A lot of work is put into paving the way from a film’s premiere to a touching acceptance speech. Getting nominated for an Oscar is a whole venture in itself, and one that has much more to do than betting on a good film.
Much like America Ferrera’s praised monologue in “Barbie,” award campaigning is a very difficult business to balance. You have to want the award, but you need to stay clear of Oscar-bait allegations. You need to be confident, but must act surprised when you are nominated. You must put in the work, but you cannot come off overbearing.
To win, you have to understand the game and the players involved, know the audience and what will sway them one way or another.
Who is The Academy?
The Academy is an international organization and membership made up of qualified filmmakers from around the world. It consists of 18 branches, representing the likes of writers and actors, all the way up to legal representatives. Each branch has requirements that govern who is eligible to represent in their category.
Every spring, new members are welcomed into The Academy by invitation from the Board of Governors; no applications are accepted. One can become a part of The Academy based on sponsorships given by two other current members who are a part of the branch they seek to enter, though the final verdict will be determined by the Board of Governors. All current Oscar nominees who are not already members are also granted consideration in the Board’s decision.
Traditionally, because of the exclusiveness, The Academy has primarily been made up of white men who average around the age of 60. This has changed significantly since the 2016 #OscarsSoWhite outrage led to The Academy promising to double the amount of female and ethnically diverse members by 2020. In 2024 year there are 9,797 members eligible to vote.
How does voting work?
Deadlines for general entry are usually sometime in mid-November. Studios tend to be the ones who decide which films to enter, but filmmakers can submit their own work. Preliminary voting to determine what films would make it to the Shortlist began Dec. 14, 2023. The Shortlist is voted on by members of each field — directors vote for directors, and so forth, except for Best Picture, which everyone can vote on. When voting is over, only 15 films are left to advance.
The official Shortlist was released on Dec. 21, 2023, and final nomination voting shortly followed, running from Jan. 11 to 16.
In the International Best Feature and Best Animated Feature categories, there are two rounds of voting that all members are encouraged to partake in. Voters are required to have seen all 15 films on the Shortlist before the second round of voting that narrows nominations down to five. The voting for the actual awards allows for all members to vote in all categories, and final votes are cast online. This has consistently raised concern, given many Academy members have admitted to having not watched all the nominated films, leading many to question the validity of the voting procedure.
Official nominations were announced in a live ceremony on Jan. 23. Final voting for the ceremony runs from Feb. 22 to 27, 2024.
What is an Oscar campaign?
Campaigning for The Oscars is very similar to running for public office; studios will spend upwards of $15 million lobbying for votes. Unlike open campaigning in politics, studios can not explicitly state that they are campaigning, because it is quite literally against The Academy’s rules. Often this working desire for one of those little gold men is disguised under a “celebration of cinema” instead.
To get around this, it becomes just as important to have a steady focus surrounding the narrative of a campaign as it is to have an outstanding film. If they can convince the public that their film is incredibly relevant to the times or amp up the underdog or long overdue approach, the campaign has a higher chance of catching important attention.
Studios hire campaign consultants to push the promotional material and events for films and their star vehicles. While these consultants bear most of the hard work, it becomes almost another acting gig for those nominated to play the part of a deserving nominee and win the public’s heart. As much as one would like to think otherwise, the awards are not given based strictly on performance — these voters, though they are highly regarded professionals in their fields, are just everyday people and their bias will influence the ballots.
Oscar campaigning includes a lot of advertisements, interviews, events, screenings, parties and individual lobbying. On a less public scale, lobbying can include meeting with members of the Academy for lunch to discuss their films and even nudge them to promote you. If a celebrity makes a random one-off post praising a film, or better yet an individual performance, chances are it was not made entirely of their own volition.
How can they campaign?
The Oscars have pretty strict guidelines when it comes to campaigning, cracking down especially hard following the Andrea Reiseborough controversy in 2023 in which her surprise nomination led people to believe she may have cheated through campaigning. In May of 2023 as a response to the controversy, The Academy announced updated rules to address social media’s role in campaigning as well as studio funding and organizing regulations of “For Your Consideration” events.
Despite how obvious it is, campaigning has to be done subtly. There should be no hint of “I want your vote,” and the guidelines are put in place to keep nominees in line with what creates fair opportunity for all.
Campaigning is a sneaky business, but by learning to play the game right, it could be what secures you the biggest award in the film industry.
