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Archived Weekly Features
This View by Nancy LeMay |
 Nancy
LeMay is a five-time Emmy winning broadcast designer who has
worked both in New York and LA, in network and local. She is
a teacher and a painter as well. You can reach her through her
website, www.Nancylemay.com
and by email at NancyLeMayCo@aol.com |
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Preparing for The Emmys
Is it possible to prepare for the Emmys? Oh sure, buy/rent the
dress/tux, write an acceptance speech or steel oneself against
losing. Chip in with coworkers on a limo rental (drink and don’t
drive- never mix, never worry), or spring for a PT Cruiser for
the night?
In the few weeks between the nominations and the ceremony, these
are the things we’re preoccupied with. It’s the fun part, really;
call Mom so she can brag and make sure to congratulate every
single one of your co-nominees. But think about it for a moment-
think about the other 11 months of the year and what it took
to get here. Nothing any of us did, not a single nanosecond
of the TV we produced happened because we alone produced it.
We work in what may be the most collaborative medium ever invented;
each one of us totally married to the skills, the commitment,
the experience of our coworkers. (Acceptance speeches are the
art form that honors this truth).
We rise or fall as a group; when someone’s just won an Emmy,
you usually hear more than one person cheer, don’t you?
I’ve gone to the LA Area Emmy Awards as a nominee every year
since 1996, and I’ve come away with a statue in my hand more
often than not. And I’m proud of this, as well as a bit astonished.
I’ve had more good fortune than I could have wished for, and
lots of opportunity to do the kind of work that gets this sort
of recognition. But the Emmy is more than just a personal pat
on the back- although pats on the back are cool in themselves.
It feels great, after all, to know that someone thinks you’ve
done good work.
No, the Emmy is a reminder of belonging: you were a part of
something that a small community of people produced for the
larger community. The things that are recognized by the committees
of our peers, judged in cities far away, are the works that
attempt to make a contribution, interpret out lives, show our
culture, question authority. They honor the very best part of
our mission- a collaborative mission.
We are cynics in this business, mostly. Battered by the forces
of the marketplace, working long hours, we are the folks who
are at work while our families are home for Thanksgiving, Christmas,
picnics…earthquakes. We give ourselves away 364 days of the
year and get one day for ourselves.
This year it’s June 29th. Win or lose, be sure to enjoy it.
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