Creative Arts Emmy Winners 2020
Sunday, September 20, 2020 at 11:00AM By Abe Friedtanzer and Nathaniel R
The big PrimeTime Emmys night is, of course, tonight but last night they wrapped up their week long 'below the line' festivities known as The Creative Arts Emmys. Among the "firsts" this week: Maya Rudolph won her first Emmy (for Big Mouth) and then her second (for Saturday Night Live), beating herself, the long running History Channel series Vikings and ABC's black-ish won their first Emmys (on the 13th and 19th nomination, respectively since they've been up for at least one prize every season). Three companies also won their first Emmys: Pop TV (via Schitt's Creek and One Day at a Time), Quibi (via the program #FreeRayshawn), and Disney+ (via The Mandalorian).
Our Emmy team correctly called Best TV Movie and both of the comedy guest acting categories but missed the drama guest acting races, all three costume fields, and animated program. Oops. If these awards truly correlated to the main races for Sunday night, we might expect to hear The Mandalorian and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel called as this year's top winners, but we’ll stick with the Succession and Schitt's Creek, which both won outstanding casting honors, as our predictions for the Drama and Comedy winners tonight. Full list of Creative Arts Emmy winners follows after the jump...
COMEDY & DRAMA & LIMITED SERIES & MOVIE
Casting, Comedy - Schitt's Creek (Pop TV)
Casting, Drama - Succession (HBO)
Casting, Limited Series – Watchmen (HBO)
Choreography – Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (NBC) ...This was Zooey's one and only Emmy nomination and it won.
Cinematography, Limited Series - Watchmen (HBO)
Cinematography, Single-Cam Half-Hour - The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Cinematography, Single-Cam Series - The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Cinematography, Multi-Cam Series - The Ranch (Netflix)
Costumes, Contemporary – Schitt’s Creek (Pop TV)
Costumes, Fantasy - Watchmen (HBO)
Costumes, Period - The Crown (Netflix)
Hairstyling, Contemporary - black-ish (ABC)
Hairstyling, Period – Hollywood (Netflix)
Main Title Design – Godfather of Harlem (Epix)
Main Title Theme Music – Hollywood (Netflix)
Makeup, Contemporary – Euphoria (HBO)
Makeup, Period - Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Prime)
Makeup, Prosthetic - Star Trek: Picard (CBS All Access)
Music and Lyrics – Euphoria (HBO)
Music Composition, Limited – Watchmen (HBO)
Music Composition, Series – The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Music Supervision - Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Picture-Editing, Multi-Cam - One Day at a Time (Pop TV)
Picture-Editing, Single-Cam, Comedy – Insecure (HBO)
Picture-Editing, Single-Cam, Drama – Succession (HBO)
Picture-Editing, Single-Cam, Limited Series - Watchmen (HBO)
Production Design, Half Hour - The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Production Design, Hour - The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)
Production Design, Period/Fantasy – The Crown (Netflix)
Sound Editing, Half-Hour - The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Sound Editing, One Hour - Stranger Things (Netflix)
Sound Mixing, Half-Hour - The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Sound Mixing, Limited Series - Watchmen (HBO)
Sound Mixing, One Hour – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Stunts, Comedy - Shameless (Showtime)
Stunts, Drama or Limited – The Mandalorian (Disney+)
TV Movie – Bad Education (HBO)
Visual Effects - The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Visual Effects, Supporting - Vikings (History)
MISCELLANIA
Animated Program – Rick and Morty (Adult Swim)
Short Form, Comedy or Drama - Better Call Saul Employee Training: Legal Ethics (AMC.com)
Short Form, Animated - Forky Asks a Question: What is Love? (Disney+)
Children's Program (tie) - Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance AND We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest
Choreography -Zooey's Extraordinary Playlist (NBC)
Commercial - Back-to-School Essentials - Sandy Hook Promise
Derivative/Interative - Big Mouth Guide to Life (Netflix)
Original Interactive - The Mess Truth VR Experience (Oculus)
Innovation in Interactive (tie) - Create Together (YouTube) AND The Line (Oculus)
Interactive Extension of a Linear Program – Mr. Robot (USA)
Motion Design - Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates (Netflix)
ACTING AWARDS
Guest Actor, Drama – Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us (NBC)
Guest Actress, Drama – Cherry Jones, Succession (HBO)
Guest Actor, Comedy – Eddie Murphy, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Guest Actress, Comedy – Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Cherry Jones wins her second consecutive Emmy, albeit for a different show. This is Eddie Murphy’s first Emmy win after two previous nominations – way back in 1983 and 1984 – for his performance on SNL.
Voice-Over Performance - Maya Rudolph, Big Mouth (Netflix)
Host, Reality – RuPaul, RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
Narrator - David Attenborough, Seven World One Planet (BBC America)
Short Form, Actor - Laurence Fishburne, #FreeRayshawn (Quibi)
Short Form, Actress - Jasmine Cephas Jones, #FreeRayshawn (Quibi)
This was Laurence Fishburne's third Emmy win. He previously won for Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Tribeca, 1993) and as a producer of Best Made for TV Movie (Miss Evers Boys, 1997). If you think that Jasmine Cephas Jones sounds familiar that's because you just saw her as "Peggy Schuyler" as part of the original cast of Hamilton (she’s also the daughter of another Emmy winner here, Ron Cephas Jones).
REALITY OR NONFICTION
Casting - RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1)
Cinematography, Non-Fiction - The Cave (National Geographic)
Cinematography, Reality - Life Below Zero (National Geographic)
Directing, Reality - Cheer (Netflix)
Directing, Non-Fiction - American Factory (Netflix)
Documentary or Non-Fiction Series – The Last Dance (ESPN)
Documentary or Non-Fiction Special - The Apollo (HBO)
Documentary Film: The Cave (National Geographic)
Hosted Non-Fiction Series or Special - Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath (A&E)
Music, Original Score - Why We Hate (Discovery Channel)
Picture Editing, Non-Fiction - Apollo 11 (CNN)
Picture Editing, Structured Reality - RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1)
Picture Editing, Unstructured Reality - Cheer (Netflix)
Short Form Series - Creating Cosmos: Possible Worlds (National Geographic)
Sound Editing - Apollo 11 (CNN)
Sound Mixing - Apollo 11 (CNN)
Structured Reality Program - Queer Eye (Netflix)
Unstructured Reality Program – Cheer (Netflix)
Writing, Non-Fiction - Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (Netflix)
We continue to have Emmy & Oscar crossover when it comes to documentary prizes. Last year's Best Documentary Feature winner at the Oscars, American Factory, won Best Direction at the Emmys. The Cave, which won an Emmy for its Cinematography was an Oscar nominee last season for Best Documentary. And both The Apollo and Apollo 11, which won technical Emmys, were on the Documentary Feature Finalist list at the Oscars, though neither scored a nom. One Child Nation and The Great Hack were also nominated for Emmys this year (though they didn't win) after being on that same finalist list for the Oscars.
VARIETY PROGRAM
Choreography – So You Think You Can Dance (Fox)
Costumes - The Masked Singer (Fox)
Directing, Series - Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Directing, Special – Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones (Netflix)
Hairstyling, Contemporary - RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1)
Lighting Design, Series – Saturday Night Live (NBC)Lighting Design, Special - Super Bowl Halftime Show Starring JLo and Shakira (Fox)
Makeup, Contemporary - RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1)
Music Direction - The Kennedy Center Honors (CBS)
Picture Editing - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Production Design, Series - Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Production Design, Special - The Oscars (ABC)
Short Form Series - Carpool Karaoke (Apple TV)
Sound Mixing - The Oscars (ABC)
Technical Direction, Series - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Technical Direction, Special - Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family & Good Times (ABC)
Variety Sketch Series - Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Variety Special (Live) Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family & Good Times (ABC)
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) – Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones (Netflix)
Writing, Variety Series - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Writing, Variety Special – Dave Chappelle: Sticks and Stones (Netflix)
Reader Comments (16)
It’s nice to see the father/daughter emmys for the Cephas’. And it’s fun that Maya now has 2 emmys! She’s very deserving given her performance and career in TV.
Kind of sad to see SNL win over superior sketch series.
Why is TV Movie here and not on the main show?
Maya Rudolph? For her inaccurate Kamala Harris? That win is ridiculous and lazy. And since they were nominating Alec Baldwin long after his Trump impersonation had worn out its welcome, we're probably going to see her for years to come.
Ken -- well I don't think "accuracy" is what she's going for. I personally love her take on Kamala. But then again I rarely think SNL performances are deserving of Emmys (so I also think the win is lazy) so I would have much preferred it if she had won this same prize for The Good Place.
Joe G -- I think with TV movie, since it's fast becoming a "lesser" category (with the dearth of TV movies now -- and how little attention they get in the acting categories) how long will it be before they just include these within the miniseries category altogether?
Joe - SNL has won this for four years in a row now (though the category has only existed in its current form for six years) so it's just Emmy laziness again... the show has won over 70 Emmys in its run! which is a pity because if you look at shows they've passed over to give it dozens of trophies on the regular it's pretty frustrating.
I didn't even realize Don't F With Cats was nominated for any Emmys. A well deserved win for the writing of that documentary series. The way they handled their thesis about the celebrity of serial killers in the digital world was a well-earned slap to the face of the True Crime industry.
Except for the very good Eddie Murphy episode, this year SNL was spotty at best, and shitty at worst - even with decent hosts. Do the Emmy voters even watch any of the competition? One solution might be at least 50% cast overhauls each season. And maybe culling the writing staff on a regular basis would also improve things.
At least Cherry Jones won. I know it's her second consecutive Emmy, but she was so impactful in Succession that she felt like a full-time cast member.
At some point they really need to rethink separate awards for half hour shows and one hour shows. How is THE MANDALORIAN that different from STRANGER THINGS in terms of things like sound editing, cinematography or what have you? Since most of these shows are designed for streaming anyway, we're basically talking about "chapter length." Would an organization that gives out awards for fiction put novels with 1-15 page chapters in a different category from novels with longer chapters?
How is it Cherry Jones keeps winning awards when she won't denounce Woody Allen?? Maybe the Kate Winslets and Timothée Chalamets of the world could learn from people like Jones and Scarlett Johansson who get awards or at least multiple nominations without having to turn on people and denounce them to basically curry favor with awards bodies.
Nathaniel - what’s so odd about these categories is that from 2011-2013 mini series and movie were merged, largely because the miniseries form had died (they two years with only two
Nominees).
There are still great movies being released on television and quite a few of them. But with Netflix anthology series being such dominant nominees and winners these past few years, it feels like something wrong is happening with that category.
Mahershala Ali and his wife are now Emmy winners, winning for producing Best Children's Program.
I am in favor of unlimited Emmys for David Attenborough. The movie star nominees for Best Narrator did their jobs for a quick buck. Attenborough has been doing this work for decades.
More Mention please, that RuPaul won his 5th consetive Emmy and broke a record with that! ;-) Well derserved! The 12th was the best since season 9!
Trent & Atticus win again! Now NIN is one award away from being ELITE. the TOE. Not the EGOT because... the Grammys are fucking worthless. "Oh wow, an award... oh wait. It's a Grammy"
My God! What happened to Catherine O'Hara's neck? Her face is fine, but neck is hanging, sagging, bagging. Reasonable plastic surgery (neck lift) is available. If not to her liking, tapes can be used to lift and to tighten. She's only 66, and many actresses above her age have no jawlines like that. This applies to male actors, as well. I am shocked and appalled.
Mercy - I'm hoping that your post is a joke. Otherwise, if Catherine O'Hara is comfortable with her neck, that's all that matters and in this age of rampant superficiality, and should be applauded. She owes you, or anyone else, (except maybe her husband) absolutely nothing.That's always been why I've long admired English and French actresses, who accept their bodies, and act their ages to a much greater extent than Americans.
mercy & ken s -- I haven't seen whatever prompted this (I don't have live tv so I guess she won the emmy?) but I will say the whole topic of superficiality and plastic surgery for actresses makes me think of Catherine O'Hara's send up of that very thing in FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION when she played an older actress suddenly trying to be younger and hotter when she got Oscar buzz.
Re the plastic surgery issue. Women who don't get plastic surgery seem to get get cast a lot more post late-40s/early 50s than ones who do. I read one article a long time ago in which an unnamed studio executive said virtually nobody was willing to put Cher in movies for a while because she just looked like a star who'd had tons of plastic surgery--her face look so artificial in close ups. We all love actresses who age naturally: Katherine Hepburn, for instance, and look with some discomfort at those who go under the knife. Obviously it's a person's own choice, and once in a while someone seems to get a great surgeon--Julie Andrews seems to have a genius who keeps her looking young and relatively natural looking, although even she doesn't really make as many facial expressions as she used to. All said, I'm happy with O'Hara's neck, though, if I won the lottery, I'd probably get my eyes done, and I'm not even an actor. Make of that what you will.