New Rules for Academy Award Campaigns Following Andrea Riseborough’s Surprise Oscar Nod

Snubs and Surprise Nomination Lead to New Oscar Rules

The Academy Awards‘ Board has set some new ground rules when it comes to film campaigns to try to win Oscar nods.

When Andrea Riseborough got nominated for her fine turn in the little-seen, To Leslie, many people were stunned in Hollywood. Danielle Deadwyler was deemed a shoo-in for a nomination for Best Actress for her work in Till and if she didn’t get in, Viola Davis was supposed to be next in line for The Woman King. But, Riseborough secured the nod and, now, the Academy Board has set into place rules that could issue penalties for aggressive campaigning for the coveted Oscar award.

Michelle Yeoh eventually won the Best Actress trophy this year but she had posted on social media a sort of “explanation” on why she deserved to win over Cate Blanchett before she was selected. While she deleted that post, going forward in the future, social media campaigning to win by a star up for the Oscar will be a no-no. Trying to persuade the Academy members to vote for a performance is not going to be something that will be on-going.

Riseborough did a campaign for her performance in To Leslie that included a little help from her admirers. Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet and Charlize Theron, all past Oscar winners, backed Riseborough and the result was the most surprising nomination in years. Not that Riseborough’s performance wasn’t deserving. Not too many people saw the movie. But, now, there must be “fair and square” campaigning done that doesn’t help somebody sneak in the back door, so to say. They are not taking Riseborough’s nod away but it would be more difficult for a “grassroots” campaign to almost single-handedly assure a performer an Oscar nomination in the future.

Trying to sway the majority vote is simply unfair. Voters know who’s eligible and should be able to choose freely without the nominees or their backers trying to convince them to make a choice they may otherwise not have made. In short, with penalties for unfair persuasion ready to be regulated, nobody will get into the race for the Academy Award that doesn’t deserve to be there the old-fashioned way– by earning the proper support it needs through fair campaigning.

It is very sad that such an important performance (Danielle Deadwyler) in a remarkable film such as Till was overlooked. As good as Riseborough was (and she was amazing), it’s unlikely people will remember To Leslie in the same way as they would Till. Next year, campaigns will be conducted in such a way that those who are recognized by their peers through fairly earned votes will find themselves in the running rather than those who sort of put a little bit of unfair influence into the mix. This in no way implies that Riseborough’s campaign did that but there were suspicions raised so precautions are being taken.

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