Emmy Awards Postponed Amid Writers’ and Actors’ Strikes

The ripple effects from a historic work stoppage in show business have hit the Emmys. The awards telecast scheduled for Sept. 18 on Fox has been postponed due to the continuing labor strikes by screen actors and writers, according to people familiar with the situation. 

Organizers for the Emmys, which honors achievements in television, faced the prospect of a nonevent without the participation of writers who pen material for the telecast’s host and presenters, and without actors, who are forbidden by union rules to promote the work of studios they’re striking against, a boycott that includes accepting trophies on national television.

Fox and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which oversees the Emmys, have not yet settled on a new airdate, according to the people familiar. 

Members of the Writers Guild of America have been on strike since May 2. The Screen Actors Guild joined them on the picket lines July 14. Both unions are in a contract fight with major studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, as they push for higher pay, increased residuals and protections against encroachments on their work by generative artificial intelligence. 

Neither side knows when or how the labor stalemate will be resolved. But its impact on the entertainment calendar is coming into focus for the fall, when the industry typically revs up. 

The fall television season, when broadcasters roll out new and returning series, traditionally begins immediately after the Emmy Awards. This year, networks have postponed many scripted series and loaded up on reality shows that don’t rely on union writers and actors.

Major film festivals in Venice (starting Aug. 30) and Toronto (starting Sept. 7) recently announced their lineups, but are expected to be dimmed affairs without movie stars attending their red-carpet premieres.

If the strikes drag on through the fall—as many in Hollywood expect they will—the cascade could swamp the broader awards circuit. Much of the entertainment ecosystem feeds off the parade of galas that kicks off in November and December, leading up to the Academy Awards, currently set for March 10. 

Studios, without access to the talent they depend on to promote splashy releases, have already postponed some potential awards contenders. Among them: “Challengers,” an anticipated tennis drama starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor, which studios MGM and Warner Bros. had planned to unveil at the Venice Film Festival. That premiere was scratched, and the film’s public release date was pushed to next April.  

The Emmys postponement follows a strike-altered Tony Awards in June. Playwrights convinced the Writers Guild of America that disrupting CBS’s telecast would hurt business on Broadway. The Tonys went on without scripted bits, relying primarily on its live performances. Many presenters and winners expressed solidarity with striking writers.   

When nominees for the 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced earlier in July, “Succession,” “The Last of Us,” “The White Lotus” and “Ted Lasso” received the most nods.

The delay of the Emmys telecast marks the second time the show has been postponed. In 2001, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the show aired in November. Amid the Covid pandemic in 2020, the ceremony went on with most nominees attending virtually from their homes.

Write to John Jurgensen at [email protected]