Oscars Producer Addresses Controversial Decision To Cut 8 Categories

Will Packer, producer of the 94th Academy Awards, explains the highly-controversial decision to cut eight categories from the live Oscars broadcast. The supposedly three hour long ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California and for the first time since 2018 it will have a host (make that three hosts) on stage: Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. This year’s top contenders include Jane Campion’s Power of the Dog, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. 

In late February it was announced that eight categories wouldn’t be broadcast during the Oscars; Documentary Short, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Sound and Score, with the awards instead set to be presented at the Dolby Theatre an hour before the broadcast would start. The awards for those categories will still be recorded and an editing team is tasked with editing the winners into the subsequent live broadcast. In the beginning of March it was revealed that hosting channel ABC forced the Academy’s hand and cutting the eight categories was the compromise they reached. Despite industry backlash this year, with multiple industry professionals either boycotting the ceremony or resigning completely from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy is doubling down on its decision. 

In a press conference, Packer finally addressed the growing controversy that has threatened to lower the viewership numbers even below the 2021 Oscar’s abysmal turnout with professionals boycotting and resigning. As reported by THR, Packer made it clear that the decision to not include the eight categories in the live broadcast was not a representation of the quality of the nominees by saying that everyone involved, “values every last category, every last area.” He continued to explain that the purpose of the ceremony (both broadcast and not) is to celebrate the nominees and that every decision regarding the ceremony has been made with intention. Packer’s full comment can be read below: 

“They’re our peers. These are the people that we work with and people that we love. And we want to make sure that everybody has their moment on this show, and is handled with the same reverence and elegance that you come to expect with the Oscars. And so one of the misconceptions is that things are being taken off the show and that’s not the case. It’s not. When I first got the job, I said, ‘the show typically is around three plus hours. Let’s make it four hours this year,’ and people looked at me and said, ‘oh gosh, we knew we should’ve hired that guy.’ I said, ‘too late.’ But part of the thinking was we’re going to have a four hour show and we really are and the show will start in the Dolby and we want to have everyone there with their peers cheering them on and the televised show does start an hour after that. And this is like any other live show that makes decisions about what’s going to be on the air and what’s going to make the cut. But make no mistake, without a doubt, we’re going to make sure that everybody has their moment because at the end of the day, it’s an entertaining show. We want to be celebratory and fun, but it is about celebrating the most talented people in the world and what they do, and we’re determined to do that and do it the right way…We want everybody to be celebratory and have a great night. And I think that once everyone sees the way that we’re putting the show together, they will see that there’s real intentionality behind all the decisions that are being made. And that is to unite people for the love of cinema and celebrate these folks.”

It’s ironic that the decision stands to cut a category like Film Editing from the live broadcast while still having editors edit the recording of the presentation into the live broadcast, or having hair and makeup artists make presenters and nominees look their best on stage, while their category is also cut. Packer talks about everyone having their moment in the spotlight and being treated with the same reverence they deserve, but when certain categories are broadcast live and others aren’t, that’s hard to reconcile. He also talks about the fact that the ceremony is meant to be entertaining and decisions like having a live performance of Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” a song that isn’t even nominated, will help with that; but will surely be a slap in the face to the nominees who won’t be a part of the live broadcast. 

The issue of length has always been a problem for the Oscars in recent years, with concerns that a 4-hour show would bring down viewership likely being a reason ABC pushed against the Academy. However, cutting these eight categories will probably do the exact same damage they feared, with a major market of the audience being industry professionals who now feel alienated with their categories being cut from the broadcast. The Oscars seem to always be embroiled in one controversy or another, but with accusations of blatant racism in nominated film Licorice Pizza and this last minute attempt at appeasing riled industry professionals, it’ll be interesting to see how Sunday’s viewership numbers turn out. 

Source: THR

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