Strike postpones Emmy Awards

The ceremony, originally scheduled to take place on September 18, could now be pushed as far back as January next year.

Australian actor Murray Bartlett poses with the Emmy for his work on The White Lotus, during the 2022 Emmy Awards. Bartlett was nominated for two awards at the 2023 ceremony, which was scheduled to take place on September 12, but may be pushed back to January next year due to the ongoing writers and actors strikes in Hollywood. Picture: AFP

Geordie GrayEntertainment Reporter

less than 2 min read

3:55PMJuly 28, 2023.

Updated 6:10PMJuly 28, 2023

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The Emmy Awards will be postponed for the first time since 2001 due to strikes in Hollywood.

The ceremony, originally scheduled to take place on September 18, could now be pushed as far back as January as Hollywood remains ostensibly shut down.

Typically, the Emmys, television’s most prestigious awards show, are held in August or September. The last time the ceremony was postponed to a later date was after the attacks on September 11, 2001 – that year, the event took place in November.

The announcement of the postponement was anticipated. However, until now, the academy and Fox had maintained the telecast’s original September 18 scheduled date as a placeholder.

The floated January date is dependent on a resolution to disputes between the studios and guilds before then.

Stars would not be able to attend the Emmys if the actors’ strike was still in effect at the time of the ceremony. Writers would also not be allowed to script a monologue or jokes for the telecast’s host and presenters.

“Like the rest of the industry, we hope there will be an equitable and timely resolution for all parties in the current guild negotiations,” the TV Academy said last week in a statement.

“We continue to monitor the situation closely with our partners at Fox and will advise if and when there is an update available.”

The 2023 Emmy nominees were announced on July 12, and they were poised to be Australia‘s greatest yet, with stars Sarah Snook, Murray Bartlett, Anna Torv and Elizabeth Debicki all earning nominations in major categories.

Australian actor Sarah Snook holds an Emmy after Succession won the award for Outstanding Drama Series in 2023. Picture: AFP

However, just two days later, the leaders of SAG-AFTRA, the union representing 160,000 television and movie actors, announced a strike after negotiations with studios of a new contract collapsed – with streaming service residuals and artificial intelligence at the centre of the impasse.

On July 14, the actors joined film and television writers who walked off the job in May on the picket lines. It is the first time since 1960 that both sectors of the US film industry have walked off the set in unison.

A number of multimillion-dollar film and TV productions in Australia have halted as a result of the strikes.