After a dramatic backlash from the membership, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences agreed to reverse it’s initial decision to tape-delay four categories on the upcoming Oscars telecast. Now, all of the awards will be handed out live including Cinematography, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling and Live Action short. This comes after a very public back and forth between some of the biggest names in the industry and AMPAS president John Bailey and the organization’s Board of Governors.
In a tersely worded statement, the Academy noted the change.
“The Academy has heard the feedback from its membership regarding the Oscars presentations of four awards – Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, Makeup and Hairstyling. All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format. We look forward to Oscar Sunday, Feb. 24.
– Office of the Board of Governors, The Academy”
And the Academy’s Twitter account tried to bring some brevity to the situation.
Nine days until the showtime, still tweaking the script. #Oscars https://t.co/Cv78kjDWYW
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 15, 2019
Needless to say, the past six months have seen massive membership pushback on proposed “Popular Film” categories (something the industry and moviegoers even thought was unnecessary) and now what would have been a dramatic change to the telecast. What we’ve learned is that the membership is the Academy and they have the power. They always have. They are the stars. When you lose Emma Stone, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Bradley Cooper, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Jessica Chastain, Meryl Streep, Ryan Gosling, Kristen Stewart, and many others, you’ve lost your case. No matter who are the elected representatives for each branch in the Board of Governors.
ABC and the Academy should realize many of their members and the industry overall is not against change. But diminishing the Oscars, its message or its reach is not what they are looking for. Perhaps this will encourage members to become more involved in the process moving forward. Perhaps a longer Oscar Sunday would be a better strategy for ABC and the show overall. There is a lot that can be done, but outside of the executive and publicity branches the members are artists and they do not want to see their colleagues who they collaborate with on a daily basis treated unfairly. It was that simple and the Academy’s leadership and Board of Governors somehow lost sight of that.
The 91st Academy Awards will now be held on Sunday, Feb. 24 and broadcast completely live on ABC beginning at 5 PM PT, 8 PM ET.