The creator and executive producer of Mad Men Matthew Weiner received the International Emmys’ Founders Award yesterday where he discussed the future for the soon ending popular TV show. The award was presented to Weiner by some of the show’s co-stars Christina Hendricks, John Slattery and Vincent Kartheiser.
Weiner really wants its cast members to finally be recognized by the Emmys. In a Q&A session he told reporters, “”Since we’re here at an Emmy organization, it is one of my great frustrations is that they haven’t been recognized more. None of these actors has ever won an Emmy and they are the gold standard. I still feel like their contribution has been unrecognized.”
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The producer pointed out that Mad Men did not have any marquee stars in its cast when the show first aired and yet its actors all became stars. This is especially true of John Hamm, who plays the lead character Don Draper and has become a star in his own right because of the show’s success. Some say that he made Mad Men a hit.
But Weiner said that he did not make the show to win awards, but rather because he wanted to tell a good story.
As he told The Hollywood Reporter, “We did not do this for the awards, we did it for the story — I was more worried about the actors feeling it was a fitting ending for their characters. Getting an award is gravy, but it’s so external and doesn’t last as long as the show either.”
Weiner said that he did not craft any of Mad Men’s final season’s episodes in a way to get its stars awards. He promised that the stories and the characters always came first.
The final 8 episodes of Mad Men will begin their run next April on AMC.
