HINT: I START BY WATCHING THE EMMYS! My Secret to Producing Emmys-Level Award Shows T hese days, it feels like every hour of my week is packed with brainstorming, planning, and executing events. I’m constantly running from one project to another (which I love!), but every year, I make time to do one thing just for me: I tune in to the Emmys. events like The Humane Society of the United States’ annual To the Rescue! gala, which has used the same venue for more than a decade. How the team uses music to change the mood of the audience.
It sounds backward, but for me, the choice of music can actually help drive the design of an awards ceremony stage. With that in mind, I’m always curious about the music choices that awards show producers
I’d like to say that I carve out a few hours to sit on the couch and really soak in the awards show magic. But realistically, you’re more likely to find the show playing in the background on my laptop while I work at the office, on my phone during my cab ride or subway ride home, or on my living room TV while I grab a bite of dinner. This year, the Emmys were originally scheduled for Sept. 18. Unfortunately, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strikes have postponed them indefinitely — but I still have the tradition on my mind. Why do the Emmys take up so much of my headspace? Well, as an event producer, show crawler, and show director, I’m constantly taking inspiration from televised award shows. Eventique has produced dozens of awards ceremonies for corporations and nonprofits targeted at both live and virtual audiences, so I’m always combing the productions of the Emmys, Oscars, and Grammys for unique ideas we can leverage.
make. I pay close attention to how the music makes me feel as a viewer, where it hits the right emotional notes and where it falls flat.
The balance of entertainment and ‘talking heads.’ It’s easy to run a very “podium-heavy” ceremony full of back-to-back awards presentations and thank-you speeches. But successful award shows avoid repetitive talking heads. I like to analyze how productions like the
Emmys do this with tricks like introducing performers on multiple stages, moving presenters around the venue, and interacting creatively with the audience. Over the years, I’ve used dozens of strategies from the Emmys and other awards shows to level up my clients’ awards ceremonies. Of
Here are three things I’ll look for when this year’s Emmys finally happen: The transformation of a multi-year
course, the fact that the Emmys broadcast is on live TV adds a new layer of complexity to the production! The showrunners need to factor in commercial breaks, keep the show’s momentum going, and stay flexible when the audience engages in unexpected ways. (I like to imagine how I’d react if I were running the 2022 Oscars and saw Will Smith leap out of the audience and smack Chris Rock across the face.) Someday, I’d love to listen in on the communication headsets the Emmys’ directors use to speak to each other, their camera operators, and the rest of the crew. It’s been a dream of mine for years, and I know I’ll eventually make it happen! I’ve already done the
venue. Re-creating an event in the same space
year after year isn’t easy. Your creative and technical teams
have to push themselves to their limits to reinvent the space or come up with a theme that will transform how it looks
and feels to the audience. Watching how the Emmys and other award shows approach this challenge fascinates me and inspires me to try new things when producing
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