Board Tweaks Emmy Voting Process
Several High-Profile Categories Affected
Los Angeles, CA – For the first time, directors and casting directors will receive the entire performers’ Emmy ballot and vote on all performing categories in the competition.
Also, the races for lead actor and lead actress in both comedy and drama series will add a second round of voting to determine the nominees. These changes are among a series of revisions to the awards process approved recently by the Television Academy board of governors to increase the pool of potential Emmy nominees.
Previously, nominees for performing Emmys were determined solely by members of the Academy’s performers’ peer group.
The change was initiated by the performers themselves, said John Leverence, senior vice-president of awards for the Academy. “The actors felt like the directors and casting directors were uniquely qualified to join them in evaluating the performances.”
The two-stage vote to be held for lead actor and actress in a series has already been in place for guest and variety performers. Under the old system, performers received a ballot listing all actors eligible to compete in the category. The top five vote-getters would become the official nominees.
Under the new system, the top fifteen vote-getters move on to a second round in which blue-ribbon panels screen the single episode selected by each prospective nominee. Those panels, which will include representatives from the three peer groups, will select the final five nominees.
This process will also now apply to the outstanding drama and comedy series categories. Nominating ballots for these races have traditionally been sent to the entire Television Academy membership, who determined the five nominees. Now the top ten vote-getters, as determined by the full membership, will move on to a second round of judging by blue-ribbon panels. The panels will then decide the five nominees.
“This voting initiative hits the issue of a narrow nominations process head-on and significantly increases the potential for the widest and most diverse selection of nominees possible,” said Dick Askin, Television Academy chairman and CEO. “It also demonstrates the collaboration among our peer groups and the focus of our board to improve our voting process whenever we are able to do so.”
Other changes approved by the board include:
•Music: Non–Academy members may enter music categories twice in five years, but they must apply for membership if they wish to make a subsequent entry.
•Technical Direction/Camera/Video: Eligible shows will now include non–switch fed series, which would mainly be sitcoms.
•Nonfiction Picture Editing: This will be split into two category awards: one for small teams (one to three editors) and one for large (four to seven editors).
•Nonfiction Cinematography: This will also be split into two category awards: one for traditional, single-camera shoots and one for multi-camera reality shows, with a maximum of five nominees each.
•Animation: Rules that have limited nominees for animated programming of less than one hour (a maximum of four directors, three writers and fourteen producers per entry) will now also apply to animated programming of one hour or more.
•Variety or Music Performer: The scoring system used in second stage of nominations (reducing the top fifteen vote-getters to five nominees) and second-round voting (determining the winner from the five nominees) will be changed. Judges will rank each competitor with A, B, C or abstain.
•VMC and Nonfiction Series: An episode that diverges from the series norm may no longer be entered as a separate, stand-alone special.
•Significant Achievement: Only persons who have made a significant and substantive contribution to the Emmy entry are eligible for nomination; such contributions are subject to review by the Academy’s national awards committee.
Primetime Emmy nominations will be announced July 6 at 5:30 a.m. PDT at the Academy’s Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre.
Winners will claim their Emmys August 27 at the Shrine Auditorium in a ceremony airing live on NBC. Traditionally set in September, the show was moved up this year to avoid a conflict with the premiere of NBC’s Sunday-night pro football telecasts.
The Creative Arts Awards ceremony will be held at the Shrine August 19; there, Emmys are awarded mostly for behind-the-scenes artistry, but also for some performing categories as well as engineering and interactive achievements.
For updates throughout Emmy season, go to www.emmys.com.