The Scream Awards were an annual awards show run and broadcast by Spike TV from 2006 to 2011. 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, i.e. Scream 2009. 

These events were billed as a commemoration of "all things sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic book" featuring "the hottest films, TV shows, comics, actors, 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, Michael Levitt and Cindy Levitt, who served as the shows executive producers for its six year run. 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, Tim Burton, John Carpenter, Roland Emmerich, Neil Gaiman, Guillermo Del Toro, David S. Goyer, Geoff Johns, R. Eric Lieb, Stephen King, Tim Kring, Damon Lindelof, Stephenie Meyer, Frank Miller, Brian Pulido, Eli Roth, Robert Rodriguez, George A. Romero, Zack Snyder, Quentin Tarantino, Judd Winick, Joss Whedon, Jonathan Woods, and Rob Zombie 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 (Los Angeles, California). The inaugural 2006 ceremony was held at the Pantages Theatre. From 2007 to 2010, it was held at the Greek Theatre. The 2011 ceremony was held at the backlot of Universal Studios. On the Tuesday directly after the Awards Ceremony, the event was aired on Spike TV, close to Halloween.

Performances

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

The 2009 and 2011 ceremonies were the only ones not have any musical performances.

Categories

The Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders advised on the composition of the categories each year. The categories featured during the 6 years of these awards included:-

Competitive Categories

Special Awards

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 voters ... This event has been long overdue". Zack Snyder said, at the 2008 Scream Awards, “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 comic book 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 Angles Times), said "The Scream Awards presented a pop-culture environment where film-makers like Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan shared the same stage as comic-book writers such as Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy. 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, said "In hitching its wagon to Ultimate Fighting Championship, Star Wars marathons, and no fewer than three awards programs — Guys' Choice Awards (established 2007), Scream Awards (established 2006) and Video Game Awards (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 (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 initial Scream Awards sponsorship was part of it push for its product "to be to Halloween what Guinness is to St. Patrick's Day." Arthur Shapiro, Alcohol industry consultant, said "No one has locked up Halloween yet. The Captain has the horsepower to do it."

Sponsors

With the exception of Taco Bell, the sponsors for each year's awards ceremony varied: -

Ratings

In 2009, the Scream Awards 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 Scream Awards drew only 800,000 viewers for the 9 p.m. premier and 471,000 for the 11 p.m. telecast.

In 2011, the Scream Awards notably underpreformed drawing only 698,000 viewers over the week. This placed it 15th in a Horror Society rating ranking of horror content for that week, just below Scare Tactics 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).

See also
 Saturn Awards

References

Comics awards
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