DGA Announces Special Award Winners for 66th Annual DGA Awards

December 10, 2013

Los Angeles – Directors Guild of America President Paris Barclay today announced the recipients of two special DGA Awards recognizing extraordinary contribution to the Guild: Lee Blaine and Vince DeDario will be honored at the 66th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, January 25, 2014.

Lee Blaine will receive the DGA’s 2014 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.

Vince DeDario will receive the DGA’s 2014 Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award, which is given to an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of service to the industry and to the Directors Guild of America.

“The strength of the DGA is built upon the commitment and dedication of our actively working members to giving back through service to the Guild,” said Barclay. “Both Lee Blaine and Vince DeDario have been staunch advocates and proud representatives of their fellow Guild members, and they’ve done it while maintaining successful, demanding careers. We are proud to recognize their service and their accomplishments.”

Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers were previously announced as the recipients of the DGA’s 2014 Diversity Award. All three special awards will be presented at the 66th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 25, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. Bios are below:

Lee Blaine

Over the years, Lee Blaine has worked with a pink, flip-flop wearing, drumming bunny (Energizer); a talking Chihuahua (Taco Bell); cowboys herding cats (EDS); and giant crabs stealing a cooler of beer off the beach (Budweiser) – and these are just a tiny sample of the thousands of commercials he’s worked on as a 1st AD or 2nd AD since joining the DGA in 1990. Additionally, Blaine has worked on hundreds of music videos and the occasional feature or television show.

Blaine became active in Guild service more than 15 years ago, when he joined the Western AD/UPM Membership Committee in 1997. Since then, he has dedicated his service at the DGA to increasing the profile and participation of DGA members working in commercials. In 1999, he was elected chair of the Western AD/UPM Commercial Committee, a position he held for 13 years. During his tenure, members working in commercials increased their participation on Guild councils, committees and events. Blaine was also elected as an alternate on the Western AD/UPM council in 1999 and as a second alternate to the National Board in 2005, positions he continues to hold today.

Blaine has served four times on the Commercial Contract Negotiating Committee and five times as a delegate to the Guild’s Biennial National Convention, in addition to positions on the AD/UPM Administrative Committee, the Navigating the DGA Committee and the Information Committee. In 2002, Blaine moderated the AD/UPM Mentor Committee “Meet the Commercial Producers” event. For the past two years, he has participated in the interview process for Western Commercial Trainee program applicants, and he was a speaker at the 2012 Commercial Trainee Orientation.

Vince DeDario

Vince DeDario began his career as an associate director in Los Angeles at ABC in 1969, joining the DGA and working on game shows, variety programs, daytime dramas, news, and sports programs before becoming the associate director on American Bandstand in 1974. A few years later, DeDario moved to New York City and joined ABC Sports, where he spent the next three decades working on the broadcasts of the biggest sporting events including the Olympics; the Super Bowl; Monday Night Football; the World Series; the Indianapolis 500; the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes; the Tour de France; America’s Cup; the Ironman Triathlon and the New York City Marathon; and many other premiere sporting events for ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Additionally, in the 1980s DeDario worked on coverage of the 1982 and 1984 elections and the 1985 Presidential Inauguration for ABC News. Since his retirement from ABC Sports in 2007, DeDario has worked on numerous events for ESPN and NBC Sports.

DeDario’s service to the Guild began in Los Angeles as a member of the Western AD/SM/PA Council in the 1970s. He continued his service after moving to New York as a member of the Eastern AD/SM/PA Council for the past decade. With his long experience as an associate director working in sports, DeDario served several times as an informal advisor to the staff and Network Negotiations Committees on issues of sports jurisdiction. He has long been an active mentor to DGA members working in news and sports and often provided guidance and advice to members with questions about their rights and working conditions.

The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the industry’s most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award; only seven times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the Feature Film winner not gone on to win the corresponding Academy Award.

Nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film will be announced on January 7, 2014; nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television and Commercials will be announced on January 9, 2014; and nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries will be announced on January 13, 2014. BMW is the Exclusive Automotive Sponsor of the 66th Annual DGA Awards. To download a press credential application, please visit the Awards section.

Past recipients of the DGA Frank Capra Achievement Award

Past recipients of the DGA Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award