I know everyone is focused on the Grammy Awards tonight, but I'm here to tell you about another award winner this weekend.
Jason Winer, a graduate of the Friends School of Baltimore who I recently profiled in the "Sun," won a prestigious Directors Guild of America Award in Hollywood this weekend for the pilot of ABC's "Modern Family."
You can read an interview I did with the Baltimore native earlier this month here. He talks about his DGA nomination -- and another he shared as a co-executive-producer on the hit ABC sitcom.
Look at the company the 36-year-old Winer beat out for the DGA trophy: Paris Barclay ("Glee"), Larry Charles ( "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), Ryan Murphy ("Glee") and Jeff Schaffer ("Curb Your Enthusiasm"). That's tall cotton, folks for a first-time winner.
(Photo: Winer and award courtesy of Jay Winer)
Winer's pilot, which skillfully introduced viewers to three interrelated families, was the most-talked-about sitcom pilot of the fall -- praised for everything from its enlightened look at multiculturalism, gay identity and the American family to its use of multiple cameras in achieving an improved and highly energized version of the single-camera, mock-documentary comedy format.
Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the guild's top feature film award when she was honored Saturday night by the guild for her direction of "The Hurt Locker."
