The attention of many film admirers all over the globe focuses on that glamorous event. Each January, the Academy Awards makes people to gather next to their TV's or other screens to watch Oscar's telecast and get to know who will get the most astounding respects in filmmaking. (Oscars Org.2017).
Back in the year 2017, one of the most crucial events in the movie industry and show-business is about to start. On February 26, 2017, the whole world is waiting for the 89th Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards (AMPAS) – Oscars Awards. Nobody knows the results yet, and therefore there is a lot of tension “in the air”. However, for now, everybody is excited, the red carpet is taking place, the celebrities and nominees start to come to the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. As in any other important event in Hollywood, the Oscar is not an exception, millions of people watching and discussing every detail of it. Beginning from how the actors are dressed, ending with the arguments about the nominees and what will be the results. In a way, it is similar to a football game or any other contest; the audience is sharing the mood of interest and never miss any word or action that happens at the event. This is how we see it, the audience, those who watch the fully prepared show. However, we never know for sure what is happening at the backstage. Nobody was aware how this night will finish and how much they will talk about it after. Apparently, it wasn’t another usual ceremony; few issues were brought to the public that year, one of them was about racial diversity. (Appendix 1). The theatre is getting full of people, everything is very official, and in the tone of celebration, media is ready to start the broadcasting, everybody is waiting. 5:30 PM. AMPAS presented the Academy Awards in 24 categories. Jimmy Kimmel, a very famous comedian, hosted the ceremony for the first time and it was televised by ABC channel in the United States. (The Hollywood Reporter, 2016).
That year there was a 50th anniversary of “Bonnie and Clyde”, in honour the Academy hired Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, who was the main actors in the movie, as presenters to announce the 2017 Best Picture winner. (Harper’s Bazar, 2018). They reached the stage, welcomed everyone with a speech about using art as a tool to discover reality, finally got to the phase of announcing the nominees. But at the moment when they opened the envelope, that's when the things went wrong and, the problem started. Warren Beatty looked at the card from the envelope, then looked at it again, the facial expression was symbolising everything-his eyebrows were raised. He looked in the envelope searching for another card, rechecked the card. Visibly panicking, he started to read and by the end, actually announce—"And the Academy Award… for Best Picture…" Then he stops one more time. The audience thinks he's just trying to be funny and making a joke. Beatty showed the card to Dunaway. Dunaway, reading the card, confidently pronounced: "La La Land". The whole Dolby theatre dissolved into cheers. The movie cast appeared onstage next minute, prepared to give their speeches and thank everyone. Fred Berger, one of the producers of “La La Land", stepped towards the microphone already realising that something is happening behind the scenes. At this point, some real whispers were taking place behind them. Gary Natoli, the stage manager then got onstage as well; everyone is excited and wondered. At the same time, Berger concluded his speech with, "we lost, by the way." Then Horowitz, one of the producers of “La La Land” rushed to the mic, shouting: "Guys, I'm sorry. There's a mistake. “Moonlight”, you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke. Come up here." Horowitz pulled the correct envelope out of Beatty's hand and held it up for the camera. (Appendix 2) (The Guardian, 2017).
A private dinner held at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California in the year 1929, was not just another dinner, it was the beginning of Academy Awards – 1st ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. However, what has led to this? In the year 1927, Louis B. Mayer, the M-G-M studio chef and his colleagues were discussing their ideas, and one of them was to create an organised group to benefit the movie industry. Just a few days later, 36 members from distinctive creative parts of the enterprise held a meeting in Los Angeles's Ambassador Hotel to discuss an idea to found the International Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Soon after that, when it seemed that everyone agreed on the proposal, the articles of incorporation were presented, and officials were elected -The Academy started their history. Douglas Fairbanks became a first president leading this organization. Coming back to the Roosevelt Hotel’s Blossom Room and the event that was happening here, 270 attendees came on May 16, 1929, when the first Academy Awards ceremony was presented. (Appendix 3). Unlike today's traditions and how we used to the procedures, the nominees were introduced three months earlier. The next year the Academy decided to keep the results in secret and gave a list to newspapers before the event, explicitly stated that publications have to happen at 11 p.m. In the year 1940, “The Los Angeles Times” breached the agreement and made a publication of the list of winners in its evening edition, earlier than the ceremony began – easily available to guests arriving at the ceremony. That introduced the sealed-envelope system, that is used nowadays. (Oscars org: Academy Story, 2018). The main purpose of AMPAS and the idea of giving awards first came to Mayer’s mind, and the reasoning behind it was to unite the five branches of the movie industry, together with actors, directors, producers, technicians, and writers. Mayer commented as of the creation of the award: "I found that the best way to handle [filmmakers] was to hang medals all over them … If I got them cups and awards, they'd kill them to produce what I wanted. That's why the Academy Award was created". (The Vintage News, 2016). The interest of the group initially had to do with labour issues. However, as time went on, the organisation moved further away from engagement in labour-management, later returning to it. One of several boards formed in those first days was for "Awards of Merit". There are different categories in which the nominees are awarded a famous golden statuette; this is what officially known as "Award of Merit" or simply "Oscar". Until May 1928 it was not clear, neither the structure of the awards, not even how it will be presented, the committee did not discuss it. However, by July 1928 the board of directors had accepted a fixed list of 12 awards to be given. The voting system for the Awards was established during this year as well. Furthermore, the nomination and selection process began. (Osborne, Robert. 60 Years of The Oscar. Abbeville Press, 1989. Page 10.).
The 16th Oscar ceremony was the first one held in another type of the venue, rather than Ambassador or Biltmore hotels – Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The Academy increased its popularity by the year 1942, therefore, more and more people were willing to attend the event. These dinner ceremonies were impossible and impractical. The boom of this organisation was not in one moment, a lot of necessary steps and actions were undertaken by AMPAS, before becoming known worldwide. Everything started with the publication of the “Report on Incandescent Illumination” in 1928. The Academy knew that to become credible they have to show their commitment on different levels and that's when a history of publishing books began. The first book was written to assist the members of the AMPAS committee, which included all of the production titles for movies and acknowledges for directors and writers. A second book, “Recording Sound for Motion Pictures”, was published in 1931, and was focused on technical issues, especially sound, different lectures were the base for this publication. All of these early initiatives had their role in the reputation of AMPAS today. Apart from publishing initiatives, the Academy was involved in education programs, such as the one developed in 1930. The program was established to educate Signal Corps to produce military training movies; they trained officers in the different aspects of motion picture production. Years later, at the beginning of World War II, the Academy's Research Council arranged to produce training films on a non-profit basis for major studios. In 1934, a new Academy publication, “The Screen Achievement Records Bulletin”, debuted, when the Writers Branch began publishing a bulletin of screen authorship records. (Oscars Org. 2017).
The Academy was always actively participating in their area of interest, but in the late 1920s and the 1930s, they also became active in politics and labour-management issues, with different outcomes, indeed. They have already been into labour issues at the beginning of the establishment. At some point the acknowledgement of the “Award of Merit” also touched on other categories in the industry such as film editing, music scoring, and song, they were soon added to the categories honouring films. (Oscars org, 2017). In 1934 the Academy employed the accounting company – Price Waterhouse, to arrange the voting’s system and maintain the secrecy of the results. The firm, now called PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), is still responsible for tabulating the voting. Besides, the company oversees AMPAS elections, prepares its financial documentation, and is responsible for the tax filings. (Maddaus, Brent Lang, James Rainey, Gene (2017-03-02). "Oscars: PwC Has Deeper Relationship with Academy Than Just Awards Show". Variety. Retrieved 2017). PwC, as a result of their long-term collaborative work with the AMPAS, has some privileges – they can use its association with the Oscars in its promotional materials. It also receives free publicity on the broadcast and red-carpet coverage.
Finally, in the year 1937, the Academy focused all their attention on the creative and artistic aspects and brought back to mind why they were created. Frank Capra was the president, and during his presidency, the Academy rewrote its “constitution” and laws, which allowed them to move away from labour-management related issues. The publications continued and “The Academy Players Directory” was published. The directory covered photos of actors and the name of their agent or industry contact. In the year 2006, the Academy stopped the publishing the directory, as a private concern bought it. “Science and Technology Council”, in the year 1938 was called “Academy's Research Council”, had 36 technical committees dealing with problems related to sound recording and reproduction, projection, lighting, film preservation, and cinematography. They were expanding and were able to cover different areas. At the same time, the Academy library had gained recognition and popularity for having one of the full motion picture-related collections in the world. (Oscar’s Org. History of the Academy, 2011). Like any other organisation, at some stage, difficulties occur. In 1938 the weather was not favourable, and heavy flood delayed the ceremony for the first time in its history, the show was postponed for one week. Then in 1946, the Academy decided to invest and purchased a new building for its headquarters – The Marquis Theater building was the best option. The building was fabulous, had a 950-seat theatre and enough space for employee’s offices and the further growing library collection. (Appendix 4). The Academy grew steadily, developing and covering new and new areas, such as a scholarship program for students in film studies majors, those were set up in the mid-1960s; and then in 1968, the Academy introduced grants, which were designed to be awarded to film-related organisations and for internships in colleges. The Academy decided that it is important to share their collection with the society and in 1972, they started out the “National Film Information Service” to provide access to library materials for historians and students. A year later, “The Student Academy Awards Committee”, the purpose of which was to recognise, inspire and encourage promising college and university filmmakers, was established. (The Web Archive Org. The Academy of motion picture arts and science, 2017).
When the Oscars were telecasted in colour for the first time, that's when the turning point in history came, in the year 1966. Only a few years later, in 1969 it became global, and the Oscars were broadcasted internationally, that was the first steps on the way to the global recognition. Nowadays the number of fans and people following this award is huge, and the show reaches movie lovers in over 200 countries. Moreover, The Academy Awards show reached the uniqueness and televised live in all United States time zones, Canada, the United Kingdom, and congregate millions of viewers throughout the world, which allows them to be the only show that is able to do this. Since 1969, the Academy kept “spreading their wings” and implemented different changes, which included expanding the scope of public programming and public relations in general. Next decade they also were able to find the successful format – a series called “Film Classics Revisited”, which became the norm. The series featured discussions with the cast and crew, and the insights are always that interested the public. Additionally, there was a lot of gratitude’s to screen legends, such as Mickey Mouse, these gratitude’s was reinforced by exhibitions presented in the main lobby. Public events grew more and more, becoming more expansive each year compared to previous, with a bigger range of film screenings and exhibitions, and newly made seminars on specific areas of filmmaking. (Oscars. Org, History of the Academy, 2011). Despite the huge growth, in the year 1981, the Academy faced the third crisis related to the postponing of the ceremony. For the second time, it was in 1968, that year ceremony was very diverse, which was new to the Award. The two nominees were African-American, two “best picture” nominations concentrated on race, and four black artists were chosen to perform. The date that was intended for the ceremony put the Academy in a tricky position. The show was scheduled for April 18, which was a night before the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The decision was made to postpone the ceremony for two days and cancel the Governors Ball (for the only time in Oscars history). The Academy’s president Gregory Peck opened the show with a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., and The Hollywood Reporter concluded for that night as one of "solemnity, glamour [and a] sense of unity.” (Hollywood Reporter, 2018). He felt that “postponement was the only appropriate gesture of respect,” a feeling that was embraced by the entire industry. (Emanuel Levy, 2006). For the third time, the circumstances why the ceremony was postponed for 24 hours was very dramatic as well. In the year 1981, the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan happened on the very day of the event, which was March 30. The political violence made its contribution to a cancellation of the event, for the second time for the past 13 years. 'In deference to the tragedy in Washington,' the ceremony was rescheduled – said the show's producer, Norman Jewison. (United Press International, by Vernon Scott, 1981). That Oscar’s show was planned to begin with, a pre-taped greeting from the President. Emcee Johnny Carson commented: “Because of the incredible events of yesterday, that adage, the show must go on, seemed relatively unimportant. But the show did go on only a day later – signalling the eminence of the Oscar as a sacred ritual in American culture.” (Emanuel Levy, 2006). The meeting was held immediately; the two parties participated were ABC officials, president of the Academy, and Norman Jewison, producer of the telecast. The results of the meeting were to delay the ceremony, and this agreement was reached only when there were four hours left to the televised broadcast. New, unexpected news emerged soon from Washington; the reporters told that the injuries that Mr. Reagan received are more serious than it was stated before. The Academy official than made another decision and first announced that a recorded message from the President would not be broadcasted as planned and the one day delay is a necessity. A huge audience was waiting for the show all over the world. John Pavlik, an executive administrator of the Academy, took the responsibility and announced to the audience that the event had been delayed, then mentioned: ''The crowd was upset, but I think they understood; the younger people had more trouble understanding than the older ones.'' (The New York Times, 1981). This case was particularly representative to the PR crisis as not only the millions of fans were disappointed, but, also, the local economy has suffered some damages. Different businesses are indirectly involved in the show. The Oscar ceremonies are big business for local entrepreneurs, from florist and decorators to hair-dressers and stylists, the livery business as well. For example, there is a tradition in the “world” of celebrities to come to the event exceptionally with limousines. (The New York Times, 1981). In the year 2003, the Academy and Oscars ceremony faced yet another unpleasant circumstance that did not allow the show to happen as usual. U.S. forces invaded Iraq on the Thursday, before the 76th Oscar ceremony telecast. In the opinion of the Academy needed actions were undertaken. The red carpet was limited to the area immediately in front of the theatre entrance, the red-carpet grandstands were eliminated and the majority of the world’s press was disinvited, but the show went on as scheduled. (Oscars org, 2018). “We all understand that the country is on the brink of war and may be sending American men and women into harm’s way almost as we speak" Gil Cates said. "We must prepare for the show to be produced under those circumstances.” (Indie Wire, 2003).
Today the whole world became more critical towards prominent organisations and some issue just impossible to hide from the society. The Academy faced the criticism for being racist and did not able to recognise minority experts. Since the year 2015, for two years in a row, all of the 20 nominees in the main categories appeared to be white. The president of the African American Film Critics Association commented on this issue as being "offensive". He also mentioned that the actors' branch is "overwhelmingly white" and the discussions went on, whether it was conscious or unconscious racial biases and if they played a role. The Academy, on their behalf, transferred the responsibility to its spokesperson and the president at that time – Cheryl Boone Isaacs. When on one of the interviews she was addressed with questions related to racial diversity, she denied that The Academy has a problem with it.
The Oscars ceremony of the year 2017 went down in history as the most demeaning and awkward moment, due to one, from the first sight small, but a fundamental mistake. The previous year ceremony outcomes were surprising – mixed reception and low ratings. That was the reason why producers David Hill and Reginald Hudlin declined to make the Oscar production that year. They were replaced by Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd. (The Hollywood Reporter, 2016). The show was running, as usual, everybody seemed excited, and a bit nervous, the announcement process was in progress. When it got to the end of the show, and the most awaiting nomination – “The Best Picture Award”, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty emerged from the wings of the stage to announce the winner. Warren Beatty begins to read out the winners card, as he continuous to read he seemed too confused by what he is reading. He was even looking in the envelope once again to see if there is something else. Warren was very uncertain. For that reason, he gave the envelope to his partner – Faye Dunaway. She announced exactly what was written on the card from the envelope, and it was: “La La Land”. Next moment the cast of the “La La Land” got on the stage, along with all the producers. Mark Platt, one of the producers, took the mic and gave his “thank you” speech. At the same time, Oscar’s staff took back the card that has been given to producers Jordan Horowitz and Fred Berger, this was a sign that they are not the actual winners. (Appendix 5). Nevertheless, Fred Berger reached the mic to give the speech, finishing with: “We lost”. (The Guardian, 2017). Behind them were representatives of the PricewaterhouseCoopers, managers of the Oscars votes – Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz. They also reached the stage and started inspecting the envelopes. The “La La Land” team acknowledged that they are not the winners, and Jordan Horowitz put his hand up to pause the celebrations. “This is not a joke,” he said to the audience. By that time, finally, the correct envelope was given to Warren Beatty. Horowitz took it out of Beatty's hand and held it up in front of the camera. The card had written “Moonlight”, and they were the actual winners. As the “Moonlight” team was coming on the stage, Beatty came to the front to explain what happened. As he said, the card he has been given had written “Emma Stone, “La La Land”. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.” Horowitz handed his Oscar to Barry Jenkins, Moonlight’s director. Jenkins ended the show by concluding the extraordinary end of the event. “Even in my dreams, this could not be true. But to hell with it, I’m done with dreams – because this is true.” (The Guardian, 2017).
From the film critics and people in the industry, there was never any lack of faith or doubt that one of these movies would win the best picture, and what’s more interesting the two films were utterly opposite by its meaning and other "features". “Moonlight” is small in scale, tells a personal story and is modern. Whereas, “La La Land” is bigger, full of adventures and was made as a musical with a touch of retro atmosphere. One is a story of southern African-American life and experience; the other is a white “hooray for Hollywood”. The entire situation and competition aspect were only reinforced by the ridiculous “And the winner is … Oh no, it isn’t!” mix up, which brought the makers of the two movies on stage together. Practically the situation can be described as following, this mistake that was made “stole” the award out of “La La Land’s” hands and “handed” it into “Moonlight’s”. The people who made the story of “La La Land”, were represented as outsiders even at their own “coronation”. (The Guardian,2017). Speaking about backstage minutes later, Moonlight’s director Barry Jenkins said that the error had left him speechless. “I’d never seen that happen before. It made a special feeling more special but not in the way I expected. The last 20 minutes of my life has been insane … beyond life-changing.” He said he did not know how the error occurred. “Things just happen. The folks from “La La Land” were so gracious. I can’t imagine being in their position.” Barry Jenkins said that he had a hope that the story of a gay African American boy growing up in poverty in Miami, would open doors for members of the LGBT community bungle. “It’s unfortunate the way things happened … but hot damn, we won the best picture.” (The Guardian, 2017).
The eventful night and the fiasco of 89th ceremony seemed to be interconnected with a politically charged Hollywood rally against President Trump. The host of the ceremony, Jimmy Kimmel and other presenters and winners were making coded and not-so-coded blame on the White House. Contrary to celebratory atmosphere, which saturated the ceremony, speaker after speaker did not leave without attention the Trump's strike and restraint on refugees and immigrants. This made the ceremony one of the most politically touched Oscars' in history. In fact, Donald Trump as a president of United States paid a lot of attention to previous year ceremony, and nevertheless, he stated that he would be too busy hosting governors in Washington to tune into this one. Kimmel opened the ceremony with a prayer for unity, urging Americans to reach out across the political divide, before making multiple jokes. “I want to say thank you to President Trump. I mean, remember this time last year when it seemed that the Oscars were racist?” said Kimmel, making a flashback to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. (Appendix 6). (The Guardian, 2017)
The ones who looked like the most responsible for the error were two partners from PwC, who participated in counting votes, establishing the winners and arranging the envelopes for all the nominations. The PwC made a statement shortly before the 89Th ceremony, that they are the best in their job and that is why they have been with Academy for 83 years and never were considered to be replaced. (The Telegraph, 2018). The logistics process for the voting system requires PwC to create two sets of envelopes for each category. It is predetermined that one is original and one as a backup. Videos from the broadcast showed that presenters had been given the backup envelope for “Actress in a Leading Role”. Nobody commented immediately why the presenters were given the wrong envelope. Several hours after the ceremony, the Academy issued an apology on their website from PricewaterhouseCoopers that said, "We sincerely apologise to “Moonlight”, “La La Land”, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for best picture.” (Appendix 7). (The Guardian, 2017).
The relationships and collaboration of PwC and Academy could be described as long-lasting and successful. The system that survived so many years of excellent collaboration, and moreover, that has to be checked and counterchecked for a few times, resulted in public failure. The failure that was watched by Hollywood stars and millions of people across the world on television. (The Guardian, 2017). What's more appealing is that PwC supervisors Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz, who manage the counting procedures, are the only two people who know the winner's list before the ceremony. The focus afterwards has shifted on them. The Huffington Post, shortly after the 89th ceremony, had an interview with PwC representatives, that was published under the title: “What would happen if a presenter announced the wrong winner at the Oscars?”. Cullinan and Ruiz mentioned that there is “unlikely” probability that the wrong nominee will be announced (Appendix 8). They also told that the history of Oscar’s never had such situations, and they had never been give any instructions as for their actions in crisis moments. “We would make sure that the correct person was known very quickly,” Cullinan told the Huffington Post. “Whether that entails stopping the show, us walking onstage, us signalling to the stage manager – that’s a game-time decision if something like that were to happen. Again, it’s so unlikely.” (Huffington Post, 2017).
The Academy, in fact, has a contingency plan for voting leaders in case the wrong winner is announced. Gary Natoli, who was a stage manager at 89th ceremony revealed the details of his conversation with Cullinan, a few days after the event to “The Wrap”. They discussed how they had to deal when the wrong movie was announced. Natoli said: “I said, ‘If you know who the winner is, you don’t need to check with [the other balloting leader],". "You need to immediately go out and rectify the situation, ideally before the wrong winners get to the mic.” Cullinan response was: “OK, good, that’s what we thought.” But when it actually happened, and Dunaway announced the “La La Land”, Natoli said Cullinan and Ruiz "froze." He told: “We had to push them on stage, which was just shocking to me.” PwC confirmed to after the ceremony that “protocols for correcting [the mistake] were not followed through quickly enough by Mr. Cullinan or his partner.” (Harper’s Bazar,2018). The use of social media platforms during the ceremony by the people who are responsible for the most crucial stage could have contributed to the error. Just a few minutes after the presenters entered the stage, Cullinan tweeted a photo of Emma Stone with her Oscar statuette. Multiple pictures of him being on the mobile phone during the most important minutes were published afterwards. This had happened even though, on Monday, February 28, it was reported that the Academy declined Cullinan permission to make posts on social media during the ceremony.