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Emmy voting is now closed, and not a moment too soon.

Every year, more than 27,000 members of the Television Academy — actors and editors, showrunners and composers, the people who actually make television — sit down with their ballots and decide who walks away with an Emmy. And every year, almost none of them will tell us, on the record, what they really think.

So, like we do with Oscar voters, we reached out to a few of them ourselves.

In the final days of voting for the 78th Emmy Awards, Variety spoke with dozens of Academy members across the organization’s 31 professional peer groups — the specialty divisions that sort the membership by craft, from performers to picture editors — and promised each of them anonymity in exchange for total candor. What we saw was a very small snapshot of where the race could go when awards are handed out across the first two weekends in September.

Every voter was also asked the same four questions off the ballot — their biggest snub, the most overspent FYC campaign, the network or streamer having the best season and the one win that would actually move the business. Their answers close each entry.

In the categories deemed “area awards” — hosted nonfiction and variety series — voters have the opportunity to select multiple nominees by answering a simple question: Does this show deserve an Emmy? Yes or No. Interestingly, not one voter Variety spoke with checked “Yes” for every nominee, and only four of those surveyed selected more than one. That strongly suggests voters aren’t viewing these categories as an opportunity to spread the wealth, but rather as a traditional “may the best show win” competition.

Ballots have been edited for length and, where necessary, to protect identities.

The opinions are their own. They’re contradictory, occasionally indefensible and, at least for the purposes of this article, the only ones that matter.

Notably, and vitally important to point out, 10 ballots are not an official presidential poll. They are barely even a focus group. But what you get is a window into a small, unscientific and anecdotal sample of a voting body of more than 20,000 industry professionals. Nobody should mistake this for a forecast, and the voters themselves would be the first to tell you as well (except for one, anyway).

What these conversations reveal, year after year, is how little of the field any one voter has actually seen. Most watch a fraction of what they’re voting on, then default to what they feel they’re supposed to pick — the title everyone’s talking about. It’s a very human way to fill out a ballot, and it makes Emmy voters a notably more out-of-the-loop bunch than the Oscar crowd I sample every season, who at least tend to show they’ve done their homework.

If you fold in what these 10 told us — and what they suspect their colleagues are quietly doing — the picture that emerges looks an awful lot like the one the pundits have been sketching all along.

“The Pitt” looks poised to take drama in a runaway. Comedy is most definitely “Widow’s Bay” against “Hacks,” though the freshman holds a considerable edge over the departing champ. And in limited series, the expected “Beef” vs. “DTF St. Louis” duel is real — but I was struck by how much affection kept surfacing for “The Beast in Me.” Call it, at the very least, a spoiler worth watching.

The first two nights celebrating the artisans and the Governors Gala will take place on Sept. 5-6. The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards air Sept. 14 on NBC.

Final Emmy predictions will be revealed before the first ceremony date.

VOTER 1 — The Suit Who Didn’t Watch but Voted Anyway

Peer group: Television Executives

“Who has time to watch all this crap?”

Official votes submitted:

Biggest snub: “The Testaments”
Most overspent FYC campaign: “The Pitt”
Network/streamer having the best season: HBO
A win that would actually move the business: “Widow’s Bay”

VOTER 2 — The Actor Who’s Voted “Hacks” Every Year Since the Start

Peer group: Performers

“I don’t know a single person who watches all the nominees. Who has time? … I’ve loved ‘Hacks’ since the beginning and have voted for it every year it’s on the air.”

Official votes submitted:

Peer group ballot — Performers:

Biggest snub: Jamie Bell, “Half Man”
Most overspent FYC campaign: Anything Apple
Network/streamer having the best season: Apple
A win that would actually move the business: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

VOTER 3 — All In on ‘Widow’s Bay’ and Claire Danes

Peer group: Casting Directors

“The same stuff is nominated every year and it’s hard for new things to break in. I’m all in on ‘Widow’s Bay’ … I did not see ‘Beef’ or ‘DTF St. Louis’ — I’m rooting for Claire Danes!”

Official votes submitted:

Peer group ballot — Casting Directors:

Biggest snub: “Game Changer” (Outstanding Game Show) and “Age of Attraction” (casting)
Most overspent FYC campaign: “Widow’s Bay”
Network/streamer having the best season: Hulu
A win that would actually move the business: “SubwayTakes With Kareem Rahma”

VOTER 4 — ‘The Whole Industry Is Now Completely F—ed’

Peer group: Cinematographers

“This year shows how this whole industry is now completely fucked!”

Official votes submitted:

Peer group ballot — Cinematographers:

Biggest snub: “Task”
Most overspent FYC campaign: “Widow’s Bay” and “Hacks”
Network/streamer having the best season: The streamers
A win that would actually move the business: Any broadcast show

VOTER 5 — The Voter Who Thinks We Should Predict Based on Their Ballot

Peer group: Daytime Programming

“I loved so much of this year’s television. … Everyone I spoke to about their ballots, many of them look just like mine. I’m not a predicting guru like you, but I think mine is the right ballot to predict.”

Official votes submitted:

Biggest snub: K Callan, “Widow’s Bay”
Most overspent FYC campaign: All of them.
Network/streamer having the best season: HBO and Netflix
A win that would actually move the business: Everyone from “Widow’s Bay”

VOTER 6 — The Cynic Who Says It’s All About Who You Know

Peer group: Music

“I wish there was a better way to do all these award nominations. If you have friends in this industry, you get your name on the list — even if you’ve made a piece of shit.”

Official votes submitted:

Peer group ballot — Music:

Biggest snub: “High Potential”
Most overspent FYC campaign: Disney
Network/streamer having the best season: Peacock
A win that would actually move the business: The actors who self-submitted from “The Pitt”

VOTER 7 — An Actor’s Director, Smitten With Bateman and Offerman

Peer group: Directors

“I love Jason Bateman in ‘Black Rabbit’ and Nick Offerman in both of his TV shows.”

Official votes submitted:

Peer group ballot — Directors:

Biggest snub: Michael Shannon, “Death by Lightning”
Most overspent FYC campaign: The talk show hosts
Network/streamer having the best season: Netflix
A win that would actually move the business: Salli Richardson-Whitfield

VOTER 8 — The Writer Who Already Knows How This Ends

Peer group: Writers

“It’s a weird year. I liked a lot of the shows and performances nominated, but I feel like we know what’s going to win, and it can make you feel like, ‘What’s the point?’”

Official votes submitted:

Peer group ballot — Writers:

VOTER 9 — The Editor Missing Dolly Parton

Peer group: Picture Editors

“How can we vote when Dolly Parton is gone?”

Official votes submitted:

Peer group ballot — Picture Editors:

Biggest snub: “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat”
Most overspent FYC campaign: Apple and Amazon
Network/streamer having the best season: HBO and Netflix
A win that would actually move the business: “Hacks”

VOTER 10 — The Academy Turns Up Its Nose at the Shows People Watch

Peer group: Reality programming

“’Real Housewives’ and ‘The Valley’ are way overdue for love. They’re the most-watched shows anywhere, and the Academy turns up its nose at them.”

Official votes submitted:

Peer group ballot — Reality Programming:

Biggest snub: “The Real Housewives of Rhode Island”
Most overspent FYC campaign: All of them
Network/streamer having the best season: HBO and Apple
A win that would actually move the business: “Survivor”

“Last Man in Tower,” the Aravind Adiga adaptation starring Manoj Bajpayee, is headed to Indian theaters this September and has unveiled its first teaser.

The film, directed by Ben Rekhi and produced by Rana Daggubati‘s Spirit Media, will mark the first time Bajpayee and co-star Boman Irani have shared the screen.

Adapted from Adiga’s novel of the same name – the author also wrote Booker-winning “The White Tiger” – the screenplay was written by Sooni Taraporevala, with Hindi-language dialogue by Juhi Chaturvedi. Divya Dutta completes the principal trio, with Sukant Goel also in the cast.

The story follows Masterji, a retired schoolteacher whose refusal to go along with those around him places him in direct conflict with his own community. His act of quiet resistance ripples outward, throwing into relief the choices and compromises of neighbors – including Mrs. Puri – as an offer of change tests what each of them is willing to hold on to.

Rekhi said: “It’s been a deeply fulfilling experience bringing ‘Last Man in Tower’ to life with an incredible team top to bottom, from Rana Daggubati producing, to Sooni Taraporevala scripting, all based on Aravind Adiga’s incredible book. The most rewarding part has been witnessing the power of Manoj and Boman – two giants of cinema – working together for the first time in this film. Divya brings an incredible depth and emotional strength to the ensemble, and the combination of these three actors makes the world of the film particularly special. ‘Last Man in Tower’ is an urgent story about holding onto community and family through turbulent times… a story that has only become more relevant with time.”

The release will also be a milestone for Spirit Media, the Hyderabad-based company “Baahubali” star Daggubati founded in 2005: it is the outfit’s first Hindi feature production.

Daggubati said: “‘Last Man in Tower’ is a deeply human story. What drew us to it was how naturally it finds something universal in the lives of a very specific group of people. There is something very compelling about the way it explores the choices we make and the things we hold on to. The entire ensemble of cast led by Manoj, Divya, and Boman bring an incredible depth to their characters. ‘Last Man in Tower’ also marks an important milestone for Spirit Media as our first Hindi feature production, and our continued effort towards creating space for fresh new stories and voices for the big-screen audience.”

Rekhi is a Los Angeles-based director whose credits include the SXSW Audience Award-winning “Waterborne” and “Watch List,” which earned 11 nominations at the Filipino Oscars and won two. His documentary short “The Breakthrough Group” was qualified for the 2026 Academy Awards in the best documentary short subject category. “Last Man in Tower” is his sixth feature.

Music is by Govind Vasantha; cinematography by Rangarajan Ramabadran. Additional producers are Guneet Dogra and Pratiksha Rao.

“Last Man in Tower” opens in Indian theaters on Sept. 11.

Watch the teaser here:

Parallax has acquired international sales rights to Anuparna Roy’s “Lovers in the Blue Night,” which will have its world premiere in the Horizons competition at the Venice Film Festival.

The film brings Roy back to the Lido one year after she became the first Indian filmmaker to win the Horizons best director prize, an honor she took for her debut feature, “Songs of Forgotten Trees.”

Set amid Mumbai’s restless nightlife, “Lovers in the Blue Night” centers on four migrants whose lives intertwine: a husband hiding his sexuality, his lonely wife who works in a bar, a petty criminal and a man who trades in sex work. Their paths converge through unlikely romance, hidden longing and a shared fight to survive and belong.

“We were deeply impressed by the film’s delicate and nuanced portrayal of human emotions,” said Parallax’s Liuying Cao. “Rather than relying on dramatic gestures, it finds remarkable strength in subtle moments, which stayed with us long after the screening. We are also very excited by Anuparna Roy’s distinct directorial voice. We sincerely hope to accompany her and her future works on their international journey, beginning with ‘Lovers in the Blue Night.’”

The production is backed by Vikas Kumar of Khan & Kumar Media, Sharib Khan of Ammi Media, Bibhanshu Rai and Romil Modi, who previously worked together on Roy’s “Songs of Forgotten Trees.” The team has since grown with the addition of U.S.-based Rhet Topham as producer, U.S.-based Beesham Sreecharan as executive producer and London-based Amar Singh as associate producer, joining executive producer Neeraj Churi.

The cast includes Neelima Sharma, Pritam Pilania, Bhushan Shimpi, Jatin Sarin, Kajal Keshav, Swetha Mishra and Vinod Suryavanshi. Roy also wrote the story. Debjit Samanta served as cinematographer, Ketul Thakkar edited the film and Nishant Ramtake composed the original score.