SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 26, 2015 /CNW/ -- Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next generation global content leader, scored three major awards this weekend for its groundbreaking television series ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (Netflix). At last night's 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, the series took home the prize for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, and Uzo Aduba won for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.
At Saturday evening's 26th Annual Producers Guild Awards, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK was honored with the Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy.
"The response to Orange is the New Black has been phenomenal thanks to the bold and brilliant work of Jenji Kohan, her extraordinary team of writers, and the extremely gifted and diverse cast," said Kevin Beggs, Chairman, Lionsgate Television Group. "The writing is funny, dark and wildly original, the characters are fascinating and convincing, and the stories are as thought-provoking as they are entertaining, touching on social issues ranging from race and class to sexual identity and politics. We congratulate all those involved in the making of this remarkable series, we salute our great partners at Netflix and we thank SAG and PGA for this wonderful recognition."
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, which is set to launch its third season later this year, is the most-watched original series on Netflix in all of its territories around the world. The critically acclaimed series has rapidly become a global pop culture phenomenon, with cast member Laverne Cox featured on the cover of the June 9, 2014 issue of Time and the series landing at #2 on Facebook's list of the Most Talked-About Shows on TV in the U.S. The series was nominated for 12 Emmys in 2014 – the most of any comedy series – and won three Emmy Awards. Its numerous additional honors include a Peabody Award, two People's Choice Awards, a GLAAD Media Award, three Critics' Choice TV Awards, and two AFI Awards.
Heartbreaking and hilarious, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK stars Taylor Schilling as Brooklynite Piper Chapman whose decade-old relationship with a drug runner results in her arrest and 15-month detention in a federal penitentiary. To pay her debt to society, Piper must trade her comfortable New York life for an orange prison jumpsuit and finds unexpected conflict and camaraderie amidst an eccentric and outspoken group of inmates, including Uzo Aduba as the mentally unstable "Suzanne 'Crazy Eyes' Warren, a role for which she earned an Emmy Award. The ensemble cast also includes Jason Biggs, Danielle Brooks, Laverne Cox, Michael J. Harney, Natasha Lyonne, Selenis Leyva, Taryn Manning, Adrienne C. Moore, Kate Mulgrew, Dascha Polanco, Laura Prepon, Nick Sandow, Yael Stone, Lorraine Toussaint and Samira Wiley. Orange is the New Black is executive produced by Jenji Kohan and produced by Lionsgate.
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, channel platforms and international distribution and sales. The Company currently has more than 30 television shows on over 20 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mad Men and Nurse Jackie, the comedy Anger Management, the broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show and the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent successes as the blockbuster first three installments of The Hunger Games franchise, the first installment of the Divergent franchise, Now You See Me, John Wick, Warm Bodies, Roadside Attractions' A Most Wanted Man, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
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SOURCE Lionsgate
