HOLLYWOOD, Feb 20, 2008 (AFP) — In an election campaign where candidates are barred from directly lobbying voters, the race for the Oscars best picture prize is a high-stakes test of marketing savvy and financial muscle.
Millions of dollars are spent by studios every year as they press their claims for their nominees, splashing out small fortunes on full-page advertisements, glossy brochures and promotional DVDs.
But the armies of publicists deployed to drum up support from the 5,829 voters who decide the winners of the Academy Awards must adhere to guidelines designed to prevent even the faintest whiff of corruption.
Targeting voters is strictly forbidden, while DVD copies of films in contention sent to academy members for viewing must be sent in plain sleeves devoid of promotional material.
Question and answer sessions with directors or actors -- where stars are invited to talk to voters and therefore in theory influence their decision -- are also outlawed.
Serious breaches of the rules can lead to sanctions, from films being excluded from competition to studios being denied tickets to the awards ceremony.
Yet as with any set of rules, there are glaring loopholes that Hollywood studios have been only too eager to exploit, industry analysts say.
Pete Hammond, a veteran awards season pundit and film critic with Maxim magazine, said while Q+A sessions with nominees were forbidden, many studios held receptions to honor stars -- where Academy members were among the guests.
"It's a gray area, if you're being generous. Because the Academy can't say to people 'Hey! You're not allowed to throw a party,'" Hammond told AFP.
"If it's very blatant or obvious that they're holding these events to campaign, then they will penalize people. But this has been going on for a while and people have been getting away with it."
And instead of conducting Q+A movie screenings with Academy voters, studios now tended to hold the events for the benefit of industry unions, such as the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), many of whose members are Oscars voters.
"You can't get to them directly so you go for the industry groups whose members overlap with voters," Hammond said.
Some studios have also harnessed the power of the Internet to help push their nominees. Top studio the Weinstein Co. recently released a highlights reel from the film "I'm Not There" aimed at raising awareness for Australian icon Cate Blanchett, nominated in the best supporting actress category for her stunning portrayal of folk singer Bob Dylan.
While the DVD has been distributed to industry figures, the reel has also been posted in five parts on the Weinstein Co.'s Youtube channel.
"It's a clever way of getting people to see Blanchett's performance because she doesn't feature in the film for the first 40 minutes or so," Hammond said.
A successful Oscar campaign can translate into big bucks according to industry analyst Jeff Bock of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Box-office takings usually surged in the month between the announcement of nominees and the Oscars themselves, Bock said, but "the big money" came from DVD sales and rentals.
"The initial nominations do increase the box office for a month, month and a half," Bock told AFP. "Whether winning best picture significantly increases the box office thereafter depends on the film.
"If you're talking about this year, most people will have seen 'No Country for Old Men' by now, so if it wins on Sunday there won't be much of an effect."
"But in terms of DVD sales and rentals -- that's where the big money kicks in, especially if your film wins best picture.
"Having that Oscar icon on your DVD sleeve for all eternity is worth up to 30 million dollars in extra revenue just because people perceive it as the standard bearer. If it's the best picture of the year, people want to see it and they want to own it."
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