A prominent producer and member of the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sent in his letter of resignation this month, and his reasoning might surprise you.
Bill Mechanic, best known for producing “Hacksaw Ridge,” published a scathing letter addressed to the President of AMPAS John Bailey.
In the letter, Mechanic criticized the Oscars’ increased politicization and tanking ratings, suggesting the two are inherently related. He also calls the Oscars out for being less merit-based and forcibly diversified, which has dragged down talent in Hollywood and overcrowded the industry.
We have settled on numeric answers to the problem of inclusion, barely recognizing that this is the Industry’s problem far, far more than it is the Academy’s. Instead we react to pressure. One Governor even went as far as suggesting we don’t admit a single white male to the Academy, regardless of merit!
We have failed to the move the Oscars into the modern age, despite decades of increased competition and declining ratings. Instead we have kept to the same number of awards, which inherently means a long and boring show, and over the past decade we have nominated so many smaller independent films that the Oscars feel like they should be handed out in a tent. Big is not inherently bad and small is not inherently good. Moving into the modern age does not mean competing with the Emmys for non-theatrical features.
Mechanic also claims AMPAS ignoring important issues is what’s causing poor ratings.
You can’t hide the drainage of employees, the cataclysmic decline in the Oscar ratings, the fact that no popular film has won in over a decade; that we decided to play Moral Police and most probably someone inside the Academy leaked confidential information in order to compromise the President; that the Board doesn’t feel their voice is being heard with regard to the Museum; that we have allowed the Academy to be blamed for things way beyond our control and then try to do things which are not in our purview (sexual harassment, discrimination in the Industry).
Bailey’s reaction to this letter remains to be seen. But it may not matter. Mechanic is right about basically everything in this thing. The Oscars took it when they got tarred and feathered with hashtags like #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo. They took the blame and turned it into hours of public moral preening. They became further and further out of touch with the general American public and put diversity over talent.
Take the 2018 Oscars for example. The show experienced the worst ratings in history, featured a hyper-political host, and spent north of four hours lecturing the rest of America on the sexual abuse it perpetuated. It’s no surprise that American interest is waning, however it is rather shocking that only one board member has awakened to this truth.
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