And then there were nine.

That’s how many films will compete for the Best Picture Oscar at the 84th Academy Awards. “Winter’s Bone” Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence and Academy President Tom Sherak announced the nominees this morning, bringing to a close the lengthy first leg of the Oscar marathon (while simultaneously setting up Phase Two for the lucky nominees).

What made the cut? We have a full list of nominees below, but at first glance, Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” led the pack with 11 nominations. Albert Brooks seems like the most egregious snub. And Stephen Daldry’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is the Best Picture nom that’s making most people angry. (Except for me, because I loved it.)

We’ll have full analysis on the site this morning, and a separate piece on Academy snubs, as some deserving films and talent ended up on the outside of the Oscar race looking in.

Billy Crystal hosts this year’s Oscars, which will be held Sunday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT. Here are your nominees:

Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards

Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir in “A Better Life”
George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt in “Moneyball”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn”
Jonah Hill in “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte in “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer in “Beginners”
Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Actress in a Leading Role
Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis in “The Help”
Rooney Mara in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams in “My Week with Marilyn”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer in “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer in “The Help”

Animated Feature Film
“A Cat in Paris” Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
“Chico & Rita” Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
“Kung Fu Panda 2″ Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Puss in Boots” Chris Miller
“Rango” Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
“The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“The Artist” Mark Bridges
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips

Directing
“The Artist” Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese
“Midnight in Paris” Woody Allen
“The Tree of Life” Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
“Hell and Back Again” Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front” Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Pina” Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
“Undefeated” TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

Documentary (Short Subject)
“The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement” Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
“God Is the Bigger Elvis” Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
“Incident in New Baghdad”James Spione
“Saving Face” Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
“Bullhead” Belgium
“Footnote” Israel
“In Darkness” Poland
“Monsieur Lazhar” Canada
“A Separation” Iran

Makeup
“Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

Music (Original Song)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Best Picture
“The Artist” Thomas Langmann, Producer
“The Descendants” Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Scott Rudin, Producer
“The Help” Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
“Hugo” Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
“Midnight in Paris” Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
“Moneyball” Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
“The Tree of Life” Nominees to be determined
“War Horse” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
“Dimanche/Sunday” Patrick Doyon
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
“La Luna” Enrico Casarosa
“A Morning Stroll” Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
“Wild Life” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
“Pentecost” Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
“Raju” Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
“The Shore” Terry George and Oorlagh George
“Time Freak” Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
“Tuba Atlantic” Hallvar Witzø

Sound Editing
“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
“Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
“The Descendants” Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Hugo” Screenplay by John Logan
“The Ides of March” Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
“Moneyball” Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
“The Artist” Written by Michel Hazanavicius
“Bridesmaids” Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
“Margin Call” Written by J.C. Chandor
“Midnight in Paris” Written by Woody Allen
“A Separation” Written by Asghar Farhadi

By Sean O’Connell

Photo by Fox Searchlight

The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2011 were announced tonight during the 64th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles. Michel Hazanavicius won the DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for “The Artist.”

Following the welcome by DGA President Taylor Hackford to an audience of more than 1,600 guests, director/producer/actor Kelsey Grammer hosted the ceremony.

Presenters included (in alphabetical order): DGA Secretary-Treasurer Michael Apted; Kathy Bates (Midnight in Paris); Berenice Bejo (The Artist); George Clooney (The Descendants); Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad); Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men); Laura Dern (Enlightened); Jean Dujardin (The Artist); DGA President Taylor Hackford; 2010 DGA Feature Film Award winner Tom Hooper (The King?s Speech); Stana Katic (Castle); Ben Kingsley (Hugo); Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy); Kathleen Robertson (Boss); Octavia Spencer (The Help); DGA Third Vice President Betty Thomas; Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn); and Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood).

The winners of the 2011 DGA Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement are:

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FEATURE FILM

MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS
The Artist
(The Weinstein Company)

Mr. Hazanavicius’ Directorial Team:
· Unit Production Manager: Antoine De Cazotte
· Production Manager (FR): Ségoléne Fleury
· First Assistant Director (FR): James Canal
· First Assistant Director (US): David Cluck
· Second Assistant Director (US): David Paige
· Second Second Assistant Directors: Karla Strum, Ricky Robinson

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN
MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES

JON CASSAR
The Kennedys
(Reelz Channel)

This was Mr. Cassar’s third DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series in 2006 for 24 – ‘7:00 AM-8:00 AM’ and was nominated in this category in 2003 for the episode of 24 also titled ‘7:00 AM-8:00 AM.’

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMATIC SERIES

PATTY JENKINS
The Killing, ‘Pilot’
(AMC)

Ms. Jenkins was also nominated this year in the Movies for Television and Mini-Series category for her segment of Five ? ?Pearl.?

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY SERIES

ROBERT B. WEIDE
Curb Your Enthusiasm, ‘Palestinian Chicken’
(HBO)

Mr. Weide’s Directorial Team:
· Associate Directors: Dale Stern, Tim Gibbons
· Stage Managers: Jonathan Harris, Jerri Churchill, Dana Jackson

This was Mr. Weide?s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Curb Your Enthusiasm ? ?The Carpool Lane? in 2004.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSICAL VARIETY

GLENN WEISS
65th Annual Tony Awards
(CBS)

Mr. Weiss? Directorial Team:
· Associate Directors: Ken Diego, Robin Abrams, Debra Gelman, Ricky Kirshner
· Stage Managers: Garry Hood, Peter Epstein, Andrew Feigin, Lynn Finkel, Doug Fogel, Jeffry Gitter, Phyllis Digilio-Kent, Arthur Lewis, Jeff Markowitz, Joey Meade, Tony Mirante, Cyndi Owgang, Jeff Pearl, Elise Reaves, Lauren Class Schneider, Annette Powlis

This was Mr. Weiss’ eighth DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety in 2007 and 2010 for the 61st and 64th Annual Tony Awards. He was previously nominated in this category in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008, all for the 55th, 56th, 59th, 60th, and 62nd Annual Tony Awards.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN REALITY PROGRAMS

NEIL P. DEGROOT
Biggest Loser, ?Episode #1115?
(NBC)

Mr. DeGroot?s Directorial Team:
· Associate Director: Andy Nelson

This is Mr. DeGroot?s first DGA Award nomination.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DAYTIME SERIALS

WILLIAM LUDEL
General Hospital, ?Intervention?
(ABC)

Mr. Ludel?s Directorial Team:
· Associate Directors: Christine Magarian Ucar, Denise Van Cleave, Penny Pengra, Peter Fillmore, RC Cates, David MacLeod
· Stage Managers: Craig McManus, Crystal Craft
· Production Associates: Christine Cooper, Andrea Compton

This was Mr. Ludel’s seventh DGA Award nomination and all for his direction of General Hospital. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Daytime Serials for General Hospital ?Episode #9801? in 2001 and ?Episode #8248? in 1995; and was previously nominated for General Hospital ?Macho Men? in 2009, ?Luke in Purgatory? in 2008, ?Episode #11177? in 2006 and for ?Episode #7922? in 1994.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS

AMY SCHATZ
A Child?s Garden of Poetry
(HBO)

This was Ms. Schatz?s sixth DGA Award nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children?s Programs in 2008 for Classical Baby (I’m Grown Up Now) ?The Poetry Show,? in 2001 for ?Twas the Night and in 1999 for Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepy Time Tales. She was previously nominated in this category for Hard Times for an American Girl: The Great Depression in 2009 and Through a Child’s Eyes: September 11, 2001 in 2002.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMMERCIALS

NOAM MURRO
(Biscuit Filmworks)

Handlebar Moustache, Heineken Premium Light- Wieden & Kennedy/NY
· Unit Production Manager: James Powell Veal
· First Assistant Director: Tommy Gormley
· Second Assistant Director: Ian Robert Calip
· Second Second Assistant Director: Michael King

Hot House, DirecTV ? Grey/NY
· Unit Production Manager: James Powell Veal
· First Assistant Director: Scott C. Harris
· Second Assistant Directors: Mark R. Robinson, Brady Sloan

Pinata, Volkswagen Tiguan ? Deutsch/LA
· Unit Production Manager: James Powell Veal
· First Assistant Director: Scott M. Metcalfe
· Second Assistant Director: Ty Arnold

Is It Real?, EA Battlefield 3 – Wieden & Kennedy/Portland
· First Assistant Director: Michael David Salven
· Second Assistant Director: Erv E. Gentry
· Second Second Assistant Director: Eric Schneider

This was Mr. Murro’s sixth DGA Award nomination in this category. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for Carry (Adidas), Glen (Starbucks), and Toy Boat (eBay) in 2004. He was also nominated in this category in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007.

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DOCUMENTARY

JAMES MARSH
Project Nim
Red Box Films
Passion Pictures
HBO Documentary Films
Roadside Attractions
BBC Films
UK Film Council

This was Mr. Marsh?s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Man on Wire in 2008.

SERVICE AND ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS

Ed Sherin ? Honorary Life Member Award
In recognition of outstanding creative achievement, leadership in the industry, contribution to the Guild or to the profession of directing.

Katy E. Garretson ? Frank Capra Achievement Award
Given to an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.

Dennis W. Mazzocco ? Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award
Given to an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.

***

The DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally served as a near-perfect barometer for the Academy Award for Best Director. Only six times since the DGA Award’s inception in 1948 has the winner not gone on to receive the Academy Award for Best Director.

· 1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!

· 1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA’s nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.

· 1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.

· 1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.

· 2000: Ang Lee was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Best Director Academy Award for Traffic.

· 2003: Rob Marshall was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Chicago while Roman Polanski won the Best Director Academy Award for The Pianist.

# # #

About the DGA:
In the 76 years since its founding in 1936, the DGA has fought for the economic and creative rights of its members; protected their ability to financially benefit from the reuse of their work; established strong pension and health plans; and established jurisdiction in new technologies and distribution platforms. Today we represent 14,500 directors and members of the directorial team working in film, television, commercials, new media and other audiovisual media.

NEW HOLLYWOOD NETWORK: Demi Moore was recently hospitalized after allegedly suffering seizure-like symptoms, but it seems she doesn’t quite think her problem is that big.

It is rumored that Moore doesn’t want to go to rehab and get help for her alleged issues that reportedly include substance abuse and possible eating issues, states Hollyscoop.

While her family reportedly wants her to get help, she allegedly thinks she doesn’t need it.

It has been rumored that she is seeking some sort of help that may include “spiritual counseling.”

Do you think she needs rehab?

Screen Actors Guild presented its coveted Actor® statuette for the outstanding motion picture and primetime television performances of 2011 at the “18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®” in ceremonies attended by film and television’s leading actors, held Sunday, Jan. 29, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.

Honored with individual awards were Viola Davis, Jean Dujardin, Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer for performances in motion pictures and Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Lange, Betty White, and Kate Winslet for performances in television. Screen Actors Guild originated awards for the outstanding performances by a motion picture cast and by television drama and comedy ensembles. The Actor® for a motion picture cast performance went this year to “The Help”, while the Actors® for television drama and comedy ensemble performances went this year to “Boardwalk Empire” and “Modern Family.” Screen Actors Guild’s honors for outstanding performances by a stunt ensemble in film and television were awarded to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” and “Game of Thrones.” Nearly 100,000 active members of Screen Actors Guild nationwide were eligible to vote for the recipients.

Dick Van Dyke presented Mary Tyler Moore with Screen Actors Guild’s highest honor, the 48th Annual Life Achievement Award, following a filmed tribute. Jessica Chastain introduced a film salute to SAG’s regional branches, spotlighting memorable moments created by actors who live and work across the nation. Meryl Streep introduced a filmed “In Memoriam” tribute to the actors we have lost in the past year.

PEOPLE magazine and the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) hosted the Screen Actors Guild Post-Awards Gala for the 16th year. This exclusive event, immediately following the SAG Awards on the back lot of the Shrine Exposition Center, honors the philanthropic causes and good works of the members of the Screen Actors Guild. The gala benefits the SAG Foundation.

Kavanaugh has created business and financial structures for a number of studios, production companies and producers, and has introduced over $16 billion of capital to these structures. Past structures/deals include Sony, Universal, Warner Brothers, Marvel and many others.

By the way, he is coming out this December 4th with the excellent film “Brothers” directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Tobey Maquire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhall. Tobey may get noticed by the Oscars.

One of Miley Cyrus’ tour buses has crashed in Virginia. Read on for details.

According to WWBT, the bus crashed near Dinwiddie, Virginia earlier this morning, killing one person. The bus was carrying 10 passengers, but Cyrus herself was not on board.

Capcom will release “Dark Void,” about a pilot who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle following a routine mission and wakes up to find himself in an alternate world resembling a primitive earth where aliens with superior technology are planning to take over civilization, in North America and Europe in January next year.

Project is the first to come out of Reliance’s development silo with Plan B after the deal was first announced at the Cannes film festival last year 

This is anything but a retirement. Winfrey will shift her efforts to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, which she jointly owns with Discovery Communications. The cable net expects to launch at the end of next year in at least 74 million homes. 

“If you think the last quarter-century has been something, then ‘don’t touch that dial’ as together we plan to make history in the next 20 months and beyond,” wrote Tim Bennett, president of Winfrey’s Harpo Prods., in a letter to company employees Thursday. 

Although the announcement has been anticipated for the past several weeks, it still is a blow to local TV stations around the country that have counted on Winfrey’s show for high ratings, usually as a lead-in to local news programs. Ratings for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” have drifted downward in the past few years and posted an all-time low in June, but the CBS/Paramount-syndicated talker remains the king of afternoon television in most markets. 

The show has averaged a 5.4 household rating this season, which translates to about 7.3 million viewers daily. It also scores a strong 3.0 rating in the key 18-49 demographic.  Although that doesn’t make “Oprah” the highest-rated syndicated show — a title held by “Wheel of Fortune,” with about 10 million daily viewers — it’s far above anything else in daytime, though it recently finished behind courtroom show “Judge Judy.” 

The announcement comes at the end of a big week for “Oprah,” which nabbed its best ratings in two years Monday when Winfrey interviewed Sarah Palin.

With local stations across the country already reeling from drastically reduced ad revenue, how incumbents deal with replacing the Winfrey show — and how rival stations counter with their own programs — will be crucial to their long-term health once the recession ends.

In addition, Winfrey has been the most successful incubator of new syndie talent, including Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray and Dr. Oz, so it’s unclear who among syndie distributors will step up with new strategies for getting shows launched in her absence.

“There’s no doubt that the landscape could shift dramatically, especially in early fringe, because of Oprah’s exit,” said one syndie vet. 

The very style of talk shows likely will shift as the remaining first-run players, and any newcomers, take up the slack in Winfrey’s wake. 

CBS/Paramount inherited the distribution rights to “Oprah” when it acquired King World Prods. in 1999 for $2.5 billion. The end of the show will be a blow to the syndicator but not as powerful a loss as if it had actually owned the show. Winfrey’s Harpo is the owner and producer of the program.

“We have the greatest respect for Oprah and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors,” the show’s distributor, CBS TV Distribution, said in a statement. “We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success. We look forward to working with her for the next several years and hopefully afterwards as well.”

By Alex Ben Block

Like the telecast’s producers, Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman, Hamilton is a newcomer to Oscar duties.

However, Hamilton has directed many live kudos events for TV, including the MTV Video Music Awards and the MTV Europe Music Awards. He’s also helmed live concert perfs by U2, Neil Diamond, Josh Groban, Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera, among others. Aside from directing the March 7 Academy Awards, he’s set to helm the Super Bowl XLIV half-time show on CBS in February. “Hamish is a first-rate live-show director who will bring enthusiasm, experience and a fresh eye to the table,” said Shankman. “He’s also a master of working with all of the latest technology in television production, which speaks to the kind of cutting-edge show Bill and I are planning.”

In addition to the new faces this year, the Academy introduced the Governors Awards last Saturday, the first time the org has broken off those career nods from the televised ceremonies. (And several people at the event commented about how liberating it was to honor people without the time constraints of TV.)

The 81st ceremonies similarly featured a new team, with producer Laurence Mark, exec producer Bill Condon and director Roger Goodman.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced Feb. 2.

Story by Timothy M. Gray

NBC on Wednesday announced that it will broadcast the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards live on Sunday, Aug. 29.

The network first shifted the Emmys from their traditional airdate, the Sunday before the official start of the TV season in late September, to late August the last time it carried the awards in 2006, when the Emmys aired on Aug. 27.

The move is made to accommodate NBC’s football coverage, moving the awards show to a pre-football season Sunday night. 

Despite lower viewership levels in August, the 2006 Emmys on NBC still rank as the highest-rated in the past four years. When airing on another network, the awards telecast had to go up against NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

NBC is setting the airdate for the Emmys unusually early this year, following a flurry of decisions, some of them reversed, by the TV Academy and CBS last summer. Those included an airdate, which was moved back and forth and a plan to pretape some categories, which was scrapped.

“Scheduling and announcing the telecast for Aug. 29 this early in the awards cycle will give the Television Academy and NBC a head start on creative discussions,” said NBC alternative programming chief Paul Telegdy. 

The next Emmy Awards are crucial for the TV Academy as the ceremony is the last covered by the Academy’s current contract with the broadcast networks, which is up for renewal.

Nominations for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced July 8 at 5:40 a.m. from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood.

Story by Nellie Andreeva