The Oscars are holding a private meeting to address the lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominations.
The Academy Awards is in the middle of a PR crisis the size of Hurricane Katrina before slamming into New Orleans, Louisiana. And the leaders behind the Oscars are holding a major board meeting in order to overhaul the membership requirements following this year’s criticism, according to Variety.
Earlier this week, Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement that the Academy “is taking dramatic steps to alter the make up of our membership.” She also pointed out that there will be “a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity…”
The lack of diversity in nominations for the 88th Academy Awards has become to major talking point and people are suggesting what should happen next. Some people are calling for a boycott, while others suggest eliminating Black History Month and the BET Awards. But the general belief is that the industry itself needs to make the changes. However, it appears as though the Academy itself is just the scapegoat for a far bigger problem.
But, in order to fix this problem it puts the leaders behind the Oscars in a very sticky situation: They can’t publicly blame any particular producer or studio executive because many of Hollywood’s big decision makers are Academy Award judges and members. Instead, the Academy is finding different ways to avoid a public backlash. Hence, the secret Oscar meeting.
But, in order to keep the prestige of the Academy Awards, reports suggest that the Oscars are planning to make “big changes” in order to fix the issue, which will be discussed during the meeting. Variety’s sources suggest that these following rules are going to be the “big changes” the Oscars are planning on implementing.
- 10 best-picture contenders
- Preferential voting system for nominations will be changed
- Expand the acting categories to more than five nominations
- Changing the rules for Oscars membership
Ultimately, the Academy believes if the number of nominations increased then, non-white actors and movies will be nominated more frequently. However, leaders plan on overhauling the requirements and voting system entirely.
Each of the Academy’s 17 branches has its own requirements for new members, but several Academy members said those rules are too strict and unrealistic in the current atmosphere, in which studios emphasize tentpoles or sex comedies, leading many thoughtful creatives to embrace TV work.
According to Variety, here’s a common issue with the voting system and judges, “in the editors branch, applicants must have “a minimum of four theatrical feature film credits of a caliber which, in the opinion of the executive committee, reflect the high standards of the Academy. These credits must be principal position screen credits as film editor with at least two being single card credits.” When impressive feature films are made on iPhones, it’s hard to determine what “caliber” is desired.”
It’s important to point out that this is not the first time the Academy Awards underwent a major facelift. In 1970, the Academy president Gregory Peck led a movement for the ““modernization of membership regulations,” in order to combat the idea that the Oscars were designed for old people and not young filmmakers.
