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The Toronto International Film Festival is the biggest annual showcase of potential Oscar contenders, particularly via its Best Picture-predictive Audience Award. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the biggest stars consider the 10-day event to be essential for an Oscar campaign.

This year was Tom Hanks’ first appearance at Tiff since “Cloud Atlas” in 2012. For Meryl Streep, “The Laundromat” was her first Tiff title since “August: Osage County” in 2013. Leonardo DiCaprio hasn’t been there as an actor since 1995, with “Total Eclipse” — almost a quarter century ago (he has appeared to promote some documentaries).

So why doesn’t Tiff get more celebrity love? It appears that what makes Toronto attractive to many films isn’t true for them — particularly when they might be Oscar-bound.

These actors stick to wide-release studio films

A studio with Oscars on its mind wants to create a carefully calibrated release plan, one that keeps...

Brat, the digital studio and network focused on creating entertainment for Gen-z, has expanded its executive ranks to match its growing ambitions.

Since raising $30 million in July, Brat has expanded into a new, 10,000-square-foot studio in Hollywood and brought in 50 full-time employees.

“A year ago today, we were just eight people,” said Rob Fishman, Brat’s co-founder. “As our audience rapidly expands, we’ve staffed up considerably to increase production, explore new verticals and partner with advertisers.”

The company tapped Eleanor Nett as head of production, to oversee programming initiatives. Before joining Brat she worked as vice president of physical production at Endgame Entertainment, and as COO of Fancy Films Post Services.

Chase Logan, who was the senior post-production supervisor at Awesomeness TV, has been named head of post-production.

Bolstering the company’s corporate ranks are Leigha Kemmett, who joins as director of finance, after roles at Disney, Hulu and Fox.

North Carolina punk stalwarts Superchunk teamed with Fucked Up singer Damian Abraham for a new song, “Our Work Is Done.” The track was released via Merge Records as a limited edition seven-inch single with proceeds benefitting Bill McKibben’s climate change organization, 350.org. The b-side boasts a cover of Klaus Nomi’s “Total Eclipse.”

“Our Work Is Done” is a blistering ripper packed with angular guitar riffs that spark around a rush of drums and Mac McCaughan’s urgent vocals. “Time flies when you’re on the run,” McCaughan belts...

The celebrating didn’t stop when the credits rolled at the end of the MTV Video Music Awards.

Jennifer Lopez headed downtown to the Lower East Side’s Beauty & Essex to toast her Vanguard Award. The front of the hot spot was decked out with her various wardrobe changes from her Vma performance on dress forms along with glossy photos and magazine covers displayed inside the glass cabinets along the walls.

Her longtime manager, Benny Medina, waited patiently at the door for J.Lo’s arrival. Later on, he delivered a heartfelt speech and asked everyone to raise their glasses in honor of Lopez.

Inside the bash, at about midnight, Lopez was greeted by guests chanting, “Jennifer, Jennifer…” She hugged Melissa Gorga of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” as did Lopez’s producing partner Elaine Goldsmith Thomas.

Also joining the festivities were Tiffany Haddish, Olivia Munn, Shay Mitchell, G-Eazy,...

Exclusive: Brat, the digital studio and network founded last year by Rob Fishman and Darren Lachtman, have added Nick Millman, Kristen Lachtman and Asher Levin as partners. The addition of Millman and Lachtman reunites the core of the executive team of the founders’ former company Niche. That outfit, which teamed social media stars and brands, sold to Twitter for mid-seven figures in 2015.

Since its 2017 launch, Brat has focused on using those social media stars to build teen-based programming for digital platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. It has more than 1.5 million subscribers to its YouTube channel serving content that has more than 250 million views.

Millman, Niche’s first employee who went on went on to lead Twitter’s creator sales and accounts team, will oversee Brat’s finances and daily operations and manage the company’s growing production infrastructure including licensing and partnerships. Lachtman, also an early Niche staffer, joined...