The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said late Thursday that is it splitting up the TV movie and miniseries category for acting.
The move marks a reversal of a decision to consolidate the lead and supporting categories for both longform (miniseries and movies) actors and actresses into one category last year.
While the change expands the acting categories, the main category still has miniseries and TV movies.
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The decision comes as networks including Fox, FX and History have ramped up production on longform and “event series” in a bid to lure top talent, ratings and awards season cache following the ratings and Emmy success of Hatfields & McCoys and more recently The Bible.
ATAS first combined the TV movies category with miniseries in 2011. The change reflected the decline of both genres, especially on broadcast networks. At the time, the decision also was perceived as a knock on HBO’s dominance of the movie and miniseries categories.
When the lead and supporting acting categories were combined a year later, Lifetime was one of the networks speaking out against the consolidation at the time.
ATAS’ full statement is below:
In March 2012, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Board of Governors voted to consolidate the Outstanding Lead and Supporting categories for both longform (miniseries and movies) actors and actresses, reducing the total number of categories from four to two. In the ensuing year, longform production has increased. Based on the unanticipated resurgence of television miniseries and movies, the Board voted tonight to reverse the consolidation, thereby reinstating the longform lead and supporting categories in the 65th Emmy Awards competition. This year as last year, there will be separate longform categories for Outstanding Lead and Supporting, Actors and Actresses (four total categories). The entry deadline for the 2013 Primetime Emmy Awards is Friday, May 3.
