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Producers Guild taps pix, series for honors
Variety - January 20, 2000
By DAVE MCNARY
HOLLYWOOD — The producers of "American Beauty," "Being John Malkovich," "The Cider House
Rules," "The Hurricane" and "The Insider" made the short list for the Producers Guild of
America Golden Laurel Award for the best films of 1999.
The awards ceremony will take place March 2 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Nominees for the movie honor,
named after Darryl F. Zanuck, include Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks for "American Beauty"; Michael Stipe,
Sandy Stern, Steve Golin and Vincent Landy for "Malkovich"; Richard N. Gladstein for "Cider House
Rules"; Armyan Bernstein, John Ketcham and Norman Jewison for "Hurricane"; and Michael Mann and Jan
Pieter Brugge for "Insider."
Executive producer nominees for the Norman Felton Producer of the Year kudos for episodic television include Barbara
Hall, Connie Tavel, Joseph Stern and Amy Brenneman for "Judging Amy"; Aaron Sorkin, Brian Grazer,
Ron Howard, Tony Krantz, Thomas Schlamme and Rob Scheidlinger for "Sports Night"; John Wells, Sorkin and
Schlamme for "The West Wing"; David Chase and Brad Grey for "The Sopranos"; and Dick Wolf and
Robert Palm for "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
Norman Felton Producer of the Year award nominees for non-episodic TV include Lionel Chapman, Richard Gerdau, Abbe
Raven and Charlie Maday for "The Century: America’s Time"; Stan Margulies, Antony Root, Delia Fine,
Scott Siegler, Jon Cowan and Robert Rovner for "Dash & Lilly"; Marilyn Lewis, Irwin Meyer and Steven
Hewitt for "The Passion of Ayn Rand"; Steven Haft and Nick Lombardo for "Pirates of Silicon
Valley"; and Oprah Winfrey and Kate Forte for "Tuesdays With Morrie."
The org has 500 active members and 1,000 affiliated members.
Producers Guild trims Laurels
Variety - February 24, 2000
By Dave McNary
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - The Producers Guild of America, kicking off its campaign to tighten standards on producer
credits, announced Wednesday that it has pulled two dozen names from previously announced television nominations for
its Golden Laurel Awards next week.
The moves affect such industry heavyweights as manager Brad Grey for "The Sopranos," Imagine Entertainment
chiefs Brian Grazer and Ron Howard for "Sports Night" and actress Amy Brenneman for "Judging
Amy."
The PGA did not, however, exclude any producers for the five movies up for the Golden Laurel.
The move is PGA's first step toward its launch of the PGA credit determination process, under which an anonymous
three-member arbitration panel was appointed to review each TV program and movie.
The guidelines, developed along the lines of the Writers Guild of America system, were first disclosed nearly a year
ago and include a voluntary certification program under which the organization will allow producers to include the
PGA certification mark -- a laurel with the PGA initials -- in producer credits that the PGA has reviewed.
PGA executive director Vance Van Petten said the moves reflect the group's desire to ensure that producer and
executive producer credits are given only to the primary producers.
He stressed that the PGA's exclusions from the nominee lists for the March 2 awards, which can be appealed, will not
change how the credits are listed on the shows.
The PGA's rules included limiting the number of producers in each category to three, with an established team
counted as a single executive producer. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has taken a similar step,
limiting to three the number of producers honored for each movie in the best picture category.
PGA president Thom Mount, whose credits include "Bull Durham" and "Tequila Sunrise," admitted
that the exclusions -- disclosed to those affected late Tuesday -- had produced some unhappy reactions.
"All it means is that they can't walk up on stage and get the award," he said.
Those excluded for episodic TV, in which only executive producers are eligible for the award, include Brenneman and
Connie Tavel for "Judging Amy"; Grey for "The Sopranos"; and Grazer, Howard and Tony Krantz for
"Sports Night."
PGA finds in favor of "Amy" star
Variety - March 1, 2000
By Dave McNary
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - A Producers Guild of America appeals board has reinstated Golden Laurel nominations for
actress Amy Brenneman and Connie Tavel on "Judging Amy," a week after excluding the pair as part of its
campaign to tighten credit standards.
The decision will allow Brenneman and Tavel to join Barbara Hall and Joseph Stern on stage Thursday at the PGA
Awards ceremonies in Los Angeles should their CBS hit win the honor for best television series.
The pair had appealed the exclusion, which was based on determinations of not having been "primarily
responsible" as producers, along with a PGA policy to limit the number of producers per show to three with an
established team counted as a single producer. In all, the PGA pulled 21 names from producer credits for the
nominations.
Another unidentified producer appealed, but the PGA's exclusion was upheld.
Producers Pick "American Beauty"
E! Online - March 3, 2000
Can a thousand producers be wrong?
From tea leaves to audience polls, fans, pundits and Industry weasels have tried every means possible to predict the
Best Picture Oscar winner. Few methods have proven more reliable, however, than the Producers Guild of America's
Golden Laurel awards.
In the past 11 years, eight of the Darryl F. Saznuck Theatrical Producer of the Year prize winners have gone on to
capture the Academy Award for Best Picture. This year's winner, American Beauty, hopes to make it nine.
Last night the PGA held its annual awards shindig at L.A.'s Century Plaza Hotel, and American Beauty producers Bruce
Cohen and Dan Jinks won out over fellow Oscar contenders The Cider House Rules and The Insider. (The other two PGA
award nominees, Being John Malkovich and The Hurricane, were snubbed by the Oscar crowd this year in favor of the
Tom Hanks-driven The Green Mile and top horror draw The Sixth Sense.)
For American Beauty, up for eight Oscars, this just adds steam to its awards express. The film also received best
picture nods from the Golden Globes, the National Board of Review and the Online Film Critics Society. For the
gamblers out there, Vegas odds list the picture in a dead heat with The Cider House Rules.
But don't put up the mortgage for American Beauty in the office pool, if last year's results are any indication.
Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan won over the PGA crowd in 1999, only to watch Miramax's Shakespeare in Love
take home Oscar. Spielberg has a shot at redemption this year: If American Beauty wins, it would be DreamWorks'
first feature to bring home the top Academy Award.
In other PGA action, Jerry Bruckheimer brought home the David O Selznick Lifetime Achievement award for blowing up
things in Armageddon, Enemy of the State and Top Gun. T&A monarch Aaron Spelling received the David Susskind
Lifetime Achievement in Television trophy for showing he'll give both of his kids acting work.
Conquering the Golden Globes was not enough for Sopranos godfather David Chase. He nabbed Episodic Television
Producer of the Year over the producers of Judging Amy, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Sports Night and The
West Wing. In the non-episodic TV category, Oprah Winfrey and Kate Forte took top honors for Tuesdays with Morrie.
They were up against the teams behind The Century: America's Time, Dash and Lilly, The Passion of Ayn Rand and
Pirates of Silicon Valley.
In the "rookie" area, Gregg Hale, and Robin Cowie scored for The Blair Witch Project and Aaron Sorkin was
honored for his TV twofer The West Wing and Sports Night. They received the Year's Most Promising Emerging Producer
awards, for film and television respectively.
For the veterans, Some Like It Hot's Billy Wilder, Chinatown's Robert Evans and E.T.'s Speilberg and Kathleen
Kennedy were all inducted into the PGA's Hall of Fame for film. On the small screen side, The Cosby Show earned
Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner a spot in the Hall, where they'll be joined by The Fugitive's Quinn Martin and Alan
Armer and Dragnet's Jack Webb.
The PGA's Vision Award for imagination and artistic achievement in film went to Michael Stipe, Sandy Stern, Steve
Golin and Vincent Landay for the quirky Being John Malkovich. The boob tube version went to John Wells for his work
on his NBC troika ER, The West Wing and Third Watch.
Copyright © 2000 E! Online. All rights reserved.
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