The Hollywood Insider: The Networks vs. The Emmys?

TV
The networks want the Emmys to get a face-lift
If half the awards presented during the annual Emmy telecast bore you to tears, you’re not alone: The Big Four networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox) are keenly aware of that fact and are always eager to make the ceremony more viewer-friendly. The trouble is, their need to increase the ratings — the show hasn’t exceeded 20 million viewers since 2000 — doesn’t always coincide with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ mission to reward excellence, including honoring a bunch of writers, directors, and pay-TV movies that most viewers have never heard of. The requirement to air all 27 categories — more than any other awards show — will certainly dominate the discussion this week when the networks begin talking with the TV Academy about the future of the Emmy telecast, and how much they’re willing to pay to keep it on broadcast. The current contract expires after the Aug. 29 show, hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC, and the Big Four are itching to shake things up — even if that means allowing the Emmys to move to cable. Gripes one Big Four suit, ”How can we be expected to pony up more money for what continues to be, with few exceptions, a show that celebrates cable TV?” (The TV Academy declined to comment.) In the short term, Emmy producer Don Mischer has his work cut out for him come Aug. 29: Though the show is slotted for three hours, he has only two hours and six minutes to hand out all those Emmys and pay tribute to a great year of TV (the rest of the time goes to ads and NBC promos). ”So many great shows said goodbye this year…Lost, 24, Law & Order, Monk,” says Mischer. ”You could make a really wonderful package of film on shows that said goodbye, but that kind of thing takes time. It really depends on how we pace the show.” Some advice for Fallon: This might not be the time to slow-jam those intros.
— Lynette Rice

MOVIES
Kick-Ass‘ Moretz is Hollywood’s most wanted
After her turn as Hit Girl in this spring’s Kick-Ass, Chloë Grace Moretz is suddenly at the top of everyone’s casting list. The 13-year-old is currently filming Martin Scorsese‘s Hugo Cabret — she plays a bookish girl in 1930s Paris — and will star as a vampire in Let Me In (out Oct. 1), a remake of the Swedish horror movie Let the Right One In. Now the actress is attached to The Rut, a drama from director Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body) about a girl searching for her missing father. Despite her age, Moretz already seems to have lots of fans. ”She’s very intuitive and emotional,” says Let Me In director Matt Reeves. ”She blew me away.”
— Nicole Sperling, with additional reporting by Missy Schwartz