Emmy Voting Schedule Stays On Course Even As Show Date Remains Fluid Due To Strikes
With nominations for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards revealed right on schedule Wednesday morning complete with the usual nominee reactions and interviews, it might be the last time this year’s crop of nominees actually gets to talk about their nominations before the voting period closes in what is known as Phase Two of Emmy season. That is because a Television Academy spokesperson has confirmed that even in light of today’s announcement that SAG-AFTRA will be on strike as of midnight PT, the current schedule with ballots going out on August 17 and due back in on August 28 is going to remain in place.
At today’s SAG press conference, Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in no uncertain terms that members would not be allowed to participate in any interviews, panels, FYC events, awards shows, etc. In other words, their opportunity to campaign has ended, at least as long as the strike is in effect.
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There is much speculation, and with good reason, that the TV Academy and 2023 broadcast partner Fox will be forced to move the actual ceremony from its current September 18 airdate, possibly to November or January. We hear from insiders that the latter is most likely, not just because of the actors strike but also due to the WGA, which has been out for more than two months with no end in sight. There is also no possibility of an exception in the case of the WGA like the guild made for the Tonys in June. The Emmys is a different animal when it comes to writing.
We hear the Academy will keep the gameplan for voting intact, not least because moving it several months down the line could leave them open to complaints that the actual results might not be the same as a vote taken on schedule in August. That makes sense because unforeseen circumstances could arise and change certain outcomes. You never can be sure. Moving the ceremony is one thing, fiddling with the Emmy voting calendar is quite another. Better to let Ernst & Young sit on the results.
The last time the Academy was in the position of having to move the Emmys was after 9/11. The 2001 show was scheduled for September 16 but was pushed to October 7 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Unluckily for the Academy, then-President Bush announced that airstrikes against Afghanistan had begun, TV coverage was rampant, and the ceremony was postponed just three hours before showtime. It finally took place on November 4 in a scaled-down ceremony at the Shubert Theatre in Century City hosted by Ellen DeGeneres in a much-praised turn. But the issue of changing the final voting calendar never came up as that process already had been completed before 9/11 changed the trajectory for TV’s Biggest Night.
During Tuesday’s noms announcement, TV Academy Chairman Frank Scherma noted that the Primetime Emmys on the 18th and the Creative Arts on the 9th and 10th remained currently scheduled for those dates. Deadline hears a formal decision on moving all of them will be made by the end of the month, but now, with two concurrent strikes, the situation could change at any time.
The CBS broadcast of the 50th Daytime Emmys, which initially was scheduled for June 16, also had to be postponed indefinitely, in that case due to the WGA strike. No new date has been announced.
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