SUNDANCE CHANNEL AND ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY SET TO PREMIERE ‘THE WRITERS’ ROOM’ ON MONDAY, JULY 29, HOSTED BY ACADEMY AWARD©-WINNING SCREENWRITER AND ‘COMMUNITY’ STAR JIM RASH

PREMIERE SEASON TO FEATURE STELLAR LINE-UP OF HIT SCRIPTED SERIES ‘BREAKING BAD’, ‘DEXTER’, ‘GAME OF THRONES’, ‘AMERICAN HORROR STORY’, ‘PARKS AND RECREATION’ AND ‘NEW GIRL’

Presented by Sundance Channel and Entertainment Weekly, THE WRITERS’ ROOM is set to premiere on Monday, July 29 and will be hosted by Academy Award©-winning screenwriter (THE DESCENDANTS), comedian and actor Jim Rash (Community). The six episode half-hour series will spotlight an array of scripted television shows – from today’s pioneering cable dramas, including BREAKING BAD, Dexter, Game of Thrones and American Horror Story to the most critically acclaimed and popular network sitcoms, including Parks and Recreation and New Girl. The roundtable talk show will delve deep into the world of TV’s creative masterminds, divulging inside details about their smartest choices, toughest decisions and biggest mistakes. The announcement was made today by Sarah Barnett, Sundance Channel President and General Manager.

This week, we’ve got Tilda Swinton in a film literally for the ages. Also don’t miss Paul Newman and Tom Cruise partnering up with Martin Scorsese, Christian Bale going on a crash diet, and more.

This week’s films are deep. From the fragility of human existence to the meaning of war, our lineup this week will make you think. But they’re also star-studded, with names like Brad Pitt, Kate Winslet and a young Mel Gibson to keep your eyes locked on the screen. And we’ve got high octane entertainment too, in the form of a Tarantino-produced bank heist gone wrong. All that and more below!

On the heels of its critically lauded, highly anticipated premiere last week, Sundance Channel announced the renewal of the network’s first wholly owned original scripted series RECTIFY for ten new episodes slated to air in 2014. The haunting story of a man released from prison after spending nearly two decades on death row, RECTIFY has been overwhelmingly well-received by critics when it debuted on Monday, April 22nd, including Matt Roush at TV Guide, who rated the series a “10 out of 10” and called it “TV’s most absorbing, unsettling new drama.” Jace Lacob, TV Critic for The Daily Beast dubbed RECTIFY “the best new show of 2013” and Mary McNamara at the Los Angeles Times said “’Rectify’ is a revelation that sets a new standard… a game changer.” RECTIFY is created and written by Ray McKinnon (The Accountant, “Deadwood,” “Sons of Anarchy”), and executive produced by Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein, the award-winning producers behind “Breaking Bad.” Season one will finale on May 20 at 10pm EST.

This week, we’ve got Forest Whitaker as a brutal dictator, Robert Redford in the CIA, and Jodie Foster as a domineering nun. Can you say “playing against type”? Watch these actors and others prove that great actors can play any role, and they can make us believe.

This week, get hooked on the original screen adaptation of the Millennium trilogy with Noomi Rapace in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. We’ve also got a classic from the Coen Brothers, an essential Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman collaboration, and more.

The premiere of RECTIFY raised plenty of questions, but one we keep hearing is: Wouldn’t retrying Daniel Holden (Aden Young) be double jeopardy? Well, our friends at Buzzfeed want to make sure you know the answer is: No. “If you go to trial in front of a jury and you’re found not guilty, that’s the…

How realistic is RECTIFY? Just ask Damien Echols, the author of <i>Life and Death</i> and one of the <a href="http://www.sundancechannel.com/blog/2012/01/watch-west-of-memphis-conversation" title="West of Memphis">West Memphis Three</a>, who spent years on death row himself for a crime he didn't commit. What does he think of the show? Echols explains for the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/damien-echols/rectify-review_b_3103568.html?" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a> that even the small details that made up his experience are there:

Sundance Channel will premiere season two of their groundbreaking docu-series “Push Girls” on Monday, June 3with ten highly-anticipated new episodes. The show once again features the four beautiful, captivating and intelligent women audiences became enamored with last season, as they continue to challenge society’s perception of what life is really like in a wheelchair.

Sundance patriarch Robert Redford makes two appearances on our list this week (or three, counting his regular weekly pick) – one as actor and one as director. We’ve also got Christian Bale doing some serious method acting, a young Brad Pitt showing off that winning smile, and a real sleeper hit starring Ed Burns and Dustin Hoffman.