Image Credit: Jeremy Bishop/Unsplash
Los Angeles, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that oversees the Oscars, explained their new diversity requirements on September 8. This comes after the academy introduced this attempt at sweeping change back in June.
By 2024, films will have to meet certain inclusion requirements — both on and offscreen — in order to be nominated for an Academy Award. These requirements range from having a lead or supporting actor be from the communities of color or other members of ethnic groups, to having thirty percent of actors be women, LGBTQ+, or physically or cognitively-disabled in some way. Another form of this mandate requires allowing and encouraging plots that revolve around an underrepresented group.
Academy President, David Rubin, and Chief Executive Officer, Dawn Hudson, said in a joint statement,“The aperture must widen to reflect our diverse global population in both the creation of motion pictures and in the audiences who connect with them.” Producer DeVon Franklin and Paramount Pictures’ Chairman and Chief Executive, Jim Ginaopulos, were key figures in developing the new rules.
These adjustments to award eligibility come after criticism that the Oscars have lacked diversity in its lists of award nominees. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite trended for two years in a row after the Academy Awards did not nominate any non-White actors.
Will these sweeping changes allow more diverse film workers, both on and off the camera, to be nominated for Oscars?
Image Credit: Jeremy Bishop/Unsplash
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