How The Emmys Plans On Pulling Off Their Virtual Show
The team behind the Emmys are pulling out all the stops to pull off a successful virtual 2020 Emmy Awards ceremony. Per Variety, Jimmy Kimmel will host the show from a stage in the Staples Center, but there will be no audience or red carpet.
As one executive producer states, “Jimmy loves to work live, and we love to work live. This is a show that will still very much be, whenever and however possible, a live show. There’s a lot of challenges that come with doing a live show in a COVID environment. But we’re not running from those problems, we’re embracing them.”
They add, “One is that it’s so large that the crew can work safely under COVID-safe protocols and be at the appropriate distance from each other. Because obviously the most important thing is safety first. The second part is, this show will need an unbelievable number of wiring connections in and out, because the nominees are not going to be there.”
“So we’re going to take cameras to where they are. And the number of feeds that that requires is so massive that we need a facility like the Staples Center, which is used to having that much signal from reporters covering sports to handle the kind of in and outputs that it requires.”
In total, there will be about 140 live feeds coming into the control room at the Staples Center.
Producers are also trying to do the show without using platforms like Skype, Facetime, or Zoom on laptops or phones. As one explains, “We’re not trying to make the Zoomies, we’re trying to make the Emmys. So one of the things we are trying to do is get the highest-end kit to wherever that person is on whatever level of comfort they have. The best thing for us is to have very high-end cameras, with a person operating them in somebody’s house or wherever they are. That’s our starting point.”
As the show date gets closer, the team is still trying to figure out small details of the event, like if winners will be able to hold an Emmy while giving their live acceptance speeches. They are also unsure as to if nominees will dress up or be in their pajamas. A producer points out, “If you want to be in your sweats on your sofa that’s also fine. It will be much more casual, much more fun, as we’re more in it together. It will go where it goes. ”
For more details on how the virtual 2020 Emmy Awards is coming together, visit the Variety website.
The Emmys will air on September 20.
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