OSCAR SEASON WILL KICK OFF WITH A NEW BlACK TIE strongly about honoring, without second-guessing any event this November. For the first time, the Governors impact on the Academy Awards teleca t. That said, the Awards - the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Irving Board did set a limit to the number of awards to be given in G. Thalberg Memorial Award and the Honorary Award - will any year - a maximum of four - so that the honors' integrity be presented at a celebratory dinner separate from the is appropriately maintained. No more than one Hersholt or Academy Awards telecast, at the Grand Ballroom at more than one Thalberg can be voted in a single year. Both Hollywood & Highland Center®. the Hersholt and the Honorary awards are 0 car tatuette; Creating a separate event for these honors has been the Thalberg is a bust of the fabled production executive. discussed a number of times in recent years, as the Board of The new event will allow the Governors Awards recipients Governors continued to struggle with balancing the desire to have more of their friends, family, co-workers and to recognize truly deserving individuals with the time li mita­ admirers present, and the honorees' careers and contribu­ tions that the Oscar telecast imposes. This spring a committee tions can be more fully explored at a dinner event that is chaired by Executives Branch governor Tom Sherak met to committed solely to those individuals. seriously examine the issue, and the Board approved that The Board will convene in September to select the committee's recommendation inJune. honorees and those individuals wi ll be announced as In creating a separate event, the Board will be able to recipients immediately following that meeting. concern itself only with choosing the individuals it feels Rules Change for Original Song Category ACTING ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE MUSIC no song receives an average of 8.25, there will be no nomi­ Branch Executive Committee, the Board of Governors nees and no award will be presented. If only one song approved a rules change that could result in no Oscar being achieve the minimum, it and the song with the next highest presented in the Original Song category. score will be deemed the nominees. If two or more songs Since the 78th Academy Awards (honoring film achieve­ achieve the minimum score, they will be the nominees, ments for 2005), the Best Original Song nominees have been though no more than five nominees can be selected. selected through a process in wh ich Music Branch members All active members of the Music Branch are eligible to assign a numerical score ranging from 6 to 10 to each eligible vote in the nominations process. An event is held in Los song. Scores may be assigned at half-number intervals (6, 6.5, Angeles each year at which movie clips featuring the eligible 7, 7.5, etc.). A minimum average score of 8.25 is required in songs are screened and voted upon. For those members order for the song to receive a nomination. unable to attend the event, a DVD with the same clips is Previously, however, the rules dictated there be no fewer provided and ballots can be mailed in. While there is no limit than three nominees. That meant that in some years, some on the number of songs that can be submitted for considera­ or even all of the songs deemed nominees may not have tion from a given film, no more than two songs from one film achieved the minimum. Beginning with the 82nd Awards, if may be nominated. ACA DE MY REP O R T · S E COND Q U A RTER 2009 5 0 .