The Philip DeFranco Show - MS 1.22 And The Oscar Goes To... How $$$ and Insane Campaigns Dictate Who Wins Big!

Episode Date: January 22, 2019

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Hello, hello, welcome to your extra morning news show. My name is Philip DeFranco And today we're gonna be talking about something a little bit different than what we've been doing with these morning videos And I guess that's to say if you actually watch these videos in the morning your day will not start off by looking into the Just utter horrible of the world instead today We're gonna be looking at some of the secrets politics and money inside of Hollywood now right now If you're not aware we are officially in the middle of award season It's the time of the year between November and February where you have all of these film award events. In November you have the People's Choice Awards, Hollywood Film Awards.

December follows up with the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. In January you have the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. And then finally in February we get the Academy Awards. And it is arguably the most prestigious of the award ceremonies. Now the Academy Awards, or the Oscars as they've been

nicknamed, have been handed out for a pretty long time. In fact, they actually go all the way back to 1929. And the Oscars, they're voted on by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, or just the Academy for short. And as far as who is that, the Academy is an exclusive invite-only group of over 7,000 motion picture professionals. They range from actors to casting directors

to producers to directors and more. And those members vote on these 24 categories of awards. And arguably the biggest award of the night is Best Picture, and so that's gonna be the category that we focus on in this video. Also because Best Picture isn't just one of the most prestigious categories, it is also the most controversial. And I'm not talking about in the La La Land Moonlight fiasco sort of way. There's a mistake.

Moonlight, you guys won Best Picture. Moonlight, Best Picture. And when it comes to Best Picture, there are secret campaigns to undermine nominated movies, millions of dollars spent in marketing to convince Academy members to just consider a movie, and a system of voting that some critics say turns the Best Picture race into a race for the least disliked movie. And so to take this closer look into how thousands of films get dwindled down to just a few, and ultimately one gets named Best Picture, I had one of our fantastic writers and researchers, Alyssa Schenicki, jump into it.

So like Phil said, the race for Best Picture can be pretty intense, and it can also be really complicated. But I'm not exactly a Hollywood insider myself. I'm just a girl who really loves to go to the movies. So in order to walk you through how a movie gets named Best Picture, I needed some help. So I turned to two of Hollywood's best experts on everything Oscars.

Pete Hammon, awards columnist and chief film critic at Deadline, and Tim Gray, awards editor and senior vice president of Variety. And one of the questions I asked them is, is there anything the general public misconstrues about the race for Best Picture? And the answer I got was pretty shocking. I feel like everything that the general public misconstrues about the race for Best Picture? And the answer I got was pretty shocking. I feel like everything that the general public knows about the Oscar race is wrong.

Now notice how Tim used the word race there. It wasn't a slip. The race for Best Picture is a fierce competition in Hollywood. And in order to win this competition, movie studios, distributors, and filmmakers actually have to campaign for it. Campaigning for an Oscar is something that's been around for basically as long as the Academy has given out awards. But don't just take my word for it. People seem genuinely shocked and outraged that anyone would campaign for an Oscar.

But I think on one hand, that's what Hollywood does. And campaigning for an Oscar doesn't start after nominations are announced. It actually starts way before. Just like how in a presidential election, where a strategic campaign helps a candidate get past the primaries, a movie needs a good campaign to get an Oscar nomination. And these campaigns are so important that they actually dictate who gets a nomination and who doesn't. Distributors who are putting the money into the campaign, they tell the Academy, these are the movies that are in play here. Does the Academy

ever go off the reservation and try to find things that aren't being campaigned? Very rarely are you going to see some huge surprise come out of nowhere. So that brings us to the questions. Which movies are out there campaigning? What do these movies even look like? And why do they think they have a shot this year? Well, if you're thinking about trying to make a best picture movie, you probably won't

want to make a horror movie or a science fiction flick. And that's not because they aren't eligible to win, because they are. It's just that horror and science fiction movies don't get nominated that often. And in the rare cases when they do get a nod, they barely win. Since 1929, only three horror and science fiction movies have ever won best picture. And those movies are The Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, and The Shape of Water. But all three of these movies aren't traditional horror or science fiction. So you could even argue no horror or science fiction movie has ever won.

So if sci-fi and horror movies aren't the norm, what kinds of movies are out there campaigning for Best Picture? Well, it doesn't hurt to play into themes and genres that the Academy likes. In the 1970s, that was criminals and illegal dealings. In the 80s, it was all about big dramatic films set in faraway places. But what do experts say has been the trend in the last decade? In the last 10 years, it's definitely been towards independent movies, the kinds of movies that the main Oscar voters who run the studios and things might turn down and not make, but they get made anyway somehow independently and released. And then those are the ones they

vote for, even though they wouldn't make them in the first place. In years past, I mean, the Oscar voters nominated big movies, Gone with the Wind and Ben-Hur and even Titanic. But for the last decade, it's been the smaller art house movies. But this year, we might see that all change. It's odd because this year, I think the trend is going to go in the opposite way. I think you're looking at popular movies that are gonna be the news out of the Oscar nominations

for best picture movies like A Star is Born and Black Panther and Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book, Crazy Rich Asians is another one, too. These are all genuine Best Picture nomination possibilities, and that's unusual. But how do movies like Green Book and A Star is Born actually campaign? What does that even look like? Well, they need a few things. Ads, both print and billboards. Screeners, which are copies of movies sent to voting members of the Academy, and screenings, where often movie stars will show up in person

to promote their film. Campaigning for Best Picture also requires a lot of money. The average Best Picture campaign has been reported to cost anywhere from $3 to $10 million. Although, when I spoke to Pete Hammond, he estimated that Netflix has spent nearly $20 million on Rilma already. And while that may not sound like a lot when you're talking about movies for example Marvel's Infinity War had a budget of 321 million it can actually be a lot of money for smaller indie films for example the budget of 2017's Best Picture winner Moonlight was only 1.5 million PR consultants are also essential during campaigning They can help organize everything from screenings to ads.

Consultants can also be effective in running the more insidious side of best picture campaigns, the whisper campaigns. Whisper campaign. It's the best way to bring down an enemy if you don't want to get your hands dirty. But what is a whisper campaign? Well the Academy actually has rules about campaigning for an award and these rules clearly state you cannot actively campaign against another film. So instead, Hollywood turns to whispers and rumors.

What do I mean? Well, last year, as the race heated up, there was talk that The Shape of Water stole its plot. But that eventually turned out to be untrue. Last year with The Shape of Water, I think the week of final voting, somebody filed a plagiarism suit against it saying, oh my god, it totally stole the plot. But if you read the play, it's not that similar. I mean, it's about a woman janitor

and somebody in a lab experiment. That's about it. You know, and they were citing things, oh yeah, she dances with her mom. And it's like, yeah, that was not a key moment in the movie. That suit Tim mentioned was actually filed 10 days before the Academy Awards, despite director Guillermo del Toro saying he had never even heard of the movie. That suit Tim mentioned was actually filed 10 days before the Academy Awards, despite director Guillermo del Toro saying he had never even heard of the play.

Eventually, the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge who found the two works explored primarily different themes. But these negative campaigns aren't anything new. They happen every year. So let's look at another whisper campaign, in the case of Zero Dark Thirty. In 2013, Zero Dark Thirty was up for Best Picture. The movie was about the decade-long hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

But a month before the Oscars, the US Senate Intelligence Committee opened up an investigation to look into the correspondence between CIA officials and the filmmakers. The investigation was supposed to find whether the CIA gave the movie's director, Catherine Bigelow, and screenwriter, Mark Boll, inappropriate access to secret material.

It was also supposed to explore whether CIA agents were responsible for the portrayal of brutal interrogation techniques and the implication that torture was effective in the movie. When the investigation was announced, there was even talk that Bigelow and others would be called to testify before the Senate. And the announcement of this investigation

garnered a ton of media coverage. Zero Dark Thirty is causing another type of storm on Capitol Hill. Rarely does a movie generate so much controversy before it hits the theaters. There was a huge controversy and an investigation was begun about you receiving classified material.

The movie wasn't able to shake the negative attention and Zero Dark Thirty eventually lost Best Picture to Argo. But what followed the day after the 2013 Oscars still has some people wondering. Literally the day after the Oscars, the Senate subcommittee said, nevermind, we're dropping these charges. And so you think, okay, I mean,

there were a lot of rivals in the race that year with strong Washington, D.C. connections. So I'm thinking, oh, somebody pulled some strings to get this to happen. Although, we have to note here, it's never been confirmed that another film pulled any strings to get the Senate to investigate Zero Dark Thirty.

But obviously, the timing has still left some people in Hollywood with questions. We researched this piece before nominations were announced for this year's awards. But whispers, gossip, and negative stories have already started. So let's take a look at what's floating around in Hollywood. It's going on this year with every movie. Green Book is, you know, a wonderful movie that's being vilified by a certain section because it's winning and

it's doing well and it's a threat. These whisper campaigns only go on by movies that are perceived as a threat to other things. So they're very subtle and they actually hire people to do whisper campaigns. A publicist can get on a movie solely to just sort of go around to influencers and things and say, you know, yeah, I really love that movie Green Book, but you know, what is it about the family complaining about it? Black Clansman, I was on the phone with somebody yesterday who was saying, you know, I got some problems about him making light of that kind of situation, you know, in that movie. Bohemian Rhapsody, it's not gay enough. It's not telling the truth of who Freddie Mercury was. Well, that's not the movie they made. They made a PG-13 celebration of Queen. They did not make a movie that's going to go into the dark places that maybe Freddie

Mercury did in his life or whatever. That was not what they intended to do. The favorite being criticized for mixing up its history and that they didn't all actually live in that time. Now, remember how I said the reason these whisper campaigns exist is because the Academy has rules about campaigning against an opponent? Well, Hollywood has gotten so good at these negative campaigns that only once has someone been caught and punished for actively campaigning against another film. It happened in 2009. And I'm going to let Pete tell this one

because he's actually the one who broke this story. In 2009, when the Hurt Locker was up against Avatar and the Hurt Locker producer, Nicholas Chartier, was sending out emails that I got a hold of. I was at the L.A. Times at the time. I got a hold of that said, don't vote for that, you know, movie, that big movie, vote for us. I found another email, a follow up email where he said, don't vote for that $500 million movie, referring to Avatar, vote for the Hurt Locker. And that is absolutely forbidden.

After the emails Pete found became public, for the first time in its history, the Academy banned a nominee from attending the Oscars. The story quickly became huge in Hollywood, and some worried Chartier had ruined the Hurt Locker's chances at Best Picture. But the Hurt Locker did end up winning, and Chartier got his Oscar.

Lastly, we have to talk about how voting works for Best Picture, because this is the only category where voting is a little different. In all of the other 23 categories, Academy voters cast a single vote, and the nominee with the most votes wins. But when it comes to Best Picture, Academy members rank the films from favorite to least favorite. If one movie gets more than 50% of the vote, they win. But if that doesn't happen, here's where things get interesting. If no film gets more than 50% of the vote, they win. But if that doesn't happen, here's where things get interesting. If no film gets more than 50%, the least popular film is eliminated.

And that movie's vote share goes to whichever film a voter listed as their second choice. So let's use last year's films as an example of how it could work. There were nine movies nominated for Best Picture last year. Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. So let's say my first choice for Best Picture was Three Billboards. But Three Billboards comes in last in overall voting. And none of the other eight films get over 50% of the overall vote. Well then my second choice, let's say it was Dunkirk, now gets my vote. The votes are now counted up again. If no film gets 50% of the vote, the process repeats again and again and again until there's a winner with more than half the vote.

But some critics argue this system turns the race for best picture into a race for the least disliked film. And some voters also try to knock out a film they think is very popular by putting it last on their ballot. Now, if all this sounds confusing to you, well, you're not the only one. I have written several columns about the preferential voting system, and I still don't understand. There's 8,000 voters, and I've only talked to a fraction of them, but none of the ones I've talked to ever understand this. It's like they do know that it's important, your number one choice and your number two choice are important. They know that, and beyond that, it's like it's too complicated. The Academy hasn't made any moves recently to change the voting system, but that doesn't mean it won't change There's always next year with that said I hope you learned something new today about how the race for Best Picture

Actually works and so with all that in mind We had this video come out today for one big reason because today the Academy is going to release its nomination We'll get to see if the big movies are going to get the nominations or if it will continue to be the smaller indie ones like we've seen in the past decade also expect to see the campaigns Ramp up for each of those films, and also keep an eye out for those Whisper campaigns. It's gonna be interesting to see what other stories come out the closer we get to the Oscars.

But with that said, I also of course pass the question off to you, what are your thoughts around all of this? And I mean that in general, but also does it kind of make you think back to other past movies and the stories about them, and your viewing that as kind of this orchestrated thing? I'm interested to know what you think. Also, I just wanna say thank you for watching this video.

If you like this and or our other dives into the news, let us know. Hit that like button. Also, if you're new here, you want more of this in your life, just hit that subscribe button. Maybe ring that bell to turn on notifications. But with that said, of course, my name is Philip DeFranco. I love yo faces, and I'll see you later today on the brand new Philip DeFranco Show.