The schedule will be as follows:
December 3, 2001: Deadline for receipt of official screen credit forms to qualify feature films for award consideration.
December 31, 2001: Awards year ends at midnight.
January 8, 2002: Nominations ballots mailed.
February 1, 2002: Nominations polls close 5 p.m. PST.
February 12, 2002: All nominations announced at 5:30 a.m. PST, Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
February 27, 2002: Final ballots mailed.
March 2, 2002: Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation, 6 p.m. PST, Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
March 11, 2002: Nominees Luncheon, Beverly Hilton Hotel.
March 19, 2002: Final polls close 5 p.m. PST.
March 24, 2002: 74th Annual Academy Awards
And as was announced previously, the 74th Oscars will be presented in the new Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland, televised again by ABC.
In other Academy Awards news, the Academy's Board of Governors released some more guidelines concerning some other awards and policies, as well as finalizing the rules for the new Best Animated Feature Oscar, which could be given for the first time at the 74th Annual Awards (and so far, it looks like Shrek would be the front runner for the prize if it's given).
In an eligibility rule that applies to all awards, the Academy reiterated the organization's long-term principle that "the Academy shall not be bound by any contract or agreement relating to the sharing or giving of credit and reserves the right to make its own determination of credit for purposes of award consideration."
Clauses have been making their way into employment contracts lately specifying that if a film receives an Academy Award nomination for achievement in the contractor's area of expertise, he or she has to be included among the nominees, Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis said. "We want to make it clear that we aren't bound by any such contract. The Academy makes the ultimate determination of who its nominees are."
Another change in the 2001 rules further restricts who can be named as a nominee or accept a statuette for Best Picture. The governors added a sentence stating that "Studio executives and personal managers with producer credit are likewise ineligible for Best Picture nominations and statuettes unless they have fully functioned as producers on the picture." Last year, the Academy had issued a new rule saying that the number of producers claiming the Best Picture Oscar could not exceed three, most notably after Shakespeare in Love had a whole line of producers getting up on stage at the 1998 Oscars to accept that surprising Best Picture Oscar. I think this is a very good thing to keep this award honoring the people who truly deserve it ... the producers who clearly were responsible for producing the film, not some executive producer who maybe read the screenplay.
