Don't you hate it when award winners clamber onstage and then pull out a laundry list of people to thank? The producers of the Academy Awards Oscar ceremony do, too. (A reminder: The Awards air Sunday night.) To get the housekeeping chores out of the way, the producers of this year's Academy Awards plan to run a list of "thankee" names that scroll across the screen, freeing up winners to give more heartfelt speeches. But will the new plan work?
Producers for the Academy Awards telecast Reginald Hudlin and David Hall announced earlier this month that Oscar nominees have been asked to fill out a card with the names of the people they wish to thank. And should they win, those names will be displayed across the screen during their speech. This is an attempt to avoid the numbing roll call of agents, lawyers, managers and producers that mean nothing to viewers at home, in favor of more heartfelt, off-the-cuff effusions of gratitude. It’s certainly a noble effort to allow winners to make better use of their 45 seconds onstage before the first few notes from the orchestra pit signal an impending dismissal. However, everything that can go wrong most definitely will … Fast Company
