Emmy Awards: “No-one has done anything like this”

The 72nd Emmy Awards will be held on Monday (Australian time) and revamps in all kinds of necessary ways due to the global pandemic.

Executive producer Reginald Hudlin, told Deadline, what is planned has never been done before.

“As experienced as this entire production team is — we have all done the biggest awards shows — no-one has done anything like this. And given how the show is live we won’t have seen it until it is all done. There are segments that are pre-taped but 90% is a live show. We are relying on talking to people all over the world. We have 130 cameras in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, London, Berlin, Tel Aviv. I presume that is all gonna work just great,” he said.

The Staples Center in Los Angeles is the nerve centre for the entire event, where host Jimmy Kimmel and a very few select presenters will be present.

The production team has sent elaborate camera kits to all the nominees, including in Australia, with equipment they will have to set up themselves.

“Elaborate is the term. And that was the trick. We want the best quality sound, the best quality picture. And at the same time we are sending people a simple unit. They only have to plug in a few things, so it is very user friendly,” he said.

Timezones are also a concern with not everybody agreeing to stay up until 4 in the morning in some countries.

But the event does plan to keep up tradition with all nominees on screen at the same time before the winner is announced.

“We will do that, but how we present them will change from category to category. Once you start reinventing the show you say, ‘Why do we always do it this way?’”

However, don’t expect every winner to be handed a trophy on the day.

“There is no way we can get the statues in the hands of all 23 winners. But we are gonna try some experiments with a few and we will see how that turns out,” he said.

And also rule out the frocks. No red carpet. Tracksuits and pyjamas ok.

FOX Arena will screen the event Live into Australia from 10am Monday, with TV Tonight live blogging.

https://youtu.be/MLQS_f4Ig5I