The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
06-15-11 | 05:21 PM
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The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
Originally Posted by Academy
Beverly Hills, CA — The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted on Tuesday (6/14) to add a new twist to the 2011 Best Picture competition, and a new element of surprise to its annual nominations announcement. The Board voted to institute a system that will now produce anywhere between five and 10 nominees in the category. That number won’t be announced until the Best Picture nominees themselves are revealed at the January nominations announcement.
“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” explained Academy President Tom Sherak, who noted that it was retiring Academy executive director Bruce Davis who recommended the change first to Sherak and incoming CEO Dawn Hudson and then to the governors.
During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5. After much analysis by Academy officials, it was determined that 5% of first place votes should be the minimum in order to receive a nomination, resulting in a slate of anywhere from five to 10 movies.
“In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies,” said Davis. “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.”
If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.
The final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the preferential system, regardless of the number of nominees, to ensure that the winning picture has the endorsement of more than half of the voters.
Other rules changes approved by the Board include:
In the animated feature film category, the need for the Board to vote to “activate” the category each year was eliminated, though a minimum number of eligible releases – eight – is still required for a competitive category. Additionally, the short films and feature animation branch recommended, and the Board approved refinements to the number of possible nominees in the Animated Feature category. In any year in which eight to 12 animated features are released, either two or three of them may be nominated. When 13 to 15 films are released, a maximum of four may be nominated, and when 16 or more animated features are released, a maximum of five may be nominated.
In the visual effects category, the “bakeoff” at which the nominees are determined will expand from seven to 10 contenders. The increase in the number of participants is related to a change made last year in which the number of films nominated in the visual effects category was increased from three to five.
Previously, the Board approved changes to the documentary feature and documentary short category rules that now put those categories’ eligibility periods in line with the calendar year and thus with most other awards categories. The change means that for the 84th Awards cycle only, the eligibility period is more than 12 months; it is from September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.
Other modifications of the 84th Academy Awards rules include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes.
Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” explained Academy President Tom Sherak, who noted that it was retiring Academy executive director Bruce Davis who recommended the change first to Sherak and incoming CEO Dawn Hudson and then to the governors.
During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5. After much analysis by Academy officials, it was determined that 5% of first place votes should be the minimum in order to receive a nomination, resulting in a slate of anywhere from five to 10 movies.
“In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies,” said Davis. “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.”
If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.
The final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the preferential system, regardless of the number of nominees, to ensure that the winning picture has the endorsement of more than half of the voters.
Other rules changes approved by the Board include:
In the animated feature film category, the need for the Board to vote to “activate” the category each year was eliminated, though a minimum number of eligible releases – eight – is still required for a competitive category. Additionally, the short films and feature animation branch recommended, and the Board approved refinements to the number of possible nominees in the Animated Feature category. In any year in which eight to 12 animated features are released, either two or three of them may be nominated. When 13 to 15 films are released, a maximum of four may be nominated, and when 16 or more animated features are released, a maximum of five may be nominated.
In the visual effects category, the “bakeoff” at which the nominees are determined will expand from seven to 10 contenders. The increase in the number of participants is related to a change made last year in which the number of films nominated in the visual effects category was increased from three to five.
Previously, the Board approved changes to the documentary feature and documentary short category rules that now put those categories’ eligibility periods in line with the calendar year and thus with most other awards categories. The change means that for the 84th Awards cycle only, the eligibility period is more than 12 months; it is from September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2011.
Other modifications of the 84th Academy Awards rules include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes.
Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.
The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
06-15-11 | 05:26 PM
#3
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re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
10 is too many, this is a much better system. For the 2010 awards all the movies were pretty good, but for 2009 it seemed like they were scraping the bottom of the barrel.
06-15-11 | 05:46 PM
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re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
This could become a very good statistic to use to quickly determine if a year was a "good" movie year. If there were 10 nominees it was a very good year, if there were only 5 the year was lean on quality.
06-15-11 | 06:00 PM
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re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
Are you sure you want to base your idea of a "good movie year" on what Academy members generally like? 
I'm skeptical about this -- I think stuff like The Blind Side will still make it in because that kind of thing probably has wider support from the voters with more popular tastes, whereas it could hurt the artsy stuff that has a smaller, yet more passionate, group of fans. In other words, there are more people who like Ron Howard movies than there are people who like David Lynch movies, even in the Academy when taken as a whole.
I'm skeptical about this -- I think stuff like The Blind Side will still make it in because that kind of thing probably has wider support from the voters with more popular tastes, whereas it could hurt the artsy stuff that has a smaller, yet more passionate, group of fans. In other words, there are more people who like Ron Howard movies than there are people who like David Lynch movies, even in the Academy when taken as a whole.
06-15-11 | 06:29 PM
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From: Conducting miss-aisle drills and listening to their rock n roll
re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
I could also see it being politicized by studios anxious to push more product for awards to make sure all ten valuable spots get filled. Let's face it, going out with 5 or 6 after a few years of 8, 9, 10 will look bad, and be seen as a waste of potential proffits for a few films that could have filled those spots.
06-15-11 | 07:16 PM
#11
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re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
I'd rather they just go back to 5. We already know which films have a serious shot based on the Directing nominees. Although I suppose the average joe doesn't, which is what counts.
06-15-11 | 07:53 PM
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From: Somewhere between Heaven and Hell
re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
Fuck nominations... just pick one to present the award to at the show and be done with it. Nominations are marketing tools for the losers anyway.
06-15-11 | 08:18 PM
#14
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re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
They all sound like reasonable changes to me. Nice to see that they are actively reviewing and modifying their criteria.
06-15-11 | 08:38 PM
#15
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re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
I h ave to admit reading the title I was filled with a bit of dread but I think the rule change makes a hell of a lot of sense. Have a small field if there are a small group of strong contenders, and have a wide-open field when necessary.
06-16-11 | 11:02 AM
#16
DVD Talk Legend
re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
Count me as another who likes the idea. At least it'll add some real intrigue as to who gets a nom. Last year's 10 nominees had a few that didn't really need to be in there, so this scenario is much more interesting.
please stop
06-16-11 | 12:08 PM
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re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
06-16-11 | 12:56 PM
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06-16-11 | 01:55 PM
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06-16-11 | 11:35 PM
#25
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re: The Oscar Rule Changes - Discussion Thread
Also, the nominations for many of the Oscar categories are only made by members of the Academy that work in that particular field. So only directors nominate Best Director, only actors nominate the Best Actor categories, etc. After the nominations are announced, the final votes for the awards are open to the entire Academy. So it's a form of checks-and-balances, where people are nominated by their pears but win via votes from all members.
http://www.oscars.org/awards/academy...ut/voting.html
So, why nominations can be great marketing tools for a film, it's not the main reason they exist.