Well over half of the prizes in the overly bountiful 96 award categories were for below-the-line achievement in such areas as cinematography, production design, costumes, sound and other related fields. For example, the four awards for the latest television iteration of detective Sherlock Holmes, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, came for picture editing, sound editing, music composition and cinematography for a miniseries or movie. True Detective, the noir mini-series, got Emmys for casting, make-up, main-title design and cinematography.
Game of Thrones, the elaborately produced fantasy saga set in the Middle Ages, won its four Emmys for costume design, art direction, special and visual effects and outstanding prosthetic makeup. That raised the Emmy total for the series to six. It won twice before, both times in technical categories. The immensely popular show, which just finished its fourth season, has surprisingly never won a Primetime Emmy, but it is nominated in several categories at the upcoming 66th annual event a week from now on Monday, August 25 on NBC. Seth Meyers of NBC’s Late Night show will host.
The remainder of the Creative Arts Emmy awards were spread out over disparate offerings ranging from reality and children’s shows to animation and documentaries, and even some for writing and acting. The four “guest appearance” acting awards usually draw the most attention from the entertainment media because the recipients are most familiar to the public. On Saturday, the guest actors who won for a drama series were Joe Morton on Scandal and Allison Janney for her stint on Showtime’s Masters of Sex. It was the fifth Emmy for Janney, who had previously received four Emmys for her role as presidential chief on The West Wing. For comedy, the winners were Jimmy Fallon for hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live (he won the same award in 2012 and was previously a cast member); and newcomer Nuza Adoba for her role in the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black. (The other four Saturday Night Live Emmys came for outstanding costumes, hairstyling and makeup for a variety program or special and for the directing of a variety show.)
COSMOS, a successor to the pioneering public television science series of the same name hosted by the late Carl Sagan, was one of the evening’s double-award winners. Composer Alan Silvestri received Emmys for the show’s main title theme music and outstanding musical composition for a dramatic series. The show also received a sound-editing award. And in a notable moment, Ann Druyan, Sagan’s widow, won for outstanding writing for a nonfiction program, which she shared with Steven Soter. She thanked executive producers Brandon Braga and Seth McFarlane, who was one of the early backers and instrumental in getting the show on Fox.
In another highlight, The Deadliest Catch, the reality show about the perils aboard fishing boats in the Bering Sea, now in its 10th season, won three more Emmys, bringing its total to 13. It repeated for outstanding cinematography and outstanding picture editing for a reality program, awards it has won in the past. It also got an Emmy for best unstructured reality show. Doug Stoul, the show’s producer led the boisterous squad of 10 cinematographers onstage to receive their awards.
There was a blast at directors’ sometimes bad habits from the standpoint of editors when Veep stars Tony Hale and Matt Walsh came on to give out the editing awards. “Directors, stop excusing all your mistakes with ‘Oh, we’ll fix it in post,’’ said Walsh. “And, editors hate the question ‘Can you make it good?’ Here’s a thought – how about making it good on set? Is that too much to ask?”
The editors of Survivor, who won the right to unionize last week after threatening a job stoppage, were again nominees in the category of best picture editing for a reality program, but lost to the team for The Deadliest Catch.
As usual, there were a number of first-time Emmy winners. The most unique was editor Peter Chakos who won his first award for his work on The Big Bang Theory, after having been nominated 20 times in the past and never won an Emmy. “I thought I’d have left the earth before I finally won one of these,” he joshed in his acceptance speech.
Sure to generate tweets and water-cooler talk was President Barak Obama’s memorable appearance on Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis, which received the Emmy for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program.
The Television Academy’s Governors Award went to the late Marion Dougherty, a legendary casting director. It was presented by actor Jon Voight, who recalled how he got his star-making role in Midnight Cowboy through Dogherty.
The evening proceeded in chockablock fashion in order to get all the awards in. The 30-second rule for winner thank-you speeches was fairly rigorously enforced as loud music blared to signal time was up. There was no overall host for the evening. A sequence of well-known presenters gave out multiple awards. They included Jane Lynch (Glee), showrunners Vince Gill (Breaking Bad) and Matthew Weiner (Mad Men), comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele (Comedy Central), and Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen (Portlandia).
The winners of the 2014 Creative Arts Emmy Awards are:
Casting for a comedy series:
Orange Is the New Black, Jennifer Euston, Netflix
Casting for a miniseries, movie or special:
Fargo, Rachel Tenner, Jackie Lind and Stephanie Gorin, FX Networks
Casting for a drama series:
True Detective, Alexa L. Fogel, Christine Kromer and Meagan Lewis, HBO
Picture editing for reality programming:
Deadliest Catch (“Careful What You Wish For”), Josh Earl, Rob Butler and Art O’Leary, Discovery Channel
Picture editing for nonfiction programming:
The Square, Pedro Kos, Christopher de la Torre and Mohamed El Manasterly, Netflix
Picture editing for short-form segments and variety specials:
Eric Davies, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (“McConnelling”), Comedy Central
Single-camera picture editing for a miniseries or a movie:
Yan Miles, Sherlock: His Last Vow (Masterpiece Theater),” PBS
Multicamera picture editing for a comedy series:
Peter Chakos, The Big Bang Theory (“The Cooper Extraction”), CBS
Single-camera picture editing for a drama series:
Skip MacDonald, Breaking Bad (“Felina”), AMC
Single-camera picture editing for a comedy series:
William Turro, Orange Is the New Black, Netflix
Art direction for a contemporary or fantasy series (single-camera):
Game of Thrones (“The Laws of Gods and Men”/”The Mountain and the Viper”), Deborah Riley, Paul Ghirardani and Rob Cameron, HBO
Outstanding art direction for a period series, miniseries or a movie (single-camera):
Boardwalk Empire (“Erlkönig”/”The Old Ship of Zion”/”Farewell Daddy Blues”), Bill Groom, Adam Scher and Carol Silverman, HBO
Outstanding art direction for a contemporary program (half-hour or less):
House of Lies (“Wreckage”/”Middlegame”/”Zhang”) Ray Yamagata, Chikako Suzuki and Tim Stepeck, Showtime
Outstanding art direction for variety, nonfiction, reality or reality-competition program:
The Oscars, Derek McLane, Joe Celli and Gloria Lamb, ABC
Animated program:
Bob’s Burgers (“Mazel Tina”) Fox
Short-format animated program:
Disney Mickey Mouse (“’O Sole Minnie”), Disney Channel
Individual achievement in animation (multiple winners):
Nick Jennings, Adventure Time (“Wizards Only, Fools”), Cartoon Network; Disney Gravity Falls (“Dreamscaperers”), Ian Worrel, Disney Channel; Disney Mickey Mouse (“’O Sole Minnie”), Narina Sokolova, Disney Channel; Disney Mickey Mouse (“The Adorable Couple”), Valerio Ventura, Disney Channel; Long Live the Royals, Sean Szeles, CartoonNetwork.com; The Powerpuff Girls: Dance Pantsed, Jasmin Lai, Cartoon Network; Robot Chicken DC Comics Special II: Villains in Paradise, Cameron Baity, Adult Swim; The Simpsons (“Treehouse of Horror XXIV”), Dmitry Malanitchev, Fox; The Simpsons (‘Treehouse of Horror XXIV”), Charles Ragins, Fox; Uncle Grandpa (“Afraid of the Dark”), Nick Edwards, Cartoon Network
Costumes for a miniseries, movie or a special:
American Horror Story: Coven, Lou Eyrich, Elizabeth Macey and Ken Van Duyne, FX Networks
Costumes for a series:
Game of Thrones (“The Lion and the Rose”), Michele Clapton, Sheena Wichary, Alexander Fordham and Nina Ayres, HBO
Costumes for a variety program or a special (multiple winners):
Saturday Night Live (Host: Jimmy Fallon), Tom Broecker and Eric Justian, NBC; So You Think You Can Dance (Episode 1008), Marina Toybina and Grainne O’Sullivan, Fox
Hairstyling for a miniseries or a movie:
American Horror Story: Coven, Monte C. Haught, Michelle Ceglia, Yolanda Mercadel, and Daina Daigle, FX Networks
Hairstyling for a multicamera series or special:
Saturday Night Live (Host: Anna Kendrick), Bettie O. Rogers, Jodi Mancuso, Inga Thrasher, Jennifer Serio Stauffer, Cara Hannah Sullivan and Joe Whitmeyer, NBC
Hairstyling for a single-camera series:
Downton Abbey (Episode 8), Magi Vaughan and Adam James Phillips, PBS
Sound editing for a miniseries, movie or a special:
Sherlock: His Last Vow (Masterpiece), Doug Sinclair, Stuart McCowan, Jon Joyce, Paul McFadden, William Everett and Sue Harding, PBS
Sound editing for nonfiction programming:
Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (“Standing Up in the Milky Way”), Christopher Harvengt, Richard S. Steele, Jeff Carson, Jason Tregoe Newman, Bob Costanza, Lisa Varetakis, Bill Bell, Tim Chilton and Jill Sanders, Fox/NatGeo
Sound editing for a series:
Black Sails, Benjamin Cook, Iain Eyre, Sue Cahill, Jeffrey A. Pitts, Tim Tuchrello, Brett Voss, Michael Baber, Jeffrey Wilhoit and James “Jimmy” Moriana, Starz
Makeup for a miniseries or a movie (non-prosthetic):
The Normal Heart, Eryn Krueger Mekash, Sherri Berman Laurence, Nicky Pattison, LuAnn Claps, Mike Mekash and Carla
Makeup for a single-camera series (non-prosthetic):
True Detective (“The Secret Fate of All Life”), Felicity Bowring, Wendy Bell, Ann Pala, Kim Perrodin and Linda Dowds, HBO
Makeup for a multicamera series or special (non-prosthetic):
Saturday Night Live (Host: Jimmy Fallon), Louie Zakarian, Amy Tagliamonti, Sarah Egan, Daniela Zivkovic and Melanie Demitri, NBC
Prosthetic makeup for a series, miniseries, movie or a special:
Game of Thrones (“The Children”), Jane Walker and Barrie Gower, HBO
Sound mixing for a variety series or special:
The 56th Grammy Awards, Tom Holmes, Eric Johnston, John Harris, Eric Schilling, Mikael Stewart, Ron Reaves, Tom Pesa, Michael Parker, Pablo Munguia, Josh Morton and Bob LaMasney, CBS
Sound mixing for nonfiction programming:
American Masters (“Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train a Comin’”), Eddie Kramer and Steve Crook, PBS
Sound mixing for a comedy or drama series (one hour):
House of Cards (“Chapter 14”), Lorenzo Millan, Nathan Nance and Scott R. Lewis, Netflix
Sound mixing for a comedy or drama series and animation (half-hour):
Nurse Jackie (“The Lady With the Lamp”), Jan McLaughlin and Peter Waggoner, Showtime
Sound mixing for a miniseries or a movie:
Treme (“Sunset on Louisianne”), Bruce Litecky, Andy Kris and Blake Leyh, HBO
Governors Award:
Marion Dougherty
Music direction:
The Beatles: The Night That Changed America, Don Was, CBS
Music composition for a series (original dramatic score):
Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey (“Standing Up in the Milky Way”), Alan Silvestri, Fox/NatGeo
Main title theme music:
Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, Alan Silvestri, Fox/NatGeo
Main title design:
True Detective, Patrick Clair, Raoul Marks and Jennifer Sofio Hall, HBO
Music composition for a miniseries, movie or a special (original dramatic score):
Sherlock: His Last Vow (Masterpiece), David Arnold and Michael Price, PBS
Original music and lyrics:
67th Annual Tony Awards (“Bigger!”), Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, CBS
Technical direction, camerawork, video control for a miniseries, movie or a special:
The Sound Of Music Live! Emmett Loughran, Robert Muller, Rob Balton, Jerry Cancel, Leslie Hankey, Ray Hoover, Charlie Huntley, Andrew Jansen, Jay Kulick, Jeff Latonero, Pat Minietta, Brian Phraner, Claus Stuhl Weissenburg, Mark Whitman, Susan Noll and Yoneet Solange, NBC
Technical direction, camerawork, video control for a series:
Dancing With the Stars (Episode 1711A), Charles Ciup, Bert Atkinson, Larry Heider, Bettina Levesque, Dave Levisohn, Mike Malone, Adam Margolis, Rob Palmer, Hector Ramirez, Brian Reason, Seth Saint Vincent, Damien Tuffereau, Easter Xua and Chris Gray, ABC
Lighting design/lighting direction for a variety series:
Dancing With the Stars (Episode 1711A), Simon Miles, Suzanne Sotelo and Matthew Cotter, ABC
Lighting design/lighting direction for a variety special:
Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony, Al Gurdon, Peter Canning, Michael Owen and Ross Williams, NBC
Special and visual effects:
Game of Thrones (“The Children”), Joe Bauer, Joern Grosshans, Steve Kullback, Adam Chazen, Eric Carney, Sabrina Gerhardt, Matthew Rouleau, Thomas H. Schelesny and Robert Simon, HBO
Special and visual effects in a supporting role:
Black Sails, Erik Henry, Paul Graff, George Murphy, Annemarie Griggs, Mitch Claspy, Jeremy Hattingh, Doug Hardy, Nick Hsieh and Steve Messing, Starz
Stunt coordination for a drama series, miniseries or movie:
The Blacklist, Cort L. Hessler III, NBC
Stunt coordination for a comedy series or a variety program:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Norman Howell, Fox
Character voice-over performance:
The Simpsons (“Four Regrettings and a Funeral”), Harry Shearer, Fox
Children’s program:
One Last Hug: Three Days at Grief Camp, HBO
Narrator:
Jeremy Irons, Game of Lions, Nat Geo Wild
Cinematography for a miniseries or movie:
Sherlock: His Last Vow (Masterpiece Theater), Neville Kidd, PBS
Cinematography for reality programming:
Deadliest Catch (“Careful What You Wish For”), Discovery Channel
Cinematography for nonfiction programming:
The Square, Jehane Noujaim, Muhammed Hamdy, Ahmed Hassan and Cressida Trew, Netflix
Cinematography for a single-camera series:
True Detective (“Who Goes There”), Adam Arkapaw, HBO
Cinematography for a multicamera series:
How I Met Your Mother (“Daisy”), Christian La Fountaine, CBS
Exceptional merit in documentary filmmaking:
Life According to Sam, Sheila Nevins, Nancy Abraham, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, HBO
Documentary or nonfiction special:
JFK (American Experience), Mark Samels, Sharon Grimberg and Susan Bellows, PBS
Documentary or nonfiction series (multiple winners):
American Masters, PBS; “Years of Living Dangerously,” Showtime
Informational series or special (multiple winners):
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, CNN; Vice, HBO
Special class program:
67th Annual Tony Awards, CBS
Short-format live-action entertainment program:
Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis: President Barack Obama, FunnyOrDie.com
Short-format nonfiction program:
30 for 30 Shorts, ESPN
Interactive program (mutiple winners):
The Tonight Show Starring, NBC; Jimmy Fallon Digital Experience, NBC Entertainment Digital
Multiplatform storytelling:
Skywire Live: With Nik Wallenda, Discovery Channel
Original interactive program:
Just a Reflektor, justareflektor.com
Social TV experience (multiple winners):
hitRECord on TV, pivot.tv; Live From Space, National Geographic Channel
User experience and visual design (multiple winners):
Game of Thrones Viewers Guide, HBO; Xfinity TV on the X1 platform, comcast.com
Choreography:
So You Think You Can Dance (“Routines: Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Gold Rush,” “Run the World”), Tabitha Dumo and Napoleon Dumo, Fox
Commercial:
Apple, “Misunderstood,” Park Pictures, TBWA\Media Arts Lab
