ICG Honors Linda Bell Blue With President’s Award

Linda Bell Blue, executive producer of Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, will receive the International Cinematographers Guild President’s Award at the ICG 51st Annual Publicists Luncheon, Feb. 28, at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Bell Blue is being recognized for revolutionizing the way entertainment news is produced and consumed by viewers. She has spent nearly two decades as executive producer of Entertainment Tonight, the number-one entertainment news magazine, and recently became president of Entertainment Tonight Studios, where she will continue to expand the ET brand with new programming on all platforms.

“”Linda Bell Blue was already a member of television journalism’’s elite when she joined Entertainment Tonight”,” said Henri Bollinger, awards committee chairman. ““Over her nearly two decades at ET, she kept the show the gold-standard for celebrity news. These high standards established a close bond between the show’’s production staff and entertainment publicists.””

ICG president, Steven Poster, ASC, said, “Linda “Bell Blue and her colleagues have always supported and appreciated the work that our publicists do. Now it’’s our turn to show our appreciation of the work she does.””

An Emmy Award-winning producer, Bell Blue joined ET after producing Hard Copy and, prior to that, KCBS-TV news in Los Angeles. Bell Blue also serves as executive producer of the nightly half-hour magazine The Insider, which premiered in 2004 with the highest-rated debut of any syndicated news magazine since 1996. In 2009, Bell Blue became the first executive producer of an entertainment news magazine to be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. She is also the recipient of a STAR Award from the American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT).

Also being honored at the event, as previously announced, are Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger, co-chairs of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, with the Motion Picture Showmanship Award; Shonda Rhimes, producer of Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal, with the Television Showmanship Award; Jerry Lewis with a Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Maxwell Weinberg Showmanship Awards for motion pictures and television, the Les Mason Award and the Bob Yeager Award, which recognizes significant community service.