The film academy is continuing its new tradition of presenting honorary Oscars at an untelevised ceremony months before the Academy Awards.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak says the second annual Governors Awards will be held Nov. 13. The private dinner event will be produced by past academy president Sid Ganis, Sherak said.
“In its first year, it turned out to be a really great evening,” Ganis said. “It was the sweetest, most personal way for the academy to bring extra special recognition to those artists and their lifetime accomplishments.
“It was relaxed, it was of course not televised, and it was super star-studded. My job is going to be to at least duplicate what happened in that first year.”
Some of the academy’s highest honors, including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, may be presented at the event. The board of governors will meet in August to determine the 2010 honorees.
Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis received honorary Oscars and John Calley was presented with the Thalberg award at the inaugural Governors Awards last year.
“It’s still brand new, and it’s something that I’m almost positive will be around for a long, long time,” Ganis said. “We’ll keep making it something extraordinary, and we’ll make sure that it has its proper moments on the big show.”
Ganis, who served four years as academy president before Sherak took office in August, said he’s excited to help pay tribute to some of the legends in entertainment.
“This is about my heroes,” he said. “These men and women put out a lot of good, and for me to be a part of honoring them is pretty cool.”
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More