Tribeca Festival postpones Robert De Niro Con amid Hollywood shutdown

Three-day fan event was scheduled to take place in honour of actor and festival co-founder’s 80th birthday

The Tribeca Festival has postponed its three-day De Niro Con event amid the joint actors’ and writers’ strike.

On Wednesday (16 August), the festival said in a statement that it would defer the multi-day event, which honours Robert De Niro and his body of work, “in consideration of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes”. DeNiro is a co-founder of Tribeca Festival.

Originally scheduled to take place in New York City’s Tribeca neighbourhood from 29 September to 1 October, just over a month after the actor’s 80th birthday on Thursday (17 August), the fan event has been pushed back to April 2024.

“Join fans, and special guests at screenings, conversations, immersive experiences, exhibits, and more as they come together to toast to the iconic characters and memories made by Robert De Niro,” the website reads.

De Niro Con is the latest event to be affected by the ongoing actors’ and writers’ strike, which has effectively shut down Hollywood.

Last month, in a historic move that has not happened in over 60 years, the Screen Actors Guild – American of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined its fellow union, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), in the fight for a fairer deal.

The two organisations are withholding labour until contract negotiations are made with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMTPM), which represents the production companies.

Robert De Niro (Getty Images)

The 2023 Emmys, which were set to take place next month in September, have been rescheduled for January 2024. Meanwhile, production on several hit TV shows, including Abbott Elementary and Yellowjackets, has also been shut down.

“Truly independent” productions, however, have recently been granted interim agreements to continue filming.

Anne Hathaway, Dakota Fanning, Jason Bateman and Matthew McConaughey are among the actors allowed to continue working on their projects. Find the full list of every TV show and movie permitted to continue production here.

The decision has proved controversial, with many people suggesting that the exemptions undermine the rest of the workers on strike.

In an update given on Monday (14 August), SAG-AFTRA announced that it would no longer grant interim agreements to independent projects that were written under a WGA contract.

“We have been advised by the WGA that this modification will assist them in executing their strike strategy, and we believe it does not undermine the utility and effectiveness of ours,” the guild announced. “It is a win-win change.”