The Creative Arts Emmys kicked off with night one of the two-day ceremony, held ahead of the Primetime Emmys on 14 September, handing out over 100 awards mostly in below-the-line categories. Saturday's presentations focused on variety programming, reality television and documentary/nonfiction honours, with several titles winning multiple trophies, including The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Muppet Show, Love on the Spectrum, The Traitors and My Mom Jayne: A Film By Mariska Hargitay.

Mariska Hargitay, who will host the Primetime Emmys, won two awards for her documentary about her mother Jayne Mansfield, while Octavia Spencer picked up her first Emmy for narrating Lost Women of Alaska and Alan Cumming continued his winning streak as best reality TV host for The Traitors. The ceremony took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and was not broadcast live, with presenters including Wanda Sykes, Lisa Rinna and Julie Chen Moonves. Ahead of the main awards, The Pitt leads all nominees with 25 nominations, followed by Hacks with a comedy series record of 24, Widow's Bay with 19, Pluribus with 18 and Beef with 16, while night two will bring guest actor/actress and limited series categories.