Art Directors Guild Awards Celebrate Excellence in Production Design: 'Frankenstein' and 'One Battle After Another' Win Top Film Honors

The annual cascade of industry accolades offers a particular resonance for the crafts that often operate below the line, yet dictate the very texture and visual language of a film. When the Art Directors Guild (ADG) convenes for its awards ceremony, it is not just a celebration; it is a pointed reminder of the meticulous, often invisible, labor that shapes our cinematic experiences. This year's 30th anniversary ADG Awards, held Saturday night at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, saw Warner Bros' One Battle After Another and Netflix's Frankenstein take top film honors, underscoring the enduring power of meticulously crafted environments in storytelling. Also recognized were Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters and Disney/Marvel's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, indicating a broad appreciation across genres.

For decades, the ADG Awards have served as a significant barometer for the Academy's own choices in Production Design. One of the guild's winners has gone on to take the Oscar for Production Design (or its predecessor, Best Art Direction) 21 times in 29 years, including 11 of the last 12. One need only look to 2025's win for Wicked production designer Nathan Crowley and set decorator Lee Sandales, who took home the Academy Award two weeks after their ADG triumph, to understand the predictive weight of these guild honors. It is a testament to the specialized eye of art directors and production designers recognizing their peers, often a more informed assessment of the technical and artistic achievement than the broader Academy vote.

The film awards began with KPop Demon Hunters, earning Mingjue Helen Chen and Dave Bleich the Animated Feature prize. This film, already noted as Netflix's most-watched of all time, has been on an impressive awards run, having collected 10 Annie Awards (including best feature), three Visual Effects Society trophies, and the Producers Guild Award in the preceding weeks. Such cross-guild recognition speaks volumes about the holistic strength of its visual conception and execution. Animation, often viewed as a separate discipline, relies just as heavily (if not more so) on the foundational principles of production design to build its worlds from the ground up, an aspect that Chen and Bleich have demonstrably mastered.

The Fantasy Feature category, always a hotly contested arena given its demands for imaginative world-building, saw Kasra Farahani take the prize for Disney/Marvel's The Fantastic Four: First Steps. This win notably came over formidable contenders like Avatar: Fire and Ash and Wicked: For Good, showcasing that even within the expansive landscape of tentpole productions, design ingenuity can distinguish itself. Fantasy design, in particular, requires an intrinsic understanding of narrative demands, building environments that feel both wondrous and rooted in a tangible logic, however fantastical. It is an exercise in controlled maximalism, where every prop and set piece must serve the underlying mythology without overwhelming the audience.

In the television landscape, the ADG recognized a variety of achievements, highlighting the increasingly cinematic quality permeating episodic content. Three Apple TV series garnered awards, pointing to a platform that consistently invests in the visual integrity of its productions. Julie Berghoff, for The Studio, secured the Half Hour Single Camera Series prize, reflecting the nuanced demands of shorter-form narrative design. Jeremy Hindle's work on Severance earned the One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Series award, a series known for its distinctive, almost anachronistic design that itself functions as a character within the narrative, a testament to how powerfully production design can communicate theme. Jon Carlos then followed suit, taking the Period Single-Camera prize for Palm Royale, illustrating the precise historical research and stylistic consistency required to transport an audience to a specific bygone era.

Luke Hull received the One-Hour Fantasy Series award for Disney+'s Andor, a Star Wars series praised for eschewing traditional franchise aesthetics in favor of a more grounded, industrial look. For a sci-fi property, the challenge often lies in making futuristic or alien environments feel lived-in and authentic rather than purely decorative. Hull's recognition further evidences the series' design impact, which also saw a win at the VES Awards.

Further television accolades included Glenda Rovello of Hulu's Mid-Century Modern winning for Multi-Camera Series, a category often overlooked but demanding a specific understanding of spatial dynamics for multi-camera setups. The Variety or Reality Series prize went to Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, N. Joseph De Tullio, and Andrea Purcigliotti for the Lady Gaga-hosted episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live, with Yoshimura, Raywood, and De Tullio repeating their win for SNL 50: The Anniversary Special. These wins acknowledge the rapid, dynamic demands of live television, where sets must be versatile, striking, and built for quick changes under extreme pressure. Matthew Flood Ferguson of Monster: The Ed Gein Story was recognized for TV Movie or Limited Series, a format that often allows for the expansive visual storytelling of a feature film within an episodic structure.

Beyond film and television, Florencia Martin collected a second award of the evening for the Prada "Galleria Bag" commercial, while Shane Valentino won Short Format and Music Videos for the Apple "Someday by Spike Jonze" AirPods campaign. Martin's double win (Contemporary Film and Commercials) underscores her versatility across formats.

Special honors distributed throughout the evening served as an essential historical grounding, reminding attendees of the lineage of creativity within the guild. Filmmaker Jon M. Chu, known for his work on the Wicked films (which have amassed over $1.28 billion worldwide), accepted the 2026 Cinematic Imagery Award. Chu, whose diverse filmography spans from In the Heights to directing a live-action take on Mattel's Hot Wheels, embodies a versatility that commands respect. During his speech, Chu reflected on saying goodbye to the Wicked journey and called filmmaking "an empathy exercise built into our culture for generations" while telling the room of production designers and set decorators, "You are not simply designers. I think you are explorers."

The inaugural President's Award was given to Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA), an individual whose journey from an entertainment industry background at HBO and Paramount to a career in public service has been marked by steadfast advocacy for the craft. Her fight for union jobs and state and federal tax incentives, the perennial lifeblood of localized production, resonates deeply with an industry always grappling with economic realities. During her speech, Friedman vowed to defend the film and television industry and continue fighting for a national film tax credit. "Hollywood is worth fighting for," she told the room. "We are going to continue working on this tax credit."

Lifetime Achievement Awards recognized those who have left an indelible mark on their respective disciplines. Set designer and art director Jann Engel, a multi-time ADG Award winner whose credits span major superhero and period productions, received deserved recognition. Her career illustrates an ability to translate ambitious concepts into three-dimensional, compelling spaces. These designers are the architects of the fantastical, constructing the very canvases upon which cinematic narratives unfold.

Oscar-nominated production designer Bo Welch, whose credits include Men in Black, The Birdcage, Beetlejuice, and Edward Scissorhands, was honored as well. Presented by Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld, Welch's career stands as a masterclass in versatility, navigating genres from dark fantasy to quirky period pieces and comedies. In an emotional moment, Welch dedicated his award to his late wife, actress Catherine O'Hara, who passed away in January, calling their marriage and two sons "my greatest lifetime achievement."

The posthumous induction of production designer Thomas E. Sanders into the ADG Hall of Fame offered a poignant moment of reflection on a career immortalized by iconic work. A two-time Oscar nominee for Saving Private Ryan and Bram Stoker's Dracula, with additional credits including Braveheart, Sanders's work speaks to a profound understanding of how environment shapes character and narrative. His collaboration with Guillermo del Toro on Crimson Peak further cemented his legacy in crafting rich, atmospheric worlds. Thomas E. Sanders's body of work, meticulously detailed and emotionally resonant, reminds us that the best production design is more than just dressing a set; it is about crafting a psychological space for the story to inhabit. Turning theme into shot design is an exercise that builds directly from the foundation of a production designer's efforts.

Scenic artist Stephen McNally, whose resume spans feature films and television series, also received a lifetime honor. His work, often unseen by the general public but critical to a film's visual authenticity, highlights the specialized crafts that underpin the entire art department. These individuals are the unseen artisans, the ones who bring the production designer's vision to life with paint, texture, and ingenuity.

Finally, storyboard artist and production designer Tom Southwell was recognized, his work spanning dozens of films across myriad genres over a prolific career. The sheer breadth of his contributions speaks to a deep well of visual literacy and adaptability, illustrating how fundamental storyboarding is, not just for staging action, but for pre-visualizing the entire design of a sequence. Southwell's career trajectory underscores the collaborative and foundational role that a strong visual artist plays in every phase of filmmaking, from concept to completion.

The ceremony, in its entirety, served as a potent validation of the art and craft of production design. It highlighted how pivotal these visual architects are, working tirelessly to translate narrative into environmental reality, to ground character in physical space, and to convey emotion through aesthetics. For those of us observing these trends, it is clear that the industry, through its various guilds, continues to articulate its appreciation for the practitioners who build the worlds we see on screen. The MUAHS Awards, which also recognized Frankenstein and One Battle After Another, further demonstrate the cross-craft strength of this year's top contenders. These awards, much like a well-designed set, establish the context, the mood, and indeed, the very possibility of the story that unfolds within them.

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