Oscars 2013: Voting closes after one of the most expensive campaigns ever
The first online ballot for Oscar winners has closed after studios spend some of the highest sums ever campaigning.
An advert was placed on the cover of Variety last week to promote Argo at a speculated $80,000 cost
By Alice Vincent, Entertainment writer, online
2:10PM GMT 20 Feb 2013
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Tuesday night was the last chance for over 5,800 film industry professionals to vote for their Oscar winners. The Academy members' ballots are now with PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm who have been counting them since 1935.
The members have had since February 8 to vote, using an online voting system for the first time. The electronic ballot has been riddled with glitches and setbacks — causing the nominations voting deadline to be extended by 24 hours in January.
If that wasn't enough to contend with, this year members have been bombarded by fierce campaign strategies from studios, all competing with hard cash and brazen tactics for Oscar glory in what is known as 'the Race'.
Studios rarely disclose how much they spend on 'For Your Consideration' promotions, the adverts and PR stunts which aims to gain the attention of voting members in the run up to the poll deadline. However, industry insiders and voting members have commented on the extraordinary approach taken this year, particularly for best picture.
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While members vote for the categories of their expertise (actors for actors, sound engineers for sound engineers), every member can vote for best picture, and for the last four years they have been doing so using the preferential count. Members list their favourite film at number one, down to their least favourite in ninth position. The ballots are compiled by members' first choice, and the film with the least number one votes is eliminated. Those ballots are then re-distributed according to their second choice, and so the counting continues until the most popular film is arrived at.
While many are suggesting that Argo is the favourite to win, having scooped awards at the Baftas and Golden Globes, the fact that Ben Affleck has not received a best director nomination would make its win an Oscars anomaly - only three other films have achieved such a feat, the last being Driving Miss Daisy in 1989. The race is wide open between Argo and other close challengers Lincoln, Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook, causing studios to splash out more than usual on campaigns.
Jim Burke, a producer on 2102 best picture-nominee The Descendants, told the LA Times that "it's like an arms race this year." Elizabeth Gabler, President of Fox 2000, said that the studio had spent a "substantial" amount on Life of Pi: "I know it's as much as we've ever spent. We felt it was our responsibility to support the film in this way."
Campaign experts have estimated that studios are spending around $10 million each on courting members' best picture vote. The campaigns include behind-the-scenes programmes on LA television channels, billboard posters and increasingly loaded adverts in industry publications like Variety and the Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap.
Then there's the freebies. The Academy toughened campaign restrictions ahead of the 2011 awards, putting an end to promotional events, glitzy receptions after screenings and elaborate panel discussions involving more than two Academy members. However, there is still no limit on the amount spent on a campaign, and members have reported extravagant gifts aimed at guilds and associations.
Critic and member Tom Tangney wrote that he received four different books from "the Lincoln backers", a special numbered DVD and a thank-you note signed personally by director Steven Spielberg. He also received a book and a DVD called Argo Declassified. Other members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association were given an iPod shuffle loaded with the Les Misérables soundtrack — although the film's studio, Universal, said that their campaign cost less than $10 million.
The high figures could be down to the fact the best picture studios have deep pockets: Universal is competing with Disney (Lincoln) and Warner Bros (Argo). When Shakespeare in Love was nominated for best picture in 1999, producer Harvey Weinstein — who has also produced Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained — was rumoured to have spent $15million on its campaign.
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