The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been criticized heavily in recent years for not nominating more actors and filmmakers of color.
The Academy has taken several steps to become more inclusive, including inviting more members from to change its voting body from more than 90% white.
On Tuesday, the Academy announced several requirements that films would need to meet in order to be nominated for Best Picture. Essentially, films will need to hire a minimum number of women, LGBTQ, disabled, or racially unrepresentative staff in front of or behind the camera, at the studio, or anywhere else in the movie’s development or release, in order to be considered for Hollywood’s top prize.
The requirements are broad, should be easy to meet and do not go into effect until the 2024 awards season.
“We believe these inclusion standards will be a catalyst for long-lasting, essential change in our industry,” the Academy said.
In contrast, even under the new rules, the last four Best Picture winners, such as “Parasite,” would be the same.
Nevertheless, Kirstie Alley, an actor known mostly for her TV roles, called the new rules a disgrace.
“This is a disgrace to artists everywhere…can you imagine telling Picasso what had to be in his f—— paintings,” she wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “You people have lost your minds. Control artists, control individual thought .. OSCAR ORWELL.”
After realizing that Picasso and film production are not analogous, Alley tried again.
“I deleted my first tweet about the new rules for best movie OSCARS because I feel it was a poor analogy & misrepresented my viewpoint,” she said. “I am 100% behind diversity inclusion & tolerance. I’m opposed to MANDATED ARBITRARY percentages relating to hiring human beings in any business.”
The new rules were created by a task force set up within the Academy along with the Producers Guild of America.
While the rules won’t be in effect, the next Oscars ceremony is scheduled for April 25, 2021 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
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