Waldman, Chabon earn first Emmy Award nominations.
Berkeley writers earn their first Emmy Award nominations
This has been a huge year for TV performers and producers with roots in the Bay Area. Although we have no way of officially quantifying it, we’re pretty sure that, collectively, they’ve collected more Emmy Award nominations than ever before.
To celebrate their achievements, we’re spotlighting local nominees individually during the run-up to the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards telecast on Sunday (5 p.m., ABC).
Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman
Bay Area connection: The longtime novelists and screenwriters, married since 1993, live in Berkeley.
Nominated for: The East Bay couple is up for two awards — both for “Unbelievable,” a searing Netflix crime series they co-created with Susannah Grant. They are nominated in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Movie, and also Outstanding Limited Series (they are among the show’s executive producers).
The lowdown: Chabon and Waldman might be more known for their prolific literary endeavors, but in recent years they’ve made a concentrated effort to delve more into television writing and producing. He, for example, served as the showrunner for the first season of “Star Trek: Picard.” Last December, the couple signed a multi-year production deal with CBS Television Studios. The agreement includes, among other projects, a commitment from Showtime for a limitedseries adaption of “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” the 2001 novel for which Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize.
Unbelievable acclaim: “Unbelievable” represents the first major Hollywood success Chabon and Waldman have attained as a duo. Based on a true story and starring Merritt Wever, Toni Collette and Kaitlyn Dever, it’s about a young victim of a serial rapist who is accused by male cops of lying about her assault. Lauded by critics, it was among six recipients this year of Television Academy Honors, which go to “exceptional television programs that impact society through thoughtful, powerful and innovative storytelling.”
It takes two: In a January interview with the Bay Area News Group, Chabon explained how a couple who had been accustomed to writing novels separately learned they have a certain team chemistry when it comes to television. “We discovered that we have a good collaborative method that works in the TV frame,” he said. “We couldn’t sit down and write a novel together. That just wouldn’t work. We have very different approaches — from our work habits to our writing styles. But with TV, it’s different.”
Dressed for success: Thanks to the pandemic, this year’s Emmy bash will lack the usual glitz and glamor as nominees will be socially distanced — away from the theater. Taking to Twitter to joke about her fate, Waldman wrote, “Figures the only chance I ever have of winning an Emmy. Wish I hadn’t bought that dress, though I suppose I can swan around my living room.”