News

Exclusive: Leland Douglas, the screenwriter behind the David Gordon Green comedy Nutcrackers, has signed with Thruline Entertainment for management.

Marking Ben Stiller’s first star vehicle in a few years, Nutcrackers has him playing the work-obsessed Mike, who must reluctantly travel to rural Ohio to look after his four rambunctious nephews after their parents die in a car accident. What begins as a three-day trip to find foster care turns into weeks of farm-life mayhem – and the realization that he doesn’t need to find them a home, they’ve found one for him.

The film is coming off of its premiere as the opening film of the Toronto Film Festival, where it sold to Hulu for eight figures, in the first splashy deal of the fest. Also starring Linda Cardellini, Edi Patterson, Tim Heidecker and Toby Hussles, pic is produced by Rivulet’s Rob Paris and Mike Witherill, and Rough House’s Nate Meyer.

Exclusive: Christina Diamantas has been promoted to partner at Thruline Entertainment on her 15-year anniversary at the company, where she started in 2009 as an assistant and became a manager in 2015. She becomes Thruline’s ninth manager/partner.

Diamantas was based in Los Angeles before relocating to Philadelphia in 2016 and has since established a strong presence in New York. Her client list includes Valorie Curry (The Boys), Annabeth Gish (Pretty Little Liars), Giacomo Gianniotti (Wild Card), Aj Buckley (Seal Team), Dawn Olivieri (Yellowstone), Sean Giambrone (The Goldbergs), Brian Michael Smith (911: Lone Star), and writer-director Caroline Lindy (Your Monster

“Christina has been a force of nature since day one at Thruline. She is a fierce advocate for her clients and, just as importantly, for her colleagues,” said Thruline founding partner Ron West. “We are so happy to acknowledge her work and commitment in this way.”

Before joining Thruline, Diamantas worked at...

After Writers Guild of America waged a protest regarding the Television Academy‘s decision to move the outstanding writing for a variety series or special categories out of the upcoming Emmy telecast, the TV Academy has reversed course.

In a joint release sent out today, the Television Academy, Fox and the WGA said they were “happy to announce they have reached an agreement to include the Writing for a Variety Series category in the 75th Emmy Awards telecast airing live on Fox on January 15, 2024, at 8pm Est / 5pm Pst.”

Because this year’s Primetime Emmys has moved the variety special (live) category into the telecast (it was on the Creative Arts show last year), the TV Academy was likely looking to keep the telecast capped at 25 awards, so something had to fall out. And in this case, it was the variety writing field that originally got pushed to the Creative Arts ceremony.

Exclusive: Taylor Bright, known in the industry for her knack for discovering young talent, has joined Thruline Entertainment as a talent manager.

Having previously been a manager at Entertainment Lab, and more recently at Stagecoach Entertainment, Bright begin her career in casting.

Among the clients joining Bright at Thruline are: Sadie Stanley (Cruel Summer), Lisette Olivera (National Treasure: Edge of History), Milly Shapiro (Hereditary), Zack Nelson (Wolf Pack), Jacob Ward (Somewhere in Queens), Daria Johns.

“We are so pleased to welcome Taylor to Thruline,” said Thruline partner Jb Roberts. “Her roster of young artists is impressive, as is the energy she brings to the company. Her eye for talent is remarkable and her entrepreneurial approach to representation makes her a perfect fit for our culture.”

Thruline Entertainment’s client roster includes actors Allison Janney, Eric Stonestreet, Michael Cera, Ron Livingston, John Hawkes and Blair Underwood, and writers Annie Mumolo,...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2023 Emmy Predictions:

Outstanding Talk Series

Weekly Commentary: Jon Stewart is facing off against his buddy Stephen Colbert in the talk series category, and it’s a race too close to call.

CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” could manage its first significant win against Apple TV’s “The Problem with Jon Stewart,...

Exclusive: Molly Hurwitz has joined Thruline Entertainment as a literary manager.

Hurwitz moves to Thruline from Zero Gravity, where she had been a manager for the past six years, focusing on comedy writers. Prior to her career in management, she trained at ICM. Hurwitz, a graduate of New York University, will serve as a mentor for the 2023 Writers Discovery Fellowship.

“We are so pleased to welcome Molly to Thruline,” said Thruline partner Ron West. “Her passion for comedy, and for her clients, was clear from the moment we met her.”

Clients joining Hurwitz at Thruline include: Eddie Gorodetsky (Mom), Bill Oakley (The Simpsons), Nathan Chetty (Bob Hearts Abishola), Erin Fischer (That ’90s Show), Chelsea Myers (Call Me Kat), Warren Bell (Mom), and Zackery Alexzander Stephens (Our Flag Means Death).

They join Thruline Entertainment’s client roster which include actors Allison Janney, Eric Stonestreet, Michael Cera, Ron Livingston, John Hawkes and Blair Underwood,...

Exclusive: On the heels of its 20th anniversary, Thruline Entertainment has announced two key promotions. Sam Sazant has been elevated to Los Angeles-based manager with an emphasis on talent, and Rebecca Mazouz has been named as a literary coordinator at the management-production company.

Since joining the company in early 2021, Mazouz has worked under managers Jeff Ciabattari and Danny Sherman. A Los Angeles native, Mazouz is fluent in Spanish and has worked with Thruline clients and international production companies to adapt foreign language content for the U.S. marketplace. She started her career assisting EPs on season two of The L Word: Generation Q for Showtime, and worked at Untitled Entertainment and Clique Media Group.

Sazant’s promotion formally took place during the pandemic. Sazant joined Thruline in 2018, working on the desks of founding partner Jb Roberts and manager Christina Diamantas. Since then, she has built a diverse roster of talent working in film,...

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” has promoted Matt Lappin to serve as co-executive producer of the late night show. In his new role, Lappin will help oversee the show’s daily creative direction; his promotion was announced on Tuesday by executive producers Stephen Colbert and Tom Purcell.

Lappin was most recently senior supervising producer. As co-executive producer, he’ll be part of a team that also includes co-EPs Denise Rehrig, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Barry Julien and Opus Moreschi. Together, they’re all helping Colbert and Purcell run the ship in the absence of former executive producer Chris Licht, who departed “The Late Show” earlier this year to take over CNN as its CEO.

As Variety wrote in February, there was no plan to immediately replace Licht, especially given the show’s solid roster of producers handling day-to-day duties.

While taking on more responsibilities in “The Late Show,” Lappin will...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official awards predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis; Awards Circuit Column, a weekly analysis dissecting the trends and contenders by television editor Michael Schneider (for Emmys) and Davis (for Oscars); Awards Circuit Podcast, a weekly interview series with talent and an expert roundtable discussion; and Awards Circuit Video analyzes various categories and contenders by Variety's leading awards pundits. Variety's unmatched coverage gives its readership unbeatable exposure in print and online, as well as provide inside reports on all the contenders in this year's awards season races.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Emmys Collective

Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Emmys Hub

To see old predictions and commentary,...

The Amber Ruffin Show and A Black Lady Sketch Show have both secured Emmy writing noms for the first time – noticeably helping to improve the diversity of the category.

The Peacock series and the HBO show will compete in Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series against HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and NBC’s SNL.

A somewhat curious note of this category is that Ashley Nicole Black will compete against herself, having been involved in writing on both The Amber Ruffin Show and A Black Lady Sketch Show.

It marks The Amber Ruffin Show’s first Emmy nomination since the weekly show launched last year. However, it is not Ruffin herself’s first nom, having been nominated in this category for her work, alongside her head writer Jenny Hagel, on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

The Amber Ruffin Show is...

Management-production company Thruline Entertainment has elevated Alexandra Peck to Director of Development from her previous position as Development Coordinator. The promotion coincides with Peck’s fifth anniversary at the company.

Peck trained as an assistant at the Beverly Hills-based management-production firm before transitioning into full-time development in 2017. As Development Coordinator, Peck has helped oversee the company’s first-look deal at A+E Studios, as well as its development and production slate. Thruline’s active production slate includes two series on Netflix (Bumping Mics and Historical Roasts), a second Psych reunion movie for Ucp/USA, and the recently-announced first season pick-up of the Hulu series, The Great.

“Alex has become an integral part of our growing development and production efforts, said Thruline founders Ron West, Chris Henze, Jb Roberts and Willie Mercer in a joint statement. “She is well-read and incredibly organized, and she comes in each day with amazing ideas for...

The Writers Guild of America has just announced the nominations for their annual awards for Best Screenplays (by writers who are guild signatories). That’s right, before you get nervous thinking that your favorite may have been left off the list, you must remember that the WGA is the group that is not all-inclusive and leaves out several of the top contenders each year due to them not being part of the guild or not following their very specific rules. For this reason, you won’t see Inside Out, The Hateful Eight, and Ex Machina in the Original Screenplay category or Room, Brooklyn, or Anomalisa in the Adapted screenplay category.

Taking a look at what’s left over for the nominations, we find many that were expected to make a showing, including Spotlight and Bridge of Spies for Original Screenplay, though they apparently had to sink to really low depths...

The Big Short

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture, long-form television, digital series, sports programs and additional television nominations for the 27th Annual Producers Guild Awards.

The categories include: The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures; The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures; The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television; Outstanding Sports Program; and Outstanding Digital Series. The feature documentary film category and other television category nominations were previously announced by the PGA in late 2015.

All 2016 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on Saturday, January 23, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. This year, the Producers Guild will present special honors to Jim Gianopulos (Milestone Award), Shonda Rhimes (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), David Heyman (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), The Hunting Ground (Stanley Kramer...

The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominations for its 27th annual Producers Guild Awards! 10 films are vying for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures. And sorry "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Carol," you did not make the cut :sad

The PGA Awards winners will be announced on January 23. Here's the complete list of nominees of the 27th annual Producers Guild Awards:

Theatrical Motion Picture nominees

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

The Big Short

Producers: Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner

Bridge of Spies

Producers: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Krieger

Brooklyn

Producers: Finola Dwyer & Amanda Posey

Ex Machina

This film is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility

Mad Max: Fury Road

Producers: Doug Mitchell & George Miller

The Martian

Producers: Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Mark Huffam

The Revenant

Producers: Arnon Milchan,...

The Writers Guild of America announced some of its nominees for its 2015 awards on Thursday, including television, new media, and radio, and among the TV nominees are series both new and old, and all beloved.

In the comedy series category, freshman Netflix show "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" scored a nomination for best series, as well as an overall best new series nod. "The Last Man on Earth" also landed in that latter category, and was singled out for its pilot episode writing, too.

On the drama side of the equation, lauded "Breaking Bad" spinoff "Better Call Saul" also got best series and best new series nominations, in addition to a an episode writing nod. Newly-minted Emmy winner "Game of Thrones" also scored a best drama citation, as well as an episodic writing nomination.

The full list of nominees released this week are below. Nominations in the theatrical and documentary categories will...

Stephen Colbert is getting the band back together. As expected, CBS' incoming Late Show host will launch the new era of his late-night talker with much of the same senior staff he had on Comedy Central's Colbert Report. Most notably, Tim Purcell is staying in the Colbert fold as executive producer and writer, while Meredith Bennett rises to executive producer (she previously served as co-ep.) The rest of the senior staff announcement reads like a who's-who of the Emmy and Peabody-winning Colbert Report. Emily Lazar and Barry Julien will serve as co-executive producers —

read more...

Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won the Original Screenplay honor at the recently concluded Writers Guild Awards while Morten Tyldum's "The Imitation Game" took home the Adapted Screenplay trophy. "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swarts" written by Brian Knappenberger won Documentary Screenplay award. The film is not nominated for an Academy award.

In TV land, HBO's "True Detective" won the Drama Series award and FX's "Louie" received the Comedy Series trophy.

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) and nominees of the 2015 Writers Guild Awards:

Feature Film

Original Screenplay

Boyhood, Written by Richard Linklater; IFC Films

Foxcatcher, Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman; Sony Pictures Classics

The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness; Fox Searchlight Winner

Nightcrawler, Written by Dan Gilroy; Open Road Films

Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle; Sony Pictures Classics

Adapted Screenplay

American Sniper,...

Two films forgotten by the Academy, the animated adventure "The Lego Movie" and the Roger Ebert Documentary "Life Itself," triumphed at the recently concluded 2015 Producers Guild Awards.

"The Lego Movie" took home the Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures for producer Dan Lin while "Life Itself" won the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures for producers Garrett Basch, Steve James, and Zak Piper.

Meanwhile, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher, and James W. Skotchdopole took the Oscar glitter away from Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" when "Birdman" was awarded the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures.

The Oscars just got interesting! Will "Boyhood" triumph over "Birdman" at the Academy Awards?

In TV land, NBC was the big winner of the evening with two of their shows taking home trophies for Competition Television ("The Voice") and Live Entertainment & Talk Television ("The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon...

Movies made by women directors were snubbed by the Producers Guild of America when they announced the nominees today! Both "Selma" by Ava DuVernay and "Unbroken" by Angelina Jolie were left in the dust. I agree with not nominating the latter movie (sorry Ms. Jolie but "Unbroken" is too earnest for my taste) but "Selma" deserved a nod! It's a profound movie aided by DuVernay's skilled directing and David Oyelowo's fine performance as Martin Luther King Jr.

You know who I'm blaming for this? Paramount! The studio did not send screeners to Academy voters. Heck, they did not sent one to us, the Broadcast Film Critics Association. But after begging, they did send a link so I could watch "Selma" in time for our Critics' Choice Movie Award nominations.

"Selma" is a "late to the party" entry that is gaining momentum dashed by the PGA! If you remember, Clint Eastwood...

The Producers Guild of America announced today the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 26th Annual Producers Guild Awards. On the list are American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, Foxcatcher, Gone Girl, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Nightcrawler, The Theory Of Everything and Whiplash.

Noticeably absent among the ten are Selma and Unbroken.

Last year’s PGA winners were 12 Years A Slave and Gravity.

The Directors Guild of America nominees will be announced on January 13, 2015. The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. Pt in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

2006 was the last time a film (The Departed) won the Oscar for Best Picture, while the PGA’s The Darryl F. Zanuck Award went to Little Miss Sunshine. The last seven years in a row the PGA winner ultimately went onto win the Academy Award – No Country For Old Men,...

American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, Foxcatcher, Gone Girl, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Nightcrawler, The Theory Of Everything and Whiplash have been nominated for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, the PGA announced today. There were some surprising omissions– Selma, Unbroken, Interstellar and Into The Woods. On the TV side, American Horror Story: Freak Show, Fargo, The Normal Heart, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History and Sherlock are the nominees for the David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television. Big Hero 6, The Book Of Life, The Boxtrolls, How To Train Your Dragon 2, and The Lego Movie were nominated in the Animated Feature category. The 2015 PGA Award winners will be announced January 24 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

This year, the Producers Guild will present special honors to Jon Feltheimer (Milestone Award), Mark Gordon (Norman Lear Achievement...

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) added to the industry mix Monday morning with a list of 10 nominees to keep the awards season grist mill churning. "Gone Girl" popped up again, and it shouldn't be a surprise. It's one of the year's biggest hits. And speaking of hits, I had a hunch "Nightcrawler" would find a place after becoming such a well-liked, profitable success. There it sits. The question for both of these films is whether this on-going industry/guild love ends up translating to Oscar recognition. After the "Dragon Tattoo" rush a few years ago, I'm pretty much wait-and-see on stuff like this. Absent from the list was anything out of the Marvel Studios comic book factory, notable as both "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" were both on the top tier of box office earners in 2014. The former currently maintains the throne, though it...

The Producers Guild Of America (PGA) announced on Monday (January 5) its motion picture and long-form television nominees for the 26th Annual Producers Guild Awards - but there is no place at the table for Selma or Unbroken.

The categories include: The Darryl F Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer Of Theatrical Motion Pictures; The Award For Outstanding Producer Of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures; and The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer Of Long-Form Television.

The feature documentary film category and other television category nominations were previously announced by the PGA in late 2014.

All 2015 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 24th at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

The PGA will present special honours to Lionsgate chief Jon Feltheimer (Milestone Award), Mark Gordon (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Gale Anne Hurd (David O Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), the HBO television motion picture The Normal Heart (Stanley Kramer Award), and production...

The Writers Guild of America announced the TV nominees for the 2015 WGA Awards on Thursday (December 4) morning and several new shows broke into the fields in a big way. And, of course, there were a number of big WGA Award nomination head-scratchers. Specifically, where the heck was FX's "Fargo"? The answer is below. Making perhaps the biggest splash was "Transparent," which earned three nominations and, since "Orange Is The New Black" earned two nods and "House of Cards" pick up one, that meant that Amazon Prime and Netflix are, at least for one award-giving organization, on equal footing as creators of original programming. The Jill Soloway-created "Transparent" is nominated for New Series, where it will go against "The Affair," "The Knick," "Silicon Valley" and "True Detective." "Transparent" and "Silicon Valley" are also up for Comedy Series, going against "Louie," "Veep" and "Orange Is The New Black." Lest you panic...

Gearing up for an exciting awards show season, the Producers Guild of American just announced the nominees for the Documentary, TV Series/Specials and Digital Series categories of the 26th annual PGA Awards.

Slated to take place on Saturday, January 24th, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, the big event focuses on the production aspect of the entertainment industry.

Furthermore, the PGA will announce the remaining nominees on January 5th, so stay linked to the GossipCenter for all the latest updates.

And the nominees are:

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Green Prince (Music Box Films)

Life Itself (Magnolia Pictures)

Merchants of Doubt (Sony Pictures Classics)

Particle Fever (Abramorama/Bond 360)

Virunga (Netflix)

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:

Breaking Bad (AMC): Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons,...

Her, Stories We Tell and Captain Phillips took home top honors on Saturday night as the big winners of the 2014 Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for screen. Television, radio, news, promotional, videogame, and new media writing were also recognized at simultaneous ceremonies at the Jw Marriott L.A. Live in Los Angeles and the Edison Ballroom in New York City. It’s the final precursor guild award leading up to the Oscars.

Below is a complete list of the winners.

Screen Winners

Original Screenplay (matched up with the Academy Awards nominations)

Her, Written by Spike Jonze; Warner Bros.

Nominees included American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, Her and Nebraska.

Adapted Screenplay (3 for 5 Oscar nominations)

Captain Phillips, Screenplay by Billy Ray; Based on the book A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy Seals, and Dangerous Days at Sea by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty; Columbia Pictures

In addition to Captain Phillips,...

Spike Jonze’s philosophical sci-fi love story Her, and Billy Ray’s harrowing true-life hostage saga Captain Phillips earned best original and adapted screenplays, respectively, from the Writers Guild Awards on Saturday.

In the original category, Her was facing its four rivals for the Oscar: American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, and Nebraska, so its victory can be seen as a strong harbinger of where the Academy Award could go on March 2. In anecdotal sampling of Academy members, EW’s Prize Fighter has also determined that Her is far and away the front-runner for this category.

The WGA’s...

Tonight, the Writers Guild of America presented their awards for excellence in film and television for 2013. All eyes were on their top two categories, Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay, and while the former went to Spike Jonze’s incredible Her as expected, the latter went to Billy Ray’s Captain Phillips, which was completely out of the blue.

Her was widely expected to win due to its immense popularity throughout awards season, taking 20 screenplay wins from groups such as the HFPA and Bfca. However, Captain Phillips was a complete surprise given that it had not managed to win a single screenplay award prior to tonight, but as I’ve said before, it was going to be hard to tell which nominee was the favorite given the fact that the disqualified 12 Years a Slave has been the clear frontrunner throughout the season. However, it’s still quite shocking that Before Midnight...

Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity" and Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" both won the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for outstanding producer of theatrical motion pictures at the 2014 Producers Guild of America awards. It's an unprecedented tie that just makes the Academy Awards much more unpredictable!

"We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks" took home the documentary trophy while "Frozen" won the animated category.

Here's the complete list of winners (highlighted) of the 2014 Producers Guild Awards (PGA):

Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures (Tie):

*Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman

*12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Producers: Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner

American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

Producers: Megan Ellison, Jon Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle

Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)

Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)

Producers: Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin...

The 25th Annual Producers Guild of America Awards were handed out last night, with Gravity and 12 Years a Slave tying for the guild's top honor, the The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for 'Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures'. Some guilds do not allow for ties to happen, and this is the first time in the PGA's history that it has happened for their biggest award.

Take a look at the rest of the big winners below, which were announced at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

- Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures) - Producers: Alfonso Cuar&#243n, David Heyman

- 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures) - Producers: Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt & Dede GardnerAmerican Hustle (Columbia Pictures) - Producers: Megan Ellison, Jon Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard SuckleBlue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics) - Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen...

12 Years A Slave and Gravity have tied at this year’s PGA. With American Hustle taking the SAG ensemble on Saturday night, we have a bonafide Best Picture race on our hands folks! This is the first tie for the top film in Producers Guild Award history.

The PGA split keeps the Oscar race wide open in one of the tightest three-way battles in years, with “American Hustle” still in the game following a week of big showings at the Golden Globes, Oscar nominations and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Tonight the Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced this year’s winning motion picture and television productions at the 25th Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

David Heyman, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Alfonso Cuaron, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision for Producers Guild/AP Images)

In addition to the competitive awards,...

One of the most up-in-the-air Academy Award races in memory just got even more unpredictable. For the first time in its 25-year history, the Producers Guild Awards—generally considered the most reliable predictor of which film will take home the Best Picture Oscar—ended in a tie. Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity and Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave shared the group’s prize for Best Picture.

The other Best Picture nominees were American Hustle, Her, Blue Jasmine, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Nebraska, Saving Mr. Banks, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

In 17 out of the past 24 years—and...

Plenty of groups give out awards for excellence in film and television at the end of every year, but no set of nominations is watched more carefully by Oscar predictors than the picks from the Producers Guild. That’s because year after year their choices end up being a fairly good indicator of which films will also be granted Best Picture nominations when the Academy makes their selections.

The Guild has announced their 2014 nominations today and there aren’t really any major surprises here. All the expected films are present, including 12 Years A Slave, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Her and The Wolf Of Wall Street. Animated films that nabbed nominations are The Croods, Despicable Me 2, Epic, Frozen and Monsters University. Included in the documentary nominations are A Place at the Table, Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story, Life According to Sam, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks...

The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominees for the 25th annual PGA Awards. In the movie category, the Coen Brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis" and the awards hopefuls from the Weinstein Company were ignored -- no "August: Osage County," "Fruitvale Station" (darn!), "Philomena" (another darn), "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," and "Lee Daniels' The Butler." Sorry Harvey and Bob Weinstein!

We'll find out the winners on Jan. 19. Here's the complete list of nominees of the 25th Annual PGA Awards (including TV categories):

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)

Producers: Megan Ellison, Jon Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle

Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)

Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)

Producers: Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin

Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

Producers: Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter

Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman

Her (Warner Bros.

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 25th Annual Producers Guild Awards. The categories include: The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures; The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures; and The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television. The documentary film category and other television category nominations were already announced by the Guild in late 2013.

All 2014 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 19th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. This year, the Producers Guild will also present special honors to Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), Robert Iger (Milestone Award), Peter Jackson & Joe Letteri (Vanguard Award), Chuck Lorre (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Chris Meledandri (Visionary Award) and Fruitvale Station (Stanley Kramer Award).

The Producers Guild Awards Co-Chairs are Lori McCreary (Invictus,...

The Producers Guild of America has accurately forecast the last six Best Picture Oscar winners, so it was good news for 10 films that were nominated today for the PGA’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award. While Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, and American Hustle were among the films that made the cut, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Butler, and Fruitvale Station did not. Last year, eight of the 10 movies that received nods from the PGA went on to earn Oscar nominations for Best Picture.

Fruitvale will go home with a special award when the hardware is handed out on Jan. 19. The movie from...

The character of Stephen Colbert contains exactly 13.4 percent of the real Stephen Colbert.

At least that’s what Stephen Colbert — the real, Emmy-winning, Second City-bred actor-comedian — told the audience at Thursday night’s New York Comedy Festival panel discussion featuring him and his writers on The Colbert Report. Fans crowded into Town Hall in New York City to hear the man behind the political satirist and one-time presidential nominee share how the writing team works to produce a topical show every night, and how he separates his character from himself.

“He’s very dumb, and it’s an aggressive dumbness,...

The best and the brightest in TV came together at the Nokia Theatre this evening (September 22) for the 65th Annual Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.

Neil Patrick Harris held down the fort as the year’s Mc, entertaining the star-studded crowd with show-stopping performances and hilarious skits with “How I Met Your Mother” cast members and former Emmy hosts.

As for the winners, Claire Danes scored a big win, taking home a trophy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, while Jeff Daniels took home the prize in the Lead Actor category.

Meanwhile, Jim Parsons won his third Emmy for Lead Actor in a comedy for his role in “Big Bang Theory,” and Julia Louis-Dreyfus scored the prize for her lead role in “Veep.”

And last but not least, the cast of "Modern Family" and "Breaking Bad" were honored with Outstanding Comedy and Drama Series, respectively.

Check out the...

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul were upset in their respective acting categories, but Breaking Bad won the night’s top prize, taking home its first Emmy for Best Drama. It was an unpredictable night in several major categories: In addition to The Newsroom’s Jeff Daniels taking home the trophy for Best Actor in a Drama and Boardwalk Empire’s Bobby Cannavale winning for Supporting Actor, Veep’s Tony Hale and Nurse Jackie’s Merritt Wever were surprise winners — Wever was so shocked that she practically ran off the stage without delivering an acceptance speech.

Not every category yielded a stunner,...

Tonight the Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced this year's winning motion picture and television productions at the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

In addition to the competitive awards, the PGA recognized several producers with honorary awards including Bob Weinstein and Bob Weinstein (Milestone Award), Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), J.J. Abrams (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Russell Simmons (Visionary Award) and Bully (Stanley Kramer Award). The 2013 Producers Guild Awards were chaired by Michael De Luca.

The 2013 Producers Guild nominated films and television programs are listed below in alphabetical order by category, along with producers. The producers' names for each nominated production are listed in alphabetical order and may not reflect the order of screen credits.

The theatrical motion picture nominees and winners are:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for...

You can't always know how the future will treat each year's awards recipients. Will their strengths will come into sharper focus as time erodes the particulars of the movie culture and conversation they arrived into or will that erosion grind a movie or performers appeal down with it? What will we make in five year's time of this moment when Hollywood threw awards at Argo instead of, say, Lincoln? That's what happened again last night at the Producers Guild Awards when Ben Affleck's 1970s CIA rescue tale took the top prize.

We don't have to wait for hindsight clarity when it comes to Argo's sudden rise in the previous deadheat Oscar race. I'd say that three things are responsible, two of which no one could have predicted.

1. I'd been saying from the very start that Argo's narrative subtext, embedded into its truish story of a fake movie...

Often considered a precursor to The Academy Awards, but honoring television as well as film, The Producers Guild Awards were handed out last night in Beverly Hills.

Here's a look at who took home hardware on the TV side:

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama - "Homeland" (Showtime)

Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy "Modern Family" (ABC)

Producers: Cindy Chupack, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Morton, Dan O'Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Chris Smirnoff, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television - "The Amazing Race" (CBS)

Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster, Mark Vertullo

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television - "Game Change" (HBO)

Producers: Gary Goetzman,...

Oh yes it still hurts that Ben Affleck was not given a Best Director Oscar nomination, yet his fantastic film "Argo" continues its ascension to Oscar glory! The film took home the top prize at the Producers Guild of America Awards taking home the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures.

So guess which film will win the Oscar Best Picture? Yup, it will be "Argo!" Why? Well, Hollywood really loves movies about them and "Argo" is about a movie of a fake movie in order to help free some Americans trapped in Iran during the hostage crisis.

And, the PGA award is a significant Academy Awards precursor. Only seven times in 24 years has the PGA winner failed to win a Best Picture Oscar. So "Argo" has a strong chance.

I'm also happy that "Searching for Sugar Man" won the Documentary category, and not so happy...

The Producers Guild Awards were awarded on Saturday (Jan. 26). Often considered the precursor to the Academy Awards, both the television and movie producing awards were handed out at the Beverly Hilton.

Among the big award winners of the night were "Argo," "Homeland," "Wreck-It Ralph," "Modern Family" and "The Colbert Report."

Check out the full listing of winners here.

Special awards

Norman Lear Achievement Award

J.J. Abrams, presented by Jennifer Garner

Stanley Kramer Award

"Bully," producers Lee Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen, presented by Bradley Cooper

David O. Selznick Achievement Award

Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title, presented by Anne Hathaway

Visionary Award

Russell Simmons, presented by LL Cool J

TV awards

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama

"Homeland" (Showtime)

Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television,...

As goes the Producers Guild, so goes the Oscar for Best Picture …

At least, that’s how the past five years have worked out. So Argo’s win on Saturday night is the strongest indicator yet that the rescue thriller is the frontrunner in the most fiercely competitive Academy Awards race in recent memory.

The 10 nominees in the producers race were Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Moonrise Kingdom, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Zero Dark Thirty. Only nine nominees are in the Academy’s top race, with Skyfall and Moonrise Kingdom out,...

I was of the opinion it would either be Lincoln or Silver Linings Playbook winning at the 2013 Producers Guild Awards, making it that much easier to pick one as the front-runner for Best Picture at the Oscars. Well, the producers made it even easier than that... they chose "Option C". Ben Affleck may have been snubbed a nomination for Best Director by the Academy, but ever since, Argo has won big at the Critics' Choice Awards, Golden Globes and now the PGA awards as it was awarded the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, giving it a clear path to winning Best Picture at the Oscars at the end of March. Tomorrow night the Screen Actors Guild will hold the 2013 SAG Awards and while I predicted Silver Linings Playbook would take the award when I posted my thoughts on Wednesday, at this point I would...

Earlier this week The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced the nominations for their annual awards for theatrical motion picture, animated motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 2013 Producers Guild Awards.

This was an incredible year for films, and most of the movies nominated here deserve to be. Out of all the films listed here, I'd like to see Zero Dark Thirty or Silver Linings Playbook take the top prize for motion picture, Paranorman for animated film, Game of Thrones for TV drama, and Curb Your Enthusiasm for TV Comedy. In case you missed them, here they are! Look them over and let us know what films you'd like to see win!

Ten nominations in the theatrical motion picture category include:

Argo (Warner Bros.)

Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight)

Django Unchained (The Weinstein Company)

Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)

Lincoln (DreamWorks)

Les Misérables (Universal)

Moonrise Kingdom...

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards. The categories include: The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures; The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures; and The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television. The documentary film category and other television category nominations were already announced by the Guild in November 2012.

All 2013 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 26th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. This year, the Producers Guild will also present special honors to Bob Weinstein and Bob Weinstein (Milestone Award), Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), J.J. Abrams (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Russell Simmons (Visionary Award) and Bully (Stanley Kramer Award).

The 2013 Producers Guild Awards Chair is Michael De Luca.

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced the nominees in both motion picture and television for the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards. "Skyfall" made the cut as one of the nominees of the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures.

Winners will be announced on January 26th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Here's the complete list of nominees (including television); for winners/nominees of other award-giving bodies, click here:

Theatrical Motion Picture Nominees

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

.Argo. (Warner Bros.)

Producers: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov

.Beasts of the Southern Wild. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn

.Django Unchained. (The Weinstein Company)

Producers: Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone, Stacey Sher

.Les Misérables. (Universal Pictures)

Producers: Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh

.Life of Pi. (Fox 2000 Pictures)

Producers: Ang Lee, Gil Netter,...

The Producers Guild of America has announced its nominations for best productions of the year, in what is often looked to as an indicator for how the Academy Awards may go.

The guild selected 10 films — most of them common guesses for the group that could make up the Oscar list of the best films of 2012: Argo, Lincoln, Les Misérables, among others.

The one surprise: Skyfall. No 007 film has ever cracked the Best Picture list, but if this nomination is any indication, that could change when the Oscar nods are revealed Jan. 10.

Check out the full list …

The Darryl F. Zanuck...