And the Winner Is...

by Chuck Fries

I’ve been asked to give readers of The Caucus Quarterly a behind-the-scenes look into what it takes to put on an awards show like the Caucus Honors. Once I’ve done that, I assume the next request will go out to Dr. Kervorkian for his take on “Heart Warming Heart Stopping” followed by the one-time-offered Hindenberg tour. The point here is that the assemblage of talent and personnel required to mount such an evening is, like playing comedy or eating oysters, a little more difficult than it looks.

That’s why they invented laugh tracks and hot sauce, I guess.

*****

Caucus of Producers, Writers & Directors
16th Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony
Beverly Hills Hotel
January 17,1999
6:30 PM Black Tie

The above is the signature for our award show for 1999, the last before we enter the millennium and the invitation reads the year 2000.

The annual Caucus dinner and awards ceremony was established when I was Chair of the organization in 1983. At that time, we were working to build a more cohesive organization and we also wanted to use the event to gain more visibility. Initially, we only invited Caucus members and subsequently allowed members to bring guests.

The awards dinner usually attracted about 75 to 100 members and guests. It was a wonderful party and at that time we only gave two awards: Member of the Year Award to recognize a member’s creative body of work, and Distinguished Service Award to recognize a member who made a substantial contribution to the Caucus. Subsequently, we added an Executive of the Year Award which is only given every few years.

We also had some fantastic entertainment. Bob Finkel, Sam Denoff, Jimmy Komack, George Eckstein and I would put together a “show.” I enjoyed dong it, whether they invited me or not, because I love to sing and so I managed to get some lines in each year. One year, we had our wives do a great number. Enjoyable, melodic, and prettier than we deserved. But it was still difficult to sustain the members’ interest. We had a good response when our founders were honored on the 20th anniversary of the Caucus but the interest in attending began to subside again. We needed a shot on the arm. Or, at least a shot somewhere.

Then about three years ago, we had a meeting to find a way to rejuvenate the event. It was Bob Finkel, who has produced and directed just about every awards show in Hollywood, who suggested we establish a new set of awards: the Caucus Honors. They would be conferred on a producer, writer and director, with the nominations coming from our members or the industry-at-large.

Based on experience, I knew that we had to attract an attendance from outside the Caucus. The Honors would certainly help to do that, but honoring a top television executive each year would also add a cache and increase interest level.

We presented the first Honors Awards in 1996 and also honored Lucy Salhany of the United Paramount Network (UPN). In that year, and the following awards year, the Caucus Honors winners were notified in advance. They and their colleagues were asked to buy tables for the evening. By doing this, we increased our attendance from 50 to 200 people and had a terrific event with Liz Torres as our host.

We followed the same pattern for the 1997 awards year with Jeff Sagansky as our Executive of the Year. The turnout was 200 people again and Mariette Hartley was our host with Norm Crosby doing the entertainment. Bob Finkel and Lee Miller produced the event both years and it was a stellar evening.

In these first two years we allowed the Caucus Honors recipients to choose their presenter. This seemed like a great idea, but it turned out that the presentation speech was often much longer than the response and the evening became too long.

Of course whenever producers are involved they want to second-guess the award show producers at the last minute. Several Caucus Steering Committee members were unhappy with the presenter choices we were forced to make, and I can tell you - awards presenters are difficult to book. Somehow, they want more than a free chicken dinner and validated parking in exchange for their time and effort. Go figure.

When you’re not releasing the names of the winners it’s sometimes difficult to get the “winner” to be at the event, especially if they are a busy producer, writer and director like Jim Burrows, David E. Kelley or John Wells. Sometimes you have to make comments like, “If John comes to the event, I think it will really be worthwhile. I mean really worthwhile.” I don’t believe I’ve fallen back on a wink yet, but don’t count it out.

In this last year we used a teleprompter for most of the dialogue by presenters but you generally cannot get award recipients to give you their responses, especially in the categories where you don’t announce until the night of the event. This, of course, invites the rambling-well-meant-repetitive-buncha-names kind of response. (I have a curative formula for recipients of the future. Using a stopwatch, take a deep breath and hold it, note where the stopwatch is when you can no longer hold your breath. That’s how long your acceptance speech should last. Passing out does not count.)

But no matter how you cut it, writers are the most verbose. Possibly it’s a result of years of having been shunted aside and overlooked. (Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet: we’re still paying for that.) One recent writer recipient offered up a thank you speech that went on for 25 minutes. This town has known marriages that didn’t last that long.

As a result of some of these problems, in 1998 we decided we had to generate some more new ideas. We wanted to make it more of an awards show with the winner for the Caucus Honors to be announced the night of the event. This generated much more suspense and allowed the Caucus to choose the presenters more effectively and control the show. Also, we wanted to establish a fund from which to promote their new Creative Bill of Rights. So instead of organizing a “let’s break even” event, we decided to incorporate some fundraising techniques. These included establishing a tribute book and tiers of table/ticket prices. Instead of a standard, break-even price for everyone, members could buy tickets for as little as $150, but they could also pay more for preferred seating, plus place a congratulatory ad in the tribute book.

The approach worked and established a new level of participants. The attendance swelled to 350. Peter Chernin was an excellent, supportive recipient of the Executive of the Year Award. The Chairman’s Award,went to Aaron Spelling, and waiting to announce the winner of the Caucus Honors had everyone on the edge of their seat. Bob Finkel and Lee Miller put the show together with Wayne Rogers as host and our supportive, good friend Norm Crosby as an entertainer/presenter. With Jacqueline Bissett and Kathy Ireland on board as special presenters, the style and intelligence of the evening took a quantum leap forward. It was an event about which all involved could feel a great deal of pride.

Was it a hassle to put together? Of course it was. They always are. But there’s some fun involved, as well. Perhaps a truncated timeline might explain both aspects.

Timeline: Awards Dinner, 1998

August 1998

1. At the August 5th Steering Committee meeting, appoint Committee to nominate:

     a) Distinguished Service Award: to be chosen by the Steering Committee.

     b) Member of the Year Award: to be approved by the Steering Committee and chosen by the membership.

     c) Appoint blue ribbon panels to nominate Caucus Honors - producer, writer, director; Eight in each category. Steering Committee to nominate four to be sent to the membership, who will choose the winner; winner to be announced at the dinner event.

2. Executive of the Year: Steering Committee to nominate a priority list for the Awards Committee to contact.

Note: All of the above to be reported at September Steering Committee meeting

3. Begin to contact potential sponsors. Eastman Kodak, United Airlines, and more.

September 1998

1. Nominating committee and blue ribbon report on:

2. Executive of the Year update.

3. Send ballots to Steering Committee for:

     a) Caucus Honors

4. Send ballots to membership no later than September 23rd for:

     a) Member of the Year Award
     b) Caucus Honors

Note: to be returned no later than October 7th.

5. Reserve Orchestra.

6. Appoint Talent.

7. Set up Public Relations.

8. Reserve still photographer and video cameraman.

  October 1998

1. Complete the program book page, table and ticket prices and solicitation form. Include pictures of Executive of the Year, Distinguished Service Award and Member of the Year Award.

2. Commit to location.

3. Form committee to begin program book solicitation.

4  Lay out program book re: bios, pictures and other Caucus material.

5. Contact sponsors to underwrite the dinner and/or the reception.

6. Lay out invitation for printing for awards.

7. Awards to be ordered.

November 1998

1. Mail out winner and nominee letters.

2. Contact all organizations and colleagues associated with winners and nominees for program book ads and tables.

3.  Follow up phone calls re: program book solicitation.

4.  Begin PR program by issuing press releases on Executive of the Year and Caucus Awards and Caucus Honor Nominees.

5. Assign writers to the show.

December 1998

1. Finalize show host and presenters and assign writers.

2. Mail out invitations.

3. Finalize program book which closes on December 28th.

4. Review facility re: dinner. Choose sets, audio-visual equipment, etc.

6. Get writers’ drafts for review and teleprompter.

7. Program book closes.

8. Final awards dinner guest list, set up phone call committee.

  January 1999

1. Arrange for separate press reception.

2. Set up a rehearsal for the event depending on the size and scope.

3. Gifts for host, presenters and Committee.

4. Order stills to be sent to hosts, presenters, award winners, Caucus members and special guests.

5. Edit video.

6. Fill big glass with ice cubes. Locate bottle of Black Label I never tell Denoff about. Cover the first generously with the second.

7. The fun begins, prior to initial planning for next awards dinner.

Chuck Fries, a former chairman of the Caucus, is a long time executive producer of critically acclaimed TV movies and miniseries.