I had the relatively surreal experience of getting to correspond/converse with voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) yesterday. Both of my “interviewees” were very gracious with their time and I, again, want to thank them for taking the time to answer a novice blogger's questions about The Oscars.
Of course we didn’t get into specifics. As one of my sources reminded me yesterday, the Academy requests confidentiality. But we did talk some generalities that I found (and you might find) interesting.
Both of my interviewees bring a good deal of experience to the table as they each have been AMPAS members for more than 20 years. Neither of them are members of the acting branch (which is the largest branch of the Academy). One of them sent their ballot in early this month while the other sent a ballot in Saturday.
Interviewee #1 indicated that s/he was hopeful that at least some of the choices s/he made would be winners on Sunday night and did express some hope that “The King’s Speech” would win Best Picture.
I also asked Interviewee #1 what it was like to be voting for the biggest prize in the profession and in categories that often include people that are known personally to the voter. The response: “It’s a tough business, but one has to be impartial.”
Interviewee #2 told me that s/he was inundated prior to nomination time with screeners. I have always been fascinated by the studio process of sending those DVDs out to voters. Interviewee #2 told me that s/he had been sent 50+ screeners in the Oscar process. Interviewee #2 also had an interesting theory about the success of “Winter’s Bone” and its multiple nominations. S/he told me that “Winter’s Bone” had been the first screener to hit and that that jump seemed to always yield positive results. The theory is that being the first pays off with nominations.
Of course we didn’t get into specifics. As one of my sources reminded me yesterday, the Academy requests confidentiality. But we did talk some generalities that I found (and you might find) interesting.
Both of my interviewees bring a good deal of experience to the table as they each have been AMPAS members for more than 20 years. Neither of them are members of the acting branch (which is the largest branch of the Academy). One of them sent their ballot in early this month while the other sent a ballot in Saturday.
Interviewee #1 indicated that s/he was hopeful that at least some of the choices s/he made would be winners on Sunday night and did express some hope that “The King’s Speech” would win Best Picture.
I also asked Interviewee #1 what it was like to be voting for the biggest prize in the profession and in categories that often include people that are known personally to the voter. The response: “It’s a tough business, but one has to be impartial.”
Interviewee #2 told me that s/he was inundated prior to nomination time with screeners. I have always been fascinated by the studio process of sending those DVDs out to voters. Interviewee #2 told me that s/he had been sent 50+ screeners in the Oscar process. Interviewee #2 also had an interesting theory about the success of “Winter’s Bone” and its multiple nominations. S/he told me that “Winter’s Bone” had been the first screener to hit and that that jump seemed to always yield positive results. The theory is that being the first pays off with nominations.
Interestingly, Interviewee #1 disagreed. The contention was that the early screeners get buried by the sheer number of DVD’s that are sent out. #1 pointed out that Peter Weir’s “The Way Back” deliberately pursued a last second screener strategy so it would be the last thing voters saw.
I asked both interviewees about anything that they might have been disappointed about once the nominations came out. One said that they weren’t thrilled with the 4 Best Song nominations. The other said that they were disappointed that Lesley Manville hadn’t been nominated for Mike Leigh’s “Another Year.”
Ultimately, I was very grateful that both of these professionals took time out to answer some questions from an Oscar Blogging babe in the woods. The upshot, I will be talking to both of them again next week as a part of the post-Oscar parsing of the results. So, I’m looking forward to that.
Coming on Sunday morning…the final look at The Oscar Clearinghouse prior to Sunday night’s presentation.
I asked both interviewees about anything that they might have been disappointed about once the nominations came out. One said that they weren’t thrilled with the 4 Best Song nominations. The other said that they were disappointed that Lesley Manville hadn’t been nominated for Mike Leigh’s “Another Year.”
Ultimately, I was very grateful that both of these professionals took time out to answer some questions from an Oscar Blogging babe in the woods. The upshot, I will be talking to both of them again next week as a part of the post-Oscar parsing of the results. So, I’m looking forward to that.
Coming on Sunday morning…the final look at The Oscar Clearinghouse prior to Sunday night’s presentation.
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