SOLIDARITY Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

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.

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

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland joined the heads of U.K. actors and crew unions Equity and Bectu in a webinar on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing strikes and their increasingly heavy impact on the British entertainment industry. While Crabtree-Ireland seemed appreciative of the international support for the SAG-AFTRA strike — “We know your members are hurting in the industry as well,” he told more than 500 union members who joined the virtual event in hope of an update — the union leader provided few details around the state of negotiations so far.

SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has acknowledged “significant economic consequences” impacting workers around the world due to the strikes, while the boss of British Equity said his union is prepared to enter disputes if U.S. producers try to recast roles with UK actors.

Ken Jennings is taking over hosting duties for the upcoming season of Celebrity Jeopardy!.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is sharing a message of support and solidarity amid the devastating wildfires in Maui and Southern California’s Hurricane Hilary.

After four straight days of bargaining, the Writers Guild said tonight that it will meet again next week with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer UPDATED: The Writers Guild of America met again with negotiators from the major studios on Friday afternoon, but the sides appeared to make little progress toward ending the 109-day strike. The guild issued a message to members Friday evening confirming that the sides plan to gather again next week. The guild has held talks each of the last four days with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, but the two sides remain far apart on the major issues, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

Not all of Lizzo’s Big Grrl dancers have something negative to say about their queen.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Deauville American Film Festival will forge ahead with its honorary tributes to stars such as Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Peter Dinklage and Joseph Gordon-Levitt despite the fact that they won’t be in attendance due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. The festival’s artistic director, Bruno Barde, told Variety ahead of the event’s press conference on Thursday that he empathized with actors and writers who are on strike to “protect themselves against the dangers of artificial intelligence.” “AI has always existed in cinema and it’s now posing a threat to screenwriters, set designers, dubbers and, of course, to actors whom we’re using the image of.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America responded on Tuesday to the latest proposal from the studios, as the sides continue to try to resolve the three-month old writers’ strike. While the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has made some concessions, including agreeing to provide streaming viewership data, the studio group has not agreed to a key WGA demand for a minimum staff size for TV writers rooms. The AMPTP at first refused to even consider the idea.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America responded Tuesday to the latest proposal from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, but any hopes for an easy resolution of the 106-day strike were quickly dispelled. The WGA did bend slightly on a few items, according to sources familiar with the talks. But the union negotiators did not offer the significant concessions that the studio side was looking for in response to its own offer.

This is Day 106 of the WGA strike and Day 33 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

EXCLUSIVE: Sources are telling Deadline that the Writers Guild and AMPTP are resuming talks this afternoon. We’re told it’s not in person, rather a zoom. We understand that the WGA will be delivering their counter to AMPTP’s counterproposal from Friday.

Ken Jennings has clapped back in the most subtle way at criticism from fans over still working on the upcoming season of Jeopardy!

SAG-AFTRA, in solidarity with the Writers Guild, has modified its interim agreement policy to exclude any projects shot in the U.S. that are covered by the WGA.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA announced Monday that it will no longer grant interim agreements to independent projects that were written under a Writers Guild of America contract. The union has already given permission for 207 independent projects to continue to film during the strike, including ones with stars like Jason Bateman, Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey. SAG-AFTRA argued that the agreements supported the strike because they involved independent producers who agreed to all of the union’s demands.

Parks and Recreation reunited on the picket line in support of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strike.Adam Scott (who played Ben Wyatt), Aubrey Plaza (April Ludgate) and Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson) appeared alongside other former members of the cast and crew on Friday (August 11) outside Amazon Studios in Culver City, California.Others on the picket line included Retta (Donna Meagle), Jim O’Heir (Jerry Gergeich), Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio Saperstein), Alison Becker (Shauna Malwae-Tweep), Kirk Fox (Joe Fantringham), Joe Manda (Morris Lerpiss), Colton Dunn (Brett Hull), Susan Yeagley (Jessica Wicks) and show creator Michael Schur.Sharing pictures on Instagram, including with Sam Elliott (Ron Dunn) and Pawnee’s miniature horse Li’l Sebastian, Yeagley wrote: “Parks and Recreation Day on the picket lines. What a thrill to see the sweet family again.

Several members of the “Parks and Recreation” cast reunited this week — not for a reboot or TV special, but on the picket line as they join the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is hopeful that Friday’s meeting between the Writers Guild and the AMPTP helps push the needle forward as the actors await their turn to get back to the bargaining table.

SAG-AFTRA members picketing in Los Angeles and New York have gotten most of the media’s attention during the guild’s ongoing strike, but members have been rallying and walking picket lines all across the country.

Editor’s note: One in a series of stories marking the 100th day of the WGA strike.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor It’s been a long and winding road so far for Hollywood during its summer of strikes, and the path forward is anything but clear. As the Writers Guild of America and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reach the 100-day milestone of the work stoppage, here is a timeline of the key events, pivotal moments and snapshots of an industry in turmoil.

Dakota Johnson and Riley Keough have been friends for half their lives — and their connection keeps deepening as they get older.

Jeopardy!’s showrunner, Michael Davies, revealed that the game show will move forward with season 40 by reusing old questions and former contestants amid the ongoing writers’ strike.

Visual effects crews at Marvel Studios today filed for a unionization election with the National Labor Relations Board, with a supermajority of Marvel’s more than 50-worker crew having signed authorization cards saying they want to be represented by IATSE.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has cancelled its swanky Women in Cinema gala event at the upcoming Venice Film Festival in response to the ongoing actors’ strike.

Miss Universe Puerto Rico has unveiled their new crown, named ‘Evolución’ (Evolution). The luxurious accessory was presented on August 2nd by the organization, in collaboration with Wapa Televisión and Lido Jewelers, who created the piece.

“Rap Sh!t” season 2 — which was set to return in one week from now, on August 10 — has been pushed back due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

The bakery at the centre of a social media row with former Coronation Street star Catherine Tyldesley has thanked supporters for their ‘solidarity’ over the matter.