Well, the clusterfuck has finally come full circle. The producer of The Hurt Locker blah blah blah, violated the rules by sending out an email, blah blah blah and cut to — he has had to apologize. He did finally apologize:
The academy has not yet issued a statement about how it intends to deal with this severe violation of Oscar campaign rules. Penalties could be equally harsh, including the withdrawal of some tickets to the Oscar ceremony.
This is similar to the infamous Robert Wise ad taken out by Harvey Weinstein that endorsed Martin Scorsese for the Best Director prize for The Aviator. According to the rules, you are not supposed to contact Academy members and ask for their vote. You can beg and plead on FYC ads — you can give interviews all over the place – you can invite your buddies, who also happen to be Academy members, to parties and screenings…but you may not address them and request their vote – at least not in so many words.
And now, the rules. After the cut.
From AMPAS:
The Awards competition is a process that requires the voting members of the Academy to make their choices based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible films and achievements. It is the Academy’s goal to ensure that the Awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner. Any campaign activity determined by the Board of Governors to work in opposition to that goal, whether or not anticipated by these regulations, will be subject to penalties. Furthermore, any Academy member who has authorized, executed or otherwise enabled a campaign activity that is determined by the Board of Governors to have undermined the letter or spirit of these regulations will be subject to suspension of membership or expulsion from the Academy.
All penalties will be at the discretion of the Board of Governors and in response to the seriousness of the violation. In addition to the membership-related penalties described above, penalties might include the significant reduction of a company’s standard allotment of tickets to the Awards presentation. More serious violations could result in a film losing its eligibility for Awards consideration in one or more categories.
It should not be assumed that any tactics or activities not specifically addressed by these regulations are acceptable. The Academy’s executive administrator will be happy to consult on any questions that arise. Marketers are also urged to familiarize themselves with the Academy’s regulations for using its intellectual properties.
The Academy’s Board of Governors reserves the right to assess penalties for any activity that may or may not be described in these regulations, as allowed under these regulations and the bylaws of the Academy.
And this is probably where the violation comes in:
E-mail.
E-mail that is sent to Academy members must adhere to the same regulations concerning content and appearance as direct mailings that are delivered by the post office or via other delivery methods. It may not extol the merits of a film, an achievement or an individual. It may not contain quotes from reviews about a film or an achievement, nor should it refer to other honors or awards, past or present, that have been received by either the film or those involved in the production or distribution of the film. Except as permitted in Regulation #5, e-mail to members may not include mention of, or links to, any Web site that promotes any eligible film.
So the guy broke the rules. Trust me – this is going to be made into a huge deal, despite his apology. There are a lot of hungry beasts out there, folks. Just watch. Meanwhile, here is the money shot:
The Awards competition is a process that requires the voting members of the Academy to make their choices based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible films and achievements. It is the Academy’s goal to ensure that the Awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner. Any campaign activity determined by the Board of Governors to work in opposition to that goal, whether or not anticipated by these regulations, will be subject to penalties. Furthermore, any Academy member who has authorized, executed or otherwise enabled a campaign activity that is determined by the Board of Governors to have undermined the letter or spirit of these regulations will be subject to suspension of membership or expulsion from the Academy.
You gotta love an 11th hour scandal, eh? Meanwhile, I’m sure someone will tell all of those Academy members to stop telling Pete Hammond whom they’re going to vote for because if he starts saying whom they plan to vote for, isn’t that an endorsement? A slippery way of going about it, though, non?