Facing mounting backlash from Hollywood industry groups and prominent filmmakers, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has reversed its decision to hand out some Oscars during commercial breaks in an effort to keep the telecast to three hours in length. The Academy had planned to give awards for four categories — Cinematography, Film Editing, Live-Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling — during commercial breaks. The winners' speeches would have then been edited into the live broadcast later in the show, with everything else around the award — especially the winner walking to the stage — edited out. Under the plan, four to six categories would have also been selected on a rotation to be handed out during breaks in future telecasts. When the Academy first announced the decision to air certain categories during ad breaks in August 2018, it was met with skepticism, but that grew to an uproar after the Academy announced on Monday which specific categories wouldn't make the live broadcast, spurring a wave of backlash from professional groups and other industry players. "Deep-sixing cinematography and editing, much less hair and makeup, was a brain-dead decision when those are two of the most essential movie making arts, and prominent directors were guaranteed to go public and fight it," said one member of the Academy to BuzzFeed News, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Oscar-nominated Roma director Alfonso Cuarón was one of them, tweeting on Tuesday: "In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing."<doc-sep>The Academy’s decision to present four categories — cinematography, film editing, makeup and hairstyling and live-action shorts — during commercial breaks on this year’s Oscar show has been greeted with widespread outrage, with the condemnation stretching from Oscar watchers to past Oscar winners Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Emmanuel Lubezki. “If I may: I would not presume to suggest what categories to cut during the Oscars show but — Cinematography and Editing are at the very heart of our craft,” wrote del Toro, last year’s Best Director and Best Picture winner, on Twitter. “They are not inherited from a theatrical tradition or a literary tradition: they are cinema itself.” If I may: I would not presume to suggest what categories to cut during the Oscars show but – Cinematography and Editing are at the very heart of our craft. They are not inherited from a theatrical tradition or a literary tradition: they are cinema itself. — Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) February 12, 2019 Cuarón, a multiple nominee this year for “Roma,” also weighed in. “In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music,” he tweeted. “No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing.” And Lubezki, the only cinematographer to win three consecutive Oscars, wrote on Instagram, “Cinematography and editing are probably the ‘elementary particles,’ the primordial components of cinema. It’s an unfortunate decision.” Also Read: Oscars Move Cinematography and 3 Other Awards Into the Commercial Breaks But those responses were among the more measured comments on social media — or, for that matter, the comments from affected Academy members reached by TheWrap on Monday. “It’s outrageous,” one nominee with several past nominations said a few hours after AMPAS President John Bailey revealed the affected categories in an email to members. “I am so pissed off.” “It’s infuriating,” said another, who added with a grim chuckle, “My mother is going to be so upset.” According to the email Bailey sent to members, the four categories will be presented during commercial breaks in the Oscar telecast, but live-streamed on Oscar.com and on the Academy’s social media accounts. They will then be “slightly edited” and will appear later on during the telecast, which will save time by eliminating the winners’ walks to the stage. Also Read: New ABC Boss Says Oscars Drama Has Been 'Really Compelling,' Shows People Still Care On Twitter, the hashtag #PresentAll24 has been in use ever since the Academy announced last August that it would move some categories, then undisclosed, into the breaks. But when the affected categories were revealed on Monday, the conversation heated up, with the Academy drawing fire both for the decision to hand out any awards off the air and for the choice of categories, which it said will change every year. “Bailey was inspired to become a cinematographer by Vittorio Storaro. His credits include ‘Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters’ and ‘Groundhog Day,’ and he writes a blog for the American Society of Cinematographers,” New York Times critic Manohla Dargis wrote on Twitter. “This decision is insulting and wrong.” Bailey was inspired to become a cinematographer by Vittorio Storaro. His credits include “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” and “Groundhog Day,” and he writes a blog for the American Society of Cinematographers. This decision is insulting and wrong. @TheAcademy https://t.co/MsHJuTwZlm — Manohla Darkness (@ManohlaDargis) February 11, 2019 “This is a failure of stewardship, a failure of nerve, a failure of producing, a failure to understand television, a failure of network custody of the Oscars, and a failure of Academy governance,” author and journalist Mark Harris wrote. In a subsequent tweet, Harris added, “This is about ABC using the falling ratings for ALL awards shows as a way to tell AMPAS ‘You’re doing it wrong’ with the goal of turning the show into an infomercial for commercial Hollywood product, including its own, and AMPAS being too naïve about TV to know it’s being played.” This is about ABC using the falling ratings for ALL awards shows as a way to tell AMPAS “You’re doing it wrong” with the goal of turning the show into an infomercial for commercial Hollywood product, including its own, and AMPAS being too naive about TV to know it’s being played. — Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) February 11, 2019 Also Read: Oscars 2019: 'The Favourite,' 'Roma' Lead With 10 Nominations While Bailey said that the categories were chosen from the six branches of the Academy whose executive committees volunteered to move into the breaks, Harris and others pointed out that the four affected categories do not include any nominees from “Black Panther” or any other movie by Disney, the parent company of Oscar broadcaster ABC. And many of those who used the #PresentAll24 hashtag noted that the move was more likely to alienate fans of the show than attract new fans or substantially impact the ratings. For example, Adam Benzine, the Oscar-nominated director of the short film “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah,” called it “a black day for the Academy,” and added, “The saddest thing about this colossal disrespect to the craft of filmmaking? Watch as cutting 3 minutes of live speeches from professionals who’ve dedicated their careers to the craft does NOTHING to stem the ratings decline.” Read more tweets about the Academy’s move below: The Academy needs to stop chasing after this fictional audience they think they can attract. Having a 3-hour show won’t attract new viewers who have never watched and don’t care. Instead they alienate their loyal audience of film lovers #PresentAll24 — Rachel West (@rachel_is_here) February 12, 2019 Editing and cinematography are the bones of the filmmaking process. Not presenting those two categories live on air is, after all this, the dumbest idea in a year of really dumb ideas. You’ll save, what, 2 minutes each? Embarrassing. — AJ Schnack (@ajschnack) February 11, 2019 It’s very arrogant to hold an award show celebrating the moving image without celebrating those responsible for it moving. — Cybel Martin (@CybelDP) February 12, 2019 If I was a winner or a presenter w/ a modicum of influence and power in Hollywood, I would use my time up there and get ALL the nominees of the 4 commercial break categories to come up on stage and each one make a speech. Just throwing that idea out there. #PresentAll24 — Irvin Contreras (@malcolm_irvin) February 12, 2019 “I wasn’t going to watch the Oscars but now that I won’t have to watch Best Film Editing maybe I will,” said no one, ever. #PresentAll24 #Oscars2019 ??????? ?♂️ — J Don Birnam (@jdonbirnam) February 12, 2019 In the history of CINEMA, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing. — Alfonso Cuaron (@alfonsocuaron) February 12, 2019<doc-sep>
Even by the accident-prone standards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas), the reaction against the plan to relegate four awards presentations to commercial breaks during the live Oscars telecast has been vociferous and damning. Academy president John Bailey had announced the move as part of its attempt to shorten the TV show’s notoriously sprawling running time, under pressure from host network ABC. In the first of what is planned as a rotating series of relegations, the Oscars for cinematography, editing, live action short, and makeup and hair will be handed out during ad breaks (though shown on the live stream on the Oscars website) with acceptance speeches edited in to the broadcast. Pressure … Ampas president John Bailey. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images However, entertainment industry figures have been reacting with dismay. Actor Russell Crowe called it “a fundamentally stupid decision … just too fucking dumb for words”, while Exorcist director William Friedkin described it as “an insult to award two of the most essential qualities of film-making”. The Academy is removing cinematography, editing and make up from the televised show? This is just such a fundamentally stupid decision, I’m not even going to be bothered trying to be a smart arse about it. It’s just too fucking dumb for words. — Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) February 12, 2019 Roma director Alfonso Cuarón, who is personally nominated for best cinematography as well as best director, best original screenplay and best picture, pointedly wrote on Twitter that: “No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and without editing”, while Guillermo del Toro, winner of the best director Oscar in 2018 for The Shape of Water, wrote: “I would not presume to suggest what categories should occur during commercials on Oscars night, but, please: Cinematography & Editing are at the very heart of our craft.” Gareth Ellis-Unwin, an Oscar-winner for best picture for The King’s Speech and head of film and animation for the skills charity ScreenSkills, said he would not vote in the final round of Oscar voting (due to close on 19 February) as a protest, adding: “It is a damaging move not to recognise some of the roles that are critical to the filmmaking process. Cinematography, editing and make-up and hair are vital … If we want to continue to recruit new talent into the industry, it is important to showcase all the opportunities available and not just the starry ones.” In its quest to halt the slump in ratings for its flagship TV show, the Academy has already been forced to backtrack repeatedly. Its choice for host, Kevin Hart, became untenable after homophobic tweets resurfaced, a proposal for a best popular film Oscar was dropped after widespread ridicule, a plan to drop performances of three of the five Oscar-nominated songs had to be cancelled, and a suggestion that presentations by last year’s acting winners be ditched in favour of more attention-grabbing names was swiftly reversed.