Voting for the 2023 Primetime Emmy Awards closes this coming Monday, June 26. Nominations for the 2023 Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced July 14. Beyond that, things are very much in flux.
The Television Academy and Fox, which is carrying this year’s ceremony, have been discussing contingencies amid a writers strike which is in its 51st day. Writers play a key part of the Emmy ceremony, and the show also requires a production lead time, so the consensus is that, if there is no resolution to the work stoppage in sight by end of July or early August, the Emmys, currently scheduled for Sept. 18, will have to be postponed.
That is real possibility as AMPTP is still negotiating with SAG-AFTRA, with talks looking to go down to the wire on the Jun 30 deadline and maybe beyond if negotiations are extended as rumored. That would send writers and studios back to the negotiating table in mid-July at the earliest, so a deal by beginning of August is not very realistic.
This is a big year for the Primetime Emmys which mark their 75th anniversary so not going through with a ceremony celebrating the awards’ milestone does not seem likely, at least for now. The Daytime Emmys, which are hitting a 50th milestone this year, were supposed to air on CBS last week but were postponed due to the strike. No new date has been set.
As for when the Primetime Emmys show would air if postponed, November is considered likely. January also is being considered, I hear. (that possibility was reported by NYT today) However, a 2024 date is less likely as that would make for a 6+ month gap between nominations and awards ceremony and a year and a half from the time some of the nominated seasons of TV shows had aired.
The Primetime Emmys were previously delayed after 9/11 when the ceremony eventually took place in November.
It is unclear whether a potential SAG-AFTRA strike would impact the actual ceremony as awards shows, including the Oscars, are covered by SAG-AFTRA Network Television Code, which is negotiated separately between the gild and the Big 4 broadcast networks and does not expire until July 2024.
Still, many SAG-AFTRA members wouldn’t cross a picket line regardless.
Unlike the Tonys on CBS, which were able to proceed without writers and picketing, the Emmys cannot be put together without writers, and the show likely would be heavily picketed as it involves the TV industry where the WGA wants to impact the biggest changes with the new contract. MTV Movie & TV Awards last month scrapped its in-person ceremony when WGA picketing was set and talent pulled out. It aired a pre-taped hostless show instead.
George Cheeks, President and chief executive officer of CBS who is a member of Television Academy’s Executive Committee, was asked during a keynote at BANFF last week by Deadline’s Peter White about a possible impact from the writers strike on the 2023 Emmys.
“I’m not trying to punt, but honestly, I think it’s soon to tell,” he said. “We went through quite a lot of work to get the Tonys on, and I really appreciated the WGA working with us to help us figure out a way to do it.”
