‘Argo’ Tops 2013 Producers Guild of America Awards

Ben Affleck’s victory tour continued last night, as “Argo” followed up its Golden Globe wins for Best Motion Picture Drama and Best Director by taking home the top prize at the 2013 Producers Guild Awards.

Affleck, who directed as well as co-produced “Argo,” shared The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures with fellow producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov. The win cements “Argo” as the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar, as each of the last five PGA winners have gone on to take home the Academy Award as well.

“Argo,” of course, was thought to have taken a hit to its Oscar chances when Affleck was snubbed in the Best Director category. Instead, the slight seems to have kicked off a wave of sympathetic momentum in “Argo’s” favor.

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures category, meanwhile, produced a mild upset, as Disney’s “Wreck-It Ralph” earned the win over Pixar’s presumed frontrunner “Brave.” Of course, since Pixar is now owned by Disney and John Lasseter essentially heads both studios, it was a win-win situation either way, something “Wreck-It Ralph” producer Clark Spencer acknowledged in his acceptance speech.

“There is a renaissance going on at the studio,” he said, “and that is John Lasseter.”

And in the documentary category, “Searching for Sugar Man” won the prize, which would normally make it a shoo-in for the Oscar if the Academy wasn’t notorious for royally screwing up the Best Documentary category pretty much every year.

Besides the competitive categories, the Producers Guild of America also recognized a number of filmmakers with honorary awards. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, who co-produced “Les Miserables,” were awarded the David O. Selznick Achievement Award for their body of work, while the documentary “Bully” was singled out for the Stanley Kramer award, which is given to a film that raises awareness on a culturally important issue. And Bob and Harvey Weinstein were presented with the lifetime achievement Milestone Award.

Here’s a full list of winners, including in the television categories:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: “Argo”
Producers: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: “Wreck-It Ralph”
Producer: Clark Spencer

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures: “Searching For Sugar Man”
Producers: Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama: “Homeland”
Producers: Henry Bromell, Alexander Cary, Michael Cuesta, Alex Gansa, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Michael Klick, Meredith Stiehm

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television: “Game Change”
Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, Jay Roach, Amy Sayres, Steven Shareshian, Danny Strong

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy: “Modern Family”
Producers: Cindy Chupack, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Ben Karlin, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Morton, Dan O’Shannon, Jeffrey Richman, Chris Smirnoff, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television: “American Masters”
Producers: Prudence Glass, Susan Lacy, Julie Sacks

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television: “The Amazing Race”
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster, Mark Vertullo

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television: “The Colbert Report”
Producers: Meredith Bennett, Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Barry Julien, Matt Lappin, Emily Lazar, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart

The Award for Outstanding Sports Program: “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel”

The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program: “Sesame Street”

The Award for Outstanding Digital Series: “30 Rock: The Webisodes”

Categories: Awards