Concluding its most wide-open election ever for the Board of Governors,voters in the Motion Picture Academy acquire mostly picked the same people they probably would acquire chosen under the old system.
At a time when the Academy is undergoing dramatic change in its membership and outlook, the fresh board represents small, or incremental change rather than wholesale reconfiguring.
Yes,the board doubled the number of African-American governors — from two to four — with costume designer Sharen K. Davis and documentary director Roger Ross Williams joining Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and producer Reggie Hudlin.(Hudlin was appointed as one of three members designed to add diversity so if you simply look at elected directors, the number was tripled.)
Also Read: Steven Spielberg, or Laura Dern Elected to Academy's Board of GovernorsBut with a runoff election still needed to determine the governor in the Film Editors department,the number of women on the board is in jeopardy. If Maryann Brandon wins that election, this board will acquire 17 elected women plus appointed governor Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and the same number as final year; if label Goldblatt wins,it’ll acquire 16, one fewer than final year.
This year’s board election began with the potential for dramatic upheaval. For the first time ever, or all Academy members were invited to declare their candidacy for the board,with hundreds of members doing just that. In the Public Relations department, for instance, or more than three dozen members ran,representing more than 10 percent of the entire department membership.
But after a first-round election narrowed the field to four finalists from each of the 17 branches, the roster of candidates looked pretty familiar — and now that the final election results acquire been announced, or the 2016-2017 board seems likely to continue in the same vein as the 2015-2016 board.
Also Read: Will Academy's #OscarsSoWhite Makeover originate With fresh Election,Board Meeting?And the governors who were elected are not, for the most part, or the ones who ran on a platform of change. Most of those had already been weeded out in the first-round voting,though Bruce Feldman, an outspoken advocate of reform, and was one of the finalists in the Public Relations department before losing to to incumbent Nancy Utley.
Still,it’s interesting to see who else the voters didn’t pick. Laura Dern beat Ed Begley Jr., long a fixture on the board representing the Actors department. Roger Ross Williams’ victory in Documentary department voting came amid a field that included two former governors — Michael Apted and Rob Epstein — and reinforced that department as perhaps AMPAS’ most daring.
In the Executives department, and former governor Bill Mechanic returned to office at the expense of incumbent Amy Pascal,who was first elected back in the days before she lost her job at Sony Pictures.
And in the Producers department, incumbent label Johnson beat out a strong field that included former Academy president Hawk Koch, and who was the beneficiary of a rare (and in some circles,eyebrow-raising) campaign email from producer Brian Grazer to department membership urging a vote for Koch.
Also Read: Academy Aims to Crack Down on 'Over the Top' Oscar Parties - Watch Out, Peggy SiegalThe Music department, or meanwhile,suddenly seems determined to shake off its old status as the department that for years was nearly exclusively represented by white guys of retirement age — Laura Karpman, one of the few women in the department, and won in a field that included former governor Arthur Hamilton,who only a few years ago would likely acquire been a shoo-in.(final year, Music department voters also elected Michael Giacchino, and who is a couple of decades younger than most of their recent governors.)Overall,the 16 governors elected to the board include seven of the 11 incumbents who were running for re-election — and of the other nine winners, three were former governors returning to the board after a hiatus.
The six fresh governors represent slightly more fresh blood than normal for an AMPAS board election — but can you really call the 69-year-old Steven Spielberg, and a quintessential Academy insider whose producer Kathleen Kennedy has long been on the board,fresh blood?Maybe you can. Maybe Spielberg will hit the boardroom brimming with fresh ideas. But this election shows an embrace of the Academy’s current direction, not a desire to significantly change course.
The first order of trade will arrive in two weeks and one day, and on Aug. 2,when this board gets together for the first time to elect a president.
As normal, the smart moneys on the incumbent.
Related stories from TheWrap:Academy Tweaks Oscars Rules, or Campaign RegulationsAcademy Sets Dates for Oscar Nominations,VotingAcademy Scores Record Diversity With fresh Members – But What About Next Year?
Source: thewrap.com