The road to Oscar
Coulda been a contender? Here’s how to be in with a shot…
It’s not ’til the tentpoles retreat in late summer that you can really hear the buzz, as excitement builds for the star-making triple threat of the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals. But for the little movies that could, the yellow brick road spirals out from the centre of Sundance, making theirs a year-long marathon towards the Dolby Theatre. Can they endure? It’s 50/50…
For every Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic winner that endures the march of the ’pendents, from Frozen River back in 2008 through Precious, Winter’s Bone, Beasts Of The Southern Wild and Whiplash, another simply fades (Like Crazy, Jiseul, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl) or derails. Historical rape allegations against Nate Parker scuppered The Birth Of A Nation while Netflix effectively took I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore out of the running.
Qualification is more complicated than it might appear. Within the preceding calendar year, a feature film (counted as longer than 40 minutes) has to have a week-long paid run of at least three daily showings in Los Angeles County, one of which must be between 6pm and 10pm. Anything shown on TV is likely out – Paul Greengrass’s lauded Bloody Sunday being a notable casualty – and a premiere at, say, Cannes then straight to VOD (The Meyerowitz Stories, Okja) means certain death.
As well as qualification, there’s the cost. Getting films into festivals is expensive, as is getting voters to watch them. Screenings are held but the preferred method is still the DVD screener, despite piracy issues. Variety reckons 70,000 discs might be distributed per movie, costing – for production, watermarking and postage – in the region of $35 apiece. That’s $2.4m already, with campaigns reckoned to cost between $3m and $10m. Roughly half the budget goes on marketing, the remainder on PR consultants, ‘lobbying’ and keeping the talent red-carpet ready.
The next step is the circuit. Colin Firth spent six gruelling months promoting The King’s Speech after it debuted at Telluride in September 2010. Likewise, Tiffany Haddish has been a chat-show staple since Girls Trip hit. But, stung by his Shame snub, Michael Fassbender ducked out on 12 Years A Slave duties, while Mo’Nique’s win for Precious came at a price
– she claims to have been blackballed ever since, director Lee Daniels saying, “She was making unreasonable demands… sometimes artists get in their own way.”
Sometimes, others get in their way. Awards season is littered with whispering campaigns, a tactic weaponised by Miramax. A Beautiful Mind’s John Nash was said to be anti-Semitic... Roman Polanski’s rape case resurfaced alongside The Pianist… Saving Private Ryan side-lined the Royal Navy... They rarely work, but they leave a bitter taste in the mouth – appropriate, perhaps, as the lasting legacy of Academy outcast Harvey Weinstein. EM