Time For An Oscar Playoff System

By Steven Rosen

The just-ended baseball playoffs were so great ? so exciting, so suspenseful and so much fun ? that it?s a shame we can?t also have Oscar playoffs.

Well, actually, we could. And maybe we should, too.

If a ?quality? independent movie?s success these days is dependent on an Oscar nomination and its attendant buzz, hype and speculation, why not double its chances to find an audience? Divide the Oscar season in half ? the first six months and second. Have nominations and voting for each half, then let the ?winners? slug it out, World Series-style, in a much-ballyhooed showdown.

This could help more independent movies do well in spring and summer (and autumn, too, actually), and maybe even aid them in finding that elusive crossover market. And studios, too, might have more incentive to space out their quality films throughout the year, thus benefiting the adult moviegoer. Who knows? They may even decide to junk a ?Chronicles of Riddick? in favor of something better.

In a way, this argument is facetious ? good movies should be their own reward. Or, rather, award. It wasn?t that long ago that George C. Scott referred to the whole process of winning an Academy Award as a ?meat parade? when he declined a Best Actor Oscar for ?Patton.?

But those were more idealistic times. The realpolitik of the way it now works is this: Marketing campaigns based around Oscar nominations are why movies like ?Monster? or ?21 Grams? are economically viable in this age of megaplex blockbusters opening on 3,000 screens.

Hollywood ? Miramax, especially ? has become addicted to Oscar nominations as the only way to market better films beyond the art circuit, and the public has become conditioned to expect such nominations as seals of approval. As a result, the chase for recognition has become a matter of expensive gamesmanship.

But maybe the solution is for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to embrace that. To expand it, even. The Academy should develop an Oscar playoff system.

Actually, if there were such a system in place this year, the Oscars ? First Half 2004 would have been pretty exciting. There?d have been a lot of arguing about the merits of Mel Gibson?s ?Passion of the Christ? and Michael Moore?s ?Fahrenheit 9/11.? Maybe even protests. Jim Carrey might finally win an Oscar for Best Actor ? First Half. Then again, he?d have stiff competition from ?Kill Bill Vol. 2?s? David Carradine, trying to stage the comeback of the half-year.

Also, there might have been a lot of good, smaller releases, which will have disappeared from memory by the time the current Oscar ceremonies come around, that could have used their half-year nominations to break on through. Especially independent releases and even some foreign films, maybe.

Imagine what it could do for their business ? and the business of getting good movies made ? if early-year films like ?Before Sunset,? ?Maria Full of Grace,? ?Since Otar Left,? ?Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter?and Spring Again,? ?Coffee and Cigarettes,? ?Dogville? and more were all legitimate Oscar nominees. Excuse me ? half-nominees.

There could be televised semi-final Oscar ceremonies twice a year ?maybe from different cities like, say, Boston or St. Louis. The final showdown, of course, would be from Hollywood.

For everyone associated with the films, the playoff pay-off would be obvious. It would multiply Oscar awards and extend the quality-film season to virtually all year. Television should love it for the ratings ? as would advertisers. Who knows? It could even revive the economy.

True, this is all a form of Fantasy Oscars. The Oscars are supposed to be a dignified ceremony that rewards artistic achievement, not a professional sports league.

But figuring out ways to get more adults to see independent movies, as well as getting studios to make more good movies, shouldn?t be a fantasy. The philosophy of releasing them all from October through December creates as many losers as winners.

Now would be a good time for some fundamentally new ideas. Batter up!