‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ scores Hulu its first major Emmys – CNET

Thanks to the dark dystopian drama “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Hulu had a bright night Sunday, joining the ranks of its streaming competitors by nabbing its first major Emmys.

The streaming service won an Emmy for outstanding writing for a drama series — Bruce Miller. “The Handmaid’s Tale” also took home the trophy for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series, which went to Ann Dowd, as outstanding directing for a drama series, which went to Reed Morano.

This marks a step forward for the streaming platform as it looks to catch up to deeper pocketed rivals Netflix and Amazon, neither of which are strangers to critical accolades for their shows. Netflix, in particular, has hit upon a successful formula of creating buzzworthy shows like “Orange is the New Black” that keep subscribers loyal.

Hulu, which started out as a free ad-driven streaming site, but has evolved to include subscription options, is hoping to catch some of the same buzz.

This isn’t Hulu’s first Emmy, exactly — the platform took home five Creative Arts Emmys earlier this month in categories like outstanding guest actress in a drama series and outstanding cinematography for a single-camera series, most for “The Handmaid’s Tale.” However, this is the first year Hulu’s had a sizable presence at the awards show with 18 nominations overall, and the first time it’s actually taken home a trophy in a major category. In 2016, Hulu received two Emmy nominations in the categories of outstanding writing for variety special (“Triumph’s Election Special”) and outstanding special visual effects in a supporting role (“11.22.63”).

Hulu’s budget for content remains lower than its competitors. At an event at the Paley Center for Media, CEO Mike Hopkins said Hulu’s content budget for 2017 is about $2.5 billion. Netflix’s 2017 budget was about $6 billion.  Amazon comes in around $4.5 billion. 

(Disclosure: CBS, which aired the 69th Emmy Awards, is CNET’s parent company.)

First published, Sept. 17, 5:54 p.m. PT.
Update, 6:48 p.m. PT: Adds additional Hulu Emmy wins.