Nineteen alumni, one night in Los Angeles

The 78th Emmy Awards, held on September 14 at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, were a quiet reunion for NYU. By the student newspaper’s count, 19 alumni took home awards across 15 categories, out of more than 80 nominated in 47 categories and from eight NYU schools. Add the Creative Arts ceremony on September 4 and 5 and the list reaches from composers to costume designers.

The most NYU story belongs to Gavin Brivik, a 2018 graduate of Steinhardt’s screen-scoring programme. He won best original music and lyrics for “Need Someone”, written with singer-songwriter Andrew Bird for the HBO drama The Pitt. He told Washington Square News that many of the filmmakers he works with are NYU alumni and that living in New York gave him early work.

NYU is the reason I am where I am

Gavin Brivik, Steinhardt ’18, to Washington Square News

Others on the list were more established. Tisch graduate Vince Gilligan (’89) won for writing the Apple TV+ drama Pluribus, his fifth Emmy from 26 nominations. Michael Nelson (Tisch ’90) was honoured as an executive producer of DTF St. Louis, which took best limited or anthology series. Three alumni, Michael Brumm, Adam Wager and Bjoern Stejskal, won best variety series for the final season of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, their second win in a row.

The Creative Arts side had its own NYU names: Damon Cardasis (Tisch ’06) and Patrick Walmsley (Tisch ’01) for the documentary series Mr. Scorsese, Olga Mill (Tisch ’11) for costume design on Beef, and Tessa Roehl (Tisch ’06) for visual effects on the last season of Stranger Things. Steinhardt’s own tally was 12 nominated alumni and three winners.