Producers Guild Expands Long-Form Television Awards

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Producers Guild of America has created a second awards category in long-form television. Both will be presented at the 2019 Producers Guild Awards on Jan. 19.

The guild announced Wednesday that the former David L. Wolper award for outstanding producer in long-form television has been renamed the David L. Wolper award for outstanding producer of limited series television. The PGA said the new award has been created to separately acknowledge distinguished work and will be called the award for outstanding producer of streamed or televised movies.

In January, producers Annabel Jones and Charlie Brooker won the David L. Wolper award for Netflix’s fourth season of sci-fi anthology series “Black Mirror.” FX’s “The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” won in 2017 and FX’s first two seasons of “Fargo” won the previous two years.

“Long-form television has exploded in recent years with exciting, daring new programming and new voices,” said PGA presidents Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher. “This shift in our industry has given producers the opportunity to deepen their skills in creating limited series shows and streamed or televised movies. By expanding our long-form program category into two separate categories, we acknowledge their stellar work in both genres.”

The eligibility period for both awards is from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. The limited series rules, which match those put in place in 2015 for the Emmy Awards by the Television Academy, require that there be two or more episodes with a total running time of at least 150 minutes. Additionally, the streamed/televised movie must not have had a theatrical release prior to its streamed or televised release and must not previously have been included on any PGA Awards ballot.