Award announcements have come in thick and fast this past week. We’ve seen AFI’s top 10, Spirit Awards, USC Scripter nominations, and the National Board of Review Award winners all make headlines in short order. Do hints to our future Oscar nominees lie within? BLAKE & WANG P.A entertainment attorney Los Angeles takes a look.
Individually, and in a normal year, each would not typically be seen as Oscar predictors, as there’s little overlap between the selection committees for each set of awards and the Oscars themselves. But it’s been a strange and disordered year for the film world, and collectively we could see them hold significant sway. Especially in a year where the Academy members haven’t been free to circulate and chat amongst themselves as we typically would see. Just like the rest of us, they’re sitting at home, trying to decide from the choices presented to them on the ‘Academy Screening Room’, the members-only app being used.
There’s already 215 no-doubt fantastic choices demanding their attention, with more still to be uploaded. Usually, word of mouth, experience through the year, and other social factors would help them decide which films to prioritize viewing and why. 2020 has not given this social filter any chance to play out, so we can probably surmise that they’re pretty desperate for some smart guidance.
In a year as bad for film-making as it was for viewing films, it’s not even like we have the usual benefit of there being one or two clear choices in each field. Already, we see Academy members choosing pretty wildly different. The recent awards and nominations weren’t much different- we’ve seen low-budget ‘arthouse’ and tiny indie productions able to shine in a way only 2020 could have created.
It’s an intriguing and unpredictable atmosphere, and we’ve already seen some surprise wins (like tiny indie Miss Juneteenth) create fertile ground for speculation. As always, we’ll be here and keeping a close watch.
