By Robert Goldrich, The Road To Emmy Series, Part 9

We’re in the midst of a scheduled lull in the Emmy Awards season. The nominations voting deadline has passed. And now we await the July 17th announcement of the nominees for this year’s Emmy Awards.

But for others, the waiting game will last a bit longer–even though they seem worthy of current Emmy consideration. A case in point is season three of Bridgerton (Netflix). The acclaimed Shonda Rhimes period drama–which garnered 12 Emmy nominations its first year, and three more in season two–released its third season in two parts, the first consisting of four episodes which premiered on May 16, followed by the remaining four installments which were released on June 13.

While the first four episodes fall within the Emmy eligibiity calendar–from June 1 to May 31 each year–they are not enough in number to qualify for consideration. A show requires a minimum of six episodes to compete in the marquee drama and comedy series categories.

No longer available as a qualifying option for shows like Bridgerton is what had been known as the “hangover rule,” which permitted a series concluding its season after the May 31 deadline to still enter the Emmys race (as long as its season ended prior to the start of the nomination-round voting). In the past, series such as The Handmaid’s Tale benefited from this rule. However, the Television Academy eliminated the “hangover” qualification in 2022.

Thus season three of Bridgerton will have to wait until 2025 to be considered for the Emmy competition.

In 2022 for its second season, the three Emmy nominations for Bridgerton were for period costumes, character voiceover performance, and period and/or character hairstyling. Bridgerton won in the latter category, recognizing the work of hair designer Erika Okvist, key hairstylist Jenny Rhodes-McLean and additional hairstylist Sim Camps.

The year prior, Bridgerton won in the same hairstyling catgory with the recognition going to department head hairstylist Marc Pilcher, assistant department head hairstylist Lynda J. Pearce, and hairstylists Claire Matthews, Adam James Phillips, Tania Couper and Lou Bannell. The show’s other 11 nominations for season one spanned outstanding drama series, character voiceover performance, production design, period costumes, casting, directing for a drama series (Julie Anne Robinson), music composition,  main title theme music, music supervision, lead actor, and cinematography. 

Come 2025 when it will be eligible for primetime Emmy consideration, season three of Bridgerton will have contenders reflecting continuity on the series as well as new contributors. For example, the season one nominee for cinematography was Jeffrey Jur, ASC, specifically for the “Art Of The Swoon” episode. Jur continued as a cinematographer on season three, meaning he could once again be in the running in 2025. But also coming aboard the series for the first time to take on multiple season three episodes were cinematographers Alicia Robbins and Diana Olifirova.

For season 3 of Bridgerton, Robbins shot four of the eight episodes (including the first and second episodes). For the first ballroom scene in episode one of season three, she used a remarkable cable cam shot to establish the space and a grand entrance into the ballroom, which is a Bridgerton hallmark. She rigged a cable camera from an overhead truss system and ran the wire through the chandeliers so that viewers could “fly” through the space. 

Robbins holds the historical distinction of being the first woman to become a full-time cinematographer on a Shondaland series–for Grey’s Anatomy, seasons 16 and 17. 

This is the ninth installment of SHOOT’s weekly 16-part The Road To Emmy Series of feature stories. Nominations will be announced and covered on July 17. Creative Arts Emmy winners will be reported on September 7 and 8, and primetime Emmy ceremony winners will be covered on September 15.)

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