As Patti Smith sang, ‘the people have the power,’ and even at the Oscars the people’s vote always rules. But what are the rules around voting? Film for Thought demystifies the process.
How are most of the categories calculated?
The Academy voting base is made up of 17 branches of film specialisms. This includes everything from a directing branch, to an acting branch to a sound mixing branch, plus 14 more which is why the ceremony is so infamously long and drawn out.
Members of each branch are only allowed to vote for those nominated within their branch, which is a fact which always surprises people. It makes sense however, as while some like acting are generally accessible by the general public, sound mixing and cinematography are more nuanced skills that deserve their dues by people who understand these skills best. There are exceptions to this rule: Best Picture which is open to anyone in the 10,000 plus voting base (as detailed further below), International Feature Film & Animated Feature – both of which voters need to have watched each of the films in the category before voting.
Best Picture – A short history
And what about the most revered gold statue of all? Best Picture voting is the real outlier among all these awards as while many pre-Oscars awards shows can predict results quite accurately, Best Picture is known for upsetting proceedings on the night. It is the one award that is calculated on a preferential voting system which requires all Academy members to rank their favourites in order from best to worst.
But this preferential voting approach was not always the case. Preferential voting was initially implemented between 1934 and 1945, but since the days of Casablanca (1945), Best Picture voting moved to a popular ballot, in line with all other voting branches of the Academy. In 2009 however when Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight was not nominated for Best Picture despite achieving the holy grail of winning critical praise and box office success, it sent shockwaves through the Academy. It was believed that a nomination for Nolan’s film could have been excluded for two reasons:
- Popular Vs. Preferential – The aforementioned popular ballot which would allow a widely popular film like Nolan’s to slip through the cracks as it may not have been a person’s first choice but it would have been near the top of a ranked ballot.
- Constrained Vs. Enhanced – The Academy had constrained Best Picture nominations to just 5 a year, which many thought was disadvantageous to a popular film like the Dark Knight. This decision was overturned from 2010 onwards.
Were these changes really necessary?
There is an argument for and against both changes. The change in voting systems does allow for a widely liked and deserving film to break through to Best Picture glory which is undoubtedly positive. The unintended consequence from the change in voting types is the infamous ‘split’ we have seen in recent years between Best Picture and Best Director. Prior to 2009 it was commonplace to award the two to the same film in harmony as a result of popular votes. After this change however, it is more common to see the ‘split’ in awards as the voting approaches show up in the results which actually was a regular occurence pre-1945.
When it comes to the expansion of the Best Picture category….This year for example, while 10 films are technically nominated, only 4 or 5 by our measure are actually in the running (Oppenheimer, Poor Things, Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall and Past Lives). This means that while the nominations have expanded, the competition in terms of ratios remain the same – they are just obscured a little bit more by the noise of more nominees. The others in my opinion are nominated as a badge of honour (Barbie for bringing people back to cinemas, Maestro for acknowledging how much Netflix paid to be up there, The Holdovers for Paul Giamatti alone etc.) Despite all of this, while it’s obvious that additional films added to the mix act simply as red herrings in what is always a race between a handful of quality films, the category expansion no doubt elevates cinema and puts more films on the map in terms of the public consciousness. Instead of audiences being tasked with just seeing five films before the ceremony, they are now presented with a list of ten to check off their list – more attendance at films is better for the film industry and you can’t argue with that.
What is the voting criteria for a Best Picture win?
If a film nabs more than 50% of first place votes in the first round of voting it is crowned the winner, and is the reason why so many unexpected results have plagued the Academy in recent years. In order to make your vote count and your vote heard, Academy members should always complete all votes in the Best Picture ballot. If they deliberately leave films they disliked from the ballot thereby reducing the number of films ranked on their ballot, they run the risk of their vote being removed during a future stage of the voting rounds, if all films noted on the ballot have been removed from the vote.
More than a statue
A little gold man isn’t the only prize at stake here. Studios are eager to secure nominations and wins because it affords longevity to a project that would not been as profitable otherwise. Tent pole movies like Marvel keep studios afloat, but an Oscar winning film can be just as lucrative a revenue stream, manifesting in an upward trajectory of box office takings and repeat screenings. Marketing spend for a Best Picture campaign can be as high as $10 million, but if allocated to the right resources, Keynesian economics kicks in to reward studios. According to IBISworld, Best Picture winners from 2008 to 2012, earned $13.8 million more after winning the award than nominated films that didn’t win. Agents want their cut too, with actors and actresses of Academy winning caliber, known to bump their asking price by 20% for their next film role.
Beyond all this, Best Picture is an honour bestowed on a film that will essentially enhance its lifetime value and that is something seen as absolutely priceless. There are costs associated with influencing votes, as with any other campaign trail and this cannot be underestimated. There’s a reason why the ‘Oppen-homies’ have been at everything bar the opening of an envelope.
FILM FOR THOUGHT 