Switch edition between U.S. Edition Asia Edition Global Edition
Plus Icon Read Next: Writers Guild Awards to Celebrate Honorees As New Contract Heralds Industry Changes

‘Nomadland’ Wins Top Film Prize at Producers Guild Awards, Likely Locking It Up at the Oscars

By
Clayton Davis, Ellise Shafer
Nomadland
Joshua Richards

The Producers Guild of America Awards awarded Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” with their top prize, one of the key indicators for the Academy Awards, particularly the best picture category. Edging out its closest competitors including Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman,” Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari” and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” this might just end any questions about whether or not the moving drama is running away with the Oscars‘ big prize.

All the acceptance speeches were pre-recorded with “Nomadland” giving a more produced, glitzier presentation than what we’ve seen at other award shows.

It should be noted that last year’s “1917” from Sam Mendes lost the Oscar after wins from PGA and DGA to “Parasite,” which only had the coveted SAG cast ensemble prize under its belt. Coincidentally, “Nomadland” is not nominated at SAG in their top category, leaving an opening for a film to pick up some momentum and try to catch up. Another interesting note is that every time a film has won best picture at the Oscars, without a directing nomination, the film has won the PGA preceding it, in the existence of the guild awards.

Pixar’s “Soul” won the award for animated feature, further cementing its frontrunner status. Producer Dana Murray took a cue from the Jodie Foster playbook, giving her acceptance speech in her pajamas, with her two children jumping into the shot.

Popular on Variety

In the television categories, Pop TV’s “Schitt’s Creek” won comedy for its final season while Netflix‘s “The Crown” took drama series.

Netflix’s “The Queen’s Gambit” took the prize for limited series while Disney Plus’ “Hamilton” edged out HBO’s “Bad Education” for outstanding producers of televised or streamed motion pictures.

The pre-taped production had two typos, first with presenter Steven Yeun (spelled as Steven Yuen) introducing “Minari” and later during the “In Memoriam” segment, misspelling “Life of Pi” star Irrfan Khan (as Irrif Kahn).

The “In Memoriam” segment featured 21 members of the community that passed in the last year. The list included the following – Steve Bing, Chadwick Boseman, Harry Bring, Sue Bruce-Smith, Allan Burns, Kevin Burns, Stuart Cornfeld, Kirk Douglas, Charles Gordon, Buck Henry, Irrfan Khan, Thomas L. Miller, Tom Pollock, Rebecca Ramsey, Carl Reiner, Gene Reynolds, Pamela Ross, Ronald Schwary, Lynn Shelton, Fred Silverman and Jamie Tarses.

The full list of winners and the nominees are down below:

Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

  • “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” (Amazon Studios)
    Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines
  • “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros)
    Producers: Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler, Shaka King
  • “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” (Netflix)
    Producers: Denzel Washington, Todd Black
  • “Mank” (Netflix)
    Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski
  • “Minari” (A24)
    Producer: Christina Oh
  • “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures) – WINNER
    Producers: Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao
  • “One Night in Miami” (Amazon Studios)
    Producers: Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Jody Klein
  • “Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features)
    Producers: Josey McNamara, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell
  • “Sound of Metal” (Amazon Studios)
    Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche
  • “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix)
    Producers: Marc Platt, Stuart Besser

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

  • “The Croods: A New Age” (DreamWorks Animation)
    Producer: Mark Swift
  • “Onward” (Pixar)
    Producer: Kori Rae
  • “Over the Moon” (Netflix)
    Producers: Gennie Rim, Peilin Chou
  • “Soul” (Pixar) – WINNER
    Producer: Dana Murray
  • “Wolfwalkers” (Apple TV Plus/GKIDS)
    Producers: Paul Young, Nora Twomey, Tomm Moore, Stéphan Roelants

Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television

  • “Better Call Saul” (AMC) – Season 5
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “Bridgerton” – (Netflix) – Season 1
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “The Crown” (Netflix) – Season 4 – WINNER
    Producers: Peter Morgan, Suzanne Mackie, Stephen Daldry, Andy Harries, Benjamin Caron, Matthew Byam Shaw, Robert Fox, Michael Casey, Andy Stebbing, Martin Harrison, Oona O’Beirn 
  • “The Mandalorian” (Disney Plus) – Season 2
    Producers: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Colin Wilson, Karen Gilchrist, John Bartnicki, Carrie Beck
  • “Ozark” (Netflix) – Season 3
    Producers: Jason Bateman, Chris Mundy, Bill Dubuque, Mark Williams, Patrick Markey, John Shiban, Miki Johnson, Matthew Spiegel, Erin Mitchell, Martin Zimmerman, Peter Thorell

Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Comedy

  • “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (HBO) – Season 10
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “The Flight Attendant” (HBO Max) – Season 1
    Producers: Greg Berlanti, Kaley Cuoco, Steve Yockey, Meredith Lavender, Marcie Ullin, Sarah Schechter, Suzanne McCormack, Jess Meyer, Raymond Quinlan, Jennifer Lence, Erika Kennair
  • “Schitt’s Creek” (Pop TV) – Season 6
    Producers: Eugene Levy, Daniel Levy, Andrew Barnsley, Fred Levy, David West Read, Ben Feigin, Michael Short, Kurt Smeaton, Kosta Orfanidis – WINNER
  • “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV Plus) – Season 1
    Producers: Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Jeff Ingold, Bill Wrubel, Liza Katzer, Jane Becker, Jamie Lee, Kip Kroeger, Brendan Hunt, Tina Pawlik, Joe Kelly
  • “What We Do in the Shadows” (FX) – Season 2
    Producers: Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, Paul Simms, Scott Rudin, Garrett Basch, Eli Bush, Stefani Robinson, Sam Johnson, Marika Sawyer, Derek S. Rappaport

David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited Series Television

  • “I May Destroy You” (HBO)
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “Normal People” (Hulu)
    Producers: Lenny Abrahamson, Sally Rooney, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton, Anna Ferguson, Catherine Magee
  • “The Queen’s Gambit” (Netflix) – WINNER
    Producers: William Horberg, Allan Scott, Scott Frank, Marcus Loges, Mick Aniceto
  • “The Undoing” (HBO)
    Producers: Susanne Bier, David E. Kelley, Per Saari, Nicole Kidman, Bruna Papandrea, Stephen Garrett, Celia Costas, Deb Dyer
  • “Unorthodox” (Netflix)
    Producers: Anna Winger, Henning Kamm, Alexa Karolinksi

Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures

  • “Bad Education” (HBO)
    Producers: Fred Berger, Eddie Vaisman
  • “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square“
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “Hamilton” (Disney Plus) – WINNER
    Producers: Thomas Kail, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jeffrey Seller
  • “Jane Goodall: The Hope“
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “What the Constitution Means To Me“
    Producers: eligibility determination pending

Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television

  • “60 Minutes” (CBS) – Season 53
    Producer: Bill Owens
  • “The Last Dance” (ESPN) – Season 1 – WINNER
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “Laurel Canyon” (EPIX)
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “McMillion$” (HBO) – Season 1
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” (Netflix)
    Producers: eligibility determination pending

Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television

  • “8:46 – Dave Chappelle (Special)” (Netflix)
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” (Comedy Central) – Season 26
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO) – Season 7 – WINNER
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS) – Season 6
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) – Season 46
    Producers: eligibility determination pending

Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television

  • “The Amazing Race” (CBS) – Season 32
    Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo, Phil Keoghan
  • “The Masked Singer” (FOX) – Season 3, Season 4
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “Nailed It!” (Netflix) – Season 4
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1) – Season 12 – WINNER
    Producers: eligibility determination pending
  • “The Voice” (NBC) – Season 18, Season 19
    Producers: eligibility determination pending

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures

  • “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet”
  • “Dick Johnson Is Dead”
  • “My Octopus Teacher” (Netflix) – WINNER
  • “Softie”
  • “A Thousand Cuts”
  • “Time”
  • “The Truffle Hunters”

Outstanding Sports Program

  • “Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women’s Gymnastics” (S1) (YouTube) – WINNER
  • “Hard Knocks: Los Angeles” (HBO)
  • “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (S26) (HBO)
  • “Seeing America with Megan Rapinoe” (HBO)
  • “The Shop: Uninterrupted Featuring President Barack Obama” (HBO)

Outstanding Children’s Program

  • “Animaniacs” (S1) (Hulu)
  • “Carmen Sandiego” (S3) (Netflix)
  • “Looney Tunes Cartoons” (S1) (HBO Max)
  • “The Power of We: A Sesame Street Special” (HBO Max) – WINNER
  • “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” (S7) (Disney Plus)

Outstanding Short Form Program

  • “Better Call Saul Employee Training: Legal Ethics with Kim Wexler” (S3) (AMC)
  • “Between The Scenes – The Daily Show” (S5) (Comedy Central)
  • “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” (S3) (Apple TV) – WINNER
  • “Inside Pixar: Inspired” (S1) (Disney Plus)
  • “SNL Presents: Stories from the Show” (S1) (NBC)

Studio Tally

  • Disney Plus – 1
  • ESPN – 1
  • HBO – 1
  • HBO Max – 1
  • Apple TV – 1
  • Netflix – 2
  • Pixar – 1
  • Pop TV – 1
  • Searchlight Pictures – 1
  • VH1 – 1
  • YouTube – 1

Academy Awards Predictions (All Categories)

Comments

More From Our Brands

ad