Gary Dretzka
Noah Forrest
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Douglas Pratt
Ray Pride

Among the theories forwarded in any discussion of the decline in ratings for ABC’s telecast of the Academy Awards ceremony -- especially in the face of an obscene amount of free publicity generated by the media -- is that mainstream audiences no longer have a cheering interest in the proceedings. The movies favored by the masses are rarely nominated, while those that do make the cut typically have all the populist appeal of escargot.

Without a horse in the race, all that’s left to anticipate is a wardrobe malfunction, naughty ad lib or victory in the office pool. After all, the primary reason football fans stay glued to their TV sets, long after the outcome of a game is decided, is to see if the winner covered the spread. Until Oscar wagering is legalized, however, producers of the annual kudo-fest are forced to dance with the ones who brought ’em.

Heck, sometimes they even get lucky.

In 1998, the blockbuster success of Titanic almost single-handedly reversed a slump that had lasted for 15 years. The juggernaut, however predictable, attracted viewers in 55 million American households. Five years later, when the coronation of Chicago was overshadowed by Operation Iraqi Freedom, the audience totaled a comparatively anemic 33 million households. In 2004, fans of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy would help cut that loss in half, but neither Chris Rock nor Jon Stewart could hold back the negative tide in 2005 and 2006.

This year’s class isn’t likely to set any records, either. Martin Scorsese’s hyper-violent The Departed is the only Best Picture candidate that has collected more than $100 million at the domestic box-office ($130 million, before going into DVD this week). Its nearest competitor is Little Miss Sunshine (also new to DVD) at $60 million. Even the frequently nominated Dreamgirls had yet to crack $100 million by the end of last weekend’s tallies.

The recent popularity of such documentaries as Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins and An Inconvenient Truth likely attracted some fresh eyes to the broadcast, as did the addition of an animated-feature category. However worthy, though, few are taken seriously as candidates for Best Picture honors.

Even less respect is paid the makers of short films. Every time a ceremony runs unusually long, it’s the shorts that get pushed forward as potential sacrificial lambs. That’s because, with rare exceptions, no one outside a small circle of friends has been exposed to the pleasures of short-form filmmaking. Finally, someone has endeavored to rectify that injustice.

This weekend, two separate compilations of nominated live-action and animated shorts will open in dozens of theaters across the country. Presented under the auspices of Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International, the programs will provide audiences an opportunity to experience some of the most fascinating films of 2006. They’ll also provide viewers with a rooting interest during the mid-show doldrums.

"By opening in advance of the Academy Awards, we’re giving viewers an opportunity to pick a horse and back it in the race," said Tom Quinn, head of acquisitions at Magnolia. "A winner will emerge from both of these programs."

Carter Pilcher, CEO of Shorts International, used the same race-horse analogy as Quinn, adding, "through short films, audiences are brought closer to the true vision of the filmmakers. The artists aren’t forced to work under the same constraints as they would making a feature, and can be more creative."

Short films already have helped revolutionize distribution of entertainment products via the Internet. In the same amount of time it would normally take a craft-services truck to drive from Hollywood to Palmdale, digitally produced content can be e-mailed, downloaded, viewed, critiqued and forwarded to a dozen other addresses.

"Audiences are more educated now about the filmmaking process," Pilcher added. "Because of advances in digital technology, they expect access to entertainment when they want it."

Shorts International manages the world’s largest catalogue devoted to such titles. They include winning entries from several important film festivals and awards ceremonies, and are delivered through several different pipelines. Among them is iTunes, which will offer the nominated films at $1.99 per download, also just ahead of the awards ceremony.

Likewise, the International Documentary Association will present DocuDay programs of films nominated in the feature-length and short-form doc categories. The New York event is being held this Saturday, while the one in Los Angeles is on Feb. 24.

This is the second year that Magnolia and Shorts International have teamed up for the programs of live-action and animated shorts. They will be shown ahead of the Oscars in theaters in more than 40 markets, then platform out to other cities and find a permanent home on DVD.

"There was a great response last year, even though we were sailing in uncharted waters," Quinn allowed. "In most of the multiplexes we played, the programs were the top-performing titles… or a close second. It wasn’t easy, though, putting together a deal structure and product in the few days we had between nominations and the awards ceremony."

Being able to market an entire package, instead of individual titles, helps grease the wheels. If nothing else, posters can be printed ahead of time, and exhibitors know what to expect of the content, if not a precise running time.

This year, the nominees in the animated category are The Danish Poet, Disney’s The Little Matchgirl, Maestro, Fox’s No Time for Nuts and Pixar’s Lifted. Added for length are A Gentleman's Duel, Bill Plympton’s Guide Dog, One Rat Short, The Passenger and Wraith of Cobble Hill. All are wonderful.

The similarly compelling live-action-shorts program includes Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea), Éramos Pocos (One Too Many), Helmer & Son, The Saviour and West Bank Story. Any one of these films could win, and not raise a ripple of dissent.

"Besides being terrifically entertaining, watching the shorts ahead of time can also give you a leg up in the office Oscar pool," Pilcher suggests.

Indeed, Oscar pools and positive feedback from innovative projects like these may help save the Academy Awards from going the way of the Miss America pageant. Not surprisingly, perhaps, neither activity requires the sanction of AMPAS, which seems far more interested in protecting its copyrighted brand from imaginary poachers than reaching out to people who love film more than fashion.

In my opinion, the academy only has itself to blame for this seeming shrinkage of interest in Hollywood’s premiere event. By encouraging the media to treat the Red Carpet as a combination catwalk and carnival sideshow, it has fueled a feeding frenzy that now threatens to devour the ceremony itself. Newspapers and magazines, especially, have begun to exploit the run-up to the nominations and Oscar-cast in much the same way as harried moms use Hamburger Helper at dinner time.

The academy, too, has allowed the nominees and presenters to prostitute themselves in the name of haute couture and backstage gifting from authorized purveyors of bling and spa treatments. Perhaps, too, if fashion magazines and ET were forced to pay a royalty every time a photo from the Red Carpet was re-printed, the pre-show hysteria would prove too expensive to maintain. What academy brass continues to ignore is the simple fact that the legion of Joan Rivers and Army Archerd wannabes parked outside the Kodak Theater couldn’t give a damn who wins, as long as someone -- anyone -- shows up decked out in gaudy jewelry and booby-enhancing gowns.

Their ambivalence is contagious. Two minutes after the prize for Best Actress in a Supporting Role is handed out, America begins looking for other things to do. The Oscars themselves have become secondary to everything else, including the menu at the Governor’s Ball.

On the positive side, the IRS has gone where academy officials feared to tread. By eradicating the plague of gratuitous gifting, millions of Americans have been spared the ordeal of witnessing celebrities grovel for free merchandise. Now, if they could just do something with Harry Winston.

February 18, 2007

- Gary Dretzka

.