Programs on an Oscar Nominations Joyride
Big-name actors and the entertainment outlets that so desperately need them engaged Tuesday in what has become a pro forma publicity bonanza: Oscar nomination day. And as expected, everyone came out a winner.
The nominations yield stories that can be used in the countdown to the ceremony by local morning shows, CNN and most especially the TV programs and channels exclusively dedicated to entertainment news. For them, nothing serves up a full plate of goodies quite like the Oscars.
“We compare it to the NCAA basketball tournament, when they announce the 64 teams,” “Access Hollywood” executive producer Rob Silverstein said regarding nomination day.
Silverstein’s staff hit the ground running at 5:30 a.m. when the nominations were unveiled, assembling its coverage in advance of a 1 p.m. deadline so “Access Hollywood” can be fed by satellite to TV stations across the country. (The series is carried locally at 7:30 p.m. by KNBC-TV.)
The coverage, of course, didn’t stop at interviews, incorporating analysis, handicapping of Oscar chances and other bits of ephemera.
“It’s harder than doing an awards show,” Silverstein said. “An awards show happens the night before, and you have 12 hours to put it together.”
Whether the stars were overwhelmed or merely thrilled, getting their reactions was a piece of business worked out well in advance. Oscar season, after all, is about hype, and the right kind of hype requires careful preparation. Thus, franchises such as E! Entertainment Television, “Access Hollywood” and “Entertainment Tonight” raced around town during the wee hours of Tuesday morning, while studios blocked out interview time for anticipated Oscar contenders.
Publicists for “A Beautiful Mind” felt safe enough about the film’s nomination chances to pre-arrange a live “Today” show appearance Tuesday with the film’s director, Ron Howard, and best supporting actress nominee Jennifer Connelly. Both are in Germany, attending the Berlin Film Festival.
“Invariably, it’s part of the overall game plan, which is to win,” said veteran publicist Stan Rosenfield, whose clients include Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Geoffrey Rush as well as Will Smith, a best actor nominee for “Ali.” “You’re always looking for ways to get your client exposure. Here’s a way to do it where you don’t have to offend anybody. You’re reacting to a nomination. This is like getting to kiss the princess in a movie.”
For Antonio Ruiz, executive producer of special events for cable’s E! Entertainment Television, the Oscar workday began sometime after midnight, with his production crew scheduled to be at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ headquarters in Beverly Hills by 2:30 a.m.
E! carried the nominations live as part of a special 90-minute show that also included in-studio analysis and instant reaction from nominees. Ruiz had a staff of about 25 at his command Tuesday, which occasionally had to tread lightly in dealing with superstitious nominees. “If you’re camped out on their doorstep, [they think] they’re not going to win,” he noted.
Given the competition among outletst, Oscar nomination day also has the potential to bring out the most cloying and dubious claims of exclusivity. “Entertainment Tonight,” for instance--which is known to demand preferential camera positions at award shows and premieres--likes to use the phrase “ET has learned” to impart information readily available to anyone. Producers for the show declined to be interviewed for this story.
It may seem hard to believe, but coverage of the nominations hasn’t always been conducted with the scope and urgency of the Olympics. A decade ago, experienced observers recall, the academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre wasn’t even full for the announcements, and junior publicists, loaded down with change, phoned in the results from a bank of pay phones.
Of course, that was before the proliferation of cell phones, the Internet and other mechanisms by which celebrity obsession has spread. Small wonder that Oscar day is viewed with trepidation by performers and their handlers, who can expect to be asked “How does it feel?” roughly 500 times. As publicist Rosenfield put it, “The questions are not going to put a smile on the ghost of Edward R. Murrow.”
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Deja View
If the awards season has left you feeling like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day,” you have good reason. Many of the folks nominated today have been and will be trotted up-and-down various red carpets on televised awards shows leading up to the Oscars
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