The 2023 PGA Awards took place Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton, where Everything Everywhere All at Once won the guild’s top prize, defeating Top Gun: Maverick and The Fabelmans to shore up its frontrunner status heading into the start of Oscar voting.
Many pundits believe the PGA is a great predictor of the Academy Award for Best Picture, as seven of the last 10 PGA winners went on to win that Oscar. But the truth is that while the PGA Award is certainly an indicator, 30 percent isn’t exactly an insignificant margin of error. Then again, EEAAO has been winning industry awards all season, and a Best Ensemble win at the SAG Awards would seem to seal its hallowed fate.
Of course, it should be noted that the German production of All Quiet on the Western Front wasn’t nominated by the PGA or SAG due to eligibility reasons, and it remains a distinct possibility, albeit a dark horse, as the Academy Awards draw near.
Leaving the Oscars out of it, the PGA Awards were the most professional event I’ve attended, as the press was, for once, able to actually hear all of the night’s speeches, and there were some good ones, from Tom Cruise to Mindy Kaling.
The night’s early winners included Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and a pair of HBO programs — The White Lotus, and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. HBO wasn’t the only division of Warner Bros. Discovery to take home two trophies, as CNN won for Navalny and Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. FX and Hulu each won an award as well thanks to The Bear and The Dropout, both of which were surprise winners in the eyes of some pundits.
B.J. Novak delivered a wonderful tribute to Kaling before handing her the Norman Lear Award, after which Kaling gave a heartfelt acceptance speech. Elsewhere, Ron Howard gave the Milestone Award to Warner Bros. film bosses Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who recently worked with the director on Thirteen Lives.
The full list of winners can be found below:
Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
- Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)
- The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel Studios)
- Elvis (Warner Bros.)
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) – WINNER
- The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)
- Tár (Focus Features)
- Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)
- The Whale (A24)
Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures
- All That Breathes (HBO)
- Descendant (Netflix)
- Fire of Love (National Geographic Documentary/Neon)
- Navalny (CNN/Warner Bros.) – WINNER
- Nothing Compares (Showtime)
- Retrograde (National Geographic)
- The Territory (National Geographic)
Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
- Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix) – WINNER
- Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (A24)
- Minions: The Rise of Gru (Universal Pictures/Illumination)
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (DreamWorks Animation)
- Turning Red (Pixar)
Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama
- Andor (Disney+)
- Better Call Saul (AMC)
- Ozark (Netflix)
- Severance (Apple TV+)
- The White Lotus (HBO) – WINNER
Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Comedy
- Abbott Elementary (ABC)
- Barry (HBO)
- The Bear (FX) – WINNER
- Hacks (HBO Max)
- Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television
- Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix)
- The Dropout (Hulu) – WINNER
- Inventing Anna (Netflix)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+)
- Pam & Tommy (Hulu)
Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures
- Fire Island (Hulu)
- Hocus Pocus 2 (Disney+)
- Pinocchio (Disney+)
- Prey (Hulu)
- Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (The Roku Channel) – WINNER
Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television
- 30 for 30 (ESPN)
- 60 Minutes (CBS)
- George Carlin’s American Dream (HBO)
- Lucy and Desi (Amazon Prime Video)
- Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (CNN) – WINNER
Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment, Variety, Sketch, Standup & Talk Television
- The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
- Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) – WINNER
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
- Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television
- The Amazing Race (CBS)
- Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (Amazon Prime Video) – WINNER
- RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (VH1)
- Top Chef (Bravo)
- The Voice (NBC)
