Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie

This is a list of the winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, which is awarded since 1992. The category was originally called Outstanding Drama or Comedy Special.

In 1991, Outstanding Drama or Comedy Special category was merged with Outstanding Miniseries category to form Outstanding Drama or Comedy Special and Miniseries and the number of nominations increased from five to six. For this year, two miniseries had competed with four "made for television movies". The following year, 1992, the new category was split to re-form the Outstanding Miniseries and Outstanding Made for Television Movie categories.

In 2011, the category was merged with the Outstanding Limited Series category to create the Outstanding Miniseries or Movie category. However, in 2014, the decision was reversed, and the separate Miniseries and Television Movie categories were reinstated. Rules were also changed in 2019 requiring at least a 75-minute runtime for movies to be eligible.

In the history of this category, there has been four incidents of ties. The first occurred in 1976 when Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years tied with Sybil, the second occurred in 1989 when Day One tied with Roe vs. Wade, the third occurred in 1990 when Caroline? tied with The Incident, and the fourth occurred in 1993 when Barbarians at the Gate tied with Stalin.

Anthology series
In the 1950s and 1960s, anthology series were typically nominated in Drama Series categories. A resurgence of anthology series such as Black Mirror led individual episodes to be nominated for Outstanding Television Movie. Black Mirror won in 2017 with "San Junipero" and in 2018 with "USS Callister". In 2018, rule changes restricted the category to runtimes of at least 75 minutes. Black Mirror won again in 2019 with the interactive film Bandersnatch, which has a variable runtime, nominally 90 minutes. Netflix petitioned for "Smithereens" to be submitted in the category in 2020, despite a 70-minute runtime. This was initially allowed, but it was later entered as Outstanding Drama Series instead.

Critics for IndieWire disagreed with ATAS's decisions that Black Mirror fell within the Television Movie scope, as it is episodic. Variety's Michael Schneider noted that it was unclear where else the fifth series could have been nominated due to Drama Series and Limited Series requirements. In 2021, the Limited Series category was renamed Limited or Anthology Series.

Programs with multiple wins

 * 3 wins
 * Black Mirror (consecutive)

Producers with multiple awards

 * 4 awards
 * David Susskind


 * 3 awards
 * Charlie Brooker
 * Annabel Jones
 * Harry R. Sherman


 * 2 awards
 * Robert Benedetti
 * Dante Di Loreto
 * Scott Ferguson
 * Glenn Jordan
 * Daniel Melnick
 * Dorothea G. Petrie
 * Marian Rees
 * Jay Roach
 * George Schaefer
 * Aaron Spelling
 * E. Duke Vincent
 * Paula Weinstein

Programs with multiple nominations
Totals include continuing series, but not sequels or revivals as is the case with Eleanor and Franklin and Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years, Death of a Salesman and Death of a Salesman, and others.


 * 4 nominations
 * Sherlock


 * 3 nominations
 * Black Mirror


 * 2 nominations
 * Luther

Producers with multiple nominations

 * 8 nominations
 * David Susskind


 * 7 nominations
 * George Schaefer


 * 6 nominations
 * Frank Doelger
 * Neil Meron
 * Ridley Scott
 * Craig Zadan


 * 5 nominations
 * Rebecca Eaton
 * Scott Ferguson
 * Glenn Jordan


 * 4 nominations
 * Herbert Brodkin
 * Dante Di Loreto
 * Alan Landsburg
 * Robert Halmi Jr.
 * Robert Halmi Sr.
 * Sam Haskell
 * Hudson Hickman
 * Barry Levinson
 * Steven Moffat
 * Dolly Parton
 * Marian Rees
 * Tracey Scoffield
 * Brent Shields
 * Martin Starger
 * David M. Thompson
 * Beryl Vertue
 * Sue Vertue
 * Paula Weinstein
 * Richard Welsh


 * 3 nominations
 * Frederick H. Brogger
 * Cary Brokaw
 * Charlie Brooker
 * Robert W. Christiansen
 * David Coatsworth
 * John Erman
 * Tom Fontana
 * Dirk Hoogstra
 * Annabel Jones
 * Ross Katz
 * Frank Konigsberg
 * Joe Lazarov
 * Kenny Leon
 * Richard Levinson
 * William Link
 * Abby Mann
 * Joshua D. Maurer
 * Ryan Murphy
 * Dorothea G. Petrie
 * Lydia Dean Pilcher
 * David Puttnam
 * Jay Roach
 * David A. Rosemount
 * Rick Rosenberg
 * Edgar J. Scherick
 * Tony Scott
 * Harry R. Sherman
 * Ann Wingate
 * David W. Zucker


 * 2 nominations
 * Robert Allan Ackerman
 * Doro Bachrach
 * Alan Ball
 * Philip Barry Jr.
 * Andrea Baynes
 * Robert Benedetti
 * Robert Berger
 * Halle Berry
 * Simon Bosanquet
 * Vincent Cirrincione
 * Cecil Clarke
 * Glenn Close
 * Fred Coe
 * Shakim Compere
 * Robert F. Colesberry
 * Celia Costas
 * Richard Dale
 * Peter Douglas
 * Nancy Dubuc
 * Peter K. Duchow
 * John M. Eckert
 * Brad Falchuk
 * Delia Fine
 * Bill Finnegan
 * John Frankenheimer
 * Dede Gardner
 * James Garner
 * David Gerber
 * Clara George
 * Nick Gillott
 * David R. Ginsburg
 * Tim Goodchild
 * Mark Gordon
 * Linda Gottlieb
 * Thomas M. Hammel
 * Andy Harries
 * Michael Hausman
 * Richard Heus
 * Anne Hopkins
 * Juliette Howell
 * Bethan Jones
 * Queen Latifah
 * Norman Lear
 * Mary Lisio
 * Fay Kanin
 * John Kemeny
 * Pamela Koffler


 * Audrey Maas
 * Peter Macdissi
 * Michael Mahoney
 * Philip Mandelker
 * Sam Manners
 * Stan Margulies
 * Tony Mark
 * Craig McNeil
 * Daniel Melnick
 * Stephen Merchant
 * Leanne Moore
 * Peter Morgan
 * Oren Moverman
 * Nellie Rachel Nugiel
 * David J. O'Connell
 * Richard L. O'Connor
 * Bill O'Reilly
 * Frances Croke Page
 * Robert Papazian
 * Charlie Parsons
 * Julie Payne
 * George W. Perkins
 * Brad Pitt
 * Jon Plowman
 * Marykay Powell
 * Ilene Kahn Power
 * Michael Prupas
 * David W. Rintels
 * Edwin Self
 * Bernard Sofronski
 * Jason Sosnoff
 * Steve Spielberg
 * Aaron Spelling
 * Shelby Stone
 * Ernest Tidyman
 * Suzanne Todd
 * Christine Vachon
 * Chrisann Verges
 * David Victor
 * E. Duke Vincent
 * Kerry Washington
 * Teri Weinberg
 * John Wells
 * Oprah Winfrey
 * Alexis Martin Woodall

Total awards by network

 * HBO/HBO Max – 22
 * NBC – 9
 * CBS – 8
 * ABC – 5
 * Netflix – 4
 * Disney+ – 1
 * PBS – 1
 * Syndicated – 1
 * TNT – 1
 * Roku Channel — 1