"Honey, our film didn't make it to the awards, who should we vote for?"

In the living room of the villa, Ivanka raised her head to look at this side, Duke put down the newspaper in his hand and said very irresponsibly, "You have made a decision." ”

"But I haven't seen the nominated films." Ivanka couldn't help but scratch her face.

She held a pen and made a false mark on the ballot, apparently still very interested in fulfilling the power to vote for the Oscars on Duke's behalf.

Duke picked up a glass of water, walked over and handed it to Ivanka, "Drink saliva first, you haven't drunk any water since last night." ”

"I'm going back to New York tomorrow for a promotional event, dehydration makes me look slimmer......"

Having said that, Ivanka saw Duke's persistent eyes and had to take the water glass, "Okay, I'm giving up the dehydration weight loss plan." ”

Her eyes blinked quickly, and she deliberately pushed the ballot in front of Duke, "How are we going to choose?" ”

While Duke was looking at the ballot, Ivanka quickly picked up the water glass, took a very small sip, and put the cup back on the coffee table.

"I don't know who to choose." Duke shrugged, "I haven't seen any movies that have nothing to do with us. ”

In fact, he is also a member of the kind of irresponsible judges, and most of the films that were nominated had no idea of watching them at all, except for a few that he had seen in his previous life.

People like Duke, out of the 6,000 judges at the Oscars, occupy a significant number.

A long time ago, Duke became a judge for the Oscars, that is, one of the nearly 6,000 members of the academy, according to the rules of the film school, the members of the academy are mainly produced in two ways, one is to obtain an invitation from the academy. First, it is automatically nominated for an Oscar.

Duke belongs to the second category.

He has been very busy in recent years, and the so-called performance of the duties of the judge is just a formality, and in most cases, it is similar to this award, which has no interest in him. Choose to vote with your feet, or vote for each other if you see a name that is familiar and pleasing to the eye.

It's not just Duke, it's a very common way of voting, PR and media publicity among the many Oscar judges, and it has the greatest influence on the choices of these people.

The final vote for this year's Oscars began on February 14, when the nominees were announced, and ended on February 25, before the awards ceremony. After the judges' tickets are mailed back to the Academy, they will be counted by two PwC accountants, the votes will be counted, the winners' names will be sealed, and the envelopes will be filled with suspense and anticipation, and they will not be opened one by one until the Oscars are broadcast live on TV.

The Oscar vote has undergone many reforms over history. In recent years, every Oscar has gone through two rounds of voting. All members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who are basically affiliated with one of the school's 14 majors, such as actors, directors, screenwriters, and cinematography, cast a total of two votes, the first to select the finalists, and the second to select the winners.

At the time of the first round of voting. The judges' votes were limited to candidates in their own fields, such as Duke, who could only vote for the directing category, and all of the nearly 6,000 members could not vote for other categories until the finalists were announced.

Before the Academy expanded its Oscar nominations to 10, a new ranking and re-election voting system had not yet been created. The voting method is still a typical "single-round vote-first-served" voting system.

Of course, no matter what kind of voting system it is, the favor points generated by public relations and lobbying and other methods occupy a considerable share, and can even determine the ownership of the award.

Like Duke and his team, who are basically members of the academy, who are involved in nominating films, or whose friends are involved, how do they vote? It's not hard to guess.

In the vast majority of cases, a person has a preference, which in turn is influenced by the surrounding environment.

Ivanka spent five minutes to vote for awards that had nothing to do with "Return of the King", Duke sealed the ballot in an envelope and handed it to the housekeeper Emma, so that she could mail it out in time.

As the Oscars approach, more and more members of the Academy have also completed the voting work at hand.

Howard? Rodman is the vice president of the Screenwriters Guild, an organization that represents the rights of Hollywood screenwriters, and he is not shy about talking about his voting choices in the face of several of his friends.

"I'm only going to vote for the genre that I've watched all the movies in question." He said. As a busy worker, he can often watch the most influential films of the year, not to mention that the film has done all the work aimed at him, "I will vote for "The Return of the King". ”

His tickets had already been mailed out, but after work in the evening, Howard? Rodman's friends and subordinates, many of whom also voted for "The Return of the King".

Tony? Angelotti is a public relations professional who has supervised and directed the campaigns of more than 250 films and has been a member of the Academy since 1975.

"Dad, how did you choose to vote?" In the study, his son Tony Jr. asked curiously.

Faced with the inquiry of his son, who is less than ten years old, Tony? Angelotti couldn't help but laugh, "Honey, it's very time-consuming to watch all the nominated films, because some genres, like visual effects, used to have only three finalists, but now they have increased to five, so it's becoming more and more difficult to watch all the films." ”

"So......" he raised his left hand, covered his eyes, and held a pen in his right hand, which he placed about a foot above the ballot, "I make my choice this way." ”

With that, he let go of his right hand, and the pen fell and fell on the ballot paper, leaving a black dot on the name of one of the films.

Tony? Angelotti removed her left hand, picked up the pen and, for this award, chose the film.

"Daddy, do it again!" Little Tony shouted excitedly.

So, Tony? Angelotti covered her eyes again......

Peter? Bart was a contributing editor at Variety magazine, and when he came home from a busy day's work, he was reminded by his wife that the Oscar voting deadline was approaching.

Go into the study and take out the envelope from the college, Peter? Bart pulled out the ballot, and his wife followed, standing by and looking at the nominated films and the names of the people.

"Honey, you haven't seen these movies yet."

Hear your wife's words, Peter? Bart shook his head absently, "I read the comments and communicate with other people. So, even if I haven't looked at everything, I know what to choose. ”

When it comes to the scale and impact of the reviews, no film can compare to "The Return of the King", and Peter? The people around Bart were talking about the movie, and almost all he heard in his ears was about the movie, so he didn't hesitate to choose "The Return of the King".

On February 25th, the deadline for the academy to vote, although the final result will not be known until the awards ceremony on the 29th, Pani Brown, who is in charge of public relations for Duke? Kelis, on the other hand, was quite confident.

"Based on the information that comes back from the feedback." She remained calm, "Duke, your chances of winning are close to eighty percent, and 'Return of the King' guarantees seven to nine awards." ”

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows, Duke withdrew his gaze from the sea, "This is already very good." ”

No one can guarantee a 100% award, and "The Return of the King" needs not only a variety of work, but also a little luck to achieve what he wants.

Luck is something you can't see or touch, but sometimes it's important when all the work is done properly.

For example, some judges who are accustomed to voting with their feet are often not even sure where their feet will fall.

"How's your preparation?"

As the last person to serve before retirement, Pani? Kelis has made a huge profit from Duke's side, and she has also put all her energy into it, and she is now only serving Duke alone.

Ivanka took over, "The dress is ready, we just have to wait for the awards ceremony to begin." ”

Pani? Kelis nodded, and then asked Duke, "What about my acceptance speech for you?" ”

"Don't worry, Pani." Duke raised his hand and pointed to his forehead, "I've memorized this." ”

Although he is not an actor with excellent acting skills, according to the publicist's plan, it is not too difficult to make a beautiful performance after winning the award.

On the Oscar stage, you can always see the winners or excited or moved acceptance speeches, but more than 80% of these are performing, especially the most important awards, people will definitely be excited after winning them, but the exaggerated expressions and words of those actors, perhaps only they know how long it took them to practice in private.

On the Oscar stage, which is attracting attention from all over the United States and even the world, what to say and do is not casual, and the acceptance speech is never from the hands of the winner himself.

Many celebrities are people who behave out of their way and speak unscrupulously, and if they say something wrong at the Oscars, it may even affect their future prospects.

For example, views on many issues such as war and homosexuality......

Duke's acceptance speech, from him and Pani? Kelis and Nancy? Josephson's three-person hand, from individual awards to group awards, is even subdivided into which time period of which award, what kind of words to say.

Public relations has always been an esoteric science, and acceptance speeches are, in some ways, a kind of public relations.

In short, Duke is ready to wait for the 76th Academy Awards to begin. (To be continued......)

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