According to an Emmy press release, the Television Academy made public that Greg Berlanti (Fly Me to The Moon, Love, Simon) will receive the 2024 Governors Award to acknowledge his contributions on television by representing his popular shows, All American, Dawson’s Creek, Riverdale, The Flight Attendant and You, as well as more underrated works.
The Governors Award is granted by Television Academy’s Board of Governors and highlights a person, corporation or institution that has impacted to the art and science of television.
Berlanti will receive his Emmy during the 2024 Emmy Awards ceremony on Sunday, September 15, at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live.
His career in television started when he was a staff writer on the show Dawson’s Creek. He quickly became the executive producer and showrunner after only one season. In the following years, he created, wrote and was the executive producer for over 45 different shows, including All American, Arrow, Blindspot, Doom Patrol, Everwood, Found, Political Animal, Riverdale, Titans and The Flash. Berlanti has had fifteen shows on the air simultaneously, leading to a breaking record.
Berlanti was passionate about representing different cultures, experiences and legalities. He broke barriers in television and produced cultural firsts on screen. He introduced the first same-sex kiss in U.S. television on Dawson’s Creek.
2006 was the year Berlanti wrote and executively produced Brothers & Sisters, which aired on ABC. The show aired for five seasons and featured the first same-sex marriage on the network. Then, in 2007, Berlanti produced Dirty Sexy Money for ABC and featured the first reappearing transgender character. 2018 was when the first transgender superhero was featured in his series Supergirl.
His drive for variety and representation led him to produce Batwoman which presented the first openly gay superhero and Red, White and Blue, which gave LGBTQ+ viewers an opulent romantic comedy.
Berlanti is also the executive producer of Brilliant Minds. This fall, the show will be released on NBC and display the first gay protagonist in a U.S. medical drama.
A Television Academy Chair named Cris Abrego (MasterChef, The Real Housewives of Atlanta) spoke highly of Berlanti. “Greg is an extraordinary creator, who consistently delivers characters and stories that are in dialogue with the real world. From the beginning of his career, his commitment to representing three-dimensional LGBTQ+ characters in particular has paved the way for greater cultural understanding and acceptance of a community that is often under attack in both social and political discourse. For seizing the power of television to move our culture forward, the Academy is honored to select Greg Berlanti for this year’s Governors Award.”
“I am beyond grateful to be receiving this overwhelming and humbling honor from the Board of Governors and the Television Academy. Every minute in this business has been the greatest gift that I’m eternally thankful for,” stated Berlanti after receiving the news. “It will be nice to have an opportunity to thank all the family, friends, showrunners, execs, cast, crews and audiences that have made an honor like this possible.”
The Berlanti Family Foundation was established in 2019 to assist various non-profit organizations, such as ACLU, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Girls Inc. and Make-A-Wish Foundation. Furthermore, Berlanti and his foundation donated over $2 million to fund production companies that were affected by COVID-19 and the writers’ strike.
Times Magazine named Berlanti as one of the 100 most influential individuals of 2020. Producers Guild of America acclaimed him with a Norman Lear Achievement in 2022 and he was admitted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
Prior grantees of the Governors Award include LGBTQ+ media support organizations, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, American Idol, Comic Relief, Debbie Allen (Fame, A Different World), Hallmark Cards, Masterpiece Theater, Tyler Perry (Madea’s Family Reunion), Star Trek, and PBS.
The Governors Award was first given in 1978 and, on September 15, will be the 76th Emmy Awards. The awards will be produced by Jesse Collins (The Santa Clause, X-Men: The Animated Series) Entertainment and broadcast live on ABC at 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT/5 p.m-8 p.m from Peacock Theater at L.A. Live and stream afterward on Hulu.