A woman was nominated in all seven directing categories this year, for a total of 16 out 48 nominees overall
Women landed one third of all the Primetime Emmy nominations in the seven directing categories, a record high for the Television Academy.
In total, 16 women were recognized this year out of 48 total directing nominations — a big jump from last year, when nine out of 49 directing nominees (just over 18%) were women. And this year, a woman was nominated in every single directing category, after two straight years of no female directors getting a nod for a reality series and one year without a woman picking up a nom for a variety series.
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In the writing categories, women landed 33 nominations out of a total of 120 nominees, or 27.5%. That’s a slight improvement from 2019, when 45 female writers scored nominations out of a larger overall total of 167, or 26.9%.
Also Read: Emmy Nominees: The Complete List
In the comedy directing category, Amy Sherman-Palladino (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) and Gail Mancuso (“Modern Family”) got nods. For drama, Jessica Hobbs (“The Crown”), Lesli Linka Glatter (“Homeland”) and Mimi Leder (“The Morning Show”) were nominated.
Women outnumbered men in the Outstanding Limited Series or TV movie category, with four out of six nominations: Lynn Shelton, “Little Fires Everywhere”; Maria Schrader, “Unorthodox”; Nicole Kassell, “Watchmen”; Steph Green, “Watchmen.”
Among the female directors nominated for variety series were Linda Mendoza for “Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready” and Dime Davis for “A Black Lady Sketch Show.” For variety special, Pamela Fryman (“Live in Front of a Studio Audience: ‘All in the Family’ and ‘Good Times'”) was the only woman out of six total nominees. And in reality series, Ariel Boles (“Top Chef”) got the lone female nomination out of five noms. In documentary/nonfiction program, Julia Reichert (“American Factory”), Nadia Hallgren (“Becoming”) and Rebecca Chaiklin (“Tiger King”) were the honored.
Also Read: Emmy Nominations 2020: Snubs and Surprises, From Bob Odenkirk to Baby Yoda (Photos)
On the writing side, “What We Do in the Shadows” writer Stefani Robinson was the only woman nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. In the drama category, Miki Johnson (“Ozark”) got the sole nod. There were six women out of nine total nominees — Tanya Barfield, “Mrs. America”; Sally Rooney and Alice Birch, “Normal People”; Susannah Grant and Ayelet Waldman, “Unbelievable”; and Anna Winger, “Unorthodox” — in the Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special group.
For the variety series category — which is dominated by late-night shows — 20 of the 80 writers nominated were women. In the variety special category, two women were nominated (Hannah Gadsby for “Hannah Gadsby: Douglas” and Marika Sawyer for “John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch”) and for nonfiction series three women got a nod (Rachel Mason and Kathryn Robson for “Circus Of Books” and Alisar Hasan for “The Cave”).
Readers can find the full list of nominees here.
Emmy Nominations 2020: Snubs and Surprises, From Bob Odenkirk to Baby Yoda (Photos)
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Between Elisabeth Moss and Bob Odenkirk getting pushed out of their respective categories and an unexpected nomination for "What We Do in the Shadows," Tuesday's Emmy nominations announcement came with more than its share of surprises.
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FXSurprise: "What We Do in the Shadows" FX's series adaptation of the vampire mockumetary from Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi only secured two below the line nominations for its first season, but it's second outing scored big with eight nominations, including an Outstanding Comedy Series nod.
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Disney+
Surprise: "The Mandalorian" Drama heavyweight "Game of Thrones" was out of the running this year, leaving room for a new series to sneak in among a slew of past nominees like "Better Call Saul," "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Crown." But instead of Apple TV+'s "The Morning Show," voters went with a different new streaming service, nominated Disney+'s "The Mandalorian."
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AMC
Snub: Bob Odenkirk, "Better Call Saul" Odenkirk has been a perennial nominee in the lead actor category since 2015, but this year the "Better Call Saul" star was overlooked in favor of a pair of actors from "Succession" and "The Morning Show" star Steve Carell.
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Hulu
Snub: Elisabeth Moss, "The Handmaid's Tale" Moss won the award for lead actress in a drama series in 2017 and has been nominated numerous times in the past, but, like "This Is Us" star Mandy Moore and "How to Get Away With Murder's" Viola Davis, failed to make the cut for the most recent season of "Handmaid's Tale."
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HBO
Surprise: Zendaya, "Euphoria" In a category comprised mostly of returning players, dark horse candidate Zendaya managed to sneak a lead actress nod for her role on the HBO drama "Euphoria," slipping in alongside fellow category newcomer Jennifer Aniston of "The Morning Show."
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HBO
Snub: "Big Little Lies" HBO's Liane Moriarty adaptation was the belle of awards season in 2017, all but sweeping the limited series categories with its roster of big-name stars including Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon. But Season 2's move to the drama series category hurt the show, leaving "Big Little Lies" with only two nominations for supporting stars Laura Dern and Meryl Streep.
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Fox
Surprise: "The Masked Singer" Fox's absurdist singing competition finally became too big for Emmy voters to ignore in Season 2, shaking up the Oustanding Competition Program category with 10-time winner "The Amazing Race" ineligible this year.
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HBO
Snub: "Westworld" Turns out "Westworld" wasn't the "Game of Thrones" successor HBO hoped iy would be, earning only two acting nods for its third season, for supporting actors Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright, and missing out on the marquee drama series category entirely.
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Netflix
Snub: Kaitlyn Dever, Merritt Wever, "Unbelievable" For much of the voting period, the two stars of Netflix's harrowing "Unbelievable" seemed like locks for lead actress in a limited series nominations, but neither made the cut in a crowded category, not even TV Academy darling Merritt Wever, who has twice before pulled out a surprise upset on Emmy night.
”Better Call Saul“ and ”The Handmaid’s Tale“ leads miss out, while ”What We Do in the Shadows“ sneaks in
Between Elisabeth Moss and Bob Odenkirk getting pushed out of their respective categories and an unexpected nomination for "What We Do in the Shadows," Tuesday's Emmy nominations announcement came with more than its share of surprises.
Jennifer Maas
TV Reporter • jennifer.maas@thewrap.com • Twitter: @jmaasaronson