The Creative Arts Emmys are where television’s real production engine gets its close-up.
Before the Primetime Emmy Awards take over NBC on Sept. 14, the Television Academy opened Emmy week with the first of two Creative Arts ceremonies at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, honoring the crafts, technical teams, unscripted series, documentary work, variety specials and behind-the-camera artists who make the industry run.
And night one belonged to three very different kinds of productions: a stadium-sized live music spectacle, a reality competition machine and a late-night show taking its final lap.
The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny led all programs on Saturday with seven wins, including Outstanding Variety Special (Live), music direction, choreography, sound mixing, lighting design, technical direction and camerawork, and directing for Hamish Hamilton.
Peacock’s The Traitors followed with six wins, including Alan Cumming’s third consecutive Emmy for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program. The series also won for directing, production design, picture editing, cinematography and costumes.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, in its final season, picked up five wins, including writing, directing, lighting design, technical direction and picture editing.
Other multiple winners included The Muppet Show with four, Love on the Spectrum with three, and My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay and Ocean With David Attenborough with two apiece. Hargitay, who will host the Sept. 14 Primetime Emmys, had her own strong pre-show moment, winning for both producing and directing her HBO Max documentary about her mother, Jayne Mansfield.
The Creative Arts ceremonies will be combined into a single broadcast airing Sept. 12 on FXX, with streaming on Hulu the following day.
The second Creative Arts ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 6, with scripted crafts, animation, guest acting and TV movie categories still to come. I Love Lucy is also set to receive the new Legacy Award, honoring television programs with a lasting cultural impact.
For Stagerunner, the takeaway is simple: the Creative Arts Emmys are not the “other” Emmys. They are the production Emmys. They are where editors, cinematographers, production designers, music teams, sound teams, casting directors, technical crews, documentary filmmakers, unscripted producers and live-event teams get recognized for the work that actually puts television on screen.
Full Confirmed Creative Arts Emmy Winners
Outstanding Host for a Game Show: Jimmy Kimmel, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Outstanding Game Show: Jeopardy!
Outstanding Production Design for a Variety or Reality Series: The Traitors
Outstanding Production Design for a Variety Special: The Muppet Show
Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary/Nonfiction or Reality Program: John Candy: I Like Me
Outstanding Music Direction: The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny
Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming: The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny
Outstanding Emerging Media Program: Uncanny Alley: A New Day
Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program: Love on the Spectrum
Outstanding Innovation in Emerging Media Programming: Crafting Crimes
Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program: Ocean With David Attenborough
Outstanding Cinematography for a Reality Program: The Traitors
Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series: Inside The Pitt
Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series: Colbert Before Air
Outstanding Commercial: “I’m Not Remarkable” — Apple
Outstanding Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program: RuPaul’s Drag Race
Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program: Saturday Night Live, Host: Bad Bunny
Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Programming: The Masked Singer; The Traitors
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special: The Muppet Show
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program: The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Give the Man a Prize
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special: The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Reality Program: Welcome to Wrexham
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Nonfiction Program: Billy Joel: And So It Goes
Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program: Ocean With David Attenborough
Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming: The Muppet Show
Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming (Segment): The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program: Sean Combs: The Reckoning
Outstanding Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series: Desi Lydic, The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains
Outstanding Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program: Love on the Spectrum
Outstanding Picture Editing for a Structured Reality or Competition Program: The Traitors
Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special: My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay
Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series: Mr. Scorsese
Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special: Tucci in Italy
Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program: Mariska Hargitay, My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay
Outstanding Directing for a Reality Program: Ben Archard, The Traitors
Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking: The Librarians
Outstanding Narrator: Octavia Spencer, Lost Women of Alaska
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program: Alan Cumming, The Traitors
Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program: Love on the Spectrum
Outstanding Structured Reality Program: Antiques Roadshow
Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Special: The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny
Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Series: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Series: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Outstanding Technical Direction and Camerawork for a Special: The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny
Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series: Yvonne De Mare, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special: Hamish Hamilton, The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny
Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded): The Muppet Show
Outstanding Variety Special (Live): The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny
Legacy Award: I Love Lucy
