Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, multi-award-winning co-creators and executive producers of the lauded TV series Reservation Dogs, have been named recipients of the ICG Publicists (International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600) 2022 Television Showpersons Award. FX’s groundbreaking Reservation Dogs is the first TV series to feature an all-Indigenous team of writers, directors and series regulars. Harjo and Waititi will be honored at the ICG Publicists Awards luncheon at The Beverly Hilton on Friday, March 25.
Reservation Dogs is a first-of-its-kind comedy that follows the exploits of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma who steal, rob and save to get to the “exotic, mysterious, and faraway” land of California. The series was recently named one of AFI’s Television Programs of the Year, won The Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series and won two Independent Spirit Awards for Best New Scripted Series and Best Ensemble Cast. It is a Writers Guild of America nominee for Best New Series. Reservation Dogs also landed on 80+ critics’ year-end best lists and is currently 98% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.
“As we look forward to celebrating publicists, we are also excited to recognize the showmanship of Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi for co-creating the innovative and critically-acclaimed Reservation Dogs. We applaud them for advancing representation of Indigenous people on television. Reservation Dogs is compelling TV at its best for all audiences,” said Tim Menke who chairs the ICG Publicists Awards with Sheryl Main.
Waititi won the Oscar® for adapted screenplay for Jojo Rabbit (2019), which was also nominated for Best Picture. He is executive producer of the critically acclaimed FX series What We Do in the Shadows; writer and director of the upcoming Marvel film Thor: Love and Thunder; and star and executive producer of the new HBO Max comedy Our Flag Means Death, for which he directed the pilot. Harjo has directed five feature films: three narrative dramas and two documentaries. His most recent film, Love and Fury, a look at contemporary Native identity and art, premiered at The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Previous recipients of the esteemed Television Showperson of the Year Award include Ava DuVernay, Greg Berlanti, Ryan Murphy, John Landgraf, Ted Sarandos, Shonda Rhimes, Chuck Lorre, Nina Tassler, Fred Silverman, Steven Bochco, Aaron Spelling and Bob Hope.
The annual ICG Publicists Awards pay tribute to excellence in publicity and promotion, still photography and journalism for motion pictures and television programs. Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. MGM’s Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will be the recipients of the Motion Picture Showpersons Award.
