SOLIDARITY Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The political backlash surrounding Agnieszka Holland’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama “Green Border” hasn’t kept the movie from being a hot seller. The film explores the injustice and terror perpetrated at the Polish-Belarusian border from the perspective of refugees, Polish activists and border guards.

As the SAG-AFTRA strike clocked its 62nd day, and the WGA’s 135th, the former held a massive solidarity march today from Netflix HQ on Van Ness Blvd to the Melrose gates of Paramount to juice guilds’ spirits with the entertainment industry work stoppage running past Labor Day.

EXCLUSIVE: Fran Drescher is less concerned with meeting of several showrunners with WGA leadership this week and more concerned with studios and streamers getting back to the bargaining table to make a fair deal.

Sophia Scorziello editor Want to grab dinner with Bob Odenkirk or a Hawaiian shirt signed by Weird Al? Well, now’s your chance. The Union Solidarity Coalition, an organization founded this year by Hollywood writers and directors, is auctioning off a host of film and TV memorabilia along with in-person hang outs with stars. The auction is designed to raise money to help production crew members whose healthcare benefits are at risk because of the work stoppage that has crippled production.

A group of top-tier showrunners including Kenya Barris and Noah Hawley has set a meeting with the WGA leadership as they try to aid the negotiating process.

K.J. Yossman The president of the Writers Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), Sandi Toksvig, is set to call for changes to the way in which streamers remunerate writers. Toksvig will speak at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Liverpool, U.K.

Last week, it was announced that “The Drew Barrymore Show” was resuming production, with the fourth season kicking off in mid-September.

Michaela Zee Drew Barrymore is returning for the fourth season of her eponymous daytime talk show sooner than expected. Barrymore announced on social media that “The Drew Barrymore Show” will begin its fourth season soon, in accordance with the rules of the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. The actor first referred to her decision to step down as host of the MTV Film and TV Awards in May, in a show of support and solidarity to the striking WGA members.

Drew Barrymore is standing in solidarity of writers amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes.

Michaela Zee Jessica Chastain is encouraging independent producers to sign interim agreements amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. “If a majority of independent producers, come forward and sign the Interim Agreement deal it will show the AMPTP how wrong they are when they say our contract terms are unrealistic or unreasonable,” Chastain wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.

“The cracks in the employers’ walls are getting deeper everyday.”

Due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Anna Kendrick couldn’t make it to Friday’s TIFF world premiere of her feature directorial debut, Woman of the Hour.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Fran Drescher has been elected to a second term as president of SAG-AFTRA, as the union’s first studio strike in 43 years nears the two-month mark. Drescher was elected with 81.4% of the vote, defeating Maya Gilbert-Dunbar, who took 18.6%. Joely Fisher took 70.3% in her race for a second term as secretary-treasurer.

Fran Drescher has been reelected president of SAG-AFTRA in a landslide. Drescher, winning a second two-year term in votes counted Friday, handily defeated independent candidate Maya Gilbert-Dunbar. Drescher received 23,080 votes to Gilbert-Dunbar’s 5,276, with 22.84% of the guild’s 124,477 eligible members casting ballots.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Amid an ongoing strike, the Writers Guild of America East begins voting today on its new council members, including the successor for longtime president Michael Winship. With the strike environment generating solidarity across the WGAE and its WGA West counterpart, it would seem that the election would be a straightforward affair with WGAE members on the same page about what they want from their guild.

Prince Harry is to land in the UK later this week, four months on from his whirlwind visit to his father King Charles' coronation service which took place at Westminster Abbey in May.

Relieved Alfredo Morelos has finally ended his three-continent search for a new club as he gets set to sign for Santos.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland Labor Day is more than a long weekend of beaches, barbecues and block parties. It’s a national celebration marking the economic and social contributions of American workers. How ironic, then, that SAG-AFTRA members are observing this 141st Labor Day on strike against a global industry that refuses to fairly recognize the contributions of the workers who power its economic success.

Marta Balaga Venice Film Festival’s red carpet swapped glamour for politics on Saturday, hosting a flash mob in solidarity with the Iranian people, fighting against repression, as well as filmmakers who are being oppressed – and arrested – because of their work. Such as “Leila’s Brothers” director Saeed Roustaee, recently sentenced to six months in prison for showing the film in Cannes. He has also been banned from making movies.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The writers strike reached the four-month mark on Saturday, and as Hot Labor Summer moves to autumn, there is still no sign that it will be over any time soon. The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have not talked in two weeks. Both maintain that the ball is in the other’s court.

Former TOWIE star Maria Fowler, 37, has seen praise from fans as she took to her Instagram to show the effects of changing room mirrors on women’s bodies. In her Instagram caption, the reality TV star and mother of two explained: “Different changing rooms = Different experiences. I will always say it’s best to try clothes on at home..

Britney Spears’ estranged husband, Sam Asghari, took to the streets of Los Angeles on Thursday to stand in solidarity with his fellow performers as part of the ongoing strikes organized by SAG-AFTRA and WGA.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer In a sign of Hollywood’s escalating internal tensions, a prominent Directors Guild of America member openly advocated against the election of 10 writer-directors to the guild’s board earlier this month on the grounds that they were “primarily writers” and hailed from “fringe groups.” In a leaked email that has been shared widely in the creative community, Linda Montanti, chair of the guild’s Western AD/UPM Council, urged a bloc of DGA voters to not support the board candidacies of a number of multihyphenates who are members of both the DGA and WGA — some of whom have been outspoken about strike issues. The list includes writer-producer Boots Riley, Oscar-winning “CODA” writer-director Sian Heder, actor-filmmaker Justine Bateman, actor-writer Paul Scheer and “Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin.

A swarm of Supernatural fans joined the picket line at Warner Bros. in Los Angeles on Thursday to catch a glimpse of series creator Eric Kripke as well as the cast and other writers who had reunited in solidarity with the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA has granted approval for three AMC Networks shows to restart production, under its controversial provision allowing “independent” projects to continue despite the strike. The shows include “Interview With the Vampire,” which was shooting in Prague when the strike started, and two “Walking Dead” spinoffs: “The Ones Who Live” and “Daryl Dixon.” The latter project was on hiatus and can resume shooting in France. SAG-AFTRA has granted “interim agreements” to more than 300 projects since the strike began in mid-July.

Fire-ravaged Maui is getting a boost from two big stars.

Michael Mann’s epic historical drama Ferrari will drive onto the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival this evening, one of the major titles in competition here on the Lido. It’s also one of the key films to secure a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, allowing stars of the movie to do promotion.

This is Day 120 of the WGA strike and Day 47 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the major studios remained in limbo on Monday, after a week of public sparring failed to result in forward movement. The sides have not formally met since Aug. 18, when the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers rejected the WGA’s Aug.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Venice Film Festival will host a Ukrainian Day on Sept. 6 with a series of panels and meetings to support war-torn Ukraine and its film industry.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The upcoming Venice Film Festival has announced it will hold a flash mob on the red carpet in solidarity with the women and men of Iran “who are fighting for their freedom and against the ongoing repression” and also “the filmmakers and artists who have been arrested or imprisoned,” the fest said in a statement on Friday. Festival organizers specified that the flash mob is partly in reaction to the conviction earlier this month in Iran of director Saeed Roustaee (pictured), who was sentenced to six months in prison for showing his latest film “Leila’s Brothers” at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and banned from making movies. Roustaee had been in the Venice Horizons section in 2019 with the film “Just 6.5.” Venice also held a red carpet flash mob last year in solidarity with then incarcerated auteur Jafar Panahi.

J. Kim Murphy SAG-AFTRA issued a statement on Thursday evening to encourage members to promote and audition for approved interim agreement productions, as a means of “strengthening the union’s bargaining position and demonstrating solidarity.” The guild’s statement provides guidance in regards to the matter of promoting a project with an interim agreement, which has been a matter of contention among some SAG-AFTRA members since the strike began in July.

With the fall film festivals looming, SAG-AFTRA on Thursday assured its members who were part of projects that received interim agreements from the guild that it’s OK for them to support and promote their projects there.

This is Day 115 of the WGA strike and Day 42 of the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

This is Day 113 of the WGA strike and Day 40 of the SAG-AFTRA strike. 

Ahead of its world premiere in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, which follows the Presleys from the perspective of the King’s young bride, has secured a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.