The 71st Creative Arts Emmy Awards were presented at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on September 14-15, 2019. The two-day gala filled the red carpet with nominees dressed in dynamic formal attire from elegant dresses to remarkable tuxedos. The annual awards honored outstanding technical and artistic achievement in television.
The ceremony celebrated craftspeople in the facets of hairstyling, makeup, costume design, production design, cinematography, lighting design, editing, visual effects, special effects, animation, main title design, sound editing, sound mixing, music supervision, music direction, music composition, original music, theme music, guest actor/performance, voice-over performance, narration, casting, stunt coordination, choreography, documentary, reality programming, technical direction, short form, variety and interactive programming.
The first night focused on reality, variety special, documentary, nonfiction series, nonfiction special, informational series, animation, short form animation, choreography, and interactive programming. The second night shifted to scripted series for the comedy and drama program, half-hour vs one-hour shows, limited series, single camera vs multi-camera, and guest actor/actresses in a comedy and drama. National Geographic’s documentary Free Solo impressed on Saturday, while the epic Game of Thrones dominated and conquered Sunday.
Rachel Bloom opened the ceremony both evenings. Some of the many presenters included Will Arnett, Jon Favreau, Jeff Goldblum, Seth Green, Lisa Kudrow, Wanda Sykes, Kim Kardashian West, Natasha Lyonne, Ron Cephas Jones, Olivia Munn, Nico Santos, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris O’Dowd, Charlie Barnett, and many more. Legendary television writer and producer Norman Lear made history by becoming the oldest person to win an Emmy at the age of 97 in the category of Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for his work in Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s ‘All in the Family’ and ‘The Jeffersons.’
HBO led the charge with 25 Emmy victories from powerhouse Game of Thrones dominating and taking home a grand total of 10 Emmys, Chernobyl with 7 Emmys, and both Barry and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver with 2 each. Netflix finished with 23 trophies with 5 Emmys for Love, Death, & Robots, 4 Emmys for Queer Eye, 3 Emmys for Russian Doll, 2 Emmys for Our Planet, and a variety of others dispersed. Other multiple Emmy winners include National Geographic’s Free Solo with 7 Emmys, Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel with 6 wins, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale with 3, FX’s Fosse/Verdon with 3 Emmys, NBC’s Saturday Night Live with 3, VH1’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race with 3 Emmys, SundanceTV’s State Of The Union with 3, YouTube’s Age of Sail with 3 Emmys, CNN’s Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown and United Shades Of America With W.
Kamau Bell with 2 Emmys a piece, CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend with 2 wins, Amazon’s Fleabag with 2, and FOX’s Rent grabbing 2 Emmys. NASA TV was the Emmy recipient for the Outstanding Original Interactive Program entitled NASA’s InSight’s Mars Landing, while Netflix’s Black Mirror: Bandersnatch won in the category of Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within a Scripted Program.
Game of Thrones capped the series with a dominant 10 Emmy victory in the categories of Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy/Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy/Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score), Outstanding Main Title Design, Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Drama Series/Limited Series/Movie, Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic), Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes, and Outstanding Special Visual Effects.
HBO’s 2nd major hit in limited series Chernobyl achieved 7 Emmys wins for Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series/Movie, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series/Movie/Special, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited Series/Movie, Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series/Movie/Special (Original Dramatic Score), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Limited Series/Movie, Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Supporting Role, and Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period/Fantasy Program (One Hour or More).
Free Solo was the documentary Emmy champion in the 7 categories of Outstanding Cinematography For A Nonfiction Program, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction Program (Single or Multi-Camera), Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program, Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program, Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media Within An Unscripted Program, Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Underscore), and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program.
The beloved Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was a forerunner and racked up 6 awards in Outstanding Music Supervision, Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour), Outstanding Period Costumes, Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series, and Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series
The 71st Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be broadcast on FXX on Saturday, September 21 @ 8:00 PM ET/PT to coincide with the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 22.
For the complete list of winners, please visit https://www.emmys.com/.
