The Surprising Emmy Nod for "The Rip": A Super Simple Explanation

What Is "The Rip"? (A Movie That Twists and Turns)

It’s the kind of shocking surprise you might see in a twisty-turny movie like The Rip itself!
The Rip is an action film made for Netflix. Here’s what it’s about and who made it:

• Story: It follows a Miami narcotics squad (a police unit that handles drugs) that might be corrupt (meaning they might be breaking the law themselves).
• Stars: Two very famous friends, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, are in it and also produced it.
• Director/Writers: A guy named Joe Carnahan, who has made several successful movies before, wrote and directed it.
• Style: It has non-stop action and lots of plot twists (sudden changes that surprise the viewer).

Even though it looks like a big-screen blockbuster (a movie made for cinemas), it went straight to streaming.

The Emmy Surprise: Sound Editors Submitted Themselves

The Emmy Awards are a big annual trophy show for TV and streaming productions (we’ll compare them to Oscars later). On a Wednesday morning, thousands of Emmy nominations (the list of finalists) came out.

One odd thing popped up: a nomination for Best Limited/Movie Sound Editing for Netflix’s The Rip.
(Sound editing is the job of piecing together all the sounds you hear—voices, explosions, music—so the movie sounds right.)

Here’s the tricky part:

• Netflix did not campaign (ask the Emmy voters to consider) The Rip for any Emmys.
• When the site Gold Derby asked about it, they learned that the sound editors themselves sent in their own names. This is called self-submitting.
• The picture editor and sound mixers also self-submitted, but they didn’t get nominated.

Important Point: Self-submitting is when the people who worked on a show put themselves forward for an award without their network doing it. It’s “all the rage” (very popular) this year!

Another Example of Self-Submitting

On the medical drama The Pitt:

• Guest stars Brittany Allen and Jeff Kober did the same thing after HBO Max decided not to campaign them.
• They ended up with Emmy nominations too!

Why "The Rip" Cannot Compete for an Oscar

The Oscars (Academy Awards) are another huge trophy show, but they are mainly for movies that first play in real movie theaters. Netflix confirmed to Gold Derby that The Rip will not be at the 2027 Oscars (or any other upcoming film awards) because of one big fact:

Important Point: The Rip skipped a theatrical run—it never showed in movie theaters—so it misses the Oscar cutoff.

How a Movie Normally Qualifies for the Oscars (Step-by-Step)

1. The movie must be shown in eligible movie theaters (not just on a streaming app).
2. It must stay in those theaters for at least seven consecutive days (a full week in a row).
3. It must not have been entered in the Emmys for the same work (no “double-dipping”—see below).
4. Only then can it be submitted for Oscar consideration.

According to the Academy rulebook, that seven-day rule is required, and The Rip stayed on streaming.

Even If It Had Gone to Theaters, Another Rule Blocks It

There’s a rule about double-dipping (trying to win both award shows for the same project):

• Because The Rip got an Emmy nomination for sound editing, it would be disqualified from Oscar eligibility anyway.
• Also, the movie got so-so review scores: 77% on Rotten Tomatoes (a site that averages critics’ opinions) and 63 on Metacritic (another score site). Those wouldn’t have boosted its Oscar hopes.

(The original article also had a trailer video from YouTube, but we’re focusing on the words!)

The Emmy Competition and The Nominees

The Rip is a “telefilm” (a movie made for television/streaming) competing in its category against sound editing teams from:

• The Beast in Me
• Beef
• Lord of the Flies
• Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War

Here are the Emmy-nominated sound editors from The Rip (the folks who self-submitted!):

• Daniel Pagan, co-supervising sound editor
• Craig Mann, co-supervising sound editor
• Chase Keehn, supervising dialogue/ADR editor
• Jon Title, sound effects editor
• Russell Topal, sound effects editor
• Randy Wilson, supervising Foley editor
• Justin Helle, Foley editor
• Sam Zeines, music editor
• Stefan Fraticelli, Foley artist

(Foley is the craft of creating everyday sound effects—like footsteps—in a studio.)

Fun Facts: Affleck and Damon’s Emmy Past

Even though they aren’t nominated for The Rip at the Emmys, both stars have been recognized before:

• Ben Affleck has 4 Emmy nominations, all for the show Project Greenlight.
• Matt Damon got those same 4 nods, plus 3 more:
  1. 30 Rock (as a guest actor)
  2. Behind the Candelabra (as lead actor)
  3. Saturday Night Live (as guest actor)

When Will We Know the Winner?

You can find out who wins the sound editing category at the Creative Arts Emmys, which happen on September 5–6. That’s exactly one week before the main Primetime Emmys broadcast on NBC on September 14.

Summary

Let’s recap in plain language:

• The Rip is a Netflix action movie with Affleck and Damon about a possibly corrupt Miami police drug unit.
• It scored an Emmy sound editing nomination even though Netflix didn’t promote it—because the sound editors sent in their own names.
• It cannot go for Oscars because it didn’t play in theaters for 7 days, and the Emmy nod itself blocks Oscar double-dipping.
• The nominated sound editors are listed above, and they face four other shows in the category.
• Affleck and Damon have their own Emmy histories, and we’ll learn the winner in early September.

FAQ

Q1: What is “self-submitting” in simple terms?
A1: Normally, a network (like Netflix) promotes its shows for awards. Self-submitting is when the individual creators (like sound editors) enter themselves without the network’s help—like signing up for a race by yourself instead of your school signing you up.

Q2: Why are the Emmys and Oscars separate?
A2: They are two different contests. Oscars are for movies that hit theaters first. Emmys are for TV and streaming films/shows. A rule stops the same work from winning both (no double-dipping).

Q3: What does a sound editor actually do?
A3: They gather and fix all the audio—dialogue, sound effects, music—so the movie sounds clear and exciting. A Foley artist is a special sound editor who makes noises like footsteps in a studio.

Q4: Could The Rip ever be Oscar-eligible?
A4: The article says it’s skipping theaters, so no. Even if it had a theater run, the Emmy nomination already disqualifies it. Its review scores were just average anyway.

Q5: When do we see if The Rip wins its Emmy?
A5: The Creative Arts Emmys on Sept 5–6 announce the sound editing winner, ahead of the big Primetime Emmy show on Sept 14.