Scenic artist Michael Denering, best known for his creative painting of artwork for Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Toys, Die Hard, Batman Returns, Jurassic Park and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, will receive the Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) Lifetime Achievement Award from the Scenic, Title & Graphic Artists (STG), at the 27th Annual ADG Awards. The awards ceremony, which also honors winners in 14 categories of production design, is set for Saturday, February 18, 2023, at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown in the Wilshire Grand Ballroom. This is the first of four Lifetime Achievement Awards to be announced by the Art Directors Guild.
“Michael Denering is what his colleagues have referred to as a ‘dynamic’ scenic artist. From his beginnings painting scenery at CBS Television City to his many years at Warner Brothers Studios, Mike’s career as a filmmaker has seen his murals and backings appear in over 100 films. Additionally, Mike’s commercial work outside of Hollywood spans the globe. I originally met Mike when I joined the STG council in 2015. His work as a teacher and insight into our craft’s history paved the way for many members to succeed within this industry and the ADG. It’s an honor to present Michael with the Scenic, Title & Graphics Lifetime Achievement award. Michael continues to champion and inspire scenic artists of the next generation,” said Clint Schultz, STG Council chair.
Denering’s work as a scenic artist has graced productions in television, motion pictures, theater, and studios during his 42-year varied career. Among many other films and TV shows, Denering worked on Dennis the Menace, Kong: Skull Island, Hoffa, Django Unchained, American Horror Story, Glee, Grace & Frankie, The Jimmy Kimmel Show, Archie Bunker’s Place, The Carol Burnett Show, Three’s Company, Wild Wild West, Angels and Demons and Coming to America.
For 26 years, Denering worked at Warner Bros. in various capacities. He moved on to Fox Studios and worked on outdoor stage murals for such movies as Young Frankenstein, The Seven Year Itch, Family Guy, The Oxbow Incident, The Simpsons and Star Wars. In addition, Denering painted scenery for the Mark Taper Forum, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Ahmanson Theater in Downtown L.A. His beautiful backdrops grace Disney’s Epcot Center and several plays and operas.
Denering was deeply involved in volunteering for IATSE Local 816 Scenic, Graphic and Title Artists and Local 800 (Art Directors Guild) when the two unions merged, serving on both boards. He was co-chair for the Fine Arts Committee overseeing Gallery 800 and The Figure Drawing Workshop. He retired in 2020 and continues to create beautiful works of art.
Additional ADG Lifetime Achievement Award honorees from the Production Designers and Art Directors Council (AD), the Set Designers & Model Makers Council (SDMM), and the Illustrators & Matte Artists Council (IMA) will be announced shortly.
Returning as producer of this year’s ADG Awards is art director Michael Allen Glover, ADG (Station Eleven, The Alienist, Solos). Joining the team as co-producer is production designer Megan Elizabeth Bell, ADG (Out of the Blue, Breakwater, American Murderer).
Honorees for Cinematic Imagery Award, Lifetime Achievement Awards, Hall of Fame and the William Cameron Menzies Award will be announced at a later date. ADG Awards are open only to productions, when made within the U.S., by producers’ signatory to the IATSE agreement. Foreign entries are acceptable without restrictions.
More than 67 million people watched Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debate. That’s way up from June
An estimated 67.1 million people watched the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, a sharp increase from the June debate that eventually led to President Joe Biden dropping out of the race.
The debate was run by ABC News but shown on 17 different networks, the Nielsen company said. The Trump-Biden debate in June was seen by 51.3 million people.
Tuesday's count was short of the record viewership for a presidential debate, when 84 million people saw Trump's and Hillary Clinton's first faceoff in 2016. The first debate between Biden and Trump in 2020 reached 73.1 million people.
With Harris widely perceived to have outperformed Trump on Tuesday night, the former president and his supporters are sharply criticizing ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. The journalists waded into on-the-fly fact checks during the debate, correcting four statements by Trump.
No other debates are currently scheduled between the two presidential candidates, although there's been some talk about it and Fox News Channel has publicly offered alternatives. CBS will host a vice presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance.
Tuesday's debate stakes were high to begin with, not only because of the impending election itself but because the last presidential debate uncorked a series of events that ended several weeks later with Biden's withdrawal from the race after his performance was widely panned.
Opinions on how ABC handled the latest debate Tuesday were, in a large sense, a Rorschach test on how supporters of both sides felt about how it went. MSNBC commentator Chris Hayes sent a message on X that the ABC moderators were doing an "excellent" job — only to be answered by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who said,... Read More