The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences started off the month by inviting 842 new members into the mix. Assuming they all agree to join, which is never the case, this swells the membership to almost 9,000 members. This year’s class also helps AMPAS come closer to many of the diversity goals it has strived for since the #OscarsSoWhite controversy in 2016.
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According to the Academy, 50% of the new members are women and push the overall percentage from 25 to 32%. 29% of invitees were People of Color which increases that metric to 16%. That is double the percentage since 2008. That was the only personal data divulged by AMPAS, but a quick scan down the invitee list shows another year of including more members under the age of 30 than earlier this decade.
Additionally, 21 Oscar winners were invited along with 82 nominees who have earned 85 nominations. 10 branches also invited more women than men. They included the Casting Directors, Costume Designers, Directors, Documentary, Executives, Makeup and Hairstylists, Marketing and Public Relations, Producers, Production Design and Writers branches. How the Actors could not also join that list is somewhat quizzical.
Notable names invited to the Acting branch include Jamie Bell, Sterling K. Brown, Gemma Chan, Winston Duke, Claire Foy, Tom Holland, Lady Gaga (also invited to the music branch), Tracy Letts, Elisabeth Moss, Will Poulter, Alexander Skarsgard and Letitia Wright, among others. Notable directors asked to join include Jon M. Chu, Jennifer Kent, Melanie Laurent, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (the last two also invited to the writer’s branch). Notable writers invited include Pamela Brady, Andrew Bujalski, Roman Coppola, Gillian Flynn, Jane Goldman, Andrew Haigh, Marti Noxon, Zak Penn and Sebastian Silva. The music branch sent invites to Adele, Annie Lennox and Mark Ronson, among others.
A complete list of this year’s potential new members is available on the Academy’s website.
