The Scream Awards were an annual awards show run and broadcast by

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

from 2005 to 2012. The premier Awards Ceremony was known as Spike TV's Scream Awards 2006, however, for subsequent years, the show was relabeled to simply "Scream", followed with the respective year, e.g., Scream 2009. These events were billed as a commemoration of "all things

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

and

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

" featuring "the hottest

films A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of Visual arts, visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are gen ...

TV shows A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...

comics a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

s, creators, and icons who have influenced and shaped these genres". Those recognised came from across a number of entertainment platforms including movies, television and comic books.

Creation

The show was created by

Casey Patterson Casey Patterson is an American television executive, producer and director. Patterson is credited as the creator of The Comedy Awards, the Guys Choice Awards, the Scream Awards, and was the co-creator of ''The Sharon Osbourne Show''. She also p ...

, Michael Levitt and Cindy Levitt, who served as the shows executive producers for its six year run.Alt URL
/ref> Casey Patterson, who was also the executive vice president of event production, talent development and studio relations for Spike TV, described these awards as "a show for the most passionate fans on earth and beyond ... This is their night to celebrate the magical, mind-bending and super heroic year in movies and the TV shows that they love."

Production

The Scream 2009 nominees were chosen by the ''Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders''. Over the 6 years the awards were run, this board was varyingly made up of respected and well-known members of the horror, sci-fi, fantasy and comic book worlds, including

Wes Craven Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly sla ...

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and producer. Known for popularizing Goth subculture, Goth culture in the American film industry, Burton is famous for his Gothic film, gothic horror and dark fantasy films. ...

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...

Roland Emmerich Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German-American filmmaker. Emmerich is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the movie industry. His films, most of which are Eng ...

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, Gothic fiction, gothicism and horror fiction, horror often blending the genres ...

David S. Goyer David Samuel Goyer (born December 22, 1965) is an American filmmaker, novelist, and comic book writer. He is best known for writing the screenplays and stories for several superhero films, including '' Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' (1998), t ...

Geoff Johns Geoffrey Johns (born January 25, 1973) is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash (comics), Flash, and Superman has drawn critical accl ...

R. Eric Lieb R. Eric Lieb is an American writer currently working at Skydance Interactive. Career history Lieb has held positions at Artisan Entertainment and Lions Gate Entertainment, Lionsgate where he worked on such films as the Academy Award-winning ''Crash ...

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

Tim Kring Richard Timothy Kring (born July 9, 1957) is an American screenwriter and television producer, best known for his creation of the drama series '' Strange World'', ''Crossing Jordan'', '' Heroes'', and ''Touch''. Early life Kring was born in El ...

Damon Lindelof Damon Laurence Lindelof (born April 24, 1973) is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, and producer. Among his accolades, he received three Primetime Emmy Awards, from twelve nominations. In 2010, ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine named ...

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire literature, vampire romance series ''Twilight (novel series), Twilight'', which has sold over 160 million ...

Frank Miller Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'', for which he created the character Elektra, and ...

Brian Pulido Brian Pulido (born November 30, 1961) is an American creator, writer and producer of comic books and films. Early life Growing up in Long Branch, New Jersey, Pulido first developed an interest in the horror genre after the release of ''Night of ...

Eli Roth Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, namely splatter films, having directed the films ''Cabin Fev ...

Robert Rodriguez Robert Anthony Rodriguez ( ; born June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 ...

, George A. Romero,

Zack Snyder Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with ''Dawn of the Dead (2004 film), Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead (1978 film), of the same name ...

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. Quentin Tarantino filmography, His films are characterized by graphic violence, extended dialogue often featuring much profanity, and references to ...

Judd Winick Judd Winick (born February 12, 1970) is an American cartoonist, comic book writer and screenwriter, as well as a former reality television personality. He first gained fame for his stint on MTV's ''The Real World: San Francisco'' in 1994, before ...

Joss Whedon Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon ( ; born June 23, 1964) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, comic book writer, and composer. He is best known as the creator of several television series: the supernatural drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer' ...

, Jonathan Woods, and

Rob Zombie Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...

etc. The winners were chosen each year by a process of public online voting on the Spike TV website. The winners were announced at a live Scream Awards ceremony held in venues around

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

(

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

). The inaugural 2006 ceremony was held at the Pantages Theatre. From 2007 to 2010, it was held at the

Greek Theatre A theatrical culture flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. At its centre was the city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, and the theatre was institutionalised there as par ...

. The 2011 ceremony was held at the

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

. On the Tuesday directly after the Awards Ceremony, the event was aired on

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel and the flagship property of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, who operates it through the MTV Entertainment Group. The network's headquarters are locate ...

, close to

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

Performances

Different live rock acts were included in each year's ceremony, including:- The

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

ceremonies were the only ones not have any musical performances.

Farewell Tributes

Special tributes were given in some year for the conclusion of long-running shows, i.e. 2010 and 2011.

Reception

There was a consensus that these awards recognised works of genres that were normally unrecognised. Casey Patterson said of the Scream Awards that it "aims to do for superhero, horror and fantasy films what the MTV Movie Awards did for teen comedies by honoring genres usually overlooked by high-brow

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

voters ... This event has been long overdue".

said, at the

2008 Scream Awards Billed as ''Scream 2008'', the 2008 ceremony of the Scream Awards, run by Spike TV, was the third annual iteration of the awards. The awards ceremony was held on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and was aired on th ...

, “There’s a feeling that film and comic books and all these genres that didn’t used to get respect are having this truly dynamic moment right now.” Of those traditionally unrecognised genres, commentators saw the Scream Awards' recognition of the

genre as especially significant. In 2008, Casey Patterson said "the event began three years ago with an emphasis on horror, a genre that was surging at that time thanks to movies such as the ''Saw'' films and ''Hostel''. But in subsequent years, the show widened to embrace comic books and fantasy." Geoff Boucher (Los Angeles Times), said "The Scream Awards presented a

pop-culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, somet ...

environment where film-makers like ''Dark Knight'' director

Christopher Nolan Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for his Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters with complex storytelling, he is considered a leading filmma ...

shared the same stage as comic-book writers such as

Mike Mignola Michael Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a Hellboy Universe, shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', ''Abe Sapien'', ''Lobster Johns ...

, creator of ''

Hellboy Hellboy is a superhero created by Mike Mignola and appearing in comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various miniseries, one-shots ...

''. The LA times reported Mike Mignola as saying, when talking of Scream 2008, that "in the old days Hollywood would strip-mine comics and scoff at the creators. Now, they walk on the same red carpet, which on Saturday night had giant posters of the Green Lantern and Spider-Man above it.

Target audience & Sponsorship

Young males

The male-centric nature of this awards ceremony's target audience was recognised. Ray Richmond, from the

Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

, said "In hitching its wagon to

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

, ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' marathons, and no fewer than three awards programs — Guys' Choice Awards (established 2007), Scream Awards (established 2006) and

Video Game Awards Within the video game industry there are several awards that are given to individual video games, development studios, and other individuals to recognize their merit. Most video game awards are given out on an annual basis, celebrating the best g ...

(established 2003), the network has fulfilled its mission to provide action-themed comfort food for its male viewership. Juliet Corsinita, the media editor of

Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...

(one of the Scream Awards sponsors for its entire 6-year run), said that with respect to the Scream Awards, Taco Bell, whose core customers were "young men who eat fast food", has "a presenting sponsorship which over-delivered on its audience by 76%".

Halloween

Captain Morgan's Captain Morgan is a brand of flavoured rums (including, in Europe, some rum-flavoured "premium spirit drinks") produced by British alcohol conglomerate Diageo. It is named after the 17th-century Welsh people, Welsh privateer of the Caribbean, S ...

initial ''Scream Awards'' sponsorship was part of it push for its product "to be to

what

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

is to

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

." Arthur Shapiro, Alcohol industry consultant, said "No one has locked up Halloween yet. The Captain has the horsepower to do it."

Ratings

In 2009, the

Scream Awards The Scream Awards were an annual awards show run and broadcast by Paramount Network#Spike (2003–2018), Spike from 2005 to 2012. The premier Awards Ceremony was known as 2006 Scream Awards, Spike TV's Scream Awards 2006, however, for subsequent y ...

drew a total of 9.9 million viewers over its four telecasts. In the 18-34 male demo, the awards drew a 0.7 rating for the first telecast. In 2010, the initial Tuesday broadcast of the

drew only 800,000 viewers for the 9 p.m. premier and 471,000 for the 11 p.m. telecast. In 2011, the

notably underpreformed drawing only 698,000 viewers over the week. This placed it 15th in a

Horror Society The World Horror Convention was an annual professional gathering of the World Horror Society and other interested parties that ran annually for 26 years, from 1991 through 2016, before being discontinued. Site selection The annual World Horro ...

rating ranking of horror content for that week, just below

Scare Tactics ''Scare Tactics'' is an American comedy horror hidden camera television show created by Scott Hallock and Kevin Healey and aired on Syfy from April 4, 2003, to October 28, 2013. The first season of the show was hosted by Shannen Doherty and ...

on 793,000 viewers, compared to the two highest rating shows broadcast in that week of Terra Nova on 7,970,000 and The Walking Dead on 7,300,000 viewers.

Discontinuance

The Scream Awards ceremonies were discontinued in 2011, a move attributed to the dwindling popularity of the event and Spike TV's re-formatting (including even a change of their name to

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

). There were a total of 8 Scream Awards.

References

{{Authority control Comics awards in the United States American film awards Mass media science fiction awards American television awards Horror fiction awards Awards established in 2006 Awards disestablished in 2011 Spike (TV network) original programming

Creation

Production

Performances

Categories

Competitive Categories

Special Awards