The latest to get booted from the Oscars ceremony: All those non-famous people
Aux Features Academy AwardsThis year’s Academy Awards news cycle has been a merry-go-round of some of the most insufferable “will they or won’t they” tension that nobody asked for, from whether or not they’ll honor certain creators behind the camera (they will) to whether or not they’ll even have a host (they won’t). With just six days until the big show, there is one group that won’t be making it to the screen: all those people who dared not to be famous.
After the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rightfully nixed its decision to move the cinematography, live-action short, editing, and makeup and hairstyling honors to commercial breaks, the ceremony was back to running a little long. When Jimmy Kimmel hosted the Oscars in the past, he would film vignettes that included ordinary people as a sort of humbling sojourn from the razzle dazzle of the event. Now, there’s simply no time for that.
But lead producer Donna Gigliotti wants you to know that it’s not that she has anything against non-famous people. In fact, some of her favorite people are not famous.
“I love everyday people. I ride the subway with them every day in New York,” Gigliotti explained. “Everyday people don’t get me ratings.”
As the new lead up to the Best Picture category, the Oscars will include presentations from figures who aren’t in entertainment as they speak about the importance of film in their own lives. Serena Williams, for instance, is slated to talk about A Star Is Born. With us boring nerds out of the way, maybe the show will see a more engaged home audience. Anything would be better than last year’s record low ratings, right?
[Via Variety]
46 Comments
Finally, a good decision. This segment has always been awful.
This is what’s so interesting to me about these supposed experts (producers, executives, consultants, etc. etc.): in order to save their jobs, they can’t just admit that TV viewership is tanking across the board, so like the NFL (and Papa John’s by proxy) blaming anthem kneeling for the NFL’s decreasing popularity, they seek to find anything else to blame for a failure that is beyond their control. So they try to jettison “boring” awards and create a “popular movies” category of awards or whatever the fuck they call it, all so investors can be shielded from the fact that it’s not coming back, ever.
This year’s Academy Awards news cycle has been a merry-go-round of some of the most insufferable “will they or won’t they” tension that nobody asked forNot even a sliver of a self-awareness there huh? You can help make it go away, but judging from the number of posts this site has thrown up about it, you most certainly don’t want it to.So “insufferable” and “nobody asked for” is right – and you’re one of the people contributing to that. Look in a mirror.
Everyday people don’t get me ratings. Cinematography and Editing awards get me less ratings, but everyone complained, so I had to cut my second choice.
If it means no interrupting people at movie theaters or bringing in people who were on a sightseeing tour into the venue this is the best decision they have made in a long time.
“Everyday people don’t get me ratings.”She’s right. You can act pissy about it all day, but she’s right. Welcome to the world we’ve built. Don’t bitch because someone looks at the formula and makes decisions off of it. Bitch about the formula itself.
Thank God – now, if celebrities ever want to see a non-famous person, they can observe one through a powerful telescope the way God intended.
the Oscars will include presentations from figures who aren’t in
entertainment as they speak about the importance of film in their own
lives.
Wait, they replaced one easily cuttable segment for another?…Nominees (which includes Best Song actually being performed), Speeches, In Memoriam. There. Done.
Clips of the Best Picture nominees are always introduced, it’s just the non-entertainment industry aspect that’s new.
Right, they always do clips. Best screenplay has an overlay of various pages, costume design has sketches, those are fine.I don’t need 10 minutes of “what this film means to me.”
Cutting this fluff AND editing out the live wins for third tier awards were wise moves whether the artsy fartsy folks agree or not. Personally I would also cut the musical numbers, or at most make them a four minute medley sung by one person. If integrity was all that mattered, the ratings wouldnt either so none of these decisions should have ever come up. But since they do, pretending otherwise is fooling no one and only will continue the cycle of ever decreasing ratings.
Does this include the accountants? Because that’s a step in the right direction.
Don’t they deserve their name in lights?
Can you imagine actually watching the Oscars? Like sitting at home and rooting for your favorites to win and being entertained by the pageantry of it all. What’s the point? I like the movies I like and no trophy or lack there of is going to change that. “Sorry to Bother You” and “The Night Comes for Us” didn’t get any nominations doesn’t change the fact that they were my favorite movies last year. Nor do all the nominations for “Bohemian Rhapsody” change the fact that it looks like another garbage music bio film that “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” parodied so well over a decade ago. Sorry for the rant but now I want to see “Walk Hard” again. Maybe I will watch that instead of the Oscars this weekend.
“I love everyday people. I ride the subway with them every day in New York,” Gigliotti explained. “Everyday people don’t get me ratings.”What a fucking asshole. She demonstrates exactly what she is unnecessarily trying to exonerate herself from.
I mean, those sketches she cut were condescending nonsense as well, so it’s damned if you do damned if you don’t.
I don’t really care about the show, who they choose to “honor” or the format. What other industry jerks themselves off multiple times per year on national tv? However, the phrasing she chose reveals her to be the exact classist, heirarchical dickhead she’s claiming not to be. Pretty people > “Auteurs” > Moneybags who fund us > Viewers > The truly hardworking people who make sure that everything is in place before your 8 am set call.
“What other industry jerks themselves off multiple times per year on national tv?”The music industry.
Also
politics, every day
Major league sports?
Especially the “real music of regular Americans,” Country. They seem to need an awards show every couple months.
Precisely.
…I’m assuming you’re in locations?
But…she’s really not wrong, despite the “let them eat cake” first part of her quote. The parts of the broadcast like Kimmel’s bits with “normal” people are consistently pretty awful and drag the show to a screeching halt. That’s not a knock on normal people. It’s just not what the audience wants to see. We always use those bits to go make more drinks. I’d rather those bits get cut than any awards, which are what I’m watching to see.
That doesn’t make her an asshole. She’s absolutely right. Regular people don’t make for Oscar ratings. People don’t watch the Oscars for everyday schmoes. They watch it for the pageantry of the Hollywood elite. I find her phrasing, which seems to place her in that ‘everday people’ mold as well, more to the point than anything else.
but she makes a solid point, because ratings are a measurement of how many elite influencers and celebrities watch your broadcast.They buy a lot of cleaning products.
Is she lying here? This is one of the biggest non-stories of the week, fake outrage IMO.
The question is, does she speak to those everyday people she so loves?Her remark holds no merit
By the title of this, I thought they cut cinematography and editing once again.
Does mean that they are going to drop all the people we have never heard of from the memorial segment? You know… agents, grips, costume designers, cinematographers, PAs?
“Everyday people don’t get me ratings.” Well, but.. I mean, everyday people watch television which gets its rating information from… I guess only the famous people watching it?
Everyday people still don’t get her ratings. Neilsen people get her ratings.
Mmaybe the reason their ratings were so low last year is because of the political nastiness coming from the likes of the so called Hollywood Elite( Robert Deniro, Meryl Streep , Jim Varey, etc..) They offend a large segment of the population. Quite frankly I would not care if an earthquake carried “Hollywood” out to sea!
Fewer people watch this Dog & Pony Show anyway… regular or famous.
“I love everyday people. I ride the subway with them every day in New York,” Gigliotti explained. “Everyday people don’t get me ratings.”Ironically, these are the same lyrics that were cut from the Sly and The Family Stone classic hit song.
it’s not that she has anything against non-famous people
I love non famous people. My sister is dating a on famous person. some of my best friends are people of non-famousness…
many don’t even smell that bad!
It’s always us ordinary folks that suffer from the decisions of the rich and powerful.
Oh boy, I can’t wait to hear a star tennis player talk about how deeply affected she was by that remake of a remake of a remake of a remake starring Entitled Director and Weird Pop Star Who Can Act(?).Just cancel the Oscars forever. Who fucking cares?
Think of how much time could be saved if every winner’s mom, dad, and agent were deemed to be thanked at the outset of the show.
I remember when that Jimmy Kimmel goofball took a bunch of famous people to a neighboring movie theater during the Oscars broadcast last year. Kimmel presented these famous dweebs to the chunky movie-goers, as if they were bloody magic! F*ck’s sake, man!
What movie fan is going to the movies on Oscar night, anyway? I mean, seriously.
It must be hard for someone as famous as Donna Gigliotti to even ride the subway.
I mean, say what you will about her classism and elitism, she’s not wrong. The whole point and appeal of the Oscars is “look at the pretty and famous people”. No one is tuning in because they hope a random ordinary person they’ve never heard of gets interviewed about what films they like.When they did the whole pizza delivery stunt a few years back, no one gave a fuck about the delivery guy.
This is a decision that makes perfect sense, expressed in the worst possible way. Don’t try and get cutesy talking about riding on the subway. Just say that you’ve been looking for ways to cut down on the length of the broadcast, and you know that the main focus is on the talented men and women who make these films possible. That’s all.