“Life Itself,” Steve James’s acclaimed documentary based on the best-selling 2011 memoir by legendary film critic Roger Ebert, won the Best Documentary prize at the 2015 Producer’s Guild of America award ceremony held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on Saturday, January 24th, in Los Angeles. In attendance were James, Chaz Ebert and producers Garrett Basch, Mark Mitten and Zak Piper.
“Birdman” won the Best Picture prize over the presumed Oscar front-runner, “Boyhood,” while “The LEGO Movie” (a film that was, like “Life Itself,” snubbed by the Oscars), won Best Animated Feature. FX’s “Fargo” was named Best TV Movie or Mini-Series, AMC’s “Breaking Bad” won Best Episodic Television—Drama and Netflix’s “Orange Is The New Black” won Best Episodic Television—Comedy. FOX’s “COSMOS: A SpaceTime Odyssey” earned the Best Non-Fiction Television prize, NBC’s “The Voice” won Best Competition Television, NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” won Best Live Entertainment & Talk Television, HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” won Best Sports Program, PBS’s “Sesame Street” won Best Children’s Program and Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” was named Best Digital Series.
Special awards included the Visionary Award for Brad Pitt and his Plan B production company, the Stanley Kramer Award for HBO’s “The Normal Heart,” the Milestone Award for Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Motion Pictures for “The Walking Dead” producer Gale Ann Hurd.
