How the Oscars Winners Are Decided, Know the Process

The Oscars, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is a prestigious awards ceremony that involves a comprehensive voting process to determine the winners. 

The Academy comprises over 10,000 members, representing 17 branches of the film industry, including creatives, executives, and marketing professionals. Recent efforts have been made to diversify membership and address issues of representation.

The voting eligibility varies by category, with members of the relevant branch primarily deciding nominations. However, all voting members can nominate films for the Best Picture category. The voting period typically occurs a few days before the Academy Awards ceremony, with the process conducted entirely online for efficiency.

Most categories employ a straightforward tabulation system where the nominee with the most votes wins. However, the Best Picture category uses ranked-choice voting. Voters rank the nominees by preference, and if one movie receives over 50% of the first-place votes, it is declared the winner. If no movie meets this threshold, the one with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated, and those votes are transferred to the voters’ second choices. This process continues until a movie secures a majority.

The secrecy of the winners is maintained by only two partners from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who know the results in advance. They are stationed backstage at the Dolby Theatre during the ceremony with sealed envelopes containing the winners’ names. This system was implemented to prevent leaks and maintain the surprise element during the awards announcement. Past controversies, such as the 2017 mix-up between “La La Land” and “Moonlight,” led to additional safeguards being put in place.

To be eligible for Best Picture, a film must meet baseline requirements, including a minimum length and a theatrical release. 

The timeline for Best Picture selection involves several stages:

·         October to December: Studios submit eligible films for consideration.

·         December: Voters (Academy members) receive screening links and ballots.

·         January: Voting window opens.

·         February: Nominees announced (typically around late January/early February).

·         Late February/Early March: Voting for the final awards takes place.

·         Mid-March: The Academy Awards ceremony is held, where the Best Picture winner is announced

The 2024 nominees for the Oscars Best Picture are…

The 10 Best Picture nominees are The Holdovers (produced by Mark Johnson); American Fiction (co-produced by Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson); Anatomy of a Fall (by Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion); Barbie (David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner); Killers of the Flower Moon (by Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi); Maestro (by Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger); Past Lives (by David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler); Poor Things (by Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone); The Zone of Interest (by James Wilson); and, the most likely to win, Oppenheimer (by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers).

Recent criteria also include Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) standards, focusing on representation on and off-screen. The winners are announced live on stage during the Academy Awards ceremony, making the Oscars a culmination of a thorough and intricate voting process.

Ranked-choice voting aims to reward a movie that is generally liked by most Academy members rather than one that is passionately loved by a smaller group. 

This process maximizes the impact of each ballot and may lead to a Best Picture winner that is widely accepted but not necessarily the most passionately adored. 

The Oscars’ voting process involves a combination of technical eligibility criteria, member nominations, and a sophisticated tabulation system to determine the winners across various categories.