Advertising & Blogging: Influencing This Year’s Oscars

As Oscar season is slowly approaching, I have decided to peruse the blogosphere for some new insight into the race itself, including not just which pictures should be considered, but also the sources of influence on the nomination process of the Academy Awards. The nominations for the Academy Awards are voted on by over fifty members of the Academy, ranging from filmmakers to studio and network executives to financiers to film writers and others working within the cinematic infrastructure. In the past, voting has usually been influenced primarily by the amount of campaigning within trade publications such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter; it is not enough for a film to simply be excellent. Similar to a Presidential campaign (see this year’s race), the value of the candidate can only be realized and recognized with extreme advertising efforts, despite actual raw talent. However, as Patrick Goldstein, film writer for the Los Angeles Times’ Calendar section, explains in a post entitled “Variety’s Oscar ads going…going…gone,” trade publications such as Variety have recently experienced a plummeting of Oscar ad campaigns, despite past data that strongly suggests that the nomination of a film depends highly on the amount of campaigning done on the studio’s end. Goldstein even quotes studio mogul Harvey Weinstein saying “If you don’t pay for that big upfront Oscar campaign, you end up paying at the box office.” So, if print advertisements in trade publications aren’t influencing the nominations, what are? Steven Zeitchik, writer for The Hollywood Reporter, recently wrote an article on his Risky Biz Blog entitled “Do Oscar bloggers matter?”, which obviously poses the question as to whether Oscar bloggers are influencing this year’s nomination process or not. Surprisingly, it seems that bloggers feel like they have little to no power, whereas film writers (including Patrick Goldstein) feel like bloggers have “hijacked” the Oscars, and its nomination process. I have commented on both articles, and have placed them below, along with a link to the article itself, for your convenience.

“Variety’s Oscar ads going…going…gone” by Patrick Goldstein
Comment:
Thank you, Mr. Goldstein, for your informative post on the recent disappearance of Oscar ads in Variety magazine. To tell you the truth, I was very surprised to see that ad campaigns have decreased recently, and did not realize that until you pointed it out. I share your belief that the best movies will receive nominations regardless of our current economic situation, and was surprised to read Mr. Weinstein’s response. However, I would like to see at least some statistical data that might back his claim. I feel like there will always be films that can garner enough publicity and hype to earn a nomination. Regarding your response, I too will be curious to see the money spent on advertising for “The Reader”, and its correlation to the speculated number of nominations it will receive. I also agree, especially as a graduating senior who hopes to work in the entertainment industry, that it is extremely frivolous and narcissistic for studios to gratuitously spend millions of dollars on Oscar campaigns for for films like “The Dark Knight”. Is it really too much to ask the Academy to vote on films based on merit, and save companies millions of dollars on advertisement campaigns while simultaneously maintaining thousands of jobs? Why is Bart so opposed to this method? I’m shocked to hear that someone as esteemed as Peter Bart would be so blindly devoted to the Oscar campaigning process. The only counterargument to our belief is that Oscar campaigning could potentially shine light on a film to members of the Academy who had not previously seen or heard of a particular film. While I understand this viewpoint, I would respond by arguing that Oscar campaigning usually means the film has already received enough attention to be in the public eye, and members of the Academy who haven’t heard of a film by that point probably don’t deserve to be on the Academy. Nominating a film is a privilege, not a right, and Oscar campaigning seems to be the easy way out for nominators to quickly filter their choices.

“Do Oscar bloggers matter?” by Steven Zeitchik
Comment:
Thank you Mr. Zeitchik for your article on the presence and influence of bloggers in the confused and muddled up Oscar race of 2008. I think most would agree that it is quite bizarre that it is the bloggers who do not feel like they are influencing anybody, and the film critics who believe bloggers like us have apparently “hijacked” the Oscars. I think you pose a decent argument for the potential victory for either Sean Penn or “Milk”, due to the uncanny resemblance and relevance to the current protests and publicity over Proposition 8 in California. As for the debate as to whether or not bloggers have influenced the Oscar race, while blogging may not directly influence voting this year, considering the influence blogs have now, in terms of when movies are screened, how competitors and print media review the films, and how movies are positioned, one can only imagine the influence blogging will have in even three years. I think real world events will always affect one or two films when the timing is right, but they will just affect those couple films. I believe blogging will certainly surpass real world events, and as we can see from the increasing popularity of online media and content distribution, and that the Internet is the future and publications will become less and less necessary, blogging will ultimately have a greater impact on the Oscar nominations than the millions of dollars studios put into advertisements and campaigns. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t it bloggers who originally proposed the honorary nomination of Heath Ledger after his death? If Ledger is nominated, I believe it will be because of bloggers. While it is unfortunate that there is even the debate as to whether blogging or Oscar campaigns will influence Academy members more, it is a reality, and I believe blogging has the greater influence, with campaigning as a clear second, and current realities such as Obama’s victory or Proposition 8 in third. Thank you very much for your post, I look forward to a follow up on this topic when nominations are within weeks of being publicized.