In a little-noticed move a year ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided that it would make life a bit easier for the U.S. Postal Service.
The academy, responding to concerns that Oscar campaigns were getting out of hand, told studios that what they could mail to members was now limited to the specific cassettes, compact discs, scores and screenplays, along with notification of screening times and locations.
Everything is to be printed on plain paper, and there would be no more coffee-table books and no more wooden boxes for cassettes. In short, nothing that could be construed as a gift.
Additionally, the academy told studios they can no longer call members.
The penalty for violating these policies is simple but severe — having the allocation of tickets to the Oscar ceremonies taken away.
Before this year, studios mailed out thousands of ornate packages, often complete with specially printed books, to sway voters with campaigns beginning as early as October.
Reaction to the changes has been singularly positive, with everyone declaring films should be judged on their own merit. “The rule changes are fabulous,” declared Terry Curtin, head of publicity at Disney. “They level the playing field.”
“As an academy member, my mailbox is grateful,” said Mark Gill, head of Miramax’s marketing department.
One longtime member of the academy said it’s still a chore to plow through all the mail she gets once nominations are announced. “I don’t think I’m getting quite as much this year, although I still get quite a lot because of all the cassettes,” she said.
“But that’s all right. I think that one of the reasons that the smaller films have been getting more nominations is that we can watch them on cassette. Who would go to see `The Sweet Hereafter’ otherwise?”
Academy members were the targets of three solid months of campaigning in the trade publications, Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, with full-page ads costing as much as $9,000 each.
It starts in the middle of the fall, crests around Thanksgiving and Christmas and then slows for a few weeks after ballots are due in late January or early February, then resumes for the final stretch of campaigning when nominations are announced and finally ends when voting closes. Final ballots were due March 17.
Robert Dowling, publisher of the Reporter, said this year’s campaign resulted in slightly higher advertising than last year’s. “The difference wasn’t breathtaking,” he noted.
