Studio and network executives gathered in Manhattan on Tuesday to celebrate the accomplishments of the two most recent honorees of the Museum of the Moving Image’s 27th annual Industry Honors Salute. The night was dedicated to the tall and serene presence of the NBC Nightly News anchor, Lester Holt, and well-dressed vice president of Amazon Studios, Roy Price for their contribution to media in the recent times.
Holt, who conducted a widely-viewed exclusive interview with President Donald Trump earlier last month, is known for his calm and unflinching manner both on and off the screen. According to NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, there to introduce Holt, told the audience how minutes before the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump began, Holt, who was about to moderate the debate that “was to be viewed by 80 million people, was sitting in an adjacent office watching an old Julia Roberts movie.”
Holt, who noted that he’d had been with NBC for “almost exactly seventeen years of my career,” reminded us in his speech that journalism needs to stay vigilant today, not only due the state of the nation, but also because “our viewers, who tell us more than ever that they’re counting on us.” Holt became the anchor of NBC Nightly News in June 2015 after eight years as the anchor of NBC Nightly News weekend editions and twelve years as the co-anchor of Weekend TODAY. He is currently also the principal anchor of Dateline NBC, and has been in the position since September 2011.
Amazon’s Roy Price was introduced by Transparent star Jeffrey Tambor, who noted Price is “a great alchemist, he puts people together and makes great work.” He noted working for him and Amazon has been nothing but pleasant, although when he was first told about the role for Transparent by his agent, he recalled asking his confused agent the same question his father asked him when he got his first role on television, “What number?”
Price took the opportunity in his speech to describe the shortcomings of film, noting the strength in television and his hopes of taking television content to the next level. He was not the first to joke about Amazon Prime’s two-day delivery service, but he good-humoredly added some of his own into his talk. Amazon Studios has accomplished much in the past couple years, with its show, Transparent, becoming the first show to be produced by a streaming media service to win a Golden Globe and also win an Emmy. It also won two Oscars for Manchester by the Sea and one for The Salesman last year, landing wins in the categories of Best Actor for Casey Affleck, Original Screenplay for Kenneth Lonergan, and Best Foreign Language Film for The Salesman.