The Emmy Awards will look a little different this year. The Emmys, which will occur in September, will have fewer guests in attendance than in years past. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Television Academy announced on Tuesday that they would be limiting the number of nominees who will be allowed to attend the ceremony out of an abundance of caution amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, the Television Academy shared that “following discussions with health and safety experts,” they have decided to limit the number of individuals who will be allowed to attend the upcoming ceremony. With these guidelines, nominated teams of three or more will be limited to four tickets per nomination. As far as who will attend the event in person, the Television Academy is leaving that up to the respective nominees to determine. In their announcement, the Academy stated, “Unfortunately, this means not all nominees will be able to attend this year’s awards.”
While this won’t have a big impact on acting nominations, it will certainly affect those who work behind the scenes on shows such as The Crown, Ted Lasso, and Saturday Night Live, all of which have earned numerous nominations across the board. Many of these shows, particularly late-night programming, have a larger writing staff typically nominated for the awards. As a result, they will be forced to scale back and decide who amongst the nominees will be able to attend the awards show in person.
That isn’t the only change that the Television Academy is implementing for the ceremony. All Emmy Awards ceremonies will now take place at the event deck at L.A. Live, located behind the Microsoft Theater. This will enable the Academy to utilize “indoor/outdoor” seating to provide socially distanced seating. The Television Academy’s statement about these changes noted that they were making these updates to the ceremonies in light of the rising amount of COVID-19 infection amid the rise of the delta variant.
“The health and safety of our nominees are of paramount importance,” the Television Academy stated. “Conversations are ongoing, and we will provide further information as it is available.” These changes will not just affect the Primetime Emmy Awards but also the Creative Arts Emmys. The Emmy Awards will take place on Sept. 19, and the Creative Arts Emmys will take place on Sept. 11 and 12.