WGA Lobbies TV Academy To Keep Writing Categories In Main Emmys Telecast, Urges Scribes To “Express Your Feelings” About “Regrettable” Decision

Peter White
·5 min read

The Writers Guild of America is doubling down on the Television Academy’s plans to cut the number of writing awards given out on the main Emmys telecast.

The guild has urged writers to “express your feelings” about the “regrettable” decision to remove the Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series/Special from the main primetime awards.

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In a memo to members, the WGA said that the TV Academy made the decision “without any justification or defensible reason.”

It comes after the Emmys unveiled the category breakdown this month. Later that day, the WGA told Deadline that the decision to reduce the number of writing categories on the main telecast from four to three was “misguided given the essential role writers play in the creative process of variety series and generating value for this industry.”

The move means that Outstanding Variety Special (Live) will return to the live telecast as Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series — which have been alternating for a spot — both will be given out at the Creative Arts Emmys the weekend before the primetime show.

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One of the WGA’s arguments is that it adversely impacts writers on the late-night shows, which were the first to get back up and running after the end of the writers strike.

The shows nominated in the Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series category are The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Last Week Tonight, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Saturday Night Live.

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Perhaps the TV Academy has gotten bored with watching John Oliver’s writing team win again, having won seven years in a row.

The nominees for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special include Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter and Love, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, John Mulaney: Baby J, Wanda Sykes: I’m an Entertainer and Would It Kill You to Laugh? Starring Kate Berlant & John Early.

“The Guild has been in touch with the Academy to convey our objection to this decision, and we are strongly advocating to have the category remain in the primetime televised program on January 15, 2024,” it noted. “This doesn’t just impact the people who write on the Emmy-nominated shows for a given year — this decision devalues our profession as a whole. The Emmys are fundamentally about celebrating excellence in television, and by removing these categories from the televised broadcast, the Television Academy is essentially ignoring how writing serves as the foundation for excellence in television.”

See the full note below.

The guild is hoping that the social media strength of the writers, which was so valuable during the writers strike, can help the Academy change its mind. “We urge you – our fellow writers – to join us in championing the preservation of these categories in the main Emmys broadcast: Tweet at @TheEmmys or tag @televisionacad on Instagram to express your feelings about their decision, and to urge them to keep these categories on-air,” it added.

The letter was signed by WGAE President Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, WGAE Film/TV/Streaming Vice President Erica Saleh, WGAE Secretary-Treasurer Christopher Kyle, WGAW President Meredith Stiehm, WGAW Vice President Michele Mulroney and WGAW Secretary-Treasurer Betsy Thomas, as well as Adam Ruins Everything’s Adam Conover, who is a comedy-variety writers and WGAW board members and members of the WGAE Comedy-Variety Council.

The latter includes Kaitlin Fontana (Black and White), Desus & Mero and Last Week Tonight writer Josh Gondelman, Liz Hynes (Last Week Tonight), Greg Iwinski (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert), The Daily Show’s Zhubin Parang and Sasha Stewart (The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore).

The Emmys will air January 15 on Fox.

Here is the WGA’s letter to members:

Dear Members,

The Television Academy has made the regrettable decision to not present the “Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series/Special” Awards during the main Emmy Awards telecast. They did this without any justification or defensible reason.

The Guild has been in touch with the Academy to convey our objection to this decision, and we are strongly advocating to have the category remain in the primetime televised program on January 15, 2024.

This doesn’t just impact the people who write on the Emmy-nominated shows for a given year — this decision devalues our profession as a whole. The Emmys are fundamentally about celebrating excellence in television, and by removing these categories from the televised broadcast, the Television Academy is essentially ignoring how writing serves as the foundation for excellence in television.

We all know how many writers it takes to create these incredible programs, and that’s exactly the point: the shows we write for are watched, loved, shared — and, yes, even nominated for awards — because of our writing.

And if the Television Academy can make this decision without any justification, we worry that it could set a precedent for them to remove other writing categories in the years to come.

We didn’t spend months on strike, fighting to receive the recognition we deserve for the work we help create, only to be pushed to the sidelines when it comes time to do exactly that.

The WGAE and WGAW are strongly advocating to keep these categories in the primetime televised program, and we will continue to push the Television Academy to change their minds. 

We urge you – our fellow writers – to join us in championing the preservation of these categories in the main Emmys broadcast: Tweet at @TheEmmys or tag @televisionacad on Instagram to express your feelings about their decision, and to urge them to keep these categories on-air.

Thank you for your support. We will be in touch with further updates.

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