Oscar still says 'Four's a crowd' while Tony says 'More the merrier'
Are you a moneybags who has got loads of green but wants some gold? Before throwing your hard-earned dollars into a project, compare how the Tonys and the Oscars handle producer credits.
Last week, "Spring Awakening" won 8 Tony Awards. Though the tuner only has a cast of 17, there were 29 producers credited with bankrolling the $6 million production. Indeed, so many of them trotted up to the podium to accept the best musical award that they made the massive stage of Radio City Music Hall seem small.
While the Tonys recognize that the economic realities of Broadway demand so many warm bodies with cold hard cash, the Oscars are still loathe to allow more than three people to be listed as producers of the best picture nominees. Last week, the Academy did amend their rules to allow the Producers Branch Executive Committee to "name any additional qualified producer" but expects such additions to "be a rare and extraordinary circumstance."
Just funding a film won't be enough to get you an Oscar unless you negotiate a producer credit. As per Rule 17, "persons with screen credits of executive producer, co-producer, associate producer, line producer, produced in association with or any other credit shall not receive nominations or Academy statuettes." That is how Bob Yari, who says he raised $7 million to finance the making of 2005 best picture winner "Crash," missed out on Oscar glory. While he lost his lawsuit against the Academy last December, he is pursuing an appeal.
The Tonys, by contrast, recognize "every producer who gets credit above the title," says Howard Sherman, executive director of the American Theatre Wing. "Who gets listed there is determined by each show. Gone is the day when only Hal Prince or David Merrick got cited. The economic realities of producing have changed today. Often you have to piece together the $15 million needed to produce a musical or $2 million to stage a play. We feel it should be up to each show to decide who gets credit for that. Funding for a movie may come from one corporate source. That can be very different."
The Tonys do not bestow actual statuettes to all producers. Each triumphant producing team gets two or three trophies. More are available, but each producer must purchase them. My best guess for the price: about $300.
Hmmmm . . . Maybe the Oscars are acting so stingy because they don't want to pay for extra statuettes? Do they realize that some other showbiz awards just pass along the cost at a certain point? The Daytime, sports and news Emmys do, too, by the way. But not the Primetime Emmys. ATAS springs for the cost of all statuettes doled out to legit producers.
Simple solution Academy: credit up to five producers only...that's the limit...but come awards night, only allow one or two producers acceptance speech time...90 seconds only. The other producers can stand in the background and be happy that they were acknowledged--end of story...
Posted by: Frankie R. | June 18, 2007 at 08:26 AM