Dear gossips,
It was another incredibly busy weekend at TIFF, and I’m happy to say that I was able to attend this year for the first time in a long time. As exciting as it is to bring the festival to our city, the irony is that many film and television professionals working during the festival don’t actually get to see or experience much of it at all.
But over the weekend I was able to attend several events where I met or ran into people I had worked with and loved—the Venn diagram is often an almost perfect circle. At first I even thought about meeting Laney for a drink, but she was “working a lot” or something like that. I could pretend to be annoyed and write about all the sass, but it was actually great and highlighted something else I love about the festival – because while Laney and I can and will have a drink (or, if she has her way, a long weekend walk – how is that the same thing as a party?) at any time of the year, often on TV and film, “work friends” feel weird about lending a helping hand when we’re not working together or at We do not have any project based on any project. prerequisite for structuring the meeting. So we end up isolated, which is bad – until we work together again, and then we feel amazing… until the project ends and we are isolated again.
It’s stupid because we all love to spend time doing work. This may sound super capitalistic, but stay with me – we form these strong friendships because when you find people who love what you do as much as we do, they get you like no other. Especially at a time when the industry changes and transforms, the only ones that remain are the friends we’ve made along the way. I know. I know! But I’m not the only one so stupid –
As I was running around hugging the people I was so happy to see and celebrate with them and remember how long we’ve all been doing this, I saw this quote from Heated rivalry And Slow Pitch star Nadine Bhabha, who I loved working with a few years ago:
“Do crap with your friends. You’ll be broke and happy.”
The point here is not that we are broken on our own, but that perceived financial potential is never the reason we do it. Then I saw Laney and Kathleen post this photo of talk presenter Tyrone Edwards and CBC film critic Eli Glasner, all of whom had the same opinion:
It’s not about the trenches or even having fun… it’s about being together. SORRY.
Lots of news from Laney and Sarah today as we prepare for the EMMY Awards TONIGHT! On Squawk starting at 5:30 EST and live on Substack with Hunter Harris, Hailee Steinfeld, Evan Ross Katz and more favorites at 8 pm EST!
Attached – Babies Premiere at TIFF. I can’t absolutely swear that all of these people are actual friends who made this movie because that would be fun, but given that this is Lauren Miller Rogen’s feature debut and includes objectively hilarious types like Issa and Anna, doesn’t it seem like they are, and they are?
Yours in Gossip Girl,
Duana
Zach Cherry, Issa Rae, Dan Stevens, Seth Rogen, Lauren Miller Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Ed Helms at the TIFF screening of ‘Babies’ on September 12, 2026.