Emmy is headed downtown.
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has inked a 10-year deal with a Los Angeles developer to move its star-studded kudosfest—the small screen's biggest night—to the recently opened 7,100 -seat Nokia Theatre, starting with the 60th Annual Emmy Awards on Sept. 21.
For the last 10 years (minus 2001, when two postponements forced the ceremony to Century City), the red-carpet madness has taken place at the landmark Shrine Auditorium, located across the street from the University of Southern California campus, several miles south of Emmy's new home.
The Nokia is expected to accommodate about 6,500 TV-related revelers, turning the event into a bigger party than the one last held at the slightly smaller, Moroccan-style Shrine, which was built in 1926 .
"All of the major awards shows have moved from place to place," John Shaffner, CEO and chairman of the ATAS Board of Governors, told the Hollywood Reporter. "The Emmys began in small rooms in Hollywood and outgrew that. Now we've outgrown the Shrine, and this gives us opportunities to expand in a number of positive directions."
As part of the agreement, the Creative Arts Emmys, during which dozens of technical honors are doled out, will also move to the Nokia, and the post-ceremony Governor's Ball will set up shop at the nearby L.A. Convention Center.
Anschutz Entertainment Group, which also owns and operates the adjacent Staples Center, has been angling to get the Emmys since before breaking ground on the Nokia Theatre, part of the still-in-the-works 4 million square-foot L.A. Live entertainment and retail complex.
While the venue was designed with award shows and other glamorous, Hollywood-centric events in mind, AEG wanted the prime-time Emmys, in particular, as its marquee event, and had been willing to sign a 15-year contract awhile back that would have blocked the Academy Awards and the Grammys from using the same stage, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Instead, the Nokia went on to book the Dick Clark-produced American Music Awards, also a former Shrine tenant, which christened the new theater in October.
The Eagles, the Dixie Chicks, Neil Young, Mary J. Blige and John Mayer are among the artists who have performed at the Nokia since its doors opened six months ago.
"Having the Prime-Time Emmy Awards as an 'anchor tenant' for L.A. Live has been one of our highest priorities throughout the development," said AEG president and CEO Timothy Leiweke.
"While Nokia Theatre L.A. Live will provide the very best technical elements available in any venue anywhere, the overall environment and atmosphere that the Academy will activate and create throughout the entire district will further establish the Prime-Time Emmys as one of the industry's most respected and important awards shows and one that now is guaranteed to be in Los Angeles for the next decade."