Another reason I'm not in favor of the new Academy rules for Best Picture voting...

...and it's similar to my previous issues, which will be documented in an article very soon (Clayton has the piece, it'll go up whenever he deems it appropriate). Here's Steve Pond at The Wrap breaking down the fact that a lot of voters won't have their ballots mean much for Best Picture:

A significant number of Best Picture ballots could end up essentially discarded as the result of the new Best Picture rules instituted by the Academy last week, TheWrap has discovered.

The Academy conceded that an increased number of ballots will no longer influence the slate of Best Picture nominees, but said its figures put the potential number of those ballots at less than 10 percent.

On the other hand, a simulation done by TheWrap (using critics' Top 10 lists rather than real Oscar ballots) shows the number of "unused" ballots topping 25 percent under the new rules.

Curious what the new way of voting for Best Picture will be like?

Of course you are, and The Hollywood Reporter explains it as best they can:

With the "new twist" it is introducing into the best picture Oscar race, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will also adopt a slightly modified nominating procedure to decide the nominees in its top category.

The Academy's board of governors voted Tuesday night to adopt a new rule: having opened the best picture race to 10 nominees two years ago, the Academy is now adopting a stricter standard that will result in anywhere from five to 10 nominees when nominations are announced on Jan. 24.

To secure a nomination, a picture will have collect at least five percent of the first-place votes cast.

That, in turn, affects the nominating process. For the past two years, each Academy member filled out a form, listing their ten best films, in order of preference from one to 10.

This time around, in the case of the best picture ballot, each member will be given a ballot with 5 open slots, which they will be asked to fill in with five movies, again ranked by preference.

As Bruce Davis, the outgoing executive director of the Academy explained: "What we're doing here is analyzing the first-place support."

The vote count, which will be conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is actually a modified version of the preferential voting system that the Academy already employs.

Here's how it will work in the case of the best picture category.

• First, all the ballots are separated into separate stacks according to which film is listed as a first choice.
• Second, any movies that reach the five percent threshold are automatic nominees. Their stacks are then redistributed to their second or third choices according to a mathmatical formula. Their second or third choices count as partial votes when added to the remaining stacks.
• Third, at the opposite ends of the spectrum, those movies that have received less than one percent of the vote also see their stacks redistributed to their second if still available, or third choice if still available, etc.

At that point, the redistribution stops. The movies that have reached the five percent mark all become nominees.

The Academy changes the rules for Best Picture again!

We'll have more on this later, but for now I'll let the press release speak for itself:

Academy Builds Surprise Into Best Picture Rules

Beverly Hills, CA – The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted on Tuesday (6/14) to add a new twist to the 2011 Best Picture competition, and a new element of surprise to its annual nominations announcement. The Board voted to institute a system that will now produce anywhere between five and 10 nominees in the category. That number won’t be announced until the Best Picture nominees themselves are revealed at the January nominations announcement.

“With the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers, we’ve been looking not just at what happened over the past two years, but at what would have happened if we had been selecting 10 nominees for the past 10 years,” explained Academy President Tom Sherak, who noted that it was retiring Academy executive director Bruce Davis who recommended the change first to Sherak and incoming CEO Dawn Hudson and then to the governors.

During the period studied, the average percentage of first place votes received by the top vote-getting movie was 20.5. After much analysis by Academy officials, it was determined that 5% of first place votes should be the minimum in order to receive a nomination, resulting in a slate of anywhere from five to 10 movies.

“In studying the data, what stood out was that Academy members had regularly shown a strong admiration for more than five movies,” said Davis. “A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn’t feel an obligation to round out the number.”

If this system had been in effect from 2001 to 2008 (before the expansion to a slate of 10), there would have been years that yielded 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 nominees.

The final round of voting for Best Picture will continue to employ the preferential system, regardless of the number of nominees, to ensure that the winning picture has the endorsement of more than half of the voters.

Are we closer to an Oscar category for Stunt Coordinators?

Possibly, according to The Hollywood Reporter:

In a continuation of a twenty-year quest, stunt coordinators are once again asking the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to create an Oscar category for their work. Their proposal will come up for consideration at a meeting of the Academy’s Board of Governors on Tuesday.

“I’m baffled as to what it is that we’re lacking (in the Academy’s eyes),” said a visibly frustrated Jack Gill in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Gill has been leading the effort to obtain Academy recognition for the past two decades. Not surprisingly, the campaign is understood to have widespread support among stunt coordinators. In addition, some years ago, Gill obtained petition signatures from a range of Hollywood luminaries.

However, it’s an uphill battle. The Academy is known to be concerned about the length of the Awards show broadcast. The coordinators propose to have their Oscar be granted in a ceremony prior to the show, but are hoping for a clip of that ceremony, and a stunt sequence from the winning movie, to be shown as part of the broadcast.

Even that may run too long for the Academy’s taste, although a stunt clip would no doubt be a crowd-pleaser. Also, Academy governors from other branches might be uncomfortable setting a precedent for granting Oscars at an earlier ceremony, since they may be afraid that their branch could get yanked from the live show in future years.

Interestingly stunt coordinators can become members of the Academy, but in the At-Large branch (which also includes casting directors). Only 19 are, however, and at most two are admitted per year. At-Large members have all the privileges of branch membership, an Academy spokesperson told THR, except for representation on the Board.

Here are some key dates for the 84th Academy Awards!

Behold:


Thursday, December 1, 2011: Official Screen Credits forms due
Tuesday, December 27, 2011: Nominations ballots mailed
Friday, January 13, 2012: Nominations polls close 5 p.m. PT
Tuesday, January 24, 2012: Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PT,
Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Wednesday, February 1, 2012: Final ballots mailed
Monday, February 6, 2012: Nominees Luncheon
Saturday, February 11, 2012: Scientific and Technical Awards presentation
Tuesday, February 21, 2012: Final polls close 5 p.m. PT
Sunday, February 26, 2012: 84th Academy Awards presentation

-Joey's Two Cents: Well now we know...thoughts?

Dawn Hudson named new CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences!

Breaking news from Deadline:

The Board of Governors of the Motion Picture Academy voted on Thursday to establish a new executive structure for the organization, replacing retiring executive director Bruce Davis with former Film Independent head Dawn Hudson and long-time Academy executive Ric Robertson, who will become the organization’s CEO and COO respectively. Robertson will report to Hudson in the new leadership tandem.

Hudson has spent 20 years at the helm of Film Independent, which grew from a small non-profit into a nationally recognized arts institution under her leadership. Film Independent's two signature programs are the 26-year-old Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, held annually in June.

“The Academy is the gold standard for the world’s most influential art form, and I am humbled by what the Board of Governors, the Academy members, and the staff have accomplished under Bruce Davis's leadership.” said Hudson. “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to work with Ric, and to carry the Academy's mission forward into the future.”

The King's Speech wins Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards!

Behold all the winners:

Best Picture: The King’s Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay: David Seidler, The King’s Speech
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Editing: Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter, The Social Network
Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception
Best Original Score: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Best Art Direction: Alice in Wonderland
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland
Best Visual Effects: Inception
Best Make-Up: The Wolfman
Best Sound Mixing: Inception
Best Sound Editing: Inception
Best Song: We Belong Together, Toy Story 3, Randy Newman
Best Documentary Short: Strangers No More
Best Live Action Short: God of Love
Best Animated Short: The Lost Thing
Best Foreign Language Film: In a Better World, Denmark
Best Documentary: Inside Job

-Joey's Two Cents: After all of our coverage, is there anything left to say? Thoughts?

Live-blogging the Academy Awards...

Enjoy the live blog of the big show:

11:45- At a quarter to midnight on the east coast we close out our Live Blog of the Academy Awards. Thanks for following along!

11:41- That was a classy way to close out the show...

11:38- To those keeping score, The King's Speech and Inception led the night with 4 Oscars apiece, followed closely by The Social Network with 3.

11:36- Yep, that's about what we all saw happening...

11:33- The final award of the night, Best Picture. The nominees are Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter's Bone. And the Best Picture of 2010 (according to the Academy) is...The King's Speech!

11:31- Steven Spielberg is on to close out the night...he's making all of the losing films feel better. Well played.

11:29- One award left. The big one...also an award that was much more in play earlier in the show than it is now, though to be fair, most of us never thought it was really in play going into tonight.

11:27- Colin Firth is giving a hell of a speech.

11:23- Time now for Best Actor. The nominees are Javier Bardem for Biutiful, Jeff Bridges for True Grit, Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network, Colin Firth for The King's Speech, and Oscar co-host James Franco for 127 Hours. And the winner is...Colin Firth!

11:19: Sandra Bullock is on now to toast the 5 leading gentlemen. I wonder who might be winning this one...

11:16- Good to see Black Swan finally on the board. Oddly enough, Portman might have gotten the biggest ovation of the evening. Good for her! Also, great job by Jeff Bridges in giving a fitting tribute to all 5 nominees.

11:11- It's time for Best Actress. The nominees are Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right, Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole, Jennifer Lawrence for Winter's Bone, Natalie Portman for Black Swan, and Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine. And the winner is...Natalie Portman!

11:08- It's looking like The Social Network is done making the show interesting. I'm not saying it's 100% going to be The King's Speech for Best Picture, but...well, it pretty much is.

11:06- Annette Bening introduces the Governors Award winners.

11:04- Remember that Oscar split we spoke so much about? Never mind that...

11:03- A big moment now. The category is Best Director. The nominees are Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan, Ethan and Joel Coen for True Grit, David Fincher for The Social Network, Tom Hooper for The King's Speech, and David O. Russell for The Fighter. And the winner is...Tom Hooper!

11:01- Hilary Swank gives a nice intro to Kathryn Bigelow. A nice mention of last year's history.

10:58- The biggest awards are still to come, so don't go anywhere!

Today's the big day...

Stay tuned for all of our coverage of the Academy Awards!