The Circus of Books Documentary has been nominated for a 2020 Emmy Award. The little Documentary that could has been recognized for excellence by the television industry in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program. Writers Rachel Mason (who is also director, producer and cast member) and Kathryn Robson (also a producer) could walk away with the coveted golden winged statuette holding an atom.
“I can’t even begin to process how cool this is!!!!” Rachel Mason posted on her instagram account following the news of her nomination. “Me and my post production hero Kathryn Robson are nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing!!!! This film was an absolute labor, and not always a labor of love, just labor but Kathryn steadfastly focused like no one I have ever seen and poured her heart into this movie so it could shine. She allowed me to be more vulnerable than I ever wanted to be. I couldn’t be more proud that the Emmy voters are having us share this honor. 💗Teamwork!!!!!!! The whole team who made @circusofbooks is a winner today!! @krobsob @netflix.”
Photo (L-R) Rachel Mason and Kathryn RobsonMason and Robson are up against writers, Mike Diamond, Adam Horovitz, and Spike Jonze for the Beastie Boys Story on Apple TV+; Mark Lewis, for Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer – “Closing The Net”, on Netflix; James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte for McMillion$ “Episode 1”, on HBO; and Alisar Hasan and Feras Fayyad for The Cave on
National Geographic.
Circus of Books documentary examines the history of the long-running porn shop and adult retail store that ran in the gay ghetto’s of West Hollywood and Silverlake until the Silverlake location closed in 2016, followed by the closing of the WeHo Location in 2019. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at the straight couple who owned it, Karen and Barry Mason. The Mason’s ended up being one of the biggest distributors of gay porn in the early to mid 80s. They lived a double life with one life as a conservative Jewish couple and the other as gay pornographers. For 37 years Masons survived the evolution of porn from magazines to video to streaming, they were busted by the FBI and charged with obscenity charges, and they witnessed the AIDS crisis, which took the lives of many of their customers and staff.
The Circus of Books documentary, directed by the Mason’s daughter, Rachel Mason, is currently playing on Netflix.
An Emmy awards ceremony of sorts is planned for Sunday, September 20, 2020. With the COVID-19 pandemic in the horizon for the next many months, the awards show will most likely be a virtual affair.
