LOS ANGELES – Thanks to Hollywood’s labour disputes, the 2023 Emmy Awards will be moving to 2024.
The organisers of the ceremony said on Thursday that it will be rescheduled to Jan 15, four months later than its original date in mid-September.
The postponement is the latest fallout from the strikes by screenwriters and actors, which have brought Hollywood almost entirely to a halt.
In June, Emmy organisers concluded that if the writers’ strike lingered for another month or so, the event would have to be rescheduled.
When thousands of actors also went on strike in July, their action all but guaranteed the need for a new date.
The unions representing the actors and writers have said their compensation levels and working conditions have deteriorated because of the rise of streaming.
The studios say they have already offered generous raises, even as they struggle to adjust to a fast-changing media business.
It is the first time the Emmys ceremony, which is presented by the Television Academy, will be moved out of its planned time slot since after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. That year, the ceremony was moved to November.
The new January date will place the Emmys in the busy winter award show season. The event will join the Golden Globes, the AFI Awards, the Grammys and the Oscars, among others, in a two-month stretch.
The Emmys ceremony, now scheduled for Martin Luther King’s birthday, will be held a day after the Critics’ Choice Awards and a week before Oscar nominations are scheduled to be announced.
There are, however, some deep concerns in the entertainment industry that either the actors’ or writers’ strike – or both – could last until the end of 2023, potentially imperilling the January date.
Organising the Emmys is a significant undertaking, and producers and Fox, the broadcaster of the event, believe they will need several weeks to get a show up and running.
If the writers’ or actors’ strike does last until the end of 2023, the ceremony could be postponed again or significantly altered.
Nominations were announced in July, and perennial Emmy heavyweight HBO again dominated the other networks and streamers. Emmy voting will begin as normal next week, with the results being held under lock and key for many months.
Meanwhile, as television and movie writers started their 101st day on strike on Thursday, the leaders of their union said they had agreed to formally restart negotiations with studios for a new three-year contract.
“Our committee returns to the bargaining table ready to make a fair deal, knowing the unified WGA membership stands behind us and buoyed by the ongoing support of our union allies,” the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee said in a statement.
The session will take place in Los Angeles on Friday. NYTIMES
