The organisers of the 80th annual Academy Awards were presenting a united front yesterday, insisting that this year’s Oscars will go ahead as planned. The ongoing writers’ strike has already claimed one high profile casualty in Sunday’s Golden Globe awards and fears are building that the Oscars could also fall victim. “We are going to do it,” said Oscar producer Gil Cates. “I can’t elaborate on how we’re going to do it, because I don’t want anyone to deal with the elaboration in a way that might impact its success.”
Without special agreement between the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the event’s organisers are unable to hire union members to work on the show. In a show of solidarity, members of the Screen Actors Guild have stated that they will refuse to cross the picket line outside the Kodak Theatre. This raises the prospect of an Academy Awards ceremony that is shunned by the major Oscar nominees.
In place of Sunday’s Golden Globe awards, the US network NBC now plans to run a one-hour press conference, featuring clips from the winning films. The network has reportedly agreed to return as much as $15m to advertisers who had bought media spots on the understanding that the event would go ahead. ABC, the network hosting the Oscars, is believed to be in similar talks with advertisers over a possible course of action if it is forced to abandon the telecast.
“We’re not panicking,” Academy president Sid Ganis said yesterday. “We’re preparing our show and moving forward. It’s been on through wars and through presidential assassination attempts. It would be shameful if the Oscars were in any way affected.”
But producer Havery Weinstein struck a more cautious note. “No matter what anybody says, if the WGA goes on strike and SAG (Screen Actors Guild) is in support, there’s no Oscar show,” he told the Associated Press this week. “It’s as simple as that.”
Talks between the WGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers broke down on December 7.
This year’s Academy Award nominations will be announced on January 22. The Oscars are set to be presented on February 24.
