2023 Emmy Award for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special Predictions

We’ll be updating this article with all of our predictions throughout the season, so be sure to check IndieWire for the latest news on the 2023 Emmys. The nomination round of voting runs from June 15 to June 26, with the official Emmy nominations announced on Wednesday, July 12. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be presented over two consecutive nights on Saturday, September 9 and Sunday, September 10. an edited presentation of the ceremonies that will air on FXX at a later date. Finally, the 75th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will take place on Monday, September 18 and will air live on FOX at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT.

State of the species

In an Emmy year with plenty of interesting updates to the eligibility rules, one game-changer for the Outstanding Documentary or Fiction Special category is the re-presentation of Oscar-contending projects. Starting this February, the new rules state that if a 2022 documentary doesn’t end up receiving an Oscar nomination, it can compete at this year’s Emmys (as long as it fits into the June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023 presentation period, fine). .

That means “Goodnight Oppy,” Amazon Prime Video’s award-winning movie that was snubbed by the Academy, now has more than a chance to win an Emmy. Interestingly, the film about NASA’s triumphant Martians was directed by Ryan White, the same filmmaker behind one of Netflix’s big contenders, Pamela: A Love Story. The director of Emmy-nominated shows like “The Keepers” now finds himself on both sides of the debate over whether to allow dubbing for movies, having produced a project that went to theaters and a made-for-television project.

The distinction between the two doesn’t seem to matter as much to voters as originally thought, when the TV Academy ruled in 2021 that films on the AMPAS viewing interface could not be submitted for Emmys, as there were plenty of special-for-television shows. projects made in recent years have even beaten Oscar winners for best documentary in this category, such as “Icarus”.

So despite all that, it seems the networks are still being cautious, not showing Oscar-nominated films (eg NatGeo’s “The Territory”), but “Sidney” on Apple TV+, which was also in the mix . Last awards season, but just missing the shortlist, it’s fair game for the Emmys.

And those films have plenty of competition from projects like “Sin Eater: The Crimes of Anthony Pellicano,” from FX’s “The New York Times Presents,” which caught voters’ attention with the success of two episodes about Britney Spears. , credited with helping the pop star get out of conservatorship.

Current contestants (in alphabetical order):
“The Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting” (HBO)
“Call Me Miss Cleo” (HBO Max)
“Goodnight Oppy” (Amazon Prime Video)
“If These Walls Could Sing” (Disney+)
“Judy Blume Forever” (Amazon Prime Video)
“Katrina Babies” (HBO)
Pamela: A Love Story (Netflix)
“Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” (Hulu)
The Sound of 007 (Amazon Prime Video)
“Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me” (Apple TV+)
“Sidney” (Apple TV+)
“Sin Eater: The Crimes of Anthony Pellicano” (FX)
“Sr.” (Netflix)
Still: The Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)
“Wildcat” (Amazon Prime Video)

Last year’s winner: “George Carlin’s American Dream”
Still eligible: No.
Hot Streaks: Judd Apatow’s George Carlin documentary was actually an HBO Max project, not a made-for-HBO movie, so something like “Call Me Miss Cleo” winning this year would extend the streak after a rough few months on streaming. service that is under new management.
Notable Non-Eligible Series: “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” (not eligible for 2023 Oscar nomination); “All That Breathes” (cannot be nominated for an Oscar in 2023); “Fire of Love” (not eligible for 2023 Oscar nomination)

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