New Academy Rules

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OscarGuy
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by OscarGuy »

There are no tie-breaks with the Academy, their balloting system fixes most of that.

They've explained their sorting, balloting method ad nauseum in the past and they still use it for those lower categories. It all has to do with placement on the ranked ballot and how they split piles.
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by Damien »

Mister Tee wrote:
Damien, though I agree "ungodly early" is the proper term for the nominations reading, be grateful we don't live on the West Coast, where I'd really have to stuggle to decide whether the desire to know RIGHT AWAY would override my deep love of a good night's sleep.
Being up and awake for an 8:30 announcement is ungodly enough for me. Most of my west coast friends just DVR the nominations and go directly to it when they wake up, so they won't get any news reports.
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Re: New Academy Rules

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Mister Tee wrote:
Big Magilla wrote:They could still display the ten boxes and not fill them all. What happens if there's a fifth place tie in one of the five nominee categories? Do they re-use the first box?
I assume there's an infinite series of tie-breakers to prevent that happening, given that we've never had a six-nominee field in all these years.
Perhaps, but what would it be? I've never seen the rule spelled out. There was a tie way back in 1936, but that may have been under old rules. The only tie win was for Best Actress in 1968, so granted ties are rare, but I would think still possible.

Note: Before anyone pops up with the March/Beery win in 1931/32, that was declared a tie to satisfy the whims of MGM honcho Lous B. Mayer when Beery came within three votes of March who was the actual top vote-getter. The Hepburn/Streisand tie was a legitimate one.
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by Mister Tee »

Big Magilla wrote:They could still display the ten boxes and not fill them all. What happens if there's a fifth place tie in one of the five nominee categories? Do they re-use the first box?
I assume there's an infinite series of tie-breakers to prevent that happening, given that we've never had a six-nominee field in all these years.

Is the random-order announcement going to apply only to best picture, or all categories? As much as I've spoken on the alphabetical system over the years, I'd be delighted for such a change.

OscarGuy, though I apreciate it's going to mean more work for you, for many of us it's a tonic to see some level of spontaneity thrown into the nominations mix that doesn't adulterate the fundamentals of the system (as the leap-to-ten did, and as many of the other crazy proposals I've heard would). I've watched with sadness as the life has been gradually drained out of the Oscars with this endless parade of precursors. How little thrill it is every year, to check if Oscar nominees match SAG categories 5 for 5 or a mere 4 for 5. Here's a proposal that injects some surprise back into the process. Who cares if it slows the list-posting by ten minutes?

Damien, though I agree "ungodly early" is the proper term for the nominations reading, be grateful we don't live on the West Coast, where I'd really have to stuggle to decide whether the desire to know RIGHT AWAY would override my deep love of a good night's sleep.
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Re: New Academy Rules

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They could still display the ten boxes and not fill them all. What happens if there's a fifth place tie in one of the five nominee categories? Do they re-use the first box?
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by Damien »

Big Magilla wrote:
Damien wrote:I don't know if this has been reported elsewhere but I've just learned that on nominations morning, there won't be the video boxes on the wall behind the people announcing the nominees so we won't know the number of Best Picture nominees til it's over. Cool and exciting says I.

Even more cool and exciting: the Best Picture nominees will not be announced in alphabetical order, so again there's no knowing what got left off until all is said and done.

I think this will be the best nominations day since the Academy first started doing the ungodly early announcements in the late 80s.
No boxes for any of the categories? If the best picture nominations are not going to be alphabetical, what's the order going to be? Random? Film with most nominations get announced first or last? Surely they're not to announce the nominees in the orider in which they recived teh msot votes since that will no doubt remain a deep dark secret as usual.
The elimination of the boxes is just for Best Picture, so that people won't know how many nominees there are going to be. The other categories we all know will have 5 entries so there's no reason to do away with the boxes.

I assume that the Picture nominees will be announced in the same manner as the semi-finalists in beauty pageants: In no particular order.
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Re: New Academy Rules

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I do not like that idea. It's hard enough prepping the nominations page each morning, but having to type all the nominees instead of delete non-nominees is going to be tedious. This new method is becoming more and more cumbersome.
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Re: New Academy Rules

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Damien wrote:I don't know if this has been reported elsewhere but I've just learned that on nominations morning, there won't be the video boxes on the wall behind the people announcing the nominees so we won't know the number of Best Picture nominees til it's over. Cool and exciting says I.

Even more cool and exciting: the Best Picture nominees will not be announced in alphabetical order, so again there's no knowing what got left off until all is said and done.

I think this will be the best nominations day since the Academy first started doing the ungodly early announcements in the late 80s.
No boxes for any of the categories? If the best picture nominations are not going to be alphabetical, what's the order going to be? Random? Film with most nominations get announced first or last? Surely they're not to announce the nominees in the orider in which they recived teh msot votes since that will no doubt remain a deep dark secret as usual.
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by Damien »

I don't know if this has been reported elsewhere but I've just learned that on nominations morning, there won't be the video boxes on the wall behind the people announcing the nominees so we won't know the number of Best Picture nominees til it's over. Cool and exciting says I.

Even more cool and exciting: the Best Picture nominees will not be announced in alphabetical order, so again there's no knowing what got left off until all is said and done.

I think this will be the best nominations day since the Academy first started doing the ungodly early announcements in the late 80s.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by Big Magilla »

If this doesn't give you a headache, nothing will...

http://moviecitynews.com/2011/10/1-week ... e-ballots/
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by Mister Tee »

Big Magilla wrote:I think it might help to tone down the more blatant stuff that goes on, but it's largely unenforceable. For example, what's to stop someone from inviting "friends" to a private party, those "friends" being Academy members and Oscar nominees?

As for penalties, the wrose that'll happen is they'll pull someone's tickets to the ceremony, buy not some of the more high profile nominees whose presence they need to attract TV audiences. They're not going to cancel someone's nomiantion and substitute a runner-up or nullify the votes the offfender received.
I've often wondered if all those parties mean as much as the Tom O'Neil's of the world think they do. I mean, if I were a Hollywood-dwelling Academy member with free time on my hands, I might well turn up for the free eats, but that doesn't mean I'd vote for somebody's movie. I'm reminded of Willie Brown's great line about political contrubutions: "If you can't take somebody's money and then screw them, you have no business being in politics"
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Re: New Academy Rules

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I think it might help to tone down the more blatant stuff that goes on, but it's largely unenforceable. For example, what's to stop someone from inviting "friends" to a private party, those "friends" being Academy members and Oscar nominees?

As for penalties, the wrose that'll happen is they'll pull someone's tickets to the ceremony, buy not some of the more high profile nominees whose presence they need to attract TV audiences. They're not going to cancel someone's nomiantion and substitute a runner-up or nullify the votes the offfender received.
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by HarryGoldfarb »

Big Magilla wrote:The key change is that after nominations are announced on January 24, Academy members can only attend screenings of movies, but not a party or event if there is no screening.
Seems right, but what happens if someone break the rule? I mean, with the nominations announced, what would be the penalty?

And by the way... it strikes me as very untasteful, even for an industry as big and full of ruthless stories as Hollywood, the concept of the "dinners with actor at hand" just to warrant some love four your film, with no film screening whatsoever... When I hear the word "campaign" I think of interviews (magazines, TV shows, etc), big banners through the city, heavy rotation of trailers, the "special" screenings of the film and the sending of it in tape (DVD, sorry... my age is becoming very apparent). But a social gathering... seems very much like a 1940's gansters film about Holywood! I'm not that nahive to believe the "spreding" of the love involves something else... but I hadn't imagined this.
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by Big Magilla »

Another new rule:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar organizers on Wednesday unveiled a tough new set of rules that cracks down on the types of events Academy Award voters can attend before making their picks for the world's top film awards.

The new rules are meant to help create a more level playing field for nominated movies, actors and actresses by curbing the wining and dining that takes place for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ahead of the awards.

"These campaign regulations play an important role in protecting the integrity of the Academy Awards process and the distinction of the Oscar," Academy president Tom Sherak said in a statement.

The key change is that after nominations are announced on January 24, Academy members can only attend screenings of movies, but not a party or event if there is no screening.

That means many dinners and gatherings where performers, producers and others are on hand to chat with Academy members and drum up support are now off limits. In the past, those events have been key to promoters looking for votes.

After the nominations are announced, Academy members can still attend screenings and cast and crew members can be on hand for question-and-answer sessions, but there can be no accompanying reception with food and drinks.

Additionally, there are no restrictions on the total number of screenings of a particular movie, but no person from the film can participate in more than two panel discussions.

Prior to the nominations there are no restrictions, and events can include food and drinks.

In recent years, Oscar campaigns have increasingly become important to cut through the clutter of numerous movies competing for awards because with those honors there is prestige that can boost ticket sales and DVD revenues.
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Re: New Academy Rules

Post by Big Magilla »

Not just Americans. Everyone nowadays looks for a way to wiggle out instead of just admitting they were wrong. Give it two or three years and they'll be back to five nominees.
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