Greg Berlanti Sets $800,000 for Strike Relief Fund Benefitting Employees, Below-the-Line Workers

Seth MacFarlane is donating an additional $5 million to The Entertainment Community Fund just shy of two months after an initial gift of $1 million to assist industry workers impacted by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has set a Halloween global premiere for Ralph Barbosa: Cowabunga, its first special from rising star comic Barbosa, which was shot in August as part of his ongoing North American tour. The hour-long special, taped at The Kessler Theater in Barbosa’s hometown of Dallas, TX, premieres globally on Tuesday, October 31st.

A showrunners picket at Fox that started as a way to show solidarity during the strike ended up raising close to $45,000 for crew members who have been adversely affected by the work stoppage.

Apple has become the latest entertainment company to suspend additional overall and first-look deals this month as the WGA strike is getting past the four-and-a-half-month mark.

Viral country singer Oliver Anthony and a music hall that he was supposed to perform at are going back and forth on social media.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The California Senate voted on Thursday to grant unemployment benefits to workers who are on strike. The bill passed with a 27-12 vote. The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA have each expressed support for the bill.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney has become the latest entertainment company to suspend additional overall and first-look deals four and a half months into the WGA strike.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor It’s officially an original Barbie World. Greta Gerwig’s smash hit “Barbie,” which she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach, is a box office smash that has so far grossed more than $1.4 billion. Its awards prospects also continue to increase by the day.

The Herb Alpert Foundation has donated $250,000 to the Entertainment Community Fund to aid idled film and TV industry workers during the ongoing Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes. A matching donation by an anonymous donor brings the total gift to $500,000.

Found, the NBC series from All American‘s Nkechi Okoro Carroll, is heading to the Boston Film Festival.

A bill that would provide unemployment insurance to striking workers in California passed the state Assembly on Monday and now is headed to the Senate Labor Committee and then to the Senate floor. If passed there, Senate Bill 799 would go to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Entertainment workers have moved to take more than $44 million out of their individual retirement accounts as they endure months without work due to the strikes. Nearly 3,000 workers have filed for hardship withdrawals, according to an update circulated on Friday by the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans. The average withdrawal is about $15,000.

More studios are suspending additional overall and first-look deals almost four and a half months into the WGA strike.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer CBS Studios has suspended term deals with talkshow star Phil “Dr. Phil” McGraw, BET+’s “Kingdom Business” producer DeVon Franklin and “Nancy Drew” executive producer Lis Rowinski due to the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. Representatives for CBS Studios declined to comment on the suspension of these deals Monday.

Steven Spielberg and wife Kate Capshaw have donated $1.5 million in support of striking writers and actors, and others affected by the work stoppages, Deadline has learned.

Ryan Murphy and Greg Berlanti are both making a huge commitment to the cast and crews out of work due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Top TV showrunners are stepping in to help their crews as the Hollywood work stoppage heads into the fall with no end in sight.

Welcome to the 19th installment of Deadline’s Strike Talk podcast. It is a task Oscar-nominated filmmaker Billy Ray took on at the beginning of the Writers Guild strike against AMPTP, and who knew he would be engaged in it longer than it would have taken him to shoot a picture.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are pushing California lawmakers to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers. In California, workers currently do not receive unemployment pay when they are on strike. But state lawmakers are working on a bill, SB 799, that would extend benefits to workers who have been on strike for at least two weeks.

Mindy Kaling and Greg Berlanti‘s overall, first look deals with Warner Bros. Studios have been suspended, according to a new report from Variety.