The Television Academy has announced Greg Berlanti as the 2024 Governors Award recipient in recognition of his significant impact on television and culture by depicting the underrepresented in film and in such iconic series as Dawsonโs Creek, Riverdale, All American, The Flight Attendant and You.
The Governors Award is bestowed by the Television Academyโs Board of Governors and honors an individual, company or organization that has made a profound, transformational and long-lasting contribution to the arts and/or science of television.
Berlanti will receive his Emmyยฎ statuette during the 76th Emmy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 15, at the Peacock Theater at L.A. LIVE.
He began his career in television as a staff writer on the hit show Dawsonโs Creek and became the executive producer and showrunner of the series after only one season. In the ensuing years, he has served as creator, writer and executive producer on over 45 television shows, including Political Animals, Arrow, Blindspot, The Flash, Supergirl, Everwood, You, Titans, Riverdale, Doom Patrol, All American, Found and The Flight Attendant. Berlanti Productions has had a record-breaking 15 shows on the air at one time.
Berlanti has engineered many cultural television-industry firsts via his passion for including the invisible and underrepresented in his storytelling, which has propelled him into the ranks of cultural icon. He helped introduce a gay character into a primetime television show and featured the first same-sex kiss between two men on U.S. network television with Dawsonโs Creek.
In 2006, Berlanti executive produced and wrote Brothers & Sisters for ABC, which aired for five seasons and featured the first same-sex legal marriage on network television. In 2007, Berlanti executive produced Dirty Sexy Money for ABC, which featured the first recurring transgender character on primetime television; and in 2018 he introduced the first transgender superhero on his series Supergirl.
His commitment to diversity and inclusion continued with Batwoman featuring the first openly gay superhero to headline a series and Red, White and Royal Blue, which gave LGBTQ+ audiences a royal rom-com of their own.
Berlanti is currently the executive producer of Brilliant Minds, a new NBC series premiering this fall, which features the first single gay lead in a U.S. medical drama.
โGreg is an extraordinary creator who consistently delivers characters and stories that are in dialogue with the real world,โ said Television Academy chair Cris Abrego. โFrom the beginning of his career, his commitment to representing three-dimensional LGBTQ+ characters in particular has paved the way for greater cultural understanding and acceptance of a community that is often under attack in both social and political discourse. For seizing the power of television to move our culture forward, the Academy is honored to select Greg Berlanti for this yearโs Governors Award.โ
โI am beyond grateful to be receiving this overwhelming and humbling honor from the Board of Governors and the Television Academy. Every minute in this business has been the greatest gift that Iโm eternally thankful for,โ said Berlanti. โIt will be nice to have an opportunity to thank all the family, friends, showrunners, execs, cast, crews and audiences that have made an honor like this possible.โ
The Berlanti Family Foundation was founded in 2019 to support numerous charities and those in need, including F Cancer, ACLU, The Giving Spirit, GLAAD, Childrenโs Hospital of Los Angeles, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Girls Inc., and many more. Additionally, Berlanti and his Foundation gave over $2 million to support those in the industry that were affected by production shutdowns from COVID-19 and the industry strikes with donations to the MPTF, the Entertainment Community Fund, and a direct fund for his own productions.
TIME magazine listed Berlanti as one of the top 100 most influential people of 2020, the Producers Guild of America honored him with the Norman Lear Achievement Award in 2022, and he was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
Previous recipients of the Governors Award, which was first presented in 1978, include LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization GLAAD, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, Debbie Allen, Tyler Perry, Star Trek, American Idol, William S. Paley, Hallmark Cards Inc., Masterpiece Theater, Comic Relief and PBS.
Tool Signs Director Ava Berkofsky
Creative production partner Tool has added Ava Berkofsky to its directorial roster for commercial representation in the U.S. Berkofsky (they/them), an award-winning cinematographer and LGBTQIA+ voice, has applied their signature visual style to features (The Sky Is Everywhere), television (HBOโs Insecure, Bel-Air), documentaries, and commercials.
Tool becomes the first company to represent Berkofsky as a director for commercials in the U.S. market. Berkofsky has extensive experience as a commercial DP. Having shot campaigns for Nike, Etsy, and Google, Berkofsky has also helped create visual identities for Apple, A24, Amazon, Netflix and Hulu. Berkofsky has additionally lensed a number of film-based art projects with exhibitions at MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, and The Armenian National Gallery.
โWe are so excited that Ava is taking the next step in their commercial directorial career with us,โ said Nancy Hacohen, managing director at Tool. โAva is an outstanding filmmaker, and weโre looking forward to helping bring their unique voice and style to brands searching for a strong visual storyteller.โ
Berkofskyโs directorial debut was for HBOโs comedy/drama series Insecure, an episode which earned an Outstanding Cinematography Emmy nomination for DP Kira Kelly. Berkofsky is a three-time Emmy nominee (in 2019, 2020 and 2022) for cinematography--all on the strength of their work on episodes of Insecure. Berkofsky also garnered an ASC Award nomination in 2021 for Insecure.
โGrowing up in a family of filmmakers, my first language was learned by telling stories with a camera. Iโm excited to use a lifetime of experiences to capture unexpected emotions, showcase intimacy, create humor, and... Read More