The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) announces that Stephen Myles Berger, best known for his work in theme parks around the world and on films such as The Sunshine Boys, Basic Instinct and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Set Designers and Model Makers (SDMM) Council at the 24th Annual ADG “Excellence in Production Design” Awards. Berger’s illustrious career spans five decades and has earned him international acclaim. The 2020 ADG Awards will be held at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown in the Wilshire Grand Ballroom on Saturday, February 1, 2020. This is the third of four Lifetime Achievement Awards to be announced by Art Directors Guild.
“Stephen’s artistic abilities have traversed television, film and theme parks for the last half century. Those who have had the chance to work with him enjoy his energy, enthusiasm and skill. We appreciate his years of service as a teacher, a mentor, a trustee in the Guild and are proud to have him as an example of a person who represents the best of the Set Design craft,” said Kristen Davis, ADG Set Designers and Model Makers Council chair.
Berger comes from a family of talented entertainment art directors. His father, Ralph Berger, was an RKO art director, Desilu television pioneer and a member of the Cinemagundi Club, forerunner of today’s Art Directors Guild. Both Stephen and his brother Richard have been members of the Guild since the early ‘60s.
Stephen Myles Berger’s list of television credits reads like the history of the entertainment industry over the past 50 years, including Scandal, Malcolm in the Middle, Desperate Housewives, Wonder Woman, MacGyver, Hawaii Five-O, Spiderman and Serpico. His numerous film credits include The Way We Were, The Adventures of Pipi Longstocking, Silent Movie, The Sunshine Boys and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Berger’s talents transitioned to award winning designs of numerous theme parks around the globe including Universal Studios Theme Parks in Los Angeles, Orlando and Japan; Magic Mountain in California; Motion Gate Theme Park in Dubai; MGM/Disney Studios in Orlando; Sama World Theme Park in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia; and Six Flags Over Mid-America in St. Louis.
He studied at Chouinard Art Institute and University of Southern California. He is a member of the Motion Picture and Television Academies and is currently an ADG trustee.
The ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts. As previously announced, Joe Alves will receive the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from the Art Directors Council (AD) and Denis Olsen from the Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists Council (STG). The honoree for the Illustrators and Matte Artists Council (IMA) will be announced shortly.
The producer of this year’s ADG Awards (#ADGawards) is production designer Scott Moses, ADG. Online nomination voting will be held November 18–December 6, 2019. Nominations will be announced December 9, 2019. Online balloting will be held December 18, 2019–January 30, 2020 and winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony on Saturday, February 1, 2020. ADG Awards are open only to productions when made within the U.S. by producer’s signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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