Martha Johnston, a dynamic artist best known for her over 60 movie and television design credits, is set to receive the Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) Set Designers & Model Makers Lifetime Achievement Award at the 25th Annual ADG Awards. The reimagined gala, set on Saturday, April 10, 2021, will break with tradition in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and will be presented on a virtual platform, streaming to a worldwide and more inclusive audience. The event will celebrate Johnston’s career designing for features, television shows (including the last season of Seinfeld with Tom Azzari), as well as theme park and backlot projects. This is the second of four Lifetime Achievement Awards to be announced by the Art Directors Guild. The event is free to everyone but registration is required.
“We are proud to honor Martha Johnston, whose commitment to the set designer and model maker craft has spanned four decades. For Martha, working with people who value family was a priority. She was able to work on challenging projects and still raise her three children, at times even bringing an infant to work with her. Her achievements are an inspiration to those who follow,” said Kristen Davis, ADG Set Designers & Model Makers Council chair.
Johnston was following in her father’s footsteps when she took a job after studying for three years at CSUN to work on Comes a Horseman where her father was set designer. While still studying at night, she found work on TV shows Quincy, M.E. and Little Women at Universal. In her 40-year career she has also worked at Warner Bros. and MGM. Her additional numerous television credits include programs such as Generation, Hill Street Blues and Seinfeld, as well as the occasional theme park and backlot work in set design and model making.
Johnston’s more than 60 feature credits are equally prestigious and include The Main Event, Xanadu, Pennies from Heaven and Poltergeist. Her additional blockbuster features include Air Force One, The Perfect Storm, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Planet of the Apes 3, Aquaman, Last Samurai, The Terminal, Star Trek Nemesis, The Call of the Wild, The Story of Us, Elizabethtown, Psycho II, two of the Back to the Future films and Tenet.
As previously announced, Ryan Murphy, one of television’s busiest and most successful writers-directors-producers whose shows have consistently reflected the highest quality of production design, will receive the esteemed Cinematic Imagery Award. ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented to outstanding individuals in each of the guild’s four crafts. Academy Award® and Emmy®-winning production designer Stuart Wurtzel, best known for his work on Hannah and Her Sisters and Angels in America, will receive the ADG Lifetime Achievement Award from the Production Designers and Art Directors Council (AD). The ADG Lifetime Achievement Awards honorees from the Scenic, Title & Graphic Artists (STG), and the Illustrators & Matte Artists (IMA) will be announced shortly.
Producer of this year’s ADG Awards is production designer Scott Moses, ADG. Final online voting will be held through April 7, 2021, and winners will be announced at the virtual gala ceremony on April 10.
ABC will air 6 additional “Monday Night Football” games starting this week with Bills-Jets
ABC will simulcast six more ESPN "Monday Night Football" games, including Monday's AFC East matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets.
The addition of the six games means ABC will air 17 this season — 14 simulcasts with ESPN (including two playoff games) and three games exclusively on ABC.
The decision to simulcast more games was a joint decision between the NFL and Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC and ESPN.
The other added games are Baltimore at Tampa Bay (Oct. 21), Tampa Bay at Kansas City (Nov. 4), Houston at Dallas (Nov. 18), Baltimore at Los Angeles Chargers (Nov. 25) and New Orleans at Green Bay (Dec. 23).
The only two Mondays the rest of the regular season where ABC will not have a game are Nov. 11 and Dec. 2.
ABC had games all 18 weeks last season due to an agreement with the NFL since there was no new original fall programming due to the Hollywood writers and actors strikes. With more games on network television, "Monday Night Football" averaged 17.36 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, a 29% increase over 2022.
It was the best audience numbers for the league's seminal prime-time package since 2000. The Super Bowl 57 rematch between Philadelphia and Kansas City averaged 29.03 million.
Coming into the season, ABC had eight scheduled simulcasts, including two Saturday Week 18 games and two playoff games, and three exclusive MNF games when there were doubleheaders.
It also continues Disney's move toward putting more sports programming back on ABC. Super Bowl 61 from Los Angeles in 2027 will be on the network and the College Football Playoff championship game will also move to ABC the same year.
More games on ABC will also boost the ratings. Kansas City's 26-13 victory... Read More