As I covered this year’s Emmy Award nominations, it literally did not even occur to me to look at the documentary series category. I was so overcome by how many f–king noms The Morning Show got (are they buying those noms???). Anyway, this year’s nominees in documentary series are: Beckham, Quiet on Set, STAX: Soulsville USA, Telemarketers and The Jinx – Part 2. I’ve only seen Beckham, which was an excellent series directed by Fisher Stevens. You know what didn’t get a nomination? Heart of Invictus, the Sussex-produced series following international competitors as they prepared for the 2022 Invictus Games in The Hague. It was an excellent series, but again, I haven’t seen four of the series which actually got nominated. Of course there’s coverage of Prince Harry’s “Emmy snub!”
Critics responded positively to Prince Harry’s Heart of Invictus docuseries when it was released in August last year, but it doesn’t appear to have won fans among Hollywood’s industry elite.
The five-part Netflix docuseries following the stories of six veterans as they prepared to compete in Harry’s 2022 Invictus Games was not included among the nominees announced for the 76th Emmy Awards on Tuesday. The show missed out in a number of categories including “Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series,” which did count David and Victoria Beckham’s eponymous Netflix show among its nominees.
The consideration period for the Emmys spanned from June 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024. Heart of Invictus was released globally through Netflix on August 30, 2023.
Yeah, that was my question – was it released during the eligibility period? It was. The Emmy people just didn’t nominate it or they didn’t watch it or they didn’t like it as much as The Jinx – Part 2. To be fair, I had the sense last year that most regular people simply missed it on Netflix or didn’t know it was even out. In retrospect, Harry probably should have done some promotion for it? Like… did they even have a premiere? I don’t think so. Harry could have done an interview with the LA Times or Variety or something. If he didn’t even promote it, you can guarantee that he didn’t play the game during the Emmy eligibility period – no gladhanding, no special screenings. It’s less of a “brutal snub” and more like… the work speaks for itself and hopefully more people will find it.
Incidentally, there was so much love for ESPN’s Invictus package, which aired during the ESPYs. Y’all know that there are tons of inspirational and heartwarming moments like this in Heart of Invictus too, right?
Prince Harry is the recipient of the Pat Tillman Award for Service.
The Duke of Sussex founded The Invictus Games, an international platform that supports wounded, injured, and sick servicemen and women who are navigating both physical and invisible injuries. pic.twitter.com/M3F3Rmft4j
— ESPN (@espn) July 12, 2024
Photos courtesy of Netflix/’Heart of Invictus’.
If he had gotten a nomination comments sections would be filled with comments about his not deserving it.
Seriously @Tessa, or they would have accused the Sussexes of buying an Emmy.
Too funny — well, actually quite serious — that no one ever brings it up that the Incandescent President of BAFTA bought an award for himself for something that hardly anyone watched when the Beeb broadcast it, Best Live Event for his Keenshot Earthflop Awards.
Unlike House of Invictus that many people in many countries watched.
…or that he shouldn’t accept it b/c XX percentage of the world doesn’t agree he deserves an emmy.
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
I’ve rewatched the Heart of Invictus since the ESPYs .. I will probably put it on again because I’m avoiding/boycotting all news until after the election. I am choosing only positive heartwarming and fun content to view, leaving the negative energy that has become the norm outside my door.
Emmy or not, one thing about the Sussexes project is that they should promote it. This is something I don’t understand. I’m curious about Meghan’s cooking show promotion and how ARO is related.
I understand live to lead and heart of invictus wasn’t massy commercial projects but they still deserve pr.
Beckhams did the usual premiere for the doc. Harry did none of it, not even some interview for promotion. It is obvious they don’t care about entertainment awards, which is fair. He didn’t promote his audiobook for Grammys either.
Can you imagine the circus 🎪 the British media would have turned that into? I can understand why he doesn’t truthfully. Doesn’t lesson the impact of his work.
Yeah, that is the big picture in it. They don’t need to promote it to an audience, because people will hear about it anyway because of the hundred articles the media writes on them. If their contracts don’t include the promotion, why should they do it if they don’t want entertainment award for it?
Did Harry and his team even put submit Heart of Invictus for Emmy consideration? This fake competition between Harry and Meghan and the Beckhams is embarrassing. I’ve only seen Quiet on Set. It was decent but I don’t think it will win because the documentary puts Hollywood and how it treats child actors under the microscope. STAX will probably win.
Promoting his good work is a slippery slop because of the rota/Will-not’s fixation on him. He doesn’t want to pull focus from his causes or have to deal with constant nonsense. I wish he had won the Grammy for Spare, but he didn’t need to win the Grammy. His work is available and known without a lot of promotion.
He couldn’t promote it because it came out during the strikes.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. It came out during the strike and while it was a doc there still would have been scriptwriters. So there was no promotion whereas I’m sure there would have been had it not been for the strike.
Some of the squad’s fixation on using the RF/BM as an excuse for why H&M don’t promote their work is getting old. It’s especially odd when these are the same people who get mad when people outside of the squad ask what H&M do for a living. You can’t rely on the BM and derangers as a source of free promo when that “promo” comes with negatively that clouds all the good work that could reach more people if promoted correctly. I will always advocate for H&M taking control of the narratives surrounding their private and public lives because not doing so allows the other side to shape that narrative for them. I hope that with this new team they’ve built this year, we will get some of that. Less focus on BM and more focus on gaining more visibility with the GP for their good work.
Harry and Meghan are not focusing on the British media but they would be fools to disregard or not anticipate what the press may do to derail their projects and other work. We’ve seen what they did when it was announced that Harry was going to receive the Pat Tillman award.
I hope people who didn’t see Heart of Invictus when it first came out, will do so after the ESPYs. This will help to tell people about it.
It wasn’t made to get an emmy, it was made to inform.
Emmy nominations (and Emmys) generate a lot of publicity for a work. Publicity informs people that there’s this documentary series they missed when it was first broadcast and it looks good You’ve got to appeal beyond the viewers who already have an interest in the Invictus Games or Harry.
You also have to SUBMIT for the Emmys, which is a process, and pay a fee of several hundred dollars among other steps. If a producer/production company/network thinks a different show/actor/whatever of theirs has a better chance (more star power, more pop culture buzz, etc) of getting a nomination and doesn’t want to cannibalize votes they won’t submit others to keep their chances strong. This may very well have happened with the buzzy, meme-generating, pop culture celebrity-led Beckham doc. And, as is mentioned, even when all are submitted, studios make pretty clear which they are throwing their weight behind. You see it with the Oscars, Tonys, Grammys, etc.
Quiet on Set is worth a watch.
There are some games that need to be played and they should have promoted it. The industry is touchy that way. They seem to want a media-career, but they’ve got to stop half-assing it. How can “the work speaks for itself” work if nobody sees the work? Harry’s promotion was great for “Spare,” but that was directed by his publisher. They’ve got to promote the work. It comes across as arrogant or lazy or amateur if they don’t. This makes them look like diletanttes.
Harry got so much backlash for his promotion of Spare maybe he didn’t want to put himself through that again 6 months later? Maybe preserving his mental health is more important to him than you thinking he’s a ‘diletantte’? I agree he should have promoted it more but I think we need some compassion where Harry and Meghan are concerned most of us wouldn’t last a day receiving the abuse they do.