75 of Hollywood’s top artists, including Oscar winners James Cameron and John Williams, have sent a strongly-worded letter to the Academy urging the embattled organization to reverse its decision to give out awards in eight categories prior to the start of the live telecast on March 27.
Other industry luminaries who signed the letter include Guillermo del Toro, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, producer Kristie Macosko Krieger, writer Tony Kushner, production designer Dante Ferretti, cinematographers Dante Spinotti and Vittorio Storaro, and powerhouse composers such as Nicholas Britell, Howard Shore, Terence Blanchard, Alexandre Desplat, and James Newton Howard.
The letter was addressed to Academy President David Rubin and urged him and his colleagues on the Academy’s Awards Committee “in the strongest possible terms… to reverse your decision. For nearly a century, the Academy Award has represented the gold standard in recognizing and honoring all the essential crafts in filmmaking. Now, as we approach Oscar’s 100th year, we are deeply troubled that this gold standard is being tarnished by valuing some filmmaking disciplines over others, relegating those others to the status of second-class citizens.”
The eight categories that are supposed to be affected this year are original score, film editing, production design, makeup and hairstyling, sound, documentary short, live-action short, and animated short.
“[These] critical artistic crafts… will always deserve the same respect and recognition as crafts like acting, directing and visual effects,” reads the letter.
And while yes, the Academy isn’t lying when it says we will see all of those awards given out during the live telecast, and hear the speeches from winners, the fact is that those eight moments will be devoid of any real suspense since the Academy will have already announced those winners in real-time on social media prior to the start of the broadcast.
“To diminish any of those individual categories in the pursuit of ratings and short-term profits does irreparable damage to the Academy’s standing as impartial arbiters, responsible stewards of our industry’s most important awards,” reads the letter. “Seeking new audiences by making the telecast more entertaining is a laudable and important goal, but this cannot be achieved by demeaning the very crafts that, in their most outstanding expressions, make the art of filmmaking worthy of celebration.”
The complete text of the letter can be found below along with the names of all 75 artists who signed it:
President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
Dear President Rubin:
We the undersigned urge you in the strongest possible terms, along with your colleagues on the Awards Committee, to reverse your decision to remove the presentation of eight awards categories from the live telecast of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, including Best Original Score, Film Editing, Production Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, Documentary Short Subject and both Live Action and Animated Short Film.
For nearly a century, the Academy Awards has represented the gold standard in recognizing and honoring all of the essential crafts in filmmaking. Now, as we approach the Oscars’ 100th year, we are deeply troubled that this gold standard is being tarnished by valuing some filmmaking disciplines over others and relegating those others to the status of second-class citizen. Critical artistic crafts like music scoring, film editing, production design, makeup, hairstyling, and sound will always deserve the same respect and recognition as crafts like acting, directing, and visual effects. To diminish any of these individual categories in the pursuit of ratings and short-term profits does irreparable damage to the Academy’s standing as impartial arbiters and responsible stewards of our industry’s most important awards.
Seeking new audiences by making the telecast more entertaining is a laudable and important goal, but this cannot be achieved by demeaning the very crafts that, in their most outstanding expressions, make the art of filmmaking worthy of celebration.
Sincerely,
Peter Baert
Bruce Berman
Volker Bertelmann
Terence Blanchard
Scott Bomar
Nicholas Britell
James Cameron
Milena Canonero
John Corigliano
John Debney
Guillermo del Toro
Alexandre Desplat
Ramin Djawadi
Amie Doherty
Tan Dun
Laura Engel
Bruce A. Evans
Sven Faulconer
George Fenton
Dante Ferretti
Simon Franglen
Raynold Gideon
Michael Gorfaine
Peter Gregson
Dave Grusin
Trevor Gureckis
Hildur Guðnadóttir
Alex Heffes
Nate Heller
David Hirschfelder
Natalie Holt
James Newton Howard
Steve Jablonsky
Jónsi
Federico Jusid
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
Kathleen Kennedy
Geoffrey Kirkland
Philip Klein
Kristie Macosko Krieger
Tony Kushner
Maria Machado
Patty Macmillan
Judianna Makovsky
Richard Marvin
Nami Melumad
Robert Messinger
Thomas Newman
David Newman
Anne Nikitin
Dustin O’Halloran
Atli Örvarsson
John Powell
Steven Price
Michael Rosenberg
Joe Roth
Sam Schwartz
Lisbeth Scott
Theodore Shapiro
Howard Shore
Alan Silvestri
Sam Slater
Alex Somers
Dante Spinotti
Herdís Stefánsdóttir
Vittorio Storaro
Tamar-kali
Dean Tavoularis
Fernando Velázquez
Chris Walden
Chris Westlake
Nathan Whitehead
John Williams
Andrew Zack
Lili Fini Zanuck
