DGA Announces Special Awards Recipients for 64th Annual Awards

December 14, 2011

Los Angeles – Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced the recipients of three special DGA Awards recognizing lifetime career achievement and extraordinary contribution to the Guild: Ed Sherin, Katy Garretson and Dennis Mazzocco.

Ed Sherin will receive the DGA’s 2012 Honorary Life Member Award, in recognition of outstanding creative achievement, leadership in the industry, contribution to the Guild or to the profession of directing.

Katy Garretson will receive the 2012 Frank Capra Achievement Award, which is given to an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.

Dennis Mazzocco will receive the 2012 Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award, which is given to an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.  

“The Directors Guild’s most valuable asset is the dedication and commitment of its members to the Guild,” said Hackford.  “Ed Sherin devoted himself to advocating on behalf of our Eastern members.  His leadership and energy reinvigorated the membership and inspired many to become involved in Guild service.”

“Katy Garretson and Dennis Mazzocco each began their service to the Guild through participation on their respective Councils and just kept going from there,” Hackford added.  “Long-time leaders in the Guild, they are dedicated to representing the interests of their fellow members and standing up for their creative and economic rights.  Ed, Katy and Dennis exemplify the spirit of leadership, community and service to fellow members that strengthens and unifies this organization every day.”

All three awards will be presented at the 64^th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 28, 2012 in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.

Ed Sherin

Ed Sherin served as DGA National Vice President from 1997-2004.  During his tenure, he oversaw the renovation of the DGA’s NY building and the establishment of DGA Honors, which became the Guild’s largest New York celebration recognizing the achievements of filmmakers, government, labor and business leaders who have invigorated American film and television production, particularly in the Eastern region of the United States.  After stepping down as National Vice President in 2004, Sherin became Second Vice President for two terms and has continued to serve as a National Board Member.  He has also served on the Eastern Directors Council for the past 15 years.

After serving in the Korean War for four years, Sherin began his career in entertainment in the late 1950’s as an actor in television and Broadway stage. A decade later he established himself nationally as a theatre director with the production of The Great White Hope, which won the Pulitzer prize, the Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Award.  He joined the DGA in 1969 and went on to direct the feature films Valdez is Coming and My Old Man’s Place; television movies including A Marriage: Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, Daughter of the Streets; and television series including LA Law, Moonlighting, Homicide, Hill Street Blues, Tour of Duty, Medium, The Black Donnellys, and Law and Order (for which he was also Executive Producer), Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Sherin has won many awards during his career, including an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series (Law & Order), a New York Drama Critics Award, the New England Theatre Award and Off-Broadway’s highest honor, an Obie Award. In 1998 he received a Crystal Apple Award, presented by the City of New York to individuals who have shown a longtime support for New York film and television production.  In 2002, the Guild honored Sherin with the Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award. 

DGA Third Vice President Betty Thomas will present the Honorary Life Member Award to Ed Sherin on Saturday, January 28, 2012. 

Katy Garretson

Katy Garretson first became interested in the entertainment industry during college when working as a tour guide at Universal Studios.  Following graduation, she entered the Assistant Directors Training Program and upon completion of the program was immediately hired to be the Key 2^nd AD on a new version of Columbo in 1990.  Just two short years later, Garretson was elected to the AD/UPM Council, the beginning of nearly two decades of service to the Guild.

Garretson was elected chair of the AD/UPM Council three times, spending nearly a decade on the Council altogether.  She also served as an Associate Member of the DGA National Board from 1999-2003 and has been elected as a delegate to 10 consecutive DGA Biennial Conventions.  Additionally, Garretson spent many years serving on various Guild committees including the Contract Proposals Committee, the Working Conditions Committee and the Administrative Committee. 

Her career has run the gamut from feature film to television, including a lengthy stint on television comedy Frasier which eventually led to her first directing opportunity (for which she was nominated for a DGA Award).  Since then, Garretson has gone on to direct numerous television shows, including Reba, Girlfriends, Sid the Science Kid and Shake It Up! and several web series including lovebites. 

DGA Secretary-Treasurer Michael Apted will present the Frank Capra Achievement Award to Katy Garretson on Saturday, January 28, 2012.

Dennis Mazzocco

Dennis Mazzocco first became active in Guild service in 2001 when he ran for a seat on the AD/SM/PA East Council.  Currently in his fifth term on the Council, Mazzocco was elected Council Chair in 2003, a position he held for six years.  He also serves as an Associate Member of the DGA National Board, an office he has held since 2009, and previously served as a Second Alternate Board Member from 2005-2009.  He has served three times as a member of the DGA’s Network Negotiations Committee and been active on numerous other Guild committees including the 75^th Anniversary Advisory, Website Advisory, Special Projects, Residency and Reality committees. 

Mazzocco began his career at ABC Sports working as an associate director on Wide World of Sports.  Since then, he’s worked in news, sports and entertainment, including sports broadcasts like The Super Bowl and The World Series; news programs like Nightline and Good Morning America; variety/reality shows like The Academy Awards and Dancing with the Stars and daytime serials like One Life to Live. His work has helped earn 20 Emmy nominations and nine wins, seven Olympic broadcasts on ABC and NBC, and the six-part network documentary series ABC Notebook. He also worked on the Peabody Award-winning and DGA Award-nominated ABC 2000, a 23-hour ABC News special watched by 175 million viewers.  

Also a tenured professor at Hofstra University in the School of Communication, Mazzocco teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in directing, producing, writing, genres, documentary studies and media aesthetics. 

DGA President Taylor Hackford will present the Franklin J. Schaffner Award to Dennis Mazzocco on Saturday, January 28, 2012.

The five Feature Film nominees for the 64^th Annual DGA Awards will be announced on Monday, January 9, 2012.  All Television and Commercials nominees will be announced on Tuesday, January 10, 2012.  Documentary nominees will be announced on Thursday, January 12, 2012. 

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Past recipients of the DGA Honorary Life Member Award

• Robert Iger (2010)
• Barry Meyer (2010)
• Roger Ebert (2009)
• Jay D. Roth (2008)
• Carl Reiner (2007)
• Larry Auerbach (2004)
• John Rich (2003)
• Delbert Mann (2002)
• Jack Valenti (2001)
• Chuck Jones (1996)
• Sheldon Leonard (1995)
• Arthur Hiller (1993)
• Charles Champlin (1992)
• Gilbert Cates (1991)
• Barry Diller (1990)
• Sidney Jay Sheinberg (1990)
• Elliot Silverstein (1990)
• Sidney Lumet (1989)
• Michael H. Franklin (1988)
• Tom Donovan (1985)
• Elia Kazan (1983)
• Robert E. Wise (1983)
• Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1981)
• David Butler (1978)
• H.C. Potter (1977)
• Lew Wasserman (1975)
• Charles Chaplin (1974)
• David Lean (1973)
• Darryl F. Zanuck (1968)
• Jack L. Warner (1965)
• Joseph C. Youngerman (1964)
• Hobe Morrison (1962)
• Y. Frank Freeman (1961)
• George Sidney (1959)
• Donald Crisp (1957)
• Walt Disney (1955)
• Louis B. Mayer (1952)
• J.P. McGowan (1951)
• Rex Ingram (1949)
• Tod Browning (1948)
• Maurice Tourneur (1945)
• Frank Capra (1941)
• Marshall Neilan (1940)
• Mabel Walker Willebrandt (1939)
• D.W. Griffith (1938)

Past recipients of the DGA Frank Capra Achievement Award

• Cleve Landsberg (2010)
• Kim Kurumada (2009)
• Liz Ryan (2008)
• Jerry H. Ziesmer (2006)
• Herb Adelman (2005)
• Stephen Glanzrock (2004)
• Yudi Bennett (2003)
• Burt Bluestein (2002)
• Cheryl R. Downey (2000)
• Tom Joyner (1999)
• Bob Jeffords (1998)
• Peter A. Runfolo (1994)
• Willard H. Sheldon (1993)
• Howard W. Koch (1991)
• Stanley Ackerman (1990)
• Alex Hapsas (1988)
• Henry E. “Bud” Brill (1987)
• Jane Schimel (1985)
• Abby Singer (1985)
• William Beaudine Jr (1983)
• William C. Gerrity (1983)
• Wallace Worsley (1982)
• David Golden (1982)
• Francisco “Chico” Day (1981)
• Emmett Emerson (1980)

Past recipients of the DGA Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award

• Maria Jimenez Henley (2010)
• Scott Berger (2009)
• Barbara J. Roche (2008)
• Terry Benson (2007)
• Donald E. Jacob (2006)
• Stanley Faer (2005)
• Peery Forbis (2004)
• Esperanza “Candy” Martinez (2003)
• Anita Cooper-Avrick (2002)
• Robert Van Ry (2001)
• Scott L. Rindenow (2000)
• Robert Caminiti (1999)
• C.J. Rapp-Pittman (1998)
• Joseph L. Dicso (1997)
• Don Lewis Barnhart (1996)
• Larry Carl (1995)
• James E. Wall (1994)
• James “Woody” Woodworth (1993)
• Marilyn Jacobs-Furey (1992)
• Chester O’Brien (1991)
• Mortimer O’Brien (1991)