Staci DumoskiUpdated:
Congratulations to Laura Zempel ’09 for winning the 2023 Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie, along with her co-editor Nat Fuller, for her work on the Netflix show “Beef.” This is Zempel’s second Emmy Award; she won in 2022 for her work on the Netlix show “Euphoria.”
Original article:
What do an animated music special, a fake jury trial, a road-rage feud and a beloved sports comedy-drama all have in common? The answer: Chapman University alumni.
This year, four talented women with degrees from Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts are nominated for Emmy Awards. They’ve worked on some of television’s biggest shows and their contributions will take the spotlight when the Emmys take place in January.
“The nomination feels like a raucous validation of a project that hits so deep for us,” said Karina Manashil, producer of the Netflix animated special “Entergalactic,” which is nominated for Outstanding Animated Program.
The program is based on the album of the same name by American musician Kid Cudi, and has already earned honors from the Critics Choice Association and the NAACP Image Awards.
“So many parties took a chance on us,” Manashil said. “An album-driven adult animated black love story was not a genre we were seeing.”
“There are days I still can’t believe we’re nominated,” said Katrina Mathewson ’11, who is nominated as a producer on the Amazon Freevee series “Jury Duty.” The show, a reality hoax sitcom about a fake jury trial, is Mathewson’s first producing credit with writing partner Tanner Bean.
Mathewson is thrilled to be competing with brilliant and groundbreaking comedies like “Barry” and “The Bear.”
“We’re talking about some of my favorite shows from the past decade,” she said. “So I finally understand what people mean when they say: ‘It’s an honor just to be nominated.’”
Laura Zempel ’09, who is nominated for editing the Netflix show “Beef,” said the show was unlike any show she’s worked on previously, thanks to the offbeat humor in the story of two strangers whose involvement in a road rage incident escalates into a prolonged feud.
“We got to play with humor and surrealism to tell a story about these really complicated characters,” she said. “I love when humor is incorporated into drama, and I think the humor in ‘Beef’ is so unique in illustrating the darkness and pain that live within Amy and Danny.”
Zempel says working with showrunner Lee Sung Jin was a very collaborative and rewarding experience. “For me, this nomination is significant because it means we were able to take what was in his head and make it really resonate with an audience,” she said.
Zempel previously won an Emmy for her work on the show “Euphoria.”
Melissa McCoy ’07 is also nominated for her editing on the comedy series “Ted Lasso” from AppleTV+, but could not be reached for comment.
We wish all the nominees the best of luck. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will take place on Jan. 6 and 7. The 75th Emmy Awards Telecast will air on Jan. 15, 2024, on Fox.
