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A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR PRECURSOR AWARDS

Like or not, the Golden Globes are still the most famous and influential precursor awards to the Oscars

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By Josh Kirschenbaum

As Oscar® season begins, you’ll notice that there are a lot of precursor awards to keep track of. It’s hard to know which awards are which, and what they mean. There is a lot of history to research, track records to keep in mind, etc. Before the season really heats up and everyone gets lost in the frenzy, here’s a guide to the major precursor awards.

Cannes Palme d’Or

What It Is: The Palme d’Or (French for “Golden Palm”) is the award given at the Cannes Film festival to the film that the panel of judges decides is the best. The Cannes Film Festival is held in early May. Often times the first reviews of a film come from the Cannes Film Festival.

What It Means for Oscar® Contenders: The biggest reason to enter a film at Cannes is to build early buzz through good reviews. However, this plan can often fail disastrously, Both Southland Tales and The Fountain lost a lot of buzz from bad Cannes reviews. The former has yet to be released. The strangest things about the Palme d’Or is that it has little to no effect on a film’s Oscar® consideration. Only one of the last ten Palme winners went on to be nominated for best picture. It simply does not have the ability to build buzz for a film that did not have any to begin with. However, if a heavily anticipated film wins the Palme d’Or, it will become the early frontrunner (remember The Pianist?).

National Board of Review

What It Is: The National Board of Review (NBR) is a nonprofit organization that supports film through scholarships, grants, and “educational film programs.” In other words, they are a film appreciation society. Since they are presented very early, the NBR awards generally signal the beginning of the serious awards season. The awards are given in most major categories and are announced in early December.

What It Means for Oscar® Contenders: An NBR win is a huge boost for any film. Eight of last ten NBR best picture winners have gone on to score a best picture nomination. The other two (Quills and Gods and Monsters) received various wins and nominations in other categories, including best actor. Over the years, the NBR has gotten a reputation for predicting Oscar® nominees, but rarely the winners. The NBR is most beneficial when it is given to a contender who has only a moderate amount of buzz. For instance, last year few people were predicting Djimon Hounsou (in Blood Diamond) for a supporting actor nomination. When he won the NBR, people saw the film as a serious contender. It went on to garner nominations for both Hounsou and his co-star Leonardo Dicaprio (in the leading category). Likewise, Letters From Iwo Jima greatly benefited from its NBR win. The NBR can also act as a buffer against a Golden Globe snub. Both Hounsou and Jake Gyllenhaal (in 2005’s Brokeback Mountain) were NBR winners who failed to be nominated at the Golden globes. Both were eventual Oscar® nominees.

LA Film Critics Association, NY Film Critics Circle, and National Society of Film Critics

What They Are: The LA film critics association is made up of, well, the LA film critics. Their awards are presented in mid-December. The NY film critics circle is made up of the film critics in New York City. Their awards are presented in mid-December. The National Society of Film Critics is made up of any film critic in the country who makes it through their application process. Their awards are presented in early January.

What They Mean For Oscar® Contenders: Individually, they mean very little to Oscar® voters. Together, they are seldom ignored. Last year, United 93 scored a best picture win from NY and best director wins from LA and NSFC. It failed to get nominated for any other “major” awards. The film ended up with a deserved Oscar® nomination for best director. A similar thing happened in 2005, when William Hurt got an Oscar® nomination for A History of Violence despite missing out on Golden Globe and SAG nominations. His wins in LA and NY gave him enough momentum to get into the top five for the year.

Broadcast Film Critics Association

What It Is: The BFCA is made up of all critics who broadcast their reviews by television, radio, or the internet. It is the biggest critics organization in the country. The BFCA awards are presented in mid-January.

What It Means for Oscar® Contenders: Last year, the BFCA winners mirrored those of the Oscars® in all major categories but best supporting actor. Their nominees were also relatively close. Winning the BFCA award adds a lot of momentum to an Oscar® campaign. Unfortunately, being nominated means relatively little. There are ten nominees for best picture, as well as separate categories for young actors (Paul Dano, 22, qualified as a young actor).

The Golden Globes

What They Are: The Golden Globes are given out by the journalist members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in mid-January. There are about eighty or so members who vote. There are separate categories for dramas and musical/comedies. They are notably star struck and usually give out nominations in order to get high profile celebrities to show up to their show.

What They Mean for Oscar® contenders: Although (in my opinion) the Golden Globes have little prestige attached to them, they have become one of the biggest precursors. Golden Globe winners instantly become Oscar® frontrunners. It is only in rare cases that the GGs will pick a winner (often letting their star worship get the better of them) who not only fails to get an Oscar® nomination, but never had a chance to begin with. A good example of this is when Madonna in Evita won the Globe over Frances McDormand in Fargo. McDormand won the Oscar®, Madonna was not nominated.

Screen Actors Guild Awards

What They Are: The Screen Actors Guild is made up of all union actors. It gives out its awards in late January.

What They Mean for Oscar® Contenders: SAG awards nominees are almost always Oscar® nominees. Nineteen out of twenty of the SAG nominees last year were Oscar® nominated. The SAG is incredibly important for an Oscar® hopeful. Part of this is because the acting branch of the Academy is by far the biggest. The only problem with the SAG awards is with upsets. If people are buzzing about an upset at the Oscars®, do not look to the SAG for evidence. Paul Giamatti and Johnny Depp (for Cinderalla Man and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, respectively) each became likely upsets at their respective Oscar® ceremonies after picking up the SAG award. Both actors failed to win. Conversely, this past year many people were talking about a likely Alan Arkin (for Little Miss Sunshine) upset. Eddie Murphy won the SAG, Arkin won the Oscar®.

Producers Guild of America Awards

What They Are: The PGA is made up of film and television producers. It gives out its awards in late January. The PGA awards have two categories: best picture and best animated picture.

What They Mean for Oscar® Contenders: Usually, four out of five PGA nominees go on to get Oscar® nods. About two-thirds of PGA winners go on to win the Oscar®. For animated features, the PGA almost always means Oscar® glory.

Directors Guild of America Awards

What They Are: The DGA is made up of film and television directors. It gives out its awards in early February. It has one category for film: best director.

What They Mean for Oscar® Contenders: The DGA nominees usually match the Oscar® nominees…for best picture. Surprisingly, the DGA is relatively poor at predicting the discrepancies between the picture and director categories. Also the DGA is part of the DGA-WGA-ACE combo. Any film that wins all three is virtually assured Best Picture glory at the Oscars®.

Writers Guild of America Awards

What They Are: The WGA is made up of every screenwriter in Hollywood. It gives out its awards in mid-February. It has two categories for film: best original and best adapted screenplay.

What They Mean for Oscar® Contenders: WGA winners almost always win the Oscar®. You’d have to go back four years for winners that don’t match up (even then, it’s only in one category). The WGA nominees usually match the Oscars’® at about the rate the PGA nominees are nominated for best picture. The WGA often nominates comedies (Mean Girls, The 40 Year-Old Virgin) with very little chance for an Oscar® nomination. Often times the WGA picks a winner completely out of the blue. For instance, Bowling For Columbine won best original screenplay at the WGA awards four years ago. The WGA is a part of the DGA-WGA-ACE combo, which is explained under the DGA awards paragraph.

American Cinema Editors Awards

What They Are: The ACE is made up of all the film editors in Hollywood. It gives out its awards in late February. They have categories for drama and musical/comedy

What They Mean for Oscar® Contenders: Almost inexplicably, the ACE awards count for a lot. A film is rarely considered to be in serious contention for a best picture win without an editing nomination. Last year, veteran Oscar® prognosticators knew The Departed was going to win best picture after it triumphed over Babel (it’s biggest competition) in the editing category halfway through the ceremony. The ACE is about as good as predicting the BP nominees as the PGA or WGA is. It’s much better at predicting the winners. It is also a part of the aforementioned DGA-WGA-ACE combo.

BAFTA Awards

The BAFTA awards are the British equivalent of the Oscars®. Their effect on Oscar® wins and nominations is negligible (but it is a nice-looking trophy though).

Independent Spirit Awards

The Independent Spirit Awards, as you might have guessed, are given to outstanding independent films. They are given out the night before the Oscar® ceremony and therefore, winning a Spirit award cannot affect Oscar® voters’ decisions. There usually aren’t more than one or two Oscar® nominees in a single Spirit award category, so they don’t help much with predictions. The Spirit awards affect the Oscars® in one way: if an Oscar® contender in an independent film fails to garner a Spirit award nomination, it is no longer an Oscar® contender.

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