George Lucas & Kathleen Kennedy To Receive PGA's 2022 Milestone Award

Director George Lucas and current Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy are about to receive a major award for their contributions to the entertainment industry.

On Friday morning, the Producers Guild of America announced that the two were going to be honored with the 2022 Milestone Awards. The award is going to be given to the pair due to their “unparalleled contributions to the film industry both individually and collaboratively through Lucasfilm.”

The Milestone Award is reported to be PGA’s most prestigious honors. In 2020, the Producers Guild of America awarded the Milestone Award to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos. Other honorees of the award include Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock, and Louis B. Mayer.

More recent recipients of the prestigious honor also include Steven Spielberg, BobIger, SherryLansing, ClintEastwood, BrianGrazer and Ron Howard, and James Cameron and Donna Langley.

George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy have already made statements thanking the Producers Guild of America for the legendary award, with Lucas calling it “a celebration of all that goes into bringing stories to life across a lifetime.”

In a joint statement, the Producers Guild of America Presidents Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher said, “Together, George and Kathleen have carved out a fantastic empire of entertainment that inspires and entertains billions, all with the highest levels of both creative and technical achievement.”

“What George has built through his movies and through Lucasfilm has enriched every facet of filmmaking, and his colossal creativity and technical genius amazed the world,” they continued. “Kathleen has ascended to the highest levels of our industry, facing ever-changing challenges each time she succeeded in producing one of the brilliant and boundary-breaking films she is known for. And since joining Lucasfilm as president, she has expertly exalted its IP to be even more influential and treasured around the world.”

They concluded by saying, “We’re very proud to honor George and Kathleen as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of LucasFilm.”

Lucas was the first to respond to the news, calling it “a celebration of all that goes into bringing stories to life across a lifetime.”

“Receiving the Milestone Award from the PGA is a celebration of all that goes into bringing stories to life across a lifetime… protecting creativity while balancing business, moving technology forward to make real what you can see in your mind’s eye, and doing it all from scratch most of the time,” Lucas said.

“Being recognized alongside my longtime friend and fellow producer Kathleen Kennedy makes this honoring of our shared and individual works even more meaningful,” he added.

Kathleen Kennedy also issued a short statement, saying, “I am very honored to share this award with George Lucas who has inspired a generation of filmmakers who were coming of age, not only through his storytelling but through technological innovation that unlocked our imagination.”

Although the awards ceremony was originally scheduled to take place on February 26, they have decided to postpone the ceremony due to the recent increase in COVID-19 cases. The ceremony will now take place on Saturday, March 19, 2022. The award ceremony will take place in the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel.

The nominees for theatrical and animated motion picture nominees, as well as television and streaming nominees, will be announced on January 27. The nominations for children’s categories, sports categories, and short-form categories will be announced slightly earlier: on January 18.

The winners of those categories will be announced at the PGA Awards’ Nominee celebrations in Los Angeles and New York during the week of March 15. The film and television nominees will not be announced until the ceremony on March 19.