TORONTO — This year's Canadian Screen Awards will again be a pre-taped affair, despite facing backlash for the format last year, organizers of Canada's biggest film and television awards bash said Thursday.
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television said an hour-long televised special will air May 31 on CBC and CBC Gem — more than six weeks later than originally expected "due to venue availability in Toronto."
The organization said trophies in marquee categories including top film, top TV comedy and top TV drama will be presented in front of an audience at a gala taped at the CBC broadcast centre hours before the broadcast.
The move comes after last year's pre-taped telecast stitched together highlights of awards galas held over the previous several days. The approach drew criticism from industry notables including Eugene Levy, who said Canadian creators deserved a live celebration.
Academy CEO Tammy Frick said the organization took that feedback into account.
“You hear that information for sure. And of course, everyone's allowed to have their own perspective… It’s an awards show, we're going to get poked at because that's what people do to award shows, and rightfully so. They challenge us to always be improving and doing better, which is great," Frick said in an interview ahead of Thursday's announcement.
Frick said this year's show is different because it will draw from a gala held the same day as the broadcast, to ensure there's not "such a gap" between the announcements and telecast.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic imposed gathering restrictions, the Screen Awards traditionally celebrated the best in film, television and digital media with a star-studded live show in front of an audience.
Asked why the show won't be broadcast live this year, Frick said pre-taping allows the marquee gala to showcase more "industry-heavy" elements that would bore a TV audience.
"We have a finite amount of time and it's difficult sometimes to just be presenting a regular live show when things can run over time. And there's other elements that are built in that are very, very specific to the industry as well that might not come across as entertaining to the general public."
Frick said she's proud the academy took "risks" with last year's show and promised this year's broadcast will "continue to be forward-moving."
She said the academy would reveal more details later this month.
"Sort Of" actor Grace Lynn Kung, who was among the Canadians to criticize last year's Screen Awards, said it's hard enough to lure viewers and suggested that a pre-taped show would make the telecast less appealing.
"We're not great at celebrating our own talent in a landscape that's becoming more difficult," she said. "Not having (a live broadcast) definitely makes it so that people are not able to do appointment viewing."
Kung also wondered how many Canadians would be able to get their shine during the broadcast if it's whittled down to an hour: "It feels like soon it will just be an Instagram post."
""At some point you're kind of like, 'What are we doing? Have we consolidated too far?'"
Last year's pre-taped Screen Awards saw a dip in ratings with Numeris reporting an average audience of 136,000 for the CBC telecast compared to 2022’s show, which averaged 146,000 viewers.
"That's always going to be a challenge," Frick said, but she noted there was "a huge increase" in viewership on streaming service CBC Gem.
Last year's show also saw an increase in viewers aged 25 to 54, averaging 31,000 viewers compared to 14,000 the year before.
Actor/producer Emmanuel Kabongo said he prefers a live show but is open to change if it means more viewers.
"I've always been a fan of live broadcasts because you get unique and special moments," he said from Los Angeles where he was set to premiere his film, "Sway" on Thursday. "If this new approach will bring more people to pay attention and watch, then I'm all for it."
The Canadian Screen Awards are a multi-night celebration involving several industry galas dedicated to specific genres including news, sports, lifestyle and reality. This year, six galas will be held over four days May 28 to May 31 in Toronto. Screen week had originally been set for April 7 to 14.
Frick said the academy will prioritize "overall engagement," including performance on social media, going forward.
"Award shows haven't had too much success in increasing ratings, but you have to also sometimes remove the mentality from just the viewer watching the whole production that day," she said.
"Because as consumers, we've changed the way we consume content. When you see the behind-the-scenes on social media, when you're capturing the content through other means like screen-based devices, that has a huge engagement level as well.
"There're other ways of evaluating success on this type of an awards show."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 8, 2024.
Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version that moved Feb. 8 stated that Screen Awards events were pushed two weeks. In fact, they have been pushed by more than six weeks.
