Unwrapping Oscar

By Rebecca Jones
BBC Arts correspondent, in Los Angeles

It is all over bar the envelope-opening. Voting for this year's Oscars closed on Tuesday, and the nominees must now await their fate.

In an ideal world the winners would be chosen because they are the best. But we don't live in an ideal world.

Publicity and marketing campaigns play a huge role in who gets noticed - and who does not.

I don't believe you can completely buy an Oscar, but you can certainly narrow down the stakes Mike Runagall, Pathe international

Studios pour tens of millions of dollars into campaigns to win an Oscar.

Why? Well, the stakes are high. As well as immortalising the winners, big Oscar victories can add up to higher receipts at the box office, as well as increased dvd sales.

Take Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Oscars last year.

The film cost $16m to make. Before the Oscars it had taken $172m around the world. Afterwards it took an extra $215m.

Beneath the glitz, the Oscars are big business

"The Oscars really set the film up to be the worldwide success it became," says Mike Runagall, Senior Vice-President at Pathe International and the man responsible for selling Slumdog around the world.

So an Oscar is a prize worth winning, and months of behind-the-scenes campaigning goes in to trying to influence the votes of the 6000 Academy members.

Tactical voting

Writer Nick Hornby, who has been nominated this year for best adapted screenplay for An Education, says the campaign season has been a real eye-opener.

"It's as tactical as a Jose Mourinho Chelsea team," he observes.

But Mike Goodridge, Editor of Screen International magazine, puts it more bluntly.

"Oscar campaigns are like political campaigns," he says. "They are as savage as political campaigns, they are as back stabbing and as brutal."

Rolling out the talent is central to an Oscar campaign

Teams of PRs, strategists and consultants employ a variety of tactics behind-the-scenes to build momentum around their film.

"You work the voters by personal phone calls, endless screenings, ads taken in the trade press," says Mike Goodridge.

"Variety front covers can go for as much as $50,000.

"It involves rolling out the talent, the actors and the directors, at parties, at receptions, at launches and lunches.

"It's quite shocking to see some of the world's biggest movie stars go from one event to the next, to shake as many hands and make the film felt in Hollywood."

Murky past

As the Head of Miramax in the Nineties, Harvey Weinstein is usually credited with the aggressive style of campaigning we see today.

His biggest coup was securing the victory of Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan as best picture in 1999.

A great moment in Oscar marketing?

But according to Dr Jeffrey Geiger, senior lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Essex, lobbying in some shape or form has been going on since the Oscars were first awarded in 1929.

"There have always been rumours about backhanded deals, secrecy, elitism," he says.

And he cites the case of Mary Pickford back in 1930.

"She was very, very anxious to win the best actress Oscar for her performance in Coquette, which was her first speaking role.

"She wasn't considered a strong contender, but at that point there were only five members of the Board of Judges. So she invited all five members over to her mansion, Pickfair, for tea, and she ended up winning."

Nowadays there are strict rules about the promotion of movies to Academy members. Offenders can be punished.

A producer of the Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker, which has been nominated for nine Oscars this year, has been barred from attending the awards ceremony.

He had sent an email to voters urging them to name his film as best picture over its rival Avatar.

Academy rules prohibit the mailing of members to promote or disparage a film.

But more often than not, there is a way to get round the rules. Which begs the question, can an Oscar be bought?

"First and foremost the film has to deliver to some degree," says Mike Runagall, senior Vice-President at Pathe international.

"I don't believe you can completely buy an Oscar, but you can certainly narrow down the stakes."