Oscar's New Golden Rules

by Bridget Byrne
May 2, 2003, 12:30 PM PT



Oscar is coming up with some new golden rules.

Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has announced a committee will be set up with the aim of establishing guidelines that can curtail some of the over-the-top campaigning for the industry's most prestigious glittering trophy. a d v e r t i s e m e n t


"If the Oscar begins to be regarded as something that can be bought and sold, it loses whatever value it has," Pierson told Reuters on Thursday.

The move to uphold standards is inline with AMPAS' efforts to set itself apart from the proliferation of award shows that have eaten away at its exclusivity. It follows the announced move of next year's 76th Oscar ceremony to February 29, nearly a month earlier than before, which means nomination voting closes on January 17. This is a clear attempt to undercut the impact of rival events such as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globes and made-for-TV trophy fests like the The People's Choice Awards.

Costly and heavy-handed campaigning is nothing new in Oscar history--a famous example was John Wayne's then exorbitant $75,000 outlay for trade paper ads, endorsed by the likes of fellow western star Roy Rogers and director John Ford, which touted the patriotic theme of his 1960 movie The Alamo, and set off a highly political war of words between the star and industry rivals about vote solicitation.

Last year there was an ugly brouhaha about Miramax's use of director Robert Wise's name to tout the talent of Martin Scorsese, director of Gangs of New York. Neither costly and controversial effort resulted in victory--The Alamo lost the Best Picture honor to the more modest contender The Apartment, while Scorsese lost the Best Director trophy to independent Focus Features' The Pianist's controversial (for entirely different reasons) helmer Roman Polanski. However, the Academy, both then and now, felt its image tarnished.

Over the years, rules set up have soon been skirted by clever publicists and ambitious filmmakers and violations have only earned minimum penalties, such as a reduction in a studio or distributor's allotment of tickets to the Oscar night ceremony, something Pierson refers to as nothing more than "a slap on the wrist."

Independent distributors with smaller budgets cry foul over lavish spending and though The Pianist didn't ultimately suffer from this, Pierson acknowledges the situation is "inherently unfair." He is also concerned about the nasty tone of campaigning.

"Many people in the industry...feel that the campaigns for the Oscars have gotten so strident and so out of hand that we really should try to do something about it to modulate the level of the competition," says Pierson, who won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar from the 1975 bank hostage drama Dog Day Afternoon.

New rules established in the '90s did manage to put an end to the elaborately packaged video sets, containing extras that could have been construed as gifts. Now all that can be sent to voters for home viewing are just tapes or DVDs of the movie.

Ric Robertson, the Academy's executive administrator, notes that because the Academy's crackdown on mailing violations has worked many campaigners have channeled their "creative energies" elsewhere. That has opened up other "gray areas" of abuse that need to be tackled. Although a review of voting guidelines takes place every summer, he notes there did seem to be more "general outcry" against rule violations last year, which has helped prompt the formation of this committee.

Problems the newly formed Academy committee (consisting of about 10 members of the board of governors representing various facets of the industry) will try to solve include the curtailment of private viewing parties honoring nominees that circumvent the current rules barring public theatrical receptions "specifically designed to promote a film or achievement for Academy Awards consideration."

How to stop the whispered rumor campaigns pro and con a star or movie (such as occurred in 2002 with A Beautiful Mind) that seep into the press, will probably just have to be left to individual conscience.

Pierson is hopeful the industry will begin to act more honorably, because as he told the Associated Press, ugly campaigning "takes the fun out of the issue. This should be a celebration and a party, the whole Oscar thing, and when it begins to get nasty, it takes the edge off for all the participants."

Robertson says that part of the whole effort by the Academy is "a sort of call to ethical behavior which everyone needs to buy into...to maintain the integrity of the awards, which exists because of who selects them."

Originally posted by DGibFen
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Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has announced a committee will be set up with the aim of establishing guidelines that can curtail some of the over-the-top campaigning for the industry's most prestigious glittering trophy. a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Last year there was an ugly brouhaha about Miramax's use of director Robert Wise's name to tout the talent of Martin Scorsese, director of Gangs of New York.