Directors Guild TV Awards Unveil Longform, Documentary, Variety, Reality, Kids 2020 Nominations

By Michael Schneider

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – FX’s “Fosse/Verdon” dominated the first round of Directors Guild of America TV nominations, landing three in the TV movie/limited series — for directors Jessica Yu, Minkie Spiro and Thomas Kail.

Yu, Spiro and Kail will face off against “Chernobyl” director Johan Renck, who won the Emmy for that HBO limited series in September. Also up for the award are “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” director Vince Gilligan and “When They See Us” director Ava DuVernay, both for Netflix projects.

But the big news Monday was the DGA’s decision to hold back on revealing nominations in other key categories, including drama and comedy. The org said nomination announcements for the Comedy Series, Dramatic Series and Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials categories will be announced on Friday, Jan. 10 “due to a re-vote related to a newly implemented electronic entry submissions process.”

Last week it was revealed that “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway had been left off the original awards ballot. In an email sent last week to DGA members (and in a note that also appears on its website), the org said Soloway was “inadvertently omitted from the comedy series ballot” for “Transparent Musicale Finale.” The special, directed by Soloway, posted Sept. 27 on Amazon Prime Video. As a result, members who want to recast their vote in the 2019 outstanding directorial achievement in comedy series were allowed to re-vote in that category — but that likely caused the delay.

Among other news, Disney Plus received what may be its first major awards nomination: Jason Cohen was nominated in the reality programs category for directing the “Encore!” episode “Annie.” Apple TV Plus also received its first-ever DGA nod, in the children’s programs category, for the “Ghostwriter” episode “Ghost in Wonderland, Part 1.”

With several major categories still to come, Netflix holds a slim lead so far in DGA noms, with six, followed by HBO, with five, and FX with three.

Here is a list of the DGA’s television nominees for 2019 in the categories that were announced on Monday:

MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINISERIES
 (LAST YEAR’S WINNER: BEN STILLER — Escape at Dannemora)

AVA DuVERNAY, When They See Us (Netflix)

Ms. DuVernay’s Directorial Team:

Unit Production Managers: John P. Fedynich, Amy Kaufman
First Assistant Director: H.H. Cooper
Second Assistant Director: Jamiyl Campbell
Second Second Assistant Director: Amrita Kundu
Additional Second Assistant Director: Kyler Griffin
Location Manager: Charlynne J. Hopson

VINCE GILLIGAN, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)

Mr. Gilligan’s Directorial Team:

Unit Production Managers: Robin Le Chanu, Charles Newirth<
First Assistant Director: John Wildermuth
Second Assistant Director: Katy Galow
Second Second Assistant Director: Nathan E. Davis
Additional Second Assistant Directors: Melissa Bosco-Laude, Chad Goyette

THOMAS KAIL, Fosse/Verdon, “Nowadays” (FX Networks)

Mr. Kail’s Directorial Team:

Unit Production Manager: Erica Kay
First Assistant Director: Deanna Leslie Kelly
Second Assistant Director: Brad Robinson
Second Second Assistant Directors: Billy Brennan, Findlay Zotter
Location Manager: Ryan Smith

JOHAN RENCK, Chernobyl (HBO)

MINKIE SPIRO, Fosse/Verdon, “All I Care About Is Love” (FX Networks)

Ms. Spiro’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Erica Kay
First Assistant Director: Marcos González Palma
Second Assistant Director: Steven Lafferty
Second Second Assistant Directors: Billy Brennan, Findlay Zotter
Location Manager: Ryan Smith

JESSICA YU, Fosse/Verdon, “Glory” (FX Networks)

Ms. Yu’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Erica Kay
First Assistant Director: Deanna Leslie Kelly
Second Assistant Director: Brad Robinson
Second Second Assistant Directors: Billy Brennan, Findlay Zotter
Location Manager: Ryan Smith

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING
 (LAST YEAR’S WINNER: DON ROY KING — Saturday Night Live, “Adam Driver; Kanye West”)

PAUL G. CASEY, Real Time With Bill Maher, “1730” (HBO)

Mr. Casey’s Directorial Team:

Associate Director: Stacy Talbot
Stage Managers: Patrick Whitney, Brian Anderson

NORA S. GERARD, CBS Sunday Morning, “40th Anniversary” (CBS)

Ms. Gerard’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: Jessica Frank, Kate D’Arcy Coleman, Patricia Long Finnegan, Jyll Phillips-Friedman, Catherine Liberatore Kay
Stage Managers: Mark Dicso, Brian McGuire

JIM HOSKINSON, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “A. Ocasio-Cortez; Incubus” (CBS)

Mr. Hoskinson’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: Yvonne De Mare, Karen Yaeger
Stage Managers: Mark McKenna, Jeff Leib

DON ROY KING, Saturday Night Live, “E. Murphy; Lizzo” (NBC)

Mr. King’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: Michael Mancini, Mike Poole
Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly

PAUL PENNOLINO, CHRISTOPHER WERNER, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, “SLAPP Suits” (HBO)

Directorial Team:

Associate Director: Elliot Mendelson
Stage Managers: Mark McKenna, Craig Spinney, John Scott Wilson

REALITY PROGRAMS 
(LAST YEAR’S WINNER: RUSSELL NORMAN — The Final Table, “Japan”)

HISHAM ABED, Queer Eye, “Black Girl Magic” (Netflix)

JASON COHEN, Encore!, “Annie” (Disney+)

Mr. Cohen’s Directorial Team:

Associate Director: Daniel Shultz

JON FAVREAU, The Chef Show, “Hog Island” (Netflix)

Mr. Favreau’s Directorial Team:

Associate Director: Annie Johnson

ASHLEY S. GORMAN, First Responders Live, “103” (FOX)

Mr. Gorman’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: Jamie Marshall Bennett, Don Frillici, Ryan Neary
Stage Manager: Roy Friedland

PATRICK McMANUS, American Ninja Warrior, “1116 Las Vegas National Finals Night 4” (NBC)

Mr. McManus’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: David Massey, Sean Galvin
Stage Managers: Joseph R. Osborne, Wolfgang Delgado

CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS 
(LAST YEAR’S WINNER: JACK JAMESON — Sesame Street, “When You Wish Upon a Pickle: A Sesame Street Special”)

DEAN ISRAELITE, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, “Part One: Submitted for Your Approval” (Nickelodeon)

Mr. Israelite’s Directorial Team:

First Assistant Director: Pete Whyte

JACK JAMESON, Sesame Street’s 50th Anniversary Special (HBO Documentary Films)

Mr. Jameson’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: Yori Tondrowski, Ken Diego
Stage Managers: Frank Campagna, Phyllis Digilio-Kent, Shawn Havens

LUKE MATHENY, Ghostwriter, “Ghost in Wonderland, Part 1” (Apple TV+)

AMY SCHATZ, Song of Parkland (HBO Documentary Films)

BARRY SONNENFELD, A Series of Unfortunate Events, “Penultimate Peril: Part 1” (Netflix)

COMMERCIALS 
(LAST YEAR’S WINNER: SPIKE JONZE (MJZ)  — “Welcome Home,” Apple Homepod
)

FREDRIK BOND (MJZ)

Lighter Than Air, HP Elite Dragonfly – Media Monks
Unit Production Manager: Line Postmyr
First Assistant Director: Peter Kohn
Take it Lightly, Coca-Cola Light – Ingo Nap, iPhone – Apple
Unit Production Manager: Line Postmyr
First Assistant Director: Peter Kohn
Second Assistant Director: Heather Anderson

SPIKE JONZE (MJZ)

Dream It, Squarespace – Squarespace
First Assistant Director: Thomas Smith The New Normal, Medmen – Mekanism
First Assistant Director: Thomas Smith
Second Assistant Directors: David Marnell, Jeff Tavani

MARK MOLLOY (Smuggler)

Underdogs, Apple – Apple

RIDLEY SCOTT (RSA Films)

The Seven Worlds, Hennessy X.O. – DDB Paris

DOUGAL WILSON (Furlined)

Train, AT&T – BBDO NY
First Assistant Director: Peter Kohn
Second Assistant Director: Aaron Fitzgerald

DOCUMENTARY 
(LAST YEAR’S WINNER: TIM WARDLE — Three Identical Strangers)

STEVEN BOGNAR and JULIA REICHERT, American Factory (Netflix)

FERAS FAYYAD, The Cave (National Geographic Documentary Films)

ALEX HOLMES, Maiden (Sony Picture Classics)

LJUBOMIR STEFANOV & TAMARA KOTEVSKA, Honeyland (Neon)

NANFU WANG and JIALING ZHANG, One Child Nation (Amazon Studios)

The 72nd Annual DGA Awards will be held on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.