Many thanks to Equality Now for bringing this to my attention. In a new online video PSA, Meryl Streep talks about Equality Now’s efforts on behalf of women and girls around the world. The video can be watched on Youtube and in the video archive. Be sure to watch :-)

On November 12, 2010, Indiana University hosted “An Evening of Conversation with Jane Pauley and Meryl Streep”. The program, which was free and open to the public, featured an introduction by IU’s first lady Laurie Burns McRobbie followed by a discussion between Pauley and Streep and concluded with a question and answer session with questions submitted by audience members. Pictures from the event can be found in the Image Library – a complete video of the conversation can be found at the IU’s official website. This is really a wonderful conversation to watch and listen to, a very insightful talk on acting and living, so be sure to watch it.

Various British sources have reported on current funding news for “The Iron Lady”, sounding quite negative, most probably due to the original negative statements by the Daily Telegraph. According to the Guardian, the UK Film Council’s last large-scale donations has been to the forthcoming Margaret Thatcher biopic, The Iron Lady, which was awarded £1m in October. Some see the move as an 11th-hour snook cocked at the Conservatives who, if rumours surrounding the script are to believed, may not welcome the project. Tim Walker of the Daily Telegraph reports that Thatcher’s family were “appalled” by the sound of the film, which apparently involves the former prime minister reassessing her career with some regret after the death of her husband, Denis, and while she is suffering from dementia. “They think it sounds like some left-wing fantasy,” Walker quotes a friend of the family as saying. Pathé, who are producing the film, insist it will be made with “appropriate sensitivity”. Meryl Streep plays Thatcher, and will be reunited with her Mamma Mia! director Phyllida Lloyd. Jim Broadbent is Denis, while Olivia Colman takes on the role of their daughter, Carol. To be fair, these quotations were published some time back by the Telegraph, quoting “a friend of the family” at a state when the script was probably not seen by anyone except those who were working on it, so let’s see if the negative press will keep up on “The Iron Lady” once it goes into production in early 2011.

The three episodes of “Web Therapy” with Meryl can be now watched at the show’s official website.

Pictures of Meryl’s appearance at the Mayor’s Awards for Arts & Culture, yesterday, have been added to the Image Library, with more information to come.

Some UT theater students got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity Friday. They got acting tips from two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. Streep visited the Forty Acres at the invitation of the University’s department of theatre and dance. Streep says her best advice to students is to set priorities. “You have to get your life right before you can get your art going. At least for me, as an actor, the things that really have mattered most are peripheral to your awards or the parts I’ve played,” Streep said. She continued, “Really the goal of your life is to be a good human being, and the more you know about everything, a little bit of everything, the more you understand the world around you.” According to KVUE Austin News, Streep says in her next film she will portray former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Their website has a video report on the evening, which can be watched below.

Deadline has been a frontrunner lately with exclusive news on upcoming collaborations, such as the planned “August: Osage County” and Michael Patrick King’s untitled comedy. Now, they reporting on a possible appearance on Lisa Kudrow’s web series (!): It seems like the great Meryl Streep is heading to the Web with a stint on Lisa Kudrow’s popular Internet series Web Therapy. I hear that the Oscar-winning actress quietly shot a three-episode arc on the series’ upcoming batch of fresh episodes, which LStudio is expected to launch soon. Details about her character are sketchy but word is she is playing a counselor. Streep has been in such great demand in features (she recently signed to do Michael Patrick King’s new comedy at Universal) that she rarely does anything else, with the exception of an occasional prestige longform TV project such as HBO’s Angels in America. The Webby-winning improv comedy series Web Therapy, created by Kudrow, her producing partner Dan Bucatinsky and writer-director Don Roos, stars Kudrow as Fiona Wallice, a therapist of unspecified credentials. In April, Showtime picked up the produced webisodes of Web Therapy to air as a half-hour series on the pay cable network.

Article courtesy the New York Daily News. Mayor Bloomberg will team up next Monday with Meryl Streep to co-host the Mayor’s Awards for Arts & Culture at Alice Tully Hall. Bloomberg said he’s “excited” but also a little intimidated by the “Devil Wears Prada” star. “She is one of the greatest actresses of our time, so I’ve got a lot of rehearsing to do before next Monday,” said Bloomberg. “The awards give us a chance to recognize the achievements of some of the people who make extraordinary contributions to culture in the five boroughs and help keep the city a vibrant place for artists and audiences,” Bloomberg said. New York City’s highest award for achievement in the arts, the Handel Medallion, will go to dance great and outgoing Alvin Ailey Artistic Director Judith Jamison. Other honorees will include photographer Bill Cunningham, Bronx Theatre High School Principal Deborah Effinger and Amy Fischetti-Boncardo, executive director of the Queens County Farm Museum. The Brooklyn Community Foundation and Staten Island’s Sandy Ground Historical Society are also slated to be honored.

Indiana University announces a free event featuring Meryl Streep and Jane Pauley on Friday, Nov. 12 at 4:30 p.m. at Indiana University Auditorium. Entitled “An Evening of Conversation with Jane Pauley and Meryl Streep at Indiana University,” the event is free and open to the public. On Nov. 1 at 10 a.m., tickets will be available in person at the IU Auditorium box office for IU Bloomington students, faculty and staff with valid ID; tickets will be available for the general public on Nov. 3 at 10 a.m. The program will feature an introduction by IU’s first lady Laurie Burns McRobbie followed by a discussion between Pauley and Streep. The evening will conclude with a question and answer session with questions submitted by audience members. More information can be found at the University’s official website.

Add another project to the already extensive list of possible new projects, according exclusively to Deadline: In one of the more exceptional cast-attached movie packages to come along in awhile, Universal Pictures has acquired an untitled comedy that will be written and directed by Michael Patrick King and star Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock and Oprah Winfrey. It’s an ensemble comedy set in the world of a Home Shopping-type network, where characters make their way through the maze of mania that surrounds marketing, marriages and the media. King, who wrote and directed two Sex and the City films after he exec produced the HBO series, told me that as he was looking to create his next vehicle, met with Stuber and they sparked to the idea for a comedy with well-drawn relationships that could draw a top-notch female cast. King decided to aim high. “I came up with the idea of writing for Meryl, Sandy and Oprah, and it became so specific to them that I wanted to be sure I had interest from these ladies,” King told me. “I put it in front of each of them and they all said yes. To have access to these women, tell them this story and hear yes was almost like a Greek mythological journey, with me going from one goddess to the next. It was humbling. They’re all unique, and the idea of writing parts that three strong women will play is such a challenge. Their body of work is beyond reproach. It’s also appealing to craft a character for Oprah to come back and play that’s not Oprah.” King said he will begin writing immediately, and expects to have the script done by January. Availability of the actresses will be an issue, but the hope is to get this into production as King’s next directing effort by next summer or fall. The talent-laden package was put together by CAA, which reps King and the actresses. Universal got first shot at it because Stuber’s based at the studio, and Donna Langley and Adam Fogelson took it off the table before it went elsewhere.