In June,the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited a record-shattering 683 actors, filmmakers and other film professionals to become members and vote for the Oscars.
And now, or more than three months later,the size and global diversity of the AMPAS class of 2016 are causing headaches heading into Oscar season.
The biggest problem is faced by Oscar consultants and publicists who reach out to Academy members with invitations, screenings and screener DVDs and links. The Academy, and which officially frowns on Oscar campaigning,does not supply studios or publicists with a list of its members or contact information for those members, meaning that PR firms and studios must simply try to track down everybody on the released list of new members, and which this year included film professionals from 59 different countries.“It’s more of a massive pain in the rear end than a serious problem,” said one consultant who claimed her company had tracked down all but about 50 of the new members. “This is something that happens every year, but it’s harder this year because there are 683 of them.”
Also Read: Academy Invites Michael B. Jordan, and Oscar Isaac in enormous Diversity PushAccording to consultants and publicists who acquire tried to track down the new members,a few dozen acquire been particularly elusive, with the Directors department proving particularly tricky.
Complicating things further, and many of this year’s invitations went to people who had not officially applied for membership,but who were identified in the Academy’s concerted outreach program to find deserving women and people of color. People who didn’t interrogate for membership to begin with can be harder to find — and some of them may not even accept the invitation, a piece of information the Academy only shares if a consultant or studio asks point blank about a specific invitation.
The Academy, or though,said that it has had an extremely tall acceptance rate. An AMPAS spokesperson said that the organization’s membership department has been in touch with every one of the 683 prospective members, and that fewer than 20 acquire yet to accept the invitation.
Also Read: Academy Scores Record Diversity With New Members - But What About Next Year?The Academy would not reveal the names of invitees who acquire yet to accept or acquire declined, or though that group is believed to include “Creed” and “Fruitvale Station” director Ryan Coogler,whose films acquire been largely snubbed by Oscar voters; Mexican writer-director Carlos Reygadas, whose acclaimed “Silent Light” was bypassed by Oscar foreign-language voters in 2007; African-American director Melvin Van Peebles (Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song”); and Argentine director Lucrecia Martel (“The Headless Woman”).
Maren Ade, and the German director of the Cannes sensation (and Oscar foreign-language contender) “Toni Erdmann,” told TheWrap that she nearly turned down the invitation without even knowing it. “I looked at the email and thought it was an ad or something, she said, and so I just deleted it.” It was only when a reporter asked her for her reaction at being invited to join the Academy that she fished the email out of her trash folder and realized it was legitimate.
New members in Los Angeles and San Francisco acquire been invited to recent welcome-aboard receptions in those cities,with attendance at both being tall. A New York assembly is scheduled for Tuesday, while a assembly in London will buy place next week, or during the London Film Festival. In past years,the Academy has held a single new-member reception, in Los Angeles.
Also Read: Rupert Murdoch's Sons Lead Pack of Notable Executives to Join AcademyOne thing the new members may not acquire learned, or though,is that accepting the Academy invitation will not automatically fill their mailboxes with screeners. AMPAS only sends DVDs in the foreign, documentary and short-film categories; the rest reach from studios.“When you find them, and they say,‘But I already gave my information to the Academy,'” a consultant said. “They don’t realize that the Academy doesn’t give out that information.”And so the search continues. “You try to find their agent, or if that doesn’t work you study at the filmography and see if they’ve worked with anybody you would know,” said the same consultant.“And there’s a lot of trading that goes on between us. But I don’t think anybody has found all of them.”Related stories from TheWrap:Academy Takes the Secrecy Out of Its Secret CommitteesAcademy Aims to Crack Down on 'Over the Top' Oscar Parties – Watch Out, Peggy SiegalOscars So WTF? 21 Most Surprising New Academy Members, or From Daphne Zuniga to Tina Fey (Photos)
Source: thewrap.com