CMT Awards Tap Top Producer and Director; GRAMMY Awards Date

Jesse Ignjatovic

CMT has tapped Executive Producer Jesse Ignjatovic, (MTV Video Music Awards) and Director Hamish Hamilton (The 82nd Annual Academy Awards 2010) to produce and direct the 2010 CMT Music Awards, it was announced today (4/13) by John Hamlin, SVP Production, Development and Talent, CMT. When the CMT Music Awards are broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, June 9, on CMT and CMT.com, it will be the third collaboration between Ignjatovic and Hamilton. The duo previously worked together on the 2007 and 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Since 2007, when Jesse Ignjatovic founded Den of Thieves, he has Executive Produced the MTV Video Music Awards, drawing increased ratings each year, and capturing 27 million viewers last year alone. Ignjatovic also Executive Produced the 2010 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, which saw a 39% ratings increase, and is currently in production of Season 2 of The T.O. Show for VH1. Ignjatovic spent 14 years at MTV where he co-created, produced and developed such programming as Meet the Barkers, Diary, mtvICON, and Dancelife with Jennifer Lopez.

British creative director Hamish Hamilton is a globally respected, multi-camera award show and concert film director. Most recently he directed The 82nd Annual Academy Awards, with this year’s show garnering its highest ratings since 2005. Just one month earlier, Hamilton created the visually arresting Super Bowl halftime show featuring The Who. Other Hamilton credits include six years on the The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, and live concert films by Madonna, U2, Rolling Stones, Christina Aguilera and Amy Winehouse.

•••••••••••••••••••

The 53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards will take place at the Los Angeles STAPLES Center on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011, and will air live on CBS from 8 – 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The date for the GRAMMY nominations announcement will be revealed soon.

As a result of last year’s earlier show and Awards process dates, this year the eligibility dates for the 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards are Sept. 1, 2009, through Sept. 30, 2010. (This year will mark a 13-month eligibility period.)

GRAMMY Week — a weeklong series of cultural events culminating in Music’s Biggest Night — will again feature celebrations of music, fashion, arts education and philanthropy, including the Salute To series, GRAMMY Style Studio, GRAMMY Career Day, Clive Davis and The Recording Academy’s Pre-GRAMMY Gala, the annual MusiCares® Person of the Year tribute, the GRAMMY Foundation’s Music Preservation Project, the Entertainment Law Initiative luncheon, a Producers & Engineers Wing event, and GRAMMY Museum programs, among others.