Made in Hollywood

"My dear, our film has no shortlisted awards. Who should vote for?"

In the living room of the villa, Ivanka raised his head and looked here. Duke put down the newspaper in his hand and said irresponsibly, "You have made a decision."

"But I haven't watched those nominated movies." Ivanka couldn't help scratching her face.

She was holding a pen and scribbled over the ballots, obviously still very interested in fulfilling the power of Oscar voting for Duke.

Duke picked up a glass of water, walked over and handed it to Ivanka, "Drink first. You haven't drunk any water since last night."

"I'm going back to New York tomorrow to participate in a promotion. Dehydration can make me look slimmer..."

Having said that, Ivanka saw Duke with persistent eyes and had to take the water glass, "Well, I give up the dehydration weight loss plan."

She blinked quickly and deliberately pushed the ballot in front of Duke, "How should we choose?"

While Duke was going to check the ballot papers, Ivanka quickly picked up the water glass, took a very few sips, and put the glass back on the coffee table.

"I don't know who to choose." Duke shrugged, "I haven't watched movies that have nothing to do with us."

In fact, he is also one of the kind of judges who are not very responsible. Most of the films that have been nominated, except for a few that have been seen in the previous life, have no idea to watch the others.

People like Duke account for a considerable number of the 6000 Oscar judges.

A long time ago, Duke became an Oscar judge, one of the nearly 6,000 members of the Academy. According to the rules of the Film Academy, the members of the Academy are mainly formed in two ways. One is to obtain an invitation from the Academy. One is to get the Oscar nomination automatically.

Duke belongs to the second category.

He has been very busy these years. The so-called performance of the duties of the judges is just a form. In most cases, they are similar to this time and have no interest in awards. Choose to vote with your feet, or to see which name is familiar and pleasing to the eye, vote for the other party.

Not only Duke, this is a very common voting method among many Oscar judges. Public relations and media propaganda have the greatest influence on these people's choices.

The final vote for this year's Oscars starts from the announcement of the nominations on February 14 and ends on February 25 before the awards ceremony. After the votes of the judges are mailed back to the college, they will be counted by two accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The number of votes is counted and the names of the winners are sealed. These envelopes are filled with suspense and expectations. You have to wait until the Oscar TV broadcast. They will be opened one by one.

The Oscar vote has undergone many reforms along with the evolution of history. For every Oscar in recent years, there will be two rounds of voting. All members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are basically affiliated with one of the 14 major branches of the Academy, such as actors, directors, screenwriters, and photography. They will vote twice in total. The first time the finalists are selected, and the second Winners will be selected each time.

In the first round of voting. The votes of the judges are limited to candidates in their own branches. For example, Duke can only vote for director awards. After the shortlist is announced, all nearly 6,000 members can vote for other awards in different categories.

Before the Academy expanded the nominations for the best film Oscars to ten, the new sorting multiple selection voting system had not been born. The voting method is still the typical "single-round voting system, whichever is higher."

Of course, no matter what kind of voting system, the favor points generated by public relations and lobbying, etc., occupy a considerable share, and can even determine the ownership of the award.

Members like Duke and his team are basically members of the academy. They participated in the nomination of the film, or their friends participated, how should they vote? I believe this is not difficult to guess.

In most cases, a person has a preference, and preference will be affected by the surrounding environment.

Ivanka took five minutes to finish voting for awards that were not related to "The Return of the King". Duke sealed the ballots in an envelope and handed them to the butler Emma, ​​who asked her to post them in time. This belongs to Duke’s Oscar voting trip. , This is the end.

As the Oscars ceremony approaches, more and more members of the academy have also completed their voting work.

Howard Rodman is the vice president of the Screenwriters Association. In this organization that can represent the rights and interests of Hollywood screenwriters, he has a pivotal influence. In the face of several of his friends, he talked about his voting choices without shy. .

"I will only vote for the genre in which I have watched all related movies." He said. As a busy person, he can watch the most influential films of the year. What's more, that film puts all the work against him in place, "I will vote for "The Return of the King". "

His votes have been mailed out, but after get off work in the evening, many of Howard Rodman's friends and subordinates also voted for "The Return of the King".

Tony Angelotti is a public relations expert who has supervised more than 250 films and directed publicity activities. He has been a member of the academy since 1975.

"Dad, how did you choose to vote?" In the study, his son Tony asked curiously.

Tony Angelotti couldn’t help laughing when he asked his son who was less than ten years old. “My dear, watching all the nominated films is a very time-consuming task, because some types, such as visual As a result, there were only three shortlisted works before, but now they have increased to five, so it becomes more and more difficult to watch all the films."

"So..." He raised his left hand, covering his eyes, holding a pen in his right hand and placing it about a foot above the ballot, "I use this method to make a choice."

After speaking, he let go of his right hand, the pen fell, and fell on the ballot paper, leaving a black dot on the name of one of the films.

Tony Angelotti took off his left hand, picked up the pen, and chose that movie in this award.

"Dad, do it again!" Little Tony shouted excitedly.

So Tony Angelotti covered his eyes again...

Peter Bart is the special editor of Variety Magazine. He returned home after a busy day at work. Only when his wife reminded him that the Oscar voting deadline was approaching.

Entering the study, took out the envelope mailed by the college, Peter Bart took out the ballot paper, his wife followed in, and stood by to look at the nominated movies and the names of the people.

"Honey, you haven't watched these movies."

Hearing what his wife said, Peter Bart shook his head indifferently, "I read reviews and communicated with other people. So, even if I haven't seen everything, I know what choices to make."

When it comes to the scale and influence of reviews, no film can compare to "The Return of the King", and everyone around Peter Bart is talking about this film. Almost all he hears is about this film. Therefore, he chose "The Return of the King" without hesitation.

On February 25, the deadline for the academy to vote, although the final results will not be known until the awards ceremony on the 29th, Penny Kelly, who is responsible for Duke’s public relations, is quite confident.

"According to the information returned." She remained calm, "Duke, your chance of winning is close to 80%. "The Return of the King" guarantees seven to nine awards."

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows, Duke looked back from the sea, "This is already pretty good."

No one can guarantee a 100% award. To realize what he wants in Return of the King, it not only requires all kinds of work, but also a little bit of luck.

Luck is something you can’t see or touch, but it’s sometimes very important when everything is in place.

For example, some judges who are used to voting with their feet often don't even know where their feet will fall.

"How are your preparations?"

As the last person to serve before retirement, Penny Kelly received huge benefits from Duke, and she also devoted all her energy. She is only serving Duke alone now.

Ivanka took over, "The dress is ready, we just wait for the award ceremony to begin."

Penny Kelly nodded, and asked Duke again, "What about my acceptance speech for you?"

"Relax, Penny." Duke raised his finger and pointed to his forehead, "I have already kept it in mind."

Although he is not an actor with outstanding acting skills, according to the plan of the publicist, it is not difficult to make a sensual performance after winning the award.

On the Oscars stage, you can always see the winners or the excited or moving acceptance speeches, but more than 80% of these are performing, especially the heaviest awards, people will definitely be excited after winning, but The exaggerated expressions and words of those actors may only be known to them, and how long it took to practice in private.

On the Oscar stage that the United States and the whole world are watching, what you say and do is not just casual. The acceptance speech has never come from the winner himself. A seemingly ordinary acceptance speech is inevitable in advance. Will be drafted and reviewed by their respective public relations and brokers.

Many celebrities are people who behave happily and do not hesitate to speak. If something is wrong at the Oscars ceremony, it may even affect the future of the individual.

For example, opinions on many issues such as war and homosexuality...

Duke’s acceptance speech comes from the hands of him, Penny Kellys and Nancy Josephson. It has everything from individual awards to group awards, even broken down into which time period of which award, and what kind of words should be said. .

Public relations has always been a profound knowledge, and acceptance speeches are also a kind of public relations in some ways.

In short, Duke is ready, only waiting for the 76th Oscars to kick off. (To be continued...)

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