Rules Approved for
81st Academy Awards®

Beverly Hills, CA –– The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved the rules for the 81st Academy Awards at their Tuesday evening (6/17) meeting. The only significant changes were in the Music – Original Song category. Other modifications of the rules include normal date changes and minor “housekeeping” changes.

Three items of note were altered in the Original Song rules. First, while there continues to be no limit on the number of songs from a given film that can be submitted for consideration, no more than two songs from any one film may be nominated for an Academy Award.

Also, in addition to the annual screening event at which members of the Music Branch view clips featuring the eligible songs as they appear in the films and vote, DVDs of those same clips will be made available to branch members who are unable to attend the screening; ballots will accompany the DVDs and must be returned by mail.

Music Branch members who have one or more songs in contention for nominations do not vote in that phase of the balloting. They remain eligible to vote on the final ballot to select the winner.

The only other category with a notable change is the Foreign Language Film Award and as was the case in 2006, the alteration is a procedural one rather than one in the rules per se. For the 81st Academy Awards, the two-phase process by which the nominees are selected will remain intact. However, the Phase I committee – which is open to any voting member who views a minimum number of the eligible films – will now vote to determine only six of the nine films that will ultimately go to the Phase II committee. The other three titles will be determined by those members of the 20-member Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee who have qualified to vote in the category. The executive committee’s selections will be made after the Phase I voting has been tallied.

Complete rules for all categories can be viewed online at www.oscars.org/rules

Rules are reviewed annually by individual branch and category committees. The Awards Rules Committee then reviews all proposed changes before presenting its recommendations to the Academy’s Board of Governors for approval.

Wait, so now only two songs from a particular movie can be nominated? What, were studios complaining that "Dreamgirls" and "Enchanted" took up too many slots? A good song is a good song; if the Music branch feels three, four or even five songs from a movie are worth nominating, that's their decision. Doesn't this take away some of their ability to nominate as they see fit?

For the last three years, only three movies were nominated in the original song category:

2008 (Enchanted, Once, August Rush)
2007 (Dreamgirls, An Incovenient Truth, Cars)
2006 (Crash, Transamerica, Hustle & Flow)

and in the 77 years before, only 7 times:

1934 (Flying Down to Rio, The Gay Divorcee, She Loves Me Not)
1935 (Top Hat, Roberta, Gold Diggers of 1935)
1983 (Flashdance, Yentl, Tender Mercies)
1988 (Bagdad Cafe, Working Girl, Buster)
1991 (Beauty and the Beast, Hook, Robin Hood)
1992 (Aladdin, The Bodyguard, The Mambo Kings)
1994 (The Lion King, Junior, The Paper)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Academy Awards Guru!!!,

quote:

Originally posted by Academy Awards Guru!!!:
For the last three years, only three movies were nominated in the original song category:

2008 (Enchanted, Once, August Rush)
2007 (Dreamgirls, An Incovenient Truth, Cars)
2006 (Crash, Transamerica, Hustle & Flow)

and in the 77 years before, only 7 times:

1934 (Flying Down to Rio, The Gay Divorcee, She Loves Me Not)
1935 (Top Hat, Roberta, Gold Diggers of 1935)
1983 (Flashdance, Yentl, Tender Mercies)
1988 (Bagdad Cafe, Working Girl, Buster)
1991 (Beauty and the Beast, Hook, Robin Hood)
1992 (Aladdin, The Bodyguard, The Mambo Kings)
1994 (The Lion King, Junior, The Paper)

Sure, okay, but was that due to some inequity in the nominations process? Or was it because the Music branch felt these were the songs they wanted to nominate?

I think that the Foreign Movie cathegory changes are highly important... I think that after the Romanian desaster last year they are doing something to change that.
I still consider that only allowing one film for country is a tapestry.

About songs, i think that i can understand somehow. If the songs from the movie are writing for the same people... they only can be hurt for a spliting vote... but i am against when there are different people who write the songs.

It is as stupid as only letting three people being nominated for that... what happen if U2 get another nomination, they will see, ey one of you should say good-bye to the nomination... but whom?

The FL change is huge - they clearly don't trust the nominating committee.

The key is that the exec committee will choose from among those films not in the initial mix, so the titles don't overlap.

What is unstated is whether the exec committee will meet as a group, how they are chosen, whether they vote secretly or by consensus in open discussion.

I hate the annual tinkering with the category, but this bunch of changes should help.

Well here is the thing look at the three songs from Enchanted maybe one deserved to be nominated.

Maybe the rule may be a little silly but I would really like to be in their minds especially this past year as they were picking the nominees.

Once, Into the Wild were the only two films who I could have seen deserving more than 1 nomination, but the Happy Working Song, really?

quote:

Originally posted by JOSE:
I think that the Foreign Movie cathegory changes are highly important... I think that after the Romanian desaster last year they are doing something to change that.
I still consider that only allowing one film for country is a tapestry.

Jose, I believe you meant "travesty." Cheers!

Agreed about the FL changes. As Seanflynn points out, I am curious about how one is qualified to sit on the "Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee" (sounds a touch foreboding, doesn't it?)

So essentially, the Phase I committee watches at least the minimum number of films, and picks six potential nominees. The FLFAEC then picks the final three that make up the nine-film shortlist. This sounds a bit like the blue-ribbon Grammy panels.

It will be comprised I'm sure of hand-picked experts whose knowledge and background and PR sense will guarantee that films like 4M3W2D and Volver make it to the next round.

It certainly won't be volunteers.

Darlings, I must share with you a anecdote from a dinner I had last night with the partner of the archivist of the magnificent Oscar winning Eva Marie Saint.

The two gents were at a party recently in the big apple and bumped into the recent best song Oscar winners, who they said were sweet as punch. Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová stars of Once and the Oscar winning song writers for Falling Slowly from the same movie, whilst performing at the Radio Music City Hall shortly thereafter, dedicated a song to the two men, the only dedication during the performance. Isn’t that a lovely thing to do?

Can someone explain the Foreign Language Film rule change to me in Simplified English? I'm dumb, sorry.

1) Countries will submit one film each (need to be in a foreign language, preponderance of creative talent from that country. (NO CHANGE)

2) Any Academy member who can attend a certain number of screenings in LA of these films can be a member of the initial selection committee (excluded are executives or marketing people associated with any of the submitted films. (NO CHANGE)

3) The six films receiving the highest ratings from these screenings will be semi-finalists. (CHANGE FROM 9 last two years; previous to that the top 5 were the nominees)

4) An special blue-ribbon committee, taken from the initial committee, chosen by means we don't know, but likely to be selected for their likelihood of not embarassing the Academy, will select 3 films from the initial submissions not already selected to be semi-finalists. (CHANGE)

5) The 9 semi-finalists then will be viewed by 30 Academy members - 10 from the initial committee, 10 Academy members based in LA who were not on the committee, 10 Academy members based in NY not on the committee), and from their votes the 5 nominees will be selected. (SAME AS LAST 2 YEARS)

Glad to see these changes. Although I wish with Song only one song per film were eligble. I like to see the wealth spread.

(Those 3 songs from Dreamgirls & Enchanted were simply awful.)

Foreign Film may finally be rectified but I really think within six years or so, that category will be like Best Picture. Everyone can nominate whatever film they want to, regardless of whether they've seen it or not.

I disagree I think the 3 songs from Dreamgirls were amazing the three from from enchanted were eh..

Well, it sounds like they are at least trying to fix some of the problems with the Foreign Language category. Sounds like a good idea. Hopefully we won't have such an embarrassing list of nominees next year?

I, too, don't like the idea of limiting the number of songs from one film that can be nominated. If the songs are good, then they are good. It shouldn't matter how many of them are from the same movie.

And I challenge the idea that this was done to prevent vote splitting. As GoldDerby has pointed out time and time again, this is a myth. Having multiple nominees in the category from the same movie often times helps one of them win.

The whole best song category bothers me, but if they are going to have it, maximum multiple entries should be allowed, at least if they have different writers.

There is no rule preventing three of more performances from a single film being nominated in a single acting category (it has happened at least three times), and this seems like the same principle.

About the Original Song selection, remember that the rules change a couple years ago requires potential nominees include a brief clip that shows how that song was integrated into the film.

This virtually eliminates the end-credit song that was usually a shoo-in for a nod. On the other side of the coin, those end-credit songs are also usually the tunes most casual Oscarwatchers might have heard on the radio (and produces the head-scratching over lesser-known nominees).

The three "Dreamgirls" tunes and the "Enchanted" songs were part of the plot; they moved the story along moreso than other potential Best Song contenders, at least as the Music Branch apparently saw it. That's why this rules change irks me a bit. I'd rather have three great songs from one movie than three lesser tunes from three different movies just for the sake of diversity.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Turtle,

Even with this special committee coming in to play guard if something terrible happens with the first round of voting, they haven't changed the process for who votes for the final five nominees. These foreign language film voters like what they like, so just having the edgier choices there might not be enough when it comes down to the final voting when more choices that are to their liking are there instead. This special group deciding on three nominees have to prove their worth too.

I can see why the song rule happened with the final five nominees in the past few years. If they want a wider spread of nominees in the category, then this is a way to do it, unless it's a 2/2/1 spread instead of a 3/1/1 spread. Some potentially great songs could get the shift by doing this, which I don't like at all, but then it could open doors for others.

I think that the change to restrict the number of Best Song nominees from a single film makes no sense. As seanflynn pointed out, 3 actors from the same film have been nominated in the past in the same category, so why can't the same thing happen in Best Song?

I think the changes on the rules of Original Song and Foreign Language Picture are very important! Congratulations to the AMPAS!