Nominations for the 2015 Producers Guild Awards spanning feature documentaries, TV series/specials and digital series were announced today by the Producers Guild of America. The feature documentaries in the running for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures are: The Green Prince, Life Itself, Merchants of Doubt, Particle Fever, and Virunga.
Episodic TV drama nominations span such series as Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, House of Cards and True Detective. Their nomination counterparts in comedy are The Big Bang Theory, Louie, Modern Family, Orange is the New Black, and Veep.
The feature film nominations will be announced on January 5. The 2015 Producers Guild Awards ceremony is slated for January 24 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
Here’s a rundown of nominations unveiled today:
Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures
—The Green Prince (Music Box Films)
—Life Itself (Magnolia Pictures)
—Merchants of Doubt (Sony Pictures Classics)
—Particle Fever (Abramorama/BOND 360)
—Virunga (Netflix)
Television
The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
—Breaking Bad (AMC) Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett
—Downton Abbey (PBS) Producers: Julian Fellowes, Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge
—Game of Thrones (HBO) Producers: David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, Chris Newman, Greg Spence, Carolyn Strauss, D.B. Weiss
—House Of Cards (Netflix) Producers: Dana Brunetti, Joshua Donen, David Fincher, David Manson, Iain Paterson, Eric Roth, Kevin Spacey, Beau Willimon
—True Detective (HBO) Producers: Richard Brown, Carol Cuddy, Steve Golin, Woody Harrelson, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Matthew McConaughey, Nic Pizzolatto, Scott Stephens
The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy
—The Big Bang Theory (CBS) Producers: Faye Oshima Belyeu, Chuck Lorre, Steve Molaro, Bill Prady
—Louie (FX) Producers: Pamela Adlon, Dave Becky, M. Blair Breard, Louis C.K., Vernon Chatman, Adam Escott, Steven Wright
—Modern Family (ABC) Producers: Paul Corrigan, Megan Ganz, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Morton, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Chris Smirnoff, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Sally Young, Danny Zuker
—Orange is the New Black (Netflix) Producers: Mark A. Burley, Sara Hess, Jenji Kohan, Gary Lennon, Neri Tannenbaum, Michael Trim, Lisa I. Vinnecour
—Veep (HBO) Producers: Chris Addison, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Godsick, Armando Iannucci, Stephanie Laing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Frank Rich, Tony Roche
Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction TV
—30 For 30 (ESPN) Producers: Andy Billman, John Dahl, Erin Leyden, Connor Schell, Bill Simmons
—American Masters (PBS) Producers: Susan Lacy, Julie Sacks, Junko Tsunashima
—Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN) Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig
—Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (FOX/NatGeo) Producers: Brannon Braga, Mitchell Cannold, Jason Clark, Ann Druyan, Livia Hanich, Steve Holtzman, Seth MacFarlane
—Shark Tank (ABC) Producers: Becky Blitz, Mark Burnett, Bill Gaudsmith, Phil Gurin, Yun Lingner, Clay Newbill, Jim Roush, Laura Roush, Max Swedlow
Outstanding Producer of Competition TV
—The Amazing Race (CBS) Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster, Mark Vertullo
—Dancing With The Stars (ABC) Producers: Ashley Edens Shaffer, Conrad Green, Joe Sungkur
—Project Runway (Lifetime) Producers: Jane Cha Cutler, Desiree Gruber, Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea, Teri Weideman
—Top Chef (Bravo) Producers: Daniel Cutforth, Casey Kriley, Jane Lipsitz, Dan Murphy, Hillary Olsen
—The Voice (NBC) Producers: Stijn Bakkers, Mark Burnett, John De Mol, Chad Hines, Lee Metzger, Audrey Morrissey, Jim Roush, Kyra Thompson, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker
Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk TV
—The Colbert Report (Comedy Central) Producers: Meredith Bennett, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Matt Lappin, Emily Lazar, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart
—Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC) Producers: David Craig, Ken Crosby, Doug DeLuca, Gary Greenberg, Erin Irwin, Jimmy Kimmel, Jill Leiderman, Molly McNearney, Tony Romero, Jason Schrift, Jennifer Sharron, Seth Weidner, Josh Weintraub
—Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO) Producers: TBD
—Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO) Producers: Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen, Bill Maher, Billy Martin, Matt Wood
—The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC) Producers: Rob Crabbe, Jamie Granet Bederman, Katie Hockmeyer, Jim Juvonen, Josh Lieb, Brian McDonald, Lorne Michaels, Gavin Purcell
Other categories
The following programs were not vetted for producer eligibility this year, but winners in these categories will be announced and honored at the January 24th gala ceremony:
Outstanding Sports Program
—24/7 (HBO)
—Hard Knocks: Training Camp With The Atlanta Falcons (HBO)
—Hard Knocks: Training Camp With The Cincinnati Bengals (HBO)
—Inside: U.S. Soccer’s March To Brazil (ESPN)
—Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel (HBO)
Outstanding Children’s Program
—Dora The Explorer (Nickelodeon)
—Sesame Street (Sprout)
—Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon)
—Toy Story of Terror! (ABC)
—Wynton Marsalis: A Youngarts Masterclass (HBO)
Digital Series
Outstanding Digital Series
—30 For 30 Shorts (http://espn.go.com/30for30/shorts)
—Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee (www.crackle.com/c/comedians-in-cars-getting-coffee)
—Cosmos: A National Geographic Deeper Dive (www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkiFfAEB5M8)
—Epic Rap Battles Of History (youtube.com/erb)
—Video Game High School Season 3 (www.youtube.com/user/freddiew)
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More