovery platform launched by “White Noise” producer Uri Singer and former Netflix executive George Berry, is opening its doors to poets in a move it says is driven by a desire to welcome submissions that “capture the essence, history, and vibrant traditions of Saudi Arabian culture.”

Storytelling in the Arab world is traditionally tied to oral history and poetry. The stated goal of opening TaleFlick – which provides writers with a chance to showcase their work to producers and studios – is to build a bridge between Saudi poems and Hollywood.

“Poetry is the heartbeat of Saudi Arabian culture, resonating deeply with its people and heritage,” Singer – who is TaleFlick’s CEO – said in a statement to Variety. “By embracing poems, we aim to honor and elevate this beautiful art form, providing a platform to transform these stories into powerful visual narratives,” he added.

TaleFlick’s expansion from...

Exclusive: Palestinian director Maysaloun Hamoud has boarded female revenge thriller Beretta for L.A.-based Passage Pictures.

Written by Qatari-American artist, writer and filmmaker Sophia al-Maria, Beretta is billed as a female-driven Taxi Driver-style thriller centered on a selectively mute woman seeking revenge after she is attacked by a stranger.

Beretta will be Hamoud’s second feature after her 2016 breakout In Between (Bar Bahar) about three Palestinian women sharing an apartment in contemporary Tel Aviv, navigating religious, sexual and racial fault lines away from home.

The drama premiered at Toronto where it won the Netpac Award, before heading to San Sebastian were it was also feted. Hamoud was also honored with the Women in Motion Young Talents Award at Cannes in 2017.

Al Maria is best known for her work around her coined term of “Gulf Futurism”, exploring the impact of rapid modernisation in the Gulf region on architecture, urban planning,...