The times sure are a changing. First, the Academy will be nominating 10 films for Best Picture this year. Now, in another move away from the past, it seems that the producers of this year's Oscars have asked nominees to prepare two speeches. This first speech (to be delivered back stage post-acceptance) is the token "thank you everyone I know, beginning chronologically with..." The second, new speech is a short 45 second "what the award means to me" and will be the speech nominees ae asked to give live on camera.
For all of us who've practiced our Oscar acceptance speech a hundred times (I can't remember how many versions I have), his might come as a blow. We want to thank people. We have to thank some. As writers, though, maybe this is an opportunity. We get 45 seconds to talk about what the Oscar means to us, followed by (I assume) a lot longer to thank everyone. Rather than thank everyone you know, you can show the world just how witty or regal or classy or quippy you really are (and why studios should hire you again). I'd like to think winners still get time to thank Mom and Dad, but I'm curious to see how this year goes. My hope, though, is that - contrary to my interpretation of the article - people who launch almost immediately into a thank you list will not get played off instantly.
I'll have to see how this plays out - and how Oscar winners respond - in order to fully determine my stance on this. Part of me (the viewer part) likes it. The Oscar hopeful part of me feels like winners should get 45 seconds to say whatever the hell they want (especially the technical award winners - let those guys stand on stage and thank their spouses, damn it!). What are your thoughts on this development?
