Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1547041
www.postmagazine.com 14 POST SEPT/OCT 2026 T he Television Academy celebrated the 78th Emmy Awards on Monday, September 14th, recognizing excellence in television pro- gramming and individual achievement for the 2025-2026 television season. The ceremony concluded a three-night event, which was preceded with honors bestowed on September 5 th and 6 th , and was hosted by multiple Emmy-winner Mariska Hargitay. Without question, Apple TV's Widow's Bay came out as the big winner, tak- ing home 14 Emmy Awards, including honors for Outstanding Comedy Series, Directing (Hiro Murai), Lead Actor (Matthew Rhys), Supporting Actress (Kate O'Flynn), Supporting Actor (Stephen Root) and Writing (Katie Deppold). Below the line, Widow's Bay was honored for Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Music Composition (David Fleming). In last month's Cover Story, Post caught up with Christian Sprenger, ASC, who went on the win the Emmy for the show's Cinematography. The series spans 10 episodes, and for Sprenger, Widow's Bay continued a long-running relationship with director Hiro Murai, as the two collaborated in the past on Atlanta, Station 11 and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Early conversations about the look of the horror/mystery/comedy series led him to shoot with the Arri Alexa 35, but not before conducting a number of film tests that drew inspiration from past John Carpenter and Steven Spielberg films. "We shot side-by-side with 5219 Kodak stock," Sprenger recalls. "And then we did emulation to go into more vintage feeling film stocks. Then, we basi- cally took our Alexa look and we essentially matched it to the look that we built on film." The production did shoot some film for the series, mainly Episodes 9 and 10. And for Episode 6, which flashes back to reveal the history of the cursed island, the teamed called on the Arri Alexa 265 large-format camera, capturing imagery in the 1.43/IMAX aspect ratio. Emmy Winners Inside the production and post for television's top programming BY MARC LOFTUS