Oh!. Bill Cramer’s Lightning Bolt at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (17 days after starting his tenure as chief, mid-morning COO Christine Simmons, Jacqueline Stewart who took up her old post at the Academy’s museum a week later) is great. The academy’s often-obfuscated website was also updated in real time – a revised executive lineup was posted at the start of the coup.
In fact, Cramer moved on just as Grant took control of Richmond. Slowly at first (a lot of pressure preceded appointing him to replace his predecessor, Dawn Hudson), then suddenly. Boom!
now what
In the first week of the new fiscal year, less than a month after choosing the new Academy Board President, 248 days to maneuver to the next Oscars show (but who counts?), Kramer has a unique opportunity. saved and perhaps changed the American institution.
The last few years have not been kind to the academy or the film industry it serves. Revenues fell. The tension is high. The rewards business is volatile: culture wars are bound to drag on and there will be global fallout (as a Gallup poll revealed this week) from business, government, social structures and the media.
Why shouldn’t Will Smith punch Chris Rock? We are in a national funk. Everyone is mad at someone, and that’s before stagflation really gets into the house.
But the perceived backdrop might be the best place for a fundamentally constructive and pragmatic character like Kramer to start building. He seems to have reconstruction in mind. What he will look like is far from clear. But here are some hypotheses, big and small:
On a smaller note, I suspect there will be a major shift in the academy’s staff, which appears to be between 450 and 650, depending on how you count, time of year, and material you create. For the most part, it’s an internal affair of little interest to the public but of great significance to the people who organize the annual Oscars show and manage the various archives and programs that give weight to the institution. Although Kramer made a key change, the loss of an existing senior lieutenant, the internal mood so far appears to be one of reform or reassignment, not mass layoffs. It wouldn’t make much sense to replace the staff with Oscar for just eight months. Refocusing your staff on work and a strong code of conduct cannot and almost certainly won’t hurt.
On a more detailed level, you have to believe that Kramer’s deep attachment to the museum, where he raised funds before leaving and then returning as director, will lead to a closer operational link between that institution and its parent company. . An example: Look to the museum for a first call to the collections and resources of the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, which is technically open to the public but had accessibility problems during the pandemic. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the oral histories that were locked away in the friendly Herrick somehow emerge in the museum’s more popular context.
But, coming out of the bush, how about the Oscars show? While last year’s shoddy show saw a slight increase of 16.7 million domestic viewers, neither the Academy nor ABC could match that number, which is more than half less than in recent years.
Personal Prediction: Kramer and the new-to-be-named Academy President who will replace David Rubin will conspire to remove any edgy comedy from next year’s schedule. Will Smith’s memories of the moment are very stark. The best way to avoid echo (a funny guy / host shouldn’t think about it?) Might be to lean towards a softer format, perhaps a 2009 Hugh Jackman-style showroom ceremony. , who had humor but generally avoided heavy blows. Nothing will stop the winners from waging political diatribes, and there will be plenty of them. But everything under the academy’s control will remain on the warm, fuzzy side.
Another prediction, just mine: Kramer will eventually have to revise the standards of racial inclusion, gender and disability for Best Picture nominees; But it won’t happen yet. These standards will not be mandatory until the next award year. At this point, all legal and cultural issues relating to the Academy’s collection of highly personal identity data will come to the fore, allowing a constructive and pragmatic executive to modify the narrower aspects of the program without denying its objectives.
Source: Deadline
