She’s a two-time Tony winner and has an Emmy for her ABC TV  series How To Get Away With Murder – the first won by an African American lead actress in the Drama Series category.  Now you can add Oscar winner to that list with Viola Davis’ Best Supporting Actress victory Sunday night for her stirring role as Rose in…

Three time’s a charm for Viola Davis who takes home her first Oscar tonight for Denzel Washington’s directorial of August Wilson’s 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fences.  Together with Mahershala Ali’s win for best supporting actor in Moonlight, Davis’ win is tying for the Oscar record of most Black performers to…

A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit. And now we are really at crunch time, and though I have talked to a few Oscar voters who already have cast their ballots since final voting opened on Monday, many still are waiting closer to next Tuesday’s 5 PM PT deadline to make their decisions…

Charging that "the Academy Awards cannot escape ageism," a new study has found that characters aged 60 and over "are scarce in Best Picture-nominated movies," and that senior women and older minority characters are even scarcer. It also found that there were only two leading characters over 60 featured in all of the…

When was the last time you could consider Denzel Washington an underdog? That’s the role he has played in this Oscar race, as Manchester By The Sea star Casey Affleck collected enough of the Best Actor awards to consider him a clear front runner. Until the SAG Awards, where Washington prevailed for his overpowering…

Hey exhibitors — are you listening? A recent Movio/AARP study recently highlighted that the 50+ age group is one of the more devoted moviegoing demos, particularly during Oscar season. During the period of Jan. 1, 2016-Feb. 5, 2017, those 50 and over repped 56% of the crowd for Oscar-nominated movies versus a 20%…

There can only be one winner, but each of the Best Picture nominees overcame creative, financial and logistical hurdles to get this close to the finish line. Here are their war stories. Arrival When Ted Chiang's sci-fi Story of Your Life first came across Denis Villeneuve's desk, it wasn't an immediate choice for the…

Better to be a best picture Oscar nominee than a winner. At the box office, that is. This weekend, eight of the nine best picture nominees saw on average a near-two fold bump in their weekend-to-weekend stateside ticket sales. By Oscar night, their total cumes will have jumped an average of 44% since last Tuesday’s…

Hidden Figures pulled off the big win for Ensemble Cast tonight at the 23rd annual SAG Awards. The union did well to spread the wealth tonight, with only one film — Fences — taking more than one trophy, and only Netflix’s The Crown winning twice on the TV side. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis took home hardware for…

Of the writers in competition at the 2017 Oscars, Fences playwright August Wilson is singular in multiple respects. The only writing nominee to win a Pulitzer, Wilson is also of course the only posthumous nominee — the first writer granted a posthumous nomination since Bridget O'Connor for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in…

The screenwriters and authors behind Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion and Moonlight have been nominated forthe 29th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award. The honor is bestowed upon the authors of printed works alongside the screenwriters who adapt their stories. For a second year in a row, the group has included…

The Producers Guild of America unveiled the 10 movies up for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures this morning for the 28th annual PGA Awards. The guild also unveiled noms for best producer in the animated category. Winners will be revealed January 28 at the Beverly Hilton. The 10 films in the PGA’s…