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In today’s TV news roundup, “Project Runway: Fashion Startup” will debut on Lifetime on Oct. 20; Joe Biden joins the annual Stand Up to Cancer telecast; David Mackenzie has signed on to direct the USA Network pilot “Damnation”; and the Jackal Group has acquired the television rights to Chloe Benjamin’s novel “The Immortalists.”

DATES
Project Runway: Fashion Startup” — previously titled “Fashion Inc.” — is scheduled to premiere on Lifetime on Oct. 20 at 10:30 p.m. The series from the Weinstein Company, a spinoff of the iconic reality competition series “Project Runway,” will showcase aspiring fashion and beauty entrepreneurs as they pitch their concepts for the chance to secure funds from a panel of expert investors. The judges include Katia Beauchamp, the co-founder and CEO of beauty retailer Birchbox; Christine Hunsicker, tech marketplace maven, and founder and CEO of plus-size clothing rental startup Gwynnie Bee; fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff; and Gary Wassner, CEO of Hilldun Corporation and chairman of Interluxe Holdings. The show will also feature appearances by renowned fashion designer Tommy HilfigerMaria Hatzistefanis, Julie Rice, and Jenny Fleiss, among others.

CASTING
Vice President Joe Biden will appear on the Stand Up to Cancer telecast on Friday at 8 p.m. Biden joins stars Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Chris Evans, Kevin Hart, Will Arnett, Lena Dunham, Kathy Bates, Eva Longoria, and Shannen Doherty, as well as other celebrities. The show will broadcast live from Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, along with American Forces Network, ASPiRE, AUDIENCE Network, Bloomberg TV, Bravo, Comedy Central, Discovery Life, E! Entertainment, EPIX, ESPNEWS, FM, FS2, Fusion, FXM, Great American Country, HBO, HLN, ION Television, LMN, Logo, MLB Network, National Geographic, Pivot, RLTV, SHOWTIME, Smithsonian Channel, STARZ, STARZ ENCORE, TBS, Tr3s, VH1, and WGN America are donating one hour of simultaneous commercial-free primetime for the telecast.

TBS revealed further casting for its new pilot “World’s End,” the upcoming dark comedy about a high school English teacher (Hamish Linklater) who has a breakdown and is committed to a mental institution. Casting includes:
Aasif Mandvi as Dr. White — As the head of Kingsley Hospital, the pretentious and eccentric Dr. White acts more like an inmate than an administrator.
Robin Bartlett as Hildy — The patient at Kingsley suffers from a catastrophic depression and year-round seasonal affect disorder.
Ajay Naidu as Karl Magnus — Another patient at Kingsley Hospital, Karl is a mathematic genius who becomes an unlikely revolutionary leader amongst the inmates.
James Ortiz as Martin — Dr. White’s prized patient and mentee at Kingsley Hospital gives every impression of being on staff. Martin, however, is the deeply troubled subject of Dr. White’s book and is suffering from multiple personality disorder.
Maya Kazan as Maggie — Patient Maggie initially flirts coquettishly with Henry — then bites his hand and claims he assaulted her.
As previously announced, Wanda Sykes and Maribeth Monroe are also set to join the series. Production for “World’s End” is currently underway.

BEHIND THE CAMERA
USA Network announced that David Mackenzie (“Hell or High Water”) is set to direct the pilot “Damnation.” From executive producers Tony Tost (“Longmire”), James Mangold (“Walk the Line”), Guymon Casady (“Game of Thrones”), and Daniel Rappaport (“Office Space”), the series centers on the “mythic conflict and bloody struggle between big money and the downtrodden, God and greed, charlatans and prophets,” according to the press release.

DEVELOPMENT
The Jackal Group has secured the television rights to Chloe Benjamin’s forthcoming novel “The Immortalists.” The project will be executive produced by the Jackal Group’s Gail Berman and Joe Earley. “This tremendous story will translate brilliantly into a captivating, larger-than-life television series,” said Berman. “The Immortalists” is a family love story spanning five decades, centering on four siblings who, as children, visit a fortune teller who predicts the day each will die. The book will be published by Putnam/Penguin Random House in early 2018.