By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) --“La La Land” is continuing to dance its way through Hollywood’s awards season, claiming top honors at the 28th annual Producers Guild Awards.
The guild recognized the candy-colored musical with its Darryl F. Zanuck Award for theatrical motion picture production at a ceremony Saturday night (1/28) in Beverly Hills. “La La Land” won out over a field which also included “Arrival,” “Deadpool,” “Fences,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Hell or High Water,” “Hidden Figures,” “Lion,” “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight.” The Oscar nominees for best picture announced earlier this past week echoed the producers’ best picture nominees, with the exception of “Deadpool,” which made the cut with producers but not the film academy.
For seven of the past eight years, the winner of the producers’ Zanuck prize has gone on to win best picture at the Academy Awards. Last year was an exception: “The Big Short” won the guild award, while “Spotlight” got the Oscar. Overall the winner of the Zanuck Award has matched the best picture Oscar 19 times in the 28-year history of the Producers Guild Awards.
But the guild’s celebration at the Beverly Hilton Hotel of the year’s outstanding film and television productions had a decidedly political tone, as President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and visitors from several Muslim countries triggered protests in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and other cities.
“Our America is big, it is free, and it is open to dreamers of all races, all countries, all religions,” singer John Legend said as he introduced “La La Land” at Saturday’s untelevised ceremony. “Our vision of America is directly antithetical to that of President Trump. I want to specifically, tonight, reject his vision and affirm America has to be better than that.”
Ezra Edelman, producer and director of “O.J.: Made in America,” which claimed the guild’s documentary prize, echoed Legend’s sentiments.
“Please keep telling stories that are about our humanity,” he said.
Dustin Hoffman presented the night’s top prize. As producer Marc Platt accepted for “La La Land,” he said, “The power of cinema cannot be denied and has no borders … We must believe love can change our lives, much as it can change the world.”
Other winners Saturday included “Zootopia” for animated feature, “Atlanta” for episodic television comedy and “Stranger Things” for episodic TV drama.
In addition to its competitive awards, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) presented special honors to producer James L. Brooks with the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television; producer Megan Ellison with the Visionary Award; Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group Chairman Tom Rothman with the Milestone Award; producer Irwin Winkler with the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures; and Focus Features’ “Loving” with the Stanley Kramer Award, which was accepted by producer Colin Firth on behalf of the film.
Here’s a rundown of Producers Guild Award winners in theatrical features and TV:
THEATRICAL FEATURES
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:
La La Land
Producers: Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, Marc Platt
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
Zootopia
Producer: Clark Spencer
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:
O.J.: Made in America
Producers: Ezra Edelman, Caroline Waterlow
TELEVISION
The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (Season 1)
Producers: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, D.V. DeVincentis, Anthony Hemingway, Alexis Martin Woodall, John Travolta, Chip Vucelich
The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:
A TIE between
VICE World of Sports (Season 1)
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (Season 22)
The Award for Outstanding Digital Series:
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Season 7, Season 8)
The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:
Stranger Things (Season 1)
Producers: Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Iain Paterson
The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:
Atlanta (Season 1)
Producers: Donald Glover, Dianne McGunigle, Paul Simms, Hiro Murai, Alex Orr
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:
Making a Murderer (Season 1)
This show is in the process of being vetted for individual producer eligibility
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:
The Voice (Season 9-11)
Producers: Audrey Morrissey, Jay Bienstock, Mark Burnett, John de Mol, Chad Hines, Lee Metzger, Kyra Thompson, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker, Carson Daly
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (Season 3)
Producers: Tim Carvell, John Oliver, Liz Stanton
The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:
Sesame Street (Season 46)
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More