Annual Academy Invite List Revealed
Ever wonder who the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? How do they get selected? From Anne Thompson at IndieWire:
The annual Academy invite ritual hits Hollywood hard. Friday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced 178 artists and executives “who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures” to join its voting members.
Just this week I had a drink with a top indie distribution exec who’s been in the business for 30 years and released two movies last year garnering a total of six Oscar nominations. He was hoping that finally, this year, he’d get in — but the person who was supposed to vouch for him at the Academy meeting didn’t show up. You need talent, cred, recommendations and power pushes: it often takes people years. The Academy could have brought in a maximum 211, but some branches didn’t endorse their full allotment. The voters have hovered under 6,000 since 2003.
That’s why there must be some envy this year as so many relative newbies are sailing in, some via Oscar nominations (Winter’s Bone‘s Jennifer Lawrence), some not (A Social Network‘s Rooney Mara, Black Swan‘s Mila Kunis, singer/actress Beyonce Knowles). Eyebrows are raised at some of the not-to-tony thespian entrants this year, from Russell Brand (Arthur) to Bradley Cooper (The Hangover movies). Could this be a concerted effort to add younger hipper members to this august group to vote for movies that might actually lure TV watchers to the Oscarcast? The Academy has already moved away from trying to fill ten slots, which have favored indies like Winter’s Bone or A Serious Man as much as popular titles like The Blind Side.
Here are the writers who were selected this year:
Stuart Blumberg — “The Kids Are All Right,” “Keeping the Faith”
Lisa Cholodenko — “The Kids Are All Right,” “Laurel Canyon” (also invited to the Directors Branch)
Debra Granik — “Winter’s Bone,” “Down to the Bone” (also invited to the Directors Branch)
Karen McCullah Lutz — “The Ugly Truth,” “Legally Blonde”
Aline Brosh McKenna — “27 Dresses,” “The Devil Wears Prada”
Bob Peterson — “Up,” “Finding Nemo” (also invited to the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch)
David Rabe — “The Firm,” “Casualties of War”
Anne Rosellini — “Winter’s Bone”
David Seidler — “The King’s Speech,” “The King & I”
Scott Silver — “The Fighter,” “8 Mile”
Kirsten Smith — “The Ugly Truth,” “Legally Blonde”
Aaron Sorkin — “The Social Network,” “A Few Good Men”
Daniel Waters — “Batman Returns,” “Heathers”
For the others, you can go here to Thompson’s article.