Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, multi-award-winning co-creators and executive producers of the acclaimed TV series Reservation Dogs, have been named recipients of the ICG Publicists (International Cinematographers Guild, IATSE Local 600) 2022 Television Showpersons Award. FX’s groundbreaking Reservation Dogs is the first TV series to feature an all-Indigenous team of writers, directors and series regulars. Harjo and Waititi will be honored at the ICG Publicists Awards luncheon at The Beverly Hilton on Friday, March 25, 2022, it was announced today by Awards Chairs Tim Menke and Sheryl Main.
Reservation Dogs is a first-of-its-kind comedy that follows the exploits of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma who steal, rob and save to get to the “exotic, mysterious, and faraway” land of California. The series was recently named one of AFI’s Television Programs of the Year, won The Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series and won two Independent Spirit Awards for Best New Scripted Series and Best Ensemble Cast. It is a Writers Guild of America nominee for Best New Series. Reservation Dogs also landed on 80+ critics’ year-end best lists and is currently 98% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.
“As we look forward to celebrating publicists, we are also excited to recognize the showmanship of Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi for co-creating the innovative and critically-acclaimed Reservation Dogs. We applaud them for advancing representation of Indigenous people on television. Reservation Dogs is compelling TV at its best for all audiences,” said Menke.
Taika Waititi won the Oscar® for adapted screenplay for Jojo Rabbit (2019), which was also nominated for Best Picture. He is executive producer of the critically acclaimed FX series What We Do in the Shadows; writer and director of the upcoming Marvel film Thor: Love and Thunder; and star and executive producer of the new HBO Max comedy Our Flag Means Death, for which he directed the pilot. Sterlin Harjo has directed five feature films: three narrative dramas and two documentaries. His most recent film, Love and Fury, a look at contemporary Native identity and art, premiered at The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.
Previous recipients of the esteemed Television Showperson of the Year Award include Ava DuVernay, Greg Berlanti, Ryan Murphy, John Landgraf, Ted Sarandos, Shonda Rhimes, Chuck Lorre, Nina Tassler, Fred Silverman, Steven Bochco, Aaron Spelling and Bob Hope, among many others.
The annual ICG Publicists Awards pay tribute to excellence in publicity and promotion, still photography and journalism for motion pictures and television programs. Legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. MGM’s Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will be the recipients of the Motion Picture Showpersons Award. For information on additional award nominees and the ICG Publicists Awards 2022, visit: www.icg600.com.
About THE ICG PUBLICISTS
Entertainment publicists first formed a union in 1937 as the Screen Publicists Guild, later becoming the Publicists Guild. In 2002, the Publicists Guild merged with the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600). The first Publicists Awards Luncheon was held in 1964 and has since grown to an event attended annually by around 800 publicists, press, motion picture and television industry leaders, and other IATSE leaders. Motion Picture and Television Showmanship Awards and Lifetime Achievement Awards have been bestowed upon numerous esteemed actors, directors and executives. Additional awards include the Maxwell Weinberg Awards for a Television Publicity Campaign and for a Motion Picture Publicity Campaign, Les Mason Award for Career Achievement in Publicity, and the Bob Yeager Award for Community Service. The Guild also publishes the Annual ICG Publicists Directory. For more information about the ICG Publicists Awards, visit: www.icg600.com/ABOUT-US/Awards/Publicists-Awards #PublicistsAwards.
About THE INTERNATIONAL CINEMATOGRAPHERS GUILD (ICG) IATSE Local 600
The International Cinematographers Guild represents approximately 9,000 members who work in film, television and commercials as directors of photography, camera operators, digital imaging technicians, visual effects supervisors, still photographers, camera assistants, film loaders, all members of camera crews and publicists. The first cinematographer’s union was established in New York in 1926, followed by unions in Los Angeles and Chicago, but it wasn’t until 1996 that Local 600 was born as a national guild. ICG’s ongoing activities include the Emerging Cinematographer Awards and the Publicists Awards Luncheon. The Guild also publishes the award-winning ICG Magazine.
CONNECT WITH THE ICG:
- Website: ICG600.com
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- ICG Magazine: icgmagazine.com
