The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences hosted the 4th All-Academy Mixer, celebrating the Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Downtown Los Angeles.

Costume design from: “Castle“, “Coco Chanel“, “Dancing with the Stars“, “Ghost Whisperer“, “Grey Gardens“, “John Adams“, “The L Word“, “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency“, “Project Runway“, “Sense & Sensibility“, “The Tudors“, “United States of Tara” and “Without a Trace“.

Costume design is one of the main visual components that can make a big impact on the overall essence of the characters being depicted in any production. By adding colors and textures to the wardrobe elements, costume designers can make choices that set the tone to establish both a timeline and emotional tone of any scene, enabling the audience to be captivated by engaging characters in suspended reality when watching television, movies and even stage performances.

Of the costumes on display, some were from the collections of the nominees for this year’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Costume Design.  Jo Katsaras and Zureta Schulz, were featured for their work on “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”, as well as Joan Bergin and Susan O’Connor Cave, for their work on “The Tudors” since they are all nominees for Outstanding Costumes for a Series.  Nominated for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, Catherine Marie Thomas and Mickey Carleton had work on display from HBO’s “Grey Gardens”.   Donna Zakowska and Amy Andrew Harrell, Emmy winners for Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special from 2008, had costumes from HBO’s “John Adams” still on display.

I’m a detail-oriented person, so I loved being able to see the incredible handwork on some of the costumes, many of which had embellishments like beading or special notions and trim.  It was also really interesting to read about how each designer approached the theme of the show that they worked on and incorporated those ideas into their designs, which was noted on some of the displays.  For example, the designers from “Gossip Girl” had the opportunity to create designs for an episode that had a fashion show scripted, in which they featured their own originals.  And the highlight for me was being able to attend this event with my favorite young, up and coming designer, Alexandra Yeaggy.

The 2009 Creative Arts Emmy Awards will take place on Saturday, September 12^th at the NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE, Los Angeles.  The show will be broadcast on E! Networks on Friday, September 18, at 1:00 pm, so tune in to see this year’s winners.  Highlights of the costumes from the 14 different shows can be seen in the online gallery.

The cast of the Emmy-nominated “Family Guy” performed a live table read of their controversial episode, titled “Partial Terms of Endearment”, for the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.

Getting a glimpse into the creative process by actually seeing these talented actors perform directly from their scripts in front of a live audience was a real treat.  During the act breaks, Seth McFarlane, along with other cast members, entertained us with different songs that they performed in character, accompanied by a full orchestra. After the table read, there was a panel discussion where the actors and creative team answered questions from the audience.

“Family Guy” is nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award as Outstanding Comedy Series, which makes it the first animated show in the Comedy Series category since “The Flintstones” back in 1961.  If you’re a fan of the show, James Hibberd’s The Live Feed website has posted a video clip from the table read, but be forewarned that the video clip does contain adult language and content.  Apparently, the table read will be available on the DVD when the current season is released.

TV Moves! 2 Live, was an event hosted by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences celebrating dance and choreography featured on television.  The evening was a combination (no pun intended) of a panel discussion with notable choreographers, plus dance performances from current television show dancers as well as local dance company members.

Panelists included: Debbie Allen, Mark Ballas, Steve Binder, Cheryl Burke, Tony Charmoli, Dante Di Loreto, Tyce Diorio, RJ Durell, Mitzi Gaynor, Robert Iscove, Nigel Lythgoe, Joe Malone, Barry Rosenbush, Howard Schwartz, Shane Sparks, Fred Tallaksen, Zach Woodlee with panel moderator Daniel Ezralow.

Whenever I attend any event featuring dancers and choreographers, I always feel fortunate to reconnect with performers that I worked with at the very start of my career.  Although I no longer work as a professional dancer, keeping movement and being physically connected to performing remains a part of my soul.  Joe Malone was one of the panelists at this event that was dance teacher/ choreographer whom I studied with in the early 1990’s, whenever I could fit in a class between auditioning or being on tour.  What I remember the most about his style and technique was his wonderful ability to explain the accents in a piece of music and how important those accents can be when a dancer is learning choreography.  Joey has always been kind to performers that are “actors who can dance” and taught me a lot of valuable lessons on how to be a better dancer, by helping me to understand how to breakdown a routine enough to concentrate on the details that would matter ~ a skill that helped me book quite a few dance jobs at that time.  It was great to see that he’s still very active in the dance community and still working in television as a choreographer.

During the evening, we were treated to dance performances from: FOX’s So You Think You Can Dance, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, Choreographer Mandy Moore, Amrapali Ambegaokar - Solo Silver Medal NBC’s Superstars of Dance, Choreographer Kristin Denehy, HBO’s “Entourage”, The Debbie Allen Dance Academy, EDGE Performing Arts Scholarship Students and a special performance by the Groovaloos, Grand Champions of NBC’s SuperStars of Dance.  All of the dance performances were unique and entertaining, each one incorporating different styles of music and dance, so it would be challenging to choose one as a favorite. For a more in depth article about the event, please see the article on the TV Academy website.

June 13th, was “Family Day” at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, where members could bring their families to experience specially hosted events at different booths in the plaza area of the Leonard H. Goldenson Theater in North Hollywood, California.  Two screenings of Pixar’s “UP”,  were also available to members who registered in advance.

My foster Mom, Virginia Montero is also a member of the TV Academy, so we attended this event together.  Both of us just loved the storyline of “UP” and we were discussing the film after seeing it.  What I found thought provoking is how Pixar has keenly come up with a way to use their amazing technology to create such compelling storylines, ripe with adventure and rich with the lessons we may learn throughout our lives.  The Pixar short “Partly Cloudy”, was a wonderful example of how those stories can also be told quickly and with humor.

A big thank you to Ms. Rocci Chatfield.  She’s produced so many of these fantastic Television Academy events, all of which bring members (and in this case their families) the opportunity to share some wonderful experiences together.

On June 7th, the 5th Annual Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship Event celebrated this year’s scholarship winners along with presenting the Innovation in Television Award to Josh Selig, the Founder and President of Little Airplane Productions, Inc.

The event was hosted by Tom Kenny, best known as the voice of “SpongeBob Square Pants”.  Cast members Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor from the hit show “iCarly”, along with Mrs. Joanne Rogers, were award presenters.  After the awards, the celebration continued with an ice-cream social reception.  Mr. McFeely known for the saying “Speedy Delivery” on the award-winning “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood”, was on hand for autographs.

The Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship honors his ample contribution to children’s television and his devotion to creating quality programming.  Applications are available on the Television Academy Foundation’s website.  Entries are evaluated by two governors representing the Television Academy’s Children’s Programming Peer Group. In addition to the monetary award, children’s programming professionals mentor winners during the academic year. The Fred Rogers Memorial Scholarship is made possible through the generous underwriting of Ernst & Young.

Sponsored by The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Hi-Def Revolution was moderated by Conrad Denke, Publisher of HighDef Magazine and Produced by Brian Zink and Alex Georgiev.  The event panelists were: Felix Enriquez Alcala, Barry Braverman, Tom Curran, Philip Hodgetts and Robert Primes.

I’ve always found the progression of technology and it’s effect on our society fascinating.  I’m typically an early adopter of innovative products and went to this event to learn more about the current HD camera technology that is available to make production more affordable for independent producers, directors and for the everyday individual.

Participating companies/ cameras that were reviewed were Canon’s 5D Mark II DSLR, JVC’s GY-HM-700, Panasonic’s HPX 300, and Sony’s PMW-EX3 XDCAM EX.

Philip Hodgetts explained the codecs, workflows and editing platform changes, which have led to the  transition between HDV and the most current HD technology. Apple computers have several applications available that can make transferring and encoding video faster and easier for users.

Tom Curran discussed how “the footprint of the camera is important” and how low profile cameras work well for a documentary setting. Curran also talked about how self-financing projects can make a difference in the type of cameras and lenses that are used.  Some of the new HD cameras are more economical since the media used to capture recordings such as CF cards are inexpensive and small, making them easily portable for location shooting.

Director Felix  Enriquez Alcala revealed that he thinks “the magic is in the mistakes” and believes in pushing the boundaries of equipment. Alcala used Canon’s 5D Mark II DSLR, choosing to explore the HD capabilities of a digital camera to shoot webisodes for “The Ghost Whisperer”. Since this camera is under $2800, it’s impressive to know that Acala found a way to modify the sound capabilities and make this equipment exceed typical DLSR expectations.  Robert Primes suggested that when shopping for a HD camera, seeing how the camera performs in bright light as well as low light can help test the boundaries.

According to Barry Braverman, one of the advantages of using HD, is that it can allow the editor/director to push an actor’s performance by better capturing performer’s reactions, enhancing the overall project.  He also said “it’s all in the craft…the technical only matters when it effects the storytelling”, which really captured the overall tone of this panel discussion.

On April 17th, The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences had a screening and panel discussion with some of the creators and cast of HBO’s “Grey Gardens”, a film based on the documentary made by the Maysles brothers which tells the story of the relationship between “Big Edie” Bouvier Beale and her daughter “Little Edie”, relatives of the late Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

Panelists were Producer, Writer and Director - Michael Sucsy, Executive Producers - Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Rachael Horovitz, Writer - Patricia Rozema, Actresses - Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange, Make-Up/Prosthetics Designer - William Corso,  and Production Designer  - Kalina Ivanov.

I’ve always been a big fan of period piece dramas because there are so many details that go into the storytelling. The moderator of the event, Joan Juliet Buck, who is an author and Vogue TV critic, aptly described this film as “ground breaking” for how it approached bridging the gap between real life characters who appeared in the documentary and the characters that were created to tell their story.

During the panel discussion, both Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange talked about the preparation process for the portrayal of these two very unusual women. “To be able to work on a character like this was exciting because you could bring so many things to it…you could bring all your physical training… everything that you had ever studied preparing for something like this, this was great because it allowed you to use it all”, said Lange.

“Grey Gardens” takes place over the span of nearly 40 years, so I enjoyed that both the production design and make-up were seamlessly integrated into the story to keep the focus on the mother-daughter relationship. Barrymore and Lange gave truly dynamic performances giving us a glimpse into the possibilities of what may have lead to the eventual decline of these free-spirited, eccentric women.

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation’s 30th College Television Awards. These awards were created to recognize excellence in undergraduate and graduate student video, digital and film production.

This national competition is chock full of young creative visionaries whose projects often focus on humanitarian issues. This is the second year that I’ve been a volunteer judge for competition and I consider it an honor. These students are, quite literally, the future of television and film. I’ve been continually amazed by their passion for their projects and the production value that they are able to attain from what is usually a very limited budget.

The Animation award was presented by Emmy Award-winning Sandra Equihua and her husband Jorge R. Gutierrez, the creators of “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera”.  Jorge, a former College Television Award recipient, credited the award for launching his career in the industry.  In 2008, Jorge won an Annie Award for Best Character Design in an Animated Television Production. Both Sandra and Jorge are examples of the spirit of the award, which encourages young creative individuals to forge ahead in their post-graduate entertainment careers.

Awards were given in 12 categories: Animation, Children’s, Comedy, Commercial, Documentary, Drama, Interactive Media, Magazine, Music Composition and Music Best Use, Newscasts and Series.

For an in-depth article about the awards show and the winners please see:                      http://cdn.emmys.tv/media/releases/2009/rel-ctafin.php

On March 18th, the Academy of Television of Arts & Sciences hosted a panel discussion with the cast and creators of “The Office”.  The panelists were: Showrunner / Producer - Greg Daniels, Cinematographer - Randall Einhorn, Producer  - Jennifer Celotta and Editor - David Rogers. The Cast members were: Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Angela Kinsey, Phyllis Smith, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Creed Bratton, Paul Lieberstein, Oscar Nuñez, Ed Helms, Craig Robinson.  The moderator was Andy Richter.

The ensemble cast of “The Office” has many hyphenate actor-writer members, which is a unique trait for a network comedy show.  During the panel discussion, creator Greg Daniels said “being a writer-performer is a big thing”, since the show seems to thrive on the symbiotic relationship between it’s actors and writers who are well versed in improvising.

Some cast members like Paul Lieberstein, talked about making the transition from writing to acting, crediting “The Office” as the first acting he’s ever done.  While Phyllis Smith, formerly an assistant casting director, was hired from participating in the audition process.  She was the other half of many of the improv casting sessions that were presented to the network as the show was being created.

Steve Carell, Mindy Kaling, B.J. Novak and Paul Lieberstein have all been credited as both writer-producer on several episodes, making them even more involved in the style of the show.  Novak was the first to be hired on the writing staff and joked about how the quirks and nuances of an actor can be incorporated into a character.  Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer talked about the origin of “Sprinkles the Cat” coming from an improv moment and how that character has been referenced by nearly every cast member over the course of the series.  Maybe it’s really the diversity of the cast and characters that makes this show one that all types of people can enjoy.