New rules written to prevent sequel to epic envelope error
LOS ANGELES — After taking responsibility for the best picture blunder at the Oscars last year, Tim Ryan of PwC got down to business.
He grilled the partners who made the gaffe, then personally reached out to the dozens of people affected by it: The show’s producers, presenters and stage managers, as well as the filmmakers behind “La La Land” and “Moonlight.”
In the months that followed, PwC met with the academy many times to come up with new protocols and safeguards to prevent such a blunder in the future. Ryan revealed reforms, including a new process in which the celebrity presenter will confirm they have the correct envelope before stepping onstage, PwC partners attending rehearsals, as well as measures to quickly correct any mistake.
Last year’s mistake happened when a PwC partner mistakenly handed an envelope for the best actress winner category, which went to Emma Stone in “La La Land,” to the presenters of the best picture category, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. That resulted in “La La Land” being briefly named best picture, before one of that film’s producers revealed the error and that “Moonlight” had in fact won.
“One of the most disappointing things to me was all the great work that had been done, not only last year but over the last 83 years, around accuracy, confidentiality, integrity of that process,” Ryan said. “And where we got it wrong was on the handing over of the envelope.”
Ryan said Oscar voting procedures and the tabulation of nominees and winners won’t change. Instead, reforms focus on envelope rituals.
Other changes include the addition of a third balloting partner, who will sit with Oscar producers in the show’s control room. Just like the balloting partners stationed on either side of the Dolby Theatre stage, this person will have a complete set of winners’ envelopes and commit the winners to memory. “Think of it as a safety control,” Ryan said.
Besides tabulating votes for Oscar nominees and winners, PwC handles much of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ accounting, including audits and taxes.
Film academy chief Dawn Hudson said that after reviewing the relationship between the two organizations, and given that the voting and secrecy around the Academy Awards were never compromised, the academy chalked up the envelope mistake to simple human error.
“Still, it was a big human error, and it was a very public human error,” Hudson said. Ryan is similarly confident. Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced Tuesday. Winners will be revealed at the ceremony on March 4.