DOWNTON ABBEY Creator Julian Fellowes to Receive 2015 International EMMY Founders Award

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will present the 2015 International Emmy® Founders Award to Julian Fellowes, the writer and creator of Downton Abbey, one of the most acclaimed, widely watched and best reviewed television series in the history of the medium. Academy President & CEO, Bruce L. Paisner, announced today that Fellowes will accept the Award at the 43rd International Emmy® Awards Gala, on Monday, November 23, 2015, in New York City.

An Oscar-winning screenwriter, Julian Fellowes began his career as an actor. He grew up in England, attended Cambridge University, then drama school and worked on stage with several repertory companies. He subsequently appeared in over 40 films and TV shows, while at the same time writing screenplays for such movies as Vanity Fair, Separate Lies- and Gosford Park-for which he took home an Oscar. He is also responsible for writing international bestseller, Snobs. Fellowes turned this passion for writing into a second career.

"People everywhere know, follow and are passionate about Downton Abbey, and the Academy is thrilled to honor its writer and creator Julian Fellowes," said Paisner. "Julian has brought a career's worth of experience and ideas to this landmark television series and we look forwarding to welcoming him and members of the DOWNTON ABBEY cast at our Gala."

Julian Fellowes comments: "This is an extraordinary honour, both for me and for the Downton team and I can only say that I feel simultaneously unworthy and very, very grateful. It is a significant high point of my career. Thank you."

Set in an Edwardian country house in the early 20th Century, DOWNTON ABBEY portrays the lives of the Crawley family who own the house and the servants who work for them. Winner of over 40 national and international awards, Downton Abbey's notable accolades include Best Mini-Series at the Golden Globe Awards, Best Ensemble at THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS and Outstanding Mini-Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards. The show has even made it in to the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest critical review ratings for a TV show. Fellowes other recent television writing credits include Titanic and The Young Victoria.

Julian Fellowes is also set to write a new series, The Gilded Age, a sweeping fictional epic of the millionaire titans of New York City in the 1880s for NBCUniversal. Carnival Films, a British subsidiary of NBCUniversal International Television Production produces Downton Abbey.

About The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a membership based organization comprised of leading media and entertainment figures from over 60 countries and 500 companies from all sectors of television including internet, mobile and technology. The Academy's yearly schedule of events includes the prestigious International Emmy® Awards and International Emmy® Kids Awards Ceremonies held in New York, The International Digital Emmy® Awards at MIPTV and a series of industry events such as Academy Day, The International Emmy® World Television Festival and Panels on substantive industry topics. The Academy was chartered with a mission to recognize excellence in television produced outside of the United States and it presents The International Emmy® Awards in the following twenty categories: Arts Programming; Best Performance by an Actress; Best Performance by an Actor; Current Affairs; Comedy; Digital Program: Children & Young People; Digital Program: Fiction; Digital Program: Non-Fiction; Documentary; Drama Series; Kids: Preschool; Kids: Animation; Kids: Factual; Kids: Non-Scripted Entertainment; Kids: Series; Kids: TV Movie/Mini-Series News; Non-Scripted Entertainment; Telenovela; TV Movie/Mini-Series. For more information go to www.iemmys.tv. The International Academy also recognizes US primetime programming produced 50% or more in non-English languages, with a new category added to the 2014 International Emmy® Awards competition.

About Julian Fellowes
Julian Fellowes, actor, writer, director, producer, was educated at Ampleforth, Magdalene College, Cambridge and The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. As an actor, he is probably best known for the BBC series, Aristocrats, and for his portrayal of the incorrigible Lord Kilwillie in the BBC's popular Sunday night series, Monarch of the Glen. As a writer for television, he produced the scripts of Little Lord Fauntleroy (winner of an International Emmy, 1995) and The Prince and the Pauper (nominated for a Bafta, 1997) which he also produced. His first script for the cinema was Gosford Park, directed by Robert Altman, which won him several prizes, including the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Julian wrote the screenplay of The Young Victoria, released in 2009 and was a writer on The Tourist, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. His television series, Downton Abbey, with Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern and Hugh Bonneville, had a tremendously successful launch in the autumn of 2010, followed by an equally well received second, third and fourth series. In 2011, the show won six Emmys in Los Angeles, including Best Writer and Best Mini Series, as well as a Golden Globe, the Producer's Guild Award and the prize for Best Drama at the National Television Awards. It was nominated for sixteen Emmys for the second season, and this year was nominated for twelve. Among the wins was the SAG Award for Ensemble, a timely recognition of the wonderful cast. He is working on various projects at the moment. He is already writing the sixth series of Downton Abbey, which goes out in the UK in September 2015, and a stage version of The Wind in the Willows will be produced in 2015, as well as a three part mini-series of his own book, Snobs. He has completed an adaptation of The Chaperone which will star Elizabeth McGovern and Simon Curtis will direct. Julian has also written the 'book' for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, School of Rock, which will open in New York later this year.

About Carnival Films
Carnival Films is a division of NBC Universal International TV Production and is the UK's largest drama specialist. The company is responsible for the global TV sensation Downton Abbey, winner of three Golden Globes and eleven Primetime Emmy awards, including Best Mini-series. It is the most nominated non-US show in the history of the Emmys with a total of 51 nominations and is now in 250 territories worldwide. Among numerous national and international awards, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards and three National Television Awards, the show has even garnered a Guinness World Record for highest critical ratings for a TV show. DOWNTON ABBEY is executive produced by Carnival's Managing Director Gareth Neame, who sold the production company to NBCU in 2008.

Founded in 1978, Carnival has produced many hundreds of hours of popular drama both in the UK and US, including primetime series such as Poirot, Hotel Babylon, Whitechapel, Jeeves & Wooster, Rosemary & Thyme, As If, Dracula and The Philanthropist, as well as award-winning mini-series such as C4's iconic Traffik, David Hare's Worricker Trilogy (Page Eight, Turks & Caicos and Salting the Battlefield), The 7:39 by David Nicholls, William Boyd's BAFTA award winning Best Serial Any Human Heart, The Old CURIOSITY Shop and Enid starring Helena Bonham-Carter. Peter Morgan's The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies broadcast on ITV at the end of 2014 to critical acclaim. Carnival's latest series The Last KINGDOM is in production for BBC2 and BBC America, and the sixth season of DOWNTON ABBEY will go in to production in early 2015. Carnival co-produced Royal Television Society award winning drama The Hollow Crown, a screen version of Shakespeare's history plays (with Neal Street productions) and the sequel The War of the Roses is currently in production, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Judi Dench.

Source: http://www.iemmys

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