Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” has been named the best-produced film of 2017 by the Producers Guild of America, an honor that has typically been one of the most reliable indicators that a film is on track to win the Oscar for Best Picture.
In the television categories, “The Handmaid’s Tale” won for drama, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for comedy and “Black Mirror” for long-form TV.
Pixar’s “Coco,” to the surprise of no one, won the award for animated feature, while “Jane” won the documentary award.
Other awards went to “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” “The Voice” and “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.”
The awards were handed out during a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles and were the first of the four major guild awards to be presented this year. The Screen Actors Guild Awards will follow on Sunday.
In the past, the win might have suggested that “The Shape of Water” is now the prohibitive favorite to win the Oscar for Best Picture, because the Producers Guild Award has gone to the eventual Oscar winner far more often than not over the years. And after the Academy and the PGA both expanded their roster of nominees from five to 10 in 2009, the guild became the only other awards body to tally its final votes using the same preferential system as the Oscars.
For the first five years after the change was made, the Producers Guild Award accurately predicted Best Picture every time. But in 2014, Oscar winner “12 Years a Slave” tied with “Gravity” at the PGA — and after a match on “Birdman” in 2015, the two groups disagreed the last two years in a row, with “The Big Short” and “La La Land” winning PGA and “Spotlight” and “Moonlight” taking the Oscars.
In an unsettled year in the awards race, that means “The Shape of Water” may still be vulnerable to an upset by a different film, despite its strength with the producers.
The winners:
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:
“The Shape of Water”
Producers: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
“Coco”
Producer: Darla K. Anderson
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures:
“Jane”
Producers: Brett Morgen, Bryan Burk, Tony Gerber, James Smith
The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:
“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Season 1)
Producers: Bruce Miller, Warren Littlefield, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Ilene Chaiken, Sheila Hockin, Eric Tuchman, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Joseph Boccia, Elisabeth Moss, Kira Snyder, Leila Gerstein
The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Season 1)
Producers: Daniel Palladino, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Sheila Lawrence, Dhana Rivera Gilbert
The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:
“Black Mirror” (Season 4)
Producers: Annabel Jones, Charlie Brooker
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:
“Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath” (Season 1, Season 2)
Producers: Leah Remini, Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, Myles Reiff, Adam Saltzberg, Erin Gamble, Lisa Rosen, Grainne Byrne, Taylor Levin, Alex Weresow, Rachelle Mendez
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (Season 4)
Producers: John Oliver, Tim Carvell, Liz Stanton
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:
“The Voice” (Season 12, Season 13)
Producers: John de Mol, Mark Burnett, Audrey Morrissey, Lee Metzger, Chad Hines, Amanda Zucker, Kyra Thompson, Jay Bienstock, Stijn Bakkers, Mike Yurchuk, Teddy Valenti, Carson Daly
The Award for Outstanding Short-Form Program:
“Carpool Karaoke” (Season 1)
The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:
“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (Season 23)
The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:
“Sesame Street” (Season 47)