Producers Guild of America (PGA) has postponed Sunday’s nominations announcement due to the LA wildfires tragedy.
“Out of care and concern for those being affected by the fires, we will be holding the announcement of the PGA award nominees until next week,” a PGA spokesperson said on Sunday.
The nominations had already been pushed back from their original date on Friday, and members were granted an extra two days to cast ballots through January 11.
LA officials said the Santa Ana winds are expected to pick up and will remain a threat until Wednesday, further hampering efforts of firefighters and heightening the risk of gusts carrying burning embers for several miles.
According to the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, 16 lives are believed to have been lost, and some 10,000 structures have been destroyed across the greater Los Angeles area, while tens of thousands more remain at risk.
By Sunday morning, the Palisades and Eaton fires had engulfed approximately 23,700 and 14,100 acres, respectively, rising to around 40,000 across the greater LA area including other regional fires. Cal Fire, the state’s department of forestry and fire protection, said Palisades and Eaton were 11% and 27% contained, respectively.
Some 180,000 people have been evacuated, according to reports, and thousands more remain under evacuation warnings and are preparing to leave their homes at a moment’s notice. Tens of thousands have been left without power, and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has issued “do not drink” notices for those in evacuation zones.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has called in the National Guard to help with relief efforts. Curfews are in effect in mandatory evacuation zones to prevent looting.
On Friday Disney said it was donating $15m to relief efforts, while Paramount has donated $1m and the Fire Aid benefit concert has been organised for January 30.
The handling of the fires and events leading up to them have triggered a political brawl, with LA Mayor Karen Bass coming under attack for being on a diplomatic trip to Africa when the fires erupted last Tuesday, and for $17.5m in cuts to Los Angeles Fire Department’s $819m fiscal 2025 budget, including overtime staffing.
Los Angeles Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley said on Friday that the city had failed her department, one month after she wrote a memo to city councillors warning that cuts could impair the department’s ability to do its job. Bass has denied the cuts affected the department’s ability to fight the ongoing fires and it has been pointed out that there were increases in other areas, such as pay rises and equipment spending.
Governor Newsom has ordered an inquiry into LADWP to find out why there was a significant drop in water pressure reported by fire crews in the Pacific Palisades area, hindering their work, and why the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a water storage facility serving the area designed to hold millions of gallons of water, was under maintenance when the fires broke out.
As early as last Tuesday firefighters reported that fire hydrants were empty. LADWP, which is responsible for ensuring fire hydrants are full, said the system buckled under extreme demand.
Newsom has invited President-elect Trump to visit the region and survey the damage, appearing to ignore earlier accusations by Trump that his policies were to blame for the crisis.
Returning to the entertainment guilds timetables, the PGA Awards are scheduled to take place on February 8 in Los Angeles. Lynda Obst and Paula Weinstein will posthumously receive the Trailblazer Award at the ceremony.
Last week the Academy extended its nominations voting window by two days to January 14, and pushed back its 97th Oscars announcement from January 17 to January 19.
American Society of Cinematographers has pushed back its nominations announcement from last Thursday to Monday.
The Writers Guild of America, West and East chapters also postponed their nominations announcements until tomorrow (January 13). The Guild had not responded at time of writing to say if it was going ahead or would further postpone the announcement.
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