PEN America: Last News

PEN America, the 101-year-old organization dedicated to “the freedom to write,” is offering grants to help early-career screenwriters during the Writers Guild strike, which is now in its 122nd day. Its new Screenwriters Emergency Assistance Fund is offering short-term grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 to eligible screenwriters on a first come-first served basis.

Colin Jost opened the PEN America Gala under the iconic model of a blue whale at the Museum of Natural History calling himself “a writer and a friend of writers” and “extremely fortunate to be here tonight surrounded by two things that might not be around much longer — writers and ocean life. This is the first time that a whale is not the most endangered thing in the room.”

Ted Sarandos, who was set to receive the PEN America Visionary Award at the literary group’s gala next week in NYC, won’t be attending amid an ongoing strike and vigorous picketing on both coasts by the WGA.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos will no longer attend a gala meant to honor him next week in New York. The decision comes as labor issues grab headlines across Hollywood. Sarandos was set to accept the Business Visionary Award at the annual PEN American Spring Literary Gala, alongside fellow honoree Lorne Michaels and a host of literati including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Susan Choi, Jennifer Egan, Min Jin Lee, Jay McInerney and Gay Talese. He’s skipping the event, to be held under the blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History, as many industry celebrations weigh how to address the writers strike. “Given the potential to disrupt this wonderful evening, I thought it was best to pull out so as not to distract from the important work that PEN America does for writers and journalists, as well as the celebration of my friend and personal hero Lorne Michaels. I hope the evening is a great success,” Sarandos told Variety in a statement.

Tina Fey will receive the 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award at 59th annual PEN America Literary Awards. “It’s been a lifelong dream to have my name associated in any way with the great Mike Nichols,” Fey said in statement Wednesday. “Thanks to this award, I can stop working on my ‘Silkwood’ reboot.” Fey is the fifth recipient to ever receive the award, which honors a groundbreaking writer who inspires audiences similar to the late director Mike Nichols. The award will be presented to Fey by her “Saturday Night Live” co-star Rachel Dratch.