The Oscars pairing who really count
For most of the year, Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz are not that different from the thousands of other partners at accountancy firm PwC. They help clients to minimise tax, carry out complex auditing jobs and try to avoid doing anything that would attract unnecessary attention.
Right now, they are completing an annual project that sets them apart: after weeks of ballot counting, Cullinan and Ruiz are the only people who know the 2017 Oscar winners.
Tomorrow, in full evening wear, they will travel to the Hollywood ceremony in separate cars, each with an LAPD escort, and walk down the red carpet carrying matching briefcases they have personally packed with 24 envelopes sealed by them.
They may be accosted by news crews or even a nominee – Cate Blanchett mock-tussled with Cullinan for his briefcase in 2014, when he knew and she didn’t that she was about to win best actress.
Once inside, they will stand behind the curtain on opposite sides of the stage all night to ensure that they are in place to hand the right envelope to the right star.
The very public consequences of making a mistake ensure a stressful evening. ‘‘It’s a relief when the final envelope is open and you can relax, because there’s no more risk that anything can go wrong,’’ Cullinan says.
Surely the secrecy means that nobody would know if they fudged the results? Cullinan lets out a strangled laugh. Trust, he says, is the reason PwC gets hired. ‘‘We don’t even kid around about that stuff.’’ The firm, formerly Price Waterhouse, has been counting the votes for 83 years.
The counting began weeks ago, with 30 people crunching through every ballot from the 6687 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to create shortlists. The second round of voting ended on Wednesday.
None of the team gets to see the full picture. Cullinan and Ruiz collate the results and identify the winners. To ensure total secrecy, they memorise the winners rather than writing them down, and get cards printed for every nominee. It’s down to them to put the correct ones into the envelopes for the briefcases.