A COLUMN BY Dick Rolfe Chairman, THE DOVE FOUNDATION
AND THE OSCAR GOES TO . . .
One look at this year’s Oscar winners tells us two things. First, profitability, or
even popularity (box office revenue) has little to do with choosing the Academy Award
nominees or winners.
Few people really know how this annual ritual works. Each picture has a budget for P&A
(print and advertising) that amounts to nearly 25% as much as the entire production budget
of said film. That money is spent to hype the movie so that audiences will choose it over
the five or six rival releases opening in theaters the same weekend.
Then, some of the revenue from the box office is invested into a "for your
consideration" campaign fund. Filmmakers spend tens of millions of dollars selling
their picture as a candidate for an Academy Award nomination. The nominees are selected
from a panel of their peers for each category, i.e., Best Makeup nominees are chosen by a
panel of movie makeup artists, Best Dramatic Score by musical composers, etc. Talk about
peer pressure! This seems like a perfect setting for, "you nominate me this year, and
I’ll pick you next time."
The nominees are then published and their films sent out on videocassette to every member
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a final vote. This raises the
question of how members can vote for any of the "special effects" categories
after watching the movie on their TV sets. Another problem is that at the most critical
stage of voting, we have make up people voting for music and composers voting for the best
costume design. This procedure is ripe for error, since it obligates people who have no
expertise in a particular field to make a judgement call. It likewise motivates the
nominees to promote, cajole, bargain, beg and if need be, coerce or intimidate members to
vote for them or their picture.
Stories of studios sending employees and subcontractors pre-filled-out ballots with their
films already checked are commonplace.
The point of all this is that filmmakers are more interested in getting a golden statue
rather than a financial report. It stands to reason, since most of the key players -
actors, directors, writers, etc, are paid out of the film’s production budget before
profits are taken.
Here’s some evidence of what I mean. The Best Picture Oscar winner, "Shakespear
in Love" earned a paultry $68 million at the U.S. box office. All five animated
movies released in 1998 - "Mulan," "A Bugs Life," "Antz,"
"Prince of Egypt," "Rugrats" - grossed over $90 million each.
The Film Profitability Study in Dove's Entertainment Report punctuates the fact that
family oriented movies as a rule out profit R-rated films 8:1, a fact that we hope
filmmakers take seriously from now on. It will not only improve the studios' bottom lines,
but it will also go a long way toward cleaning up the entertainment landscape.
Dick Rolfe is Chairman of The Dove Foundation a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and promote the creation, production and distribution of wholesome family entertainment. For more information about wholesome films and videos, write: 535 E. Fulton, Suite 1A, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, or call (616)454-5021.
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