Property Masters Guild Names Three Career Honorees for 2026 MacGuffin Awards
The Property Masters Guild has named Luis Castro, Trish Reilly and Barry Wilkinson as its career honourees for the third annual MacGuffin Awards, which recognise the creative work of property masters — the crew members responsible for every physical object that appears on screen, from a hero's sword to a diner plate of pancakes.
The ceremony takes place 12 September at the Paramount Theatre in Hollywood, where the competitive category winners will also be revealed. The Guild announced the nominations in July 2026, with films including Weapons and Marty Supreme among the contenders across film, television and short-form work (Variety).
Barry Wilkinson will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, capping a career spanning more than four decades. His credits include Titanic and all eight Harry Potter films (Deadline).
Trish Reilly picks up the President's Award, which honours exceptional contributions to the property craft by someone working outside the traditional property master role. Born in Montreal and raised in Toronto, Reilly moved to California as a teenager. Her path into production ran through her husband, key grip Dan Reilly, and she began by assisting on commercial shoots before building a name as a food stylist. Her credits include American Horror Story, Obi-Wan, Rebel Moon, The Orville and Grotesquerie (Deadline).
Luis Castro receives the Humanitarian Award for his work in community, education and creating opportunities through culinary arts. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Castro moved to California at 15. He earned an Associate of Arts in Culinary Arts & Restaurant Management from Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and spent more than 25 years in the food industry as an executive chef, private chef, culinary instructor and restaurant owner. Over the past decade he transitioned into food styling for film and television, with credits on This Is Us, Westworld, 9-1-1, Bel-Air, Paradise and Barbie. He has been a member of IATSE Local 44, the union representing behind-the-camera artisans, since 2021 (Deadline).
In 2024 Castro founded Imagine Cookin, an in-home cooking class company serving neurodivergent individuals of all ages. The company employs eight people and serves 50 students. Castro also volunteers to advocate for authentic Latinx representation within the industry (Deadline).
Property Masters Guild president Jeffrey Johnson said the three honourees represent "different and invaluable parts of the property community" (Deadline). The Guild's stated mission is to raise awareness of the creative contributions of property masters and their teams (propertymastersguild.com).
For audiences, the MacGuffin Awards put a spotlight on a craft that operates almost entirely off-camera. Every meal on a set, every prop weapon, every jar on a kitchen shelf is placed and maintained by a property team — and on 12 September, three careers built around those details will take the stage.
