‘Argo’ Wins Big at Producer’s Guild of America Awards

With each passing awards ceremony, the Academy’s snubbing of Ben Affleck for Best Director looks increasingly ridiculous. Some thought that ‘Argo‘ winning Best Picture and Best DIrector at the Golden Globes was something of a fluke, but now that the critically acclaimed box office hit has won big at the Producer’s Guild of America awards, you may want to shuffle around your Oscar bets.

Although nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, the lack of a nod for Affleck’s work on ‘Argo’ suggested that it was officially out of the running for the big prize. However, the Iranian hostage thriller has been picking up steam recently and many are speculating that it may pick up Best Picture after all. If this does transpire, we’re not sure if it’ll make Affleck feel better or worse. Anyway, the PGA awards have a knack for predicting the eventual Best Picture winner, so ‘Argo’s chances for gold just shot through the roof (the last time a PGA winner didn’t go on to take Best Picture at the Oscars was 2006′s ‘Little Miss Sunshine’).

Other winners at the ceremony included ‘Wreck-It Ralph‘ for best animated film, ‘Searching For Sugarman‘ for best documentary, ‘Modern Family‘ for best television comedy and ‘Homeland‘ for best television drama. The full press release and the complete list of nominees and winners can be found below.

Tonight the Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced this year’s winning motion picture and television productions at the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

In addition to the competitive awards, the PGA recognized several producers with honorary awards including Bob and Harvey Weinstein (Milestone Award), Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), J.J. Abrams (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Russell Simmons (Visionary Award), and BULLY (Stanley Kramer Award). The 2013 Producers Guild Awards were chaired by Michael De Luca.

The 2013 Producers Guild nominated films and television programs are listed below in alphabetical order by category, along with producers. The producers’ names for each nominated production are listed in alphabetical order and may not reflect the order of screen credits. The winners are indicated in bold and with an asterisk (*).

The theatrical motion picture nominees and winners are:

The Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

* ARGO (Warner Bros.)
Producers: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn

DJANGO UNCHAINED (The Weinstein Company)
Producers: Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone, Stacey Sher

LES MISÉRABLES (Universal Pictures)
Producers: Tim Bevan & Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh

LIFE OF PI (Fox 2000 Pictures)
Producers: Ang Lee, Gil Netter, David Womark

LINCOLN (Touchstone Pictures)
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

MOONRISE KINGDOM (Focus Features)
Producers: Wes Anderson & Scott Rudin, Jeremy Dawson, Steven Rales

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (The Weinstein Company)
Producers: Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti, Jonathan Gordon

SKYFALL (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson

ZERO DARK THIRTY (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Megan Ellison

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

BRAVE (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producer: Katherine Sarafian

FRANKENWEENIE (Walt Disney Pictures)
Producers: Allison Abbate, Tim Burton

PARANORMAN (Focus Features)
Producers: Travis Knight, Arianne Sutner

RISE OF THE GUARDIANS (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Nancy Bernstein, Christina Steinberg

* WRECK-IT RALPH (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producer: Clark Spencer

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

A PEOPLE UNCOUNTED (Urbinder Films)
Producers: Marc Swenker, Aaron Yeger

THE GATEKEEPERS (Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky, Dror Moreh

THE ISLAND PRESIDENT (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Producers: Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen

THE OTHER DREAM TEAM (The Film Arcade)
Producers: Marius Markevicius, Jon Weinbach

* SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn

The television nominees and winners are:

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:

“American Horror Story” (FX)
Producers: Brad Buecker, Dante Di Loreto, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy, Chip Vucelich, Alexis Martin Woodall

“The Dust Bowl” (PBS)
Producers: Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan, Julie Dunfey

* “Game Change” (HBO)
Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Jay Roach, Amy Sayres, Steven Shareshian, Danny Strong

“Hatfields & McCoys” (History)
Producers: Barry Berg, Kevin Costner, Darrell Fetty, Leslie Greif, Herb Nanas

“Sherlock” (PBS)
Producers: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, Beryl Vertue, Sue Vertue

The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and mini-series.

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:

“30 Rock” (NBC)
Producers: Irene Burns, Kay Cannon, Robert Carlock, Vali Chandrasekaran, Luke Del Tredici, Tina Fey, Matt Hubbard, Marci Klein, Jerry Kupfer, Lorne Michaels, David Miner, Dylan Morgan, Jeff Richmond, John Riggi, Josh Siegal, Ron Weiner

“The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
Producers: Chuck Lorre, Steve Molaro, Faye Oshima Belyeu, Bill Prady

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO)
Producers: Alec Berg, Larry Charles, Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Tim Gibbons, David Mandel, Erin O’Malley, Jeff Schaffer, Laura Streicher

“Louie” (FX)
Producers: Dave Becky, M. Blair Breard, Louis C.K.

* “Modern Family” (ABC)
Producers: Cindy Chupack, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Morton, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Chris Smirnoff, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:

“Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett

“Downton Abbey” (PBS)
Producers: Julian Fellowes, Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge

“Game of Thrones” (HBO)
Producers: David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, Carolyn Strauss, D.B. Weiss

* “Homeland” (Showtime)
Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm

“Mad Men” (AMC)
Producers: Jon Hamm, Scott Hornbacher, Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Victor Levin, Blake McCormick, Matthew Weiner

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:

* “The Colbert Report” (Comedy Central)
Producers: Meredith Bennett, Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Matt Lappin, Emily Lazar, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart

“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC)
Producers: David Craig, Ken Crosby, Doug DeLuca, Erin Irwin, Jimmy Kimmel, Jill Leiderman, Jason Schrift, Jennifer Sharron

“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (NBC)
Producers: Hillary Hunn, Lorne Michaels, Gavin Purcell, Michael Shoemaker

“Real Time with Bill Maher” (HBO)
Producers: Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen, Bill Maher, Billy Martin

“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Producers: Ken Aymong, Steve Higgins, Erik Kenward, Lorne Michaels, John Mulaney

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:

* “The Amazing Race” (CBS)
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster, Mark Vertullo

“Dancing with the Stars” (ABC)
Producers: Ashley Edens Shaffer, Conrad Green, Joe Sungkur

“Project Runway” (Lifetime)
Producers: Jane Cha Cutler, Desiree Gruber, Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea, Colleen Sands

“Top Chef” (Bravo)
Producers: Daniel Cutforth, Casey Kriley, Jane Lipsitz, Dan Murphy, Nan Strait

“The Voice” (NBC)
Producers: Stijn Bakkers, Mark Burnett, John De Mol, Chad Hines, Lee Metzger, Audrey Morrissey, Jim Roush, Nicolle Yaron, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:

* “American Masters” (PBS)
Producers: Prudence Glass, Susan Lacy, Julie Sacks

“Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” (Travel Channel)
Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandy Zweig

“Deadliest Catch” (Discovery Channel)
Producers: Thom Beers, Jeff Conroy, Sean Dash, John Gray, Sheila McCormack, Bill Pruitt, Decker Watson

“Inside the Actors Studio” (Bravo)
Producers: James Lipton, Shawn Tesser, Jeff Wurtz

“Shark Tank” (ABC)
Producers: Rhett Bachner, Becky Blitz, Mark Burnett, Bill Gaudsmith, Yun Lingner, Brien Meagher, Clay Newbill, Jim Roush, Laura Skowlund, Paul Sutera, Patrick Wood

The following programs were not vetted for individual producer eligibility this year:

The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:

“24/7” (HBO)

“Catching Hell” (ESPN)

“The Fight Game with Jim Lampley” (HBO)

“On Freddie Roach” (HBO)

* “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (HBO)

The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:

“Good Luck Charlie” (Disney Channel)

“iCarly” (Nickelodeon)

“Phineas and Ferb” (Disney Channel)

* “Sesame Street” (PBS)

“The Weight of the Nation for Kids: The Great Cafeteria Takeover” (HBO)

The Award for Outstanding Digital Series:

* “30 Rock: The Webisodes” (www.nbc.com)

“Bravo’s Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen” (www.bravotv.com)

“Dexter Early Cuts: All in the Family” (www.sho.com)

“The Guild” (www.watchtheguild.com)

“H+ The Digital Series” (www.youtube.com/user/HplusDigitalSeries)

“Red vs. Blue” (www.roosterteeth.com)