Award Central News

The PGA made the announcement Monday, saying nominations in the feature category for the Darryl F. Zanuck producer of the year award would be expanded from five to 10. AMPAS made its decision to expand the number of best picture Oscar noms in June (Daily Variety, June 24).

"The PGA board approved the expansion of our best-produced picture category nominations to support our colleagues at the Academy, but also because we feel it better represents the unprecedented diversity of films being produced today," said PGA prexy Marshall Herskovitz in a statement.

The trade org, which has more than 4,000 members, will announce the nominees Jan. 5. The 21st annual PGA Awards ceremony will take place Jan. 24 at the Hollywood Palladium.

The PGA awarded "Slumdog Millionaire" the top feature prize earlier this year.

The PGA is best known for providing the final word to the Acad on the question of who is a producer on the best picture nominees. Controversies such as those over the credits on "Crash," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Departed" were absent in the last awards season.

The Academy tweaked its selection process in 2007 to be more in line with the PGA. The PGA has no limit on the number of producers that can be credited, but the Acad retains the rule of no more than three producer names per film, though exceptions are allowed.

The Academy and the PGA have matched selections for top feature in 13 of the last 20 years, including "Slumdog Millionaire" this year.