EMMYS PACKED WITH CRUSH OF SCRIBES, SHOW PRODUCERS.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

There will be a wall-to-wall turnout at the Sept. 12 Emmy Awards.

It's not the celebs who are causing the crunch, though there will be many - from Michael J. Fox, Dylan McDermott and Garry Shandling to teen favorites Keri Russell and ``Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' Sarah Michelle Gellar. It's the writers and producers.

Literally hundreds upon hundreds of writers and producers.

Says Emmy show producer Don Mischer, ``When I did the show back in 1993, the average half-hour comedy would average six or seven producers. Now, some of them have 20 or more.

And the writers! There are 61 listed as nominees in just the category of a variety or music program. Letterman alone has 18 writers.''

So dramatically have those ranks swelled, he says, that the show was forced to move last year from the 2,800-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium to the Shrine Auditorium, which seats 4,000.

And to make sure a stampede of scribes or TV-show creators don't go on and on with thank-you speeches, ``I send out letters respectfully requesting those in winning groups to have just one person speak in their behalf. So far, it's worked.''

So jammed have things become, he says, in recent years, he's had to turn down requests from even big-name stars for extra seats.

``Jerry Seinfeld and Ellen DeGeneres wanted to bring their families. I had to tell them I didn't know where I'd put them. And the crunch keeps getting worse.''

Keeping bad company

Thomas Ian Nicholas, being viewed by countless teens in the raunchy sex comedy ``American Pie,'' has the Christian music album ``Something More'' coming out with his T.I.N.men group next month.

Christian music, ``American Pie''? Sounds like someone has some s'plainin' to do.

``Oh, man. You're telling me!'' says the 19-year-old. ``But I did my s'plainin' before I made the movie.''

He reveals, ``When I got the script, I turned down the audition because I didn't want to be in anything that seemed so perverted. Then, my agents goaded me into reading it all the way through. I thought it was very true-to-life, and there were a lot of good underlying themes in it.''

From there, he went to meet with his church pastors, and ``I asked, `Can I do this? Is it OK?' ''

They came to the conclusion, he says, ``it doesn't promote sex. For instance, my character? He does everything wrong. He puts all the emphasis on sex, and in the end, he gets a lot taken away from him because of that.''

Time will tell whether the Christian music world will buy his rationale.

Wishing you were here

It's a challenge for husband and wife Giovanni Ribisi and Mariah O'Brien to get together these days. She's in Minneapolis rehearsing for ``Furthest From the Sun,'' the play in which she's co-starring with Woody Harrelson. And Ribisi has been tied up in L.A. shooting ``Gone in 60 Seconds.''

``I haven't seen him in two and a half weeks, but it keeps the relationship fresh and exciting,'' says O'Brien.

The actress has their 2-year-old daughter, Lucia, with her in Minneapolis.

She says ``Furthest From the Sun'' has been a real work in progress with Harrelson - who wrote and is directing the play - taking input from everyone.

``I kept thinking, `Is this ever going to come together?' But I think Woody is pretty satisfied with it now.''

And that's a good thing, considering the show opens Sept. 10.

O'Brien says she's been ``blown away'' by Harrelson's directing prowess.

``He's a comedic genius, sharp and perceptive.

``Harrelson plans to take ``Furthest From the Sun'' to New York after its three-week run in Minneapolis.

Kasdan's journey

With his modestly budgeted ``Mumford'' now set to hit the screen Sept. 24, Lawrence Kasdan is returning to work on ``Sojourner.'' That's the saga on which he spent a torturous year developing that was to have groundbreaking special effects and a star of the ilk of Mel Gibson or Keanu Reeves headlining.

``It was going to be a huge movie spanning 40 years, but I couldn't quite lick the story. Maybe now, maybe.''

Or maybe later. It did take him 17 years before his ``Bodyguard'' script was finally translated to the screen with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) RIBISI

(2) HARRELSON

(3) KASDAN