The Producers Guild Of America Unveils 2014 Nominees

Plenty of groups give out awards for excellence in film and television at the end of every year, but no set of nominations is watched more carefully by Oscar predictors than the picks from the Producers Guild.  That’s because year after year their choices end up being a fairly good indicator of which films will also be granted Best Picture nominations when the Academy makes their selections.

The Guild has announced their 2014 nominations today and there aren’t really any major surprises here. All the expected films are present, including 12 Years A Slave, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Her and The Wolf Of Wall Street. Animated films that nabbed nominations are The Croods, Despicable Me 2, Epic, Frozen and Monsters University. Included in the documentary nominations are A Place at the Table, Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story, Life According to Sam, We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks and Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington.

The 2014 winners will be announced January 19th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. That selection will be watched very carefully, especially considering the last time the Producers Guild and the Academy selected different winners was 7 years ago when the Guild went with Little Miss Sunshine over the eventual Best Picture winner The Departed. 

At this year’s ceremony special honors will be presented to Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), Robert Iger (Milestone Award), Peter Jackson & Joe Letteri (Vanguard Award), Chuck Lorre (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Chris Meledandri (Visionary Award) and Fruitvale Station (Stanley Kramer Award).

Tell us, what do you think of these Producers Guild nominations? Any surprises here? Check out the full list below and then share your thoughts in the comments section.

The theatrical motion picture nominees are:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Megan Ellison, Jon Gordon, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle

Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)
Producers: Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Scott Rudin

Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
Producers: Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter

Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman

Her (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Producers: Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, Vincent Landay

Nebraska (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa

Saving Mr. Banks (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producers: Ian Collie, Alison Owen, Philip Steuer

12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Producers: Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner

Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)
Producers: Riza Aziz, Emma Koskoff, Joey McFarland

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

The Croods (DreamWorks Animation)
Producers: Kristine Belson, Jane Hartwell

Despicable Me 2 (Universal Pictures)
Producers: Janet Healy, Chris Meledandri

Epic (Twentieth Century Fox)
Producers: Jerry Davis, Lori Forte

Frozen (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Producer: Peter Del Vecho

Monsters University (Pixar Animation)
Producer: Kori Rae

The television nominees are:

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:

American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Producers: Brad Buecker, Dante Di Loreto, Brad Falchuk, Alexis Martin Woodall, Ryan Murphy, Chip Vucelich

Behind the Candelabra (HBO)
Producers: Susan Ekins, Gregory Jacobs, Michael Polaire, Jerry Weintraub

Killing Kennedy (National Geographic Channel)
Producers: Mary Lisio, Larry Rapaport, Ridley Scott, Teri Weinberg, David W. Zucker

Phil Spector (HBO)
Producers: Michael Hausman, Barry Levinson

Top of the Lake (Sundance Channel)
Producers: Philippa Campbell, Jane Campion, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman

The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and mini-series.

In late 2013, the Producers Guild of America announced the Documentary Theatrical Motion Picture, Television Series and Non-Fiction Television Nominations; the following list includes complete producer credits.

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

A Place At The Table (Magnolia Pictures)
Producers: Julie Goldman, Ryan Harrington, Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush

Far Out Isn’t Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story (First Run Features)
Producers: Brad Bernstein, Rick Cikowski

Life According To Sam (HBO Documentary Films)
Producers: Andrea Nix Fine, Sean Fine, Miriam Weintraub

We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks (Focus Features)
Producers: Alexis Bloom, Alex Gibney, Marc Shmuger

Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life And Time Of Tim Hetherington (HBO Documentary Films)
Producers: James Brabazon, Nick Quested

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:

Breaking Bad (AMC)
Producers: Melissa Bernstein, Sam Catlin, Bryan Cranston, Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Mark Johnson, Stewart Lyons, Michelle MacLaren, George Mastras, Diane Mercer, Thomas Schnauz, Moira Walley-Beckett

Downton Abbey (ITV – United Kingdom; PBS – United States)
Producers: Julian Fellowes, Nigel Marchant, Gareth Neame, Liz Trubridge

Game of Thrones (HBO)
Producers: David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, D.B. Weiss, Christopher Newman, Greg Spence, Carolyn Strauss

Homeland (Showtime)
Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm

House of Cards (Netflix)
Producers: Joshua Donen, David Fincher, Karyn McCarthy, John Melfi, Eric Roth, Kevin Spacey, Beau Willimon

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:

30 Rock (NBC)
Producers: Jack Burditt, Robert Carlock, Luke Del Tredici , Tina Fey, Matt Hubbard , Marci Klein, Jerry Kupfer , Colleen McGuinness, Lorne Michaels, David Miner, Dylan Morgan , Jeff Richmond , Josh Siegal, Tracey Wigfield

Arrested Development (Netflix)
Producers: John Foy, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Mitchell Hurwitz, Dean Lorey, Troy Miller, Richard Rosenstock, Jim Vallely

Big Bang Theory, The (CBS)
Producers: Bill Prady, Chucke Lorre, Steve Molaro, Faye Oshima Belyeu

Modern Family (ABC)
Producers: Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Elaine Ko, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeffrey Morton, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Chris Smirnoff, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker

VEEP (HBO)
Producers: Simon Blackwell, Christopher Godsick, Armando Iannucci, Stephanie Laing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Frank Rich, Tony Roche

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:

30 for 30 (ESPN)
Producers: Bill Simmons, John Dahl, Erin Leyden, Connor Schell

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (CNN)
Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig

Duck Dynasty (A&E Networks)
Producers: Deirdre Gurney, Scott Gurney, Mike Odair, Hugh Peterson, Adam Saltzberg, Charlie Van Vleet

Inside The Actors Studio (Bravo)
Producers: James Lipton, Shawn Tesser, Jeff Wurtz

Shark Tank (ABC)
Producers: Mark Burnett, Becky Blitz, Bill Gaudsmith, Yun Lingner, Clay Newbill, Jim Roush, Laura Skowlund, Max Swedlow

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:

Colbert Report, The (Comedy Central)
Producers: Meredith Bennett, Stephen T. Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Matt Lappin, Emily Lazar, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart

Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
Producers: David Craig, Ken Crosby, Doug DeLuca, Gary Greenberg, Erin Irwin, Jimmy Kimmel, Jill Leiderman, Molly McNearney, Tony Romero, Jason Shrift, Jennifer Sharron, Josh Weintraub

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC)
Producers: Hillary Hunn, Lorne Michaels, Gavin Purcell, Michael Shoemaker

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
Producers: Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Dean Johnsen, Bill Maher, Billy Martin, Matt Wood

Saturday Night Live (NBC)
Producers: Ken Aymong, Erin Doyle, Steve Higgins, Erik Kenward, Lorne Michaels, Lindsay Shookus

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:

Amazing Race, The (CBS)
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster, Mark Vertullo

Dancing With The Stars (ABC)
Producers: Ashley Edens-Shaffer, Conrad Green, Joe Sungkur

Project Runway (Lifetime)
Producers: Jane Cha Cutler, Desiree Gruber, Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea, Colleen Sands

Top Chef (Bravo)
Producers: Tom Colicchio, Daniel Cutforth, Casey Kriley, Jane Lipsitz, Erica Ross, Nan Strait, Andrew Wallace

Voice, The (NBC)
Producers: Stijn Bakkers, Mark Burnett, John de Mol, Chad Hines, Lee Metzger, Audrey Morrissey, Jim Roush, Kyra Thompson, Nicolle Yaron, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker

The following programs were not vetted for producer eligibility this year, but winners in these categories will be announced at the official ceremony on January 19:

The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:

24/7 (HBO)

Hard Knocks (HBO)

Monday Night Football (ESPN)

Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

SportsCenter (ESPN)

The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:

Dora the Explorer (Nickelodeon)

iCarly (Nickelodeon)

Phineas and Ferb (Disney Channel)

Sesame Street (Sprout)

SpongeBob Squarepants (Nickelodeon)

The Award for Outstanding Digital Series:

Burning Love (http://screen.yahoo.com/burning-love/)

Epic Rap Battles of History (www.epicrapbattlesofhistory.com)

Lizzie Bennet Diaries, The (www.youtube.com/lizziebennet)

Video Game High School (http://www.rocketjump.com/category/vghs)

Wired: What’s Inside (http://video.wired.com/series/what-s-inside)