Awards

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long:

How long was this Emmy season? So long that when the online entry process began on Feb. 13, it was still a month before the COVID-19 pandemic started to shut things down. The biggest change to the Emmy race was going to be the lack of DVD screeners. Network and studio awards executives had already

Netflix’s “Queer Eye” won its third consecutive Emmy for outstanding structured reality show, and two different “Apollo” projects won big as the Emmy Awards kicked off on Monday night with the first of five nights of Creative Arts awards. The Creative Arts Emmys, which is normally an in-person event at the Microsoft Theatre over two

Last month, when the Television Academy asked Creative Arts Emmy nominees to pre-tape their acceptance speeches, it caused a bit of a stir. Some were worried that they might jinx their chances, while others feared their videos would be leaked if they didn’t win. Academy president Maury McIntyre says he understands those concerns, and after

“You’re not dying. You just can’t think of anything good to do.”-Matthew Broderick in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences can be a forgetful group. While their tastes have undoubtedly expanded and matured over the years, they still need to be reminded about the best films and performances

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sent ripples through the industry Tuesday with the announcement of new diversity and representation requirements for best picture beginning in 2024. Academy CEO Dawn Hudson and president David Rubin, along with producer DeVon Franklin and Paramount chief Jim Gianopulos spoke with Variety about the new initiatives and

The Oscars made a historic move when they announced their new inclusion requirements for best picture eligibility. For some, this was a welcomed change from the Academy, while others found it to be intrusive to the sanctity of movies and the stories that people want to tell. For people like me, it was the single

Jimmy Kimmel has been a part of my life since the moment I arrived in Los Angeles in 1996 and started listening to him every morning as Jimmy the Sports Guy on KROQ’s “Kevin & Bean Show.” As a radio geek myself, I’ve always loved that Kimmel started in radio, where it’s live; you must

This week’s release of “Mulan” marks the tenth adaptation of a beloved Disney animated film to live-action, a process that began back in 1996 with “101 Dalmatians” but really took off with 2006’s “The Jungle Book.” While many may feel the originals could never be improved on, the resulting reboots have all been major hits

Adult Swim’s “Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal,” FX’s “Archer” and NBC’s “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist” are among this year’s first batch of Emmy victors, as the Television Academy announced juried award winners on Tuesday. The juried categories included nods for choreography, interactive programming and motion design, which will be handed out on Thursday, Sept. 17, during the fourth

For “Drunk History” co-creator and host Derek Waters, it’s pretty bittersweet to still be campaigning for an Emmy now that his show has been canceled. Comedy Central, which is mostly getting out of the live-action comedy business, announced earlier this month that it had rescinded a Season 7 order for “Drunk History,” and Waters admits

Jean Smart is Emmy-nominated for HBO’s “Watchmen,” playing an anti-vigilante FBI agent. It’s yet another of Smart’s surprising performances, tackling offbeat roles and making them distinct and memorable. Smart became a household name with her five-year run as Charlene on CBS’ “Designing Women,” starting in 1986. But when the sitcom debuted, she had already racked

As the 72nd Emmys goes virtual, so will the media that covers it. ABC and the Television Academy are launching a virtual media center that will serve as a home base for reporters and TV news crews covering this year’s ceremony from home. “In lieu of the traditional press rooms that have occurred on-site during

Variety has announced the Broadway to Watch for 2020. Though Broadway is currently closed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the list is made up of those who are set to make an impact in the coming year. The honorees will each be profiled in the Sept. 23 issue of Variety and participate in a

The 2020 Emmy-nominated variety talk series — Comedy Central’s “Daily Show With Trevor Noah,” TBS’ “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” and CBS’s “Late Show With Stephen Colbert” — all had to quickly pivot at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This came with a

Tiffany Haddish and John Mulaney met as young comics at the Improv in Los Angeles and have shared a mutual admiration ever since. Both are previous Emmy Award winners; Haddish for hosting “Saturday Night Live” and Mulaney for writing a song for “SNL” and his standup special “John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City.” Now

There’s a disparity among nominees of color on the Emmy ballot this year, which can be traced to a larger disconnect within the industry, and society at large. The Television Academy nominated a record number of Black performers (34.3% of the 102, including double nominations for singular performers Sterling K. Brown, Giancarlo Esposito and Maya

The opening number of the Oscar ceremony earlier this was memorable for its spectacle and commentary. The host-less ceremony drew upon the star power of Janelle Monáe to perform an industry-focused version of “Come Alive,” highlighting characters from films that had been snubbed by the Academy. Bringing this to life was choreographer and Monáe’s frequent

Has variety sketch peaked? This year’s Emmy category got caught in the rule change that limited the number of nominations in proportion to the number of contenders submitted — and with just 14 entries, that meant only three ballot slots. Several of last year’s nominees (“Documentary Now,” “I Love You, America With Sarah Silverman” and

What are we going to do about the variety talk series category? The Television Academy implemented a plan this year to limit or expand a category’s nominations depending on how many contenders were submitted — with the exception of comedy and drama series, which will always get eight slots. But the idea was to expand

A main title sequence is often the only part of a show in which music can take center stage, and usually for just a minute. But it can also be the biggest challenge for a composer, who must somehow encapsulate the ideas, the story, the characters and the milieu of a series. This year, the

Casting director Cindy Tolan (Emmy-nominated for the third consecutive year for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; she won in 2018) has often had to hire actors to embody real-life icons in the stand-up comedy world. But when it came to bringing Moms Mabley to life in the third season of the Amazon Prime Video show, Wanda

A year into his tenure as Television Academy CEO, Frank Scherma held big plans for 2020. He had managed to include items in the organization’s budget to hire a diversity consultant. He had plans to launch an in-person recruitment effort to bring a new generation of members into the Academy fold. He was ready to

Face coverings aren’t just worn during a pandemic; they’ve also been a staple of “The Masked Singer” since early 2019. The cast and crew began shooting for season 4 on Aug. 20 with safety guidelines in place as the coronavirus continues to spread in the U.S. The show features celebrity contestants, hidden inside elaborate full-body

For the finale of Hulu’s limited series “Little Fires Everywhere,” the late director Lynn Shelton had to balance a number of world-changing events, from characters leaving the formerly sleepy suburban town of Shaker Heights, Ohio, to the culmination of a custody battle in court. And, of course, she finally had to pay off the reveal

When crafting the narrative for “Unbelievable,” which tells the true story of rape survivor Marie (Kaitlyn Dever) and her “second assault” at the hands of the police, showrunner Susannah Grant says she thought of Marie as a drowning person drifting off to sea. The Netflix limited series intertwines Marie’s story with that of two detectives

Even the coronavirus pandemic couldn’t stop Comedy Central’s long-running “The Daily Show.” Trevor Noah’s late-night showcase, now called “The Daily Social Distancing Show,” has expanded to 45 minutes per night during production that takes place remotely, for the first time since the franchise launched in 1996. The Emmy-nominated team behind the show – executive producer

Even the coronavirus pandemic couldn’t stop Comedy Central’s long-running “The Daily Show.” Trevor Noah’s late-night showcase, now produced remotely and dubbed “The Daily Social Distancing Show,” has expanded to 45 minutes per night during production, for the first time since the franchise launched in 1996. The Emmy-nominated team behind the show – executive producer and

There are plenty of superstars on television, but only a few icons. Let’s make it clear: Rita Moreno is one of those icons. My generation first knew her as the lady who screamed “Hey you guys!” at the start of PBS’ “The Electric Company.” My parents, of course, knew her as the spitfire in 1961’s

The third season finale of “The Crown” is all about Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) and the collapse of her toxic marriage to Antony “Tony” Armstrong-Jones (Ben Daniels). To capture the violence of their relationship and how Margaret’s joyous moments without him are poisoned by her memories of their fights, Bonham Carter and director Jessica