By Lynn Elber – AP TV Writer
LOS ANGELES – At a typical Hollywood award ceremony, the orchestra’s task is to encourage winners whose acceptance speeches turn into overtime. In a virtual ceremony, the Internet can simply give them an involuntary start.
A questionable online connection is one of the pitfalls that the coronavirus pandemic can face at the High-Time Emmy Awards next month.
It remains to be noted whether ABC and the rite manufacturers will bet on the combination of live and pre-recorded items, with plans to craft the September 20 event arranged through Jimmy Kimmel in secret.
Adam Sharp, director of the New York-based television academy that manages the Emmy Awards for off-television programs, knows well the dangers and benefits of connecting to the Internet; those are under the auspices of the Los Angeles-based television academy.
He has already participated in Emmy Day and sports ceremonies that were at the forefront of an unprecedented awards season. The August 11 sports awards covered a complicated live performance.
“We were at the mercy of the gods of the Internet,” Sharp said, with presenters and nominees desktop computers and tablets to participate in the online ceremony.
It unfolded without primary problems, but there were those who cursed their Internet connections, said Sharp, president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which presents the news and documentary for the Emmys on September 21 and 22.
The Daytime Emmys took a cautious turn in June, with presenters, presenters and even pre-recorded acceptance speeches. Nominees were invited to send videos for broadcast if they won.
Sharp and Maury McIntyre, president of the Los Angeles-based Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, spoke about holding remote ceremonies, sizzling red carpet glamour, and celebrity-filled rooms.
McIntyre had the flavor of orchestrating a virtual occasion when the nominations were revealed last month, with studio host Leslie Jones and presenters Josh Gad, Tatiana Maslany and Laverne Cox at home.
After being concerned about the drop in Wi-Fi connections, the brief online announcement, McIntyre recalls, told Sharp that he was surprised that his Emmy reports to date had not caused him to have an ulcer.
“I don’t know how I’m going to live at night,” McIntyre said of the network-run television broadcast in consultation with the academy.
The contenders are “Watchmen”, “Succession”, “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” and “Ozark”.
The three-hour rite is entertainment and a tribute to the achievements of the last television season. Both require the participation of famous nominees.
Among the stars vying for the trophies: Regina King and Jeremy Irons (for “Watchmen”); Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Program”); Mahershala Ali (“Ramy”); Cate Blanchett (“Ms. America”); and Don Cheadle (“Black Monday”).
The nominees were given a concept of what awaits them in a letter from the producers, adding Kimmel, who combined porners and flattery. The goal, they wrote, is that the rite “is not compromised by this crazy moment of our lives.”
“It will be the most important night in the television industry … however, we will go to you!” they wrote, promising to bring together a team of top-notch technicians, writers and others to “make you look fabulous” with smart cameras and lighting at home or somewhere else privileged.
Before COVID-19’s good fortune, the Emmys were scheduled to take up the 7,100-seat Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. There is an overlap between real and virtual ceremonies: the split screen showing the nominee in a box, Zoom meetings or the opening of “The Brady Bunch”, as announced by the selection.
At the online ceremony, the winner’s seat was temporarily expanded to fill the screen.
There are benefits to the virtual, Sharp said, adding shorter acceptance speeches.
“I don’t know if it’s because they (the winners) are at home, and they don’t look at other people’s play and never look at other people they forgot to thank,” he said.
A seedless detail through a virtual rite provided an unforeseen advantage: this joyful journey or even the race in the level through each winner takes a long time.
“Everywhere, between 15 and 22 minutes of our program, we regularly walk to the level, or presenters walk from level to microphone,” McIntyre said. “Just walk a lot.”
This allowed for something more convincing for the Sports Emmys, as some presenters had room to conduct interviews on the fly. When “What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali Part I” was revered as the most productive long documentary, there was a discussion about how the wonderful and boxing activist can simply reflect on the confluence of the game and the black occasions of today’s Lives Matter.
Producers can paint within the limits imposed on them by the virus, said Don Mischer, a veteran manufacturer whose credits come with the Oscars and Emmys. But it’s the unexplored moments that matter.
“If there’s no wonderful winner, and there’s not that moving, watery acceptance speech or the feeling that someone is at a watershed moment for their life,” Mischer said, “so no matter what you do, it probably won’t work as well as you expected.
By Lynn Elber
AP TV writer
View print ads
419-223-1010
419-229-2926
Thank you for sharing our social media.
Follow us by clicking below.
Send this to a friend