“Below-the-line” trumping “above-the-line”? Was that the story behind the story in this week’s historic
election of Cheryl Boone Isaacs as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the first African American and only third woman to win the prestigious post?
That was indeed the theory we heard from a very above- the- line member of the Academy’s Board Of Governors who suggests privately that it was the below-the-line Governors who made it happen. Of course since the Academy doesn’t reveal vote totals for any of their elections (including the Oscars) , nor demographic breakdown of those votes, it is pure conjecture on the part of any Board member to try and explain the dynamic that led to Boone Isaac’s popular victory.
However an electoral triumph powered by the below- the- line members of the Board would not be surprising at all if there is any truth to it. The fact is The Motion Picture Academy’s Board Of Governors , along with the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Board Of Governors are both, in terms of sheer numbers , dominated by what the industry fondly refers to as below-the-line Governors. In fact other than the actors , writers, directors,producers and executive branches, the movie academy’s BOG below-the-line representation far outnumbers the higher profile above- the-liners by a margin of more than three-to-one, and that will only increase once the three Governors for the newly approved Casting Directors branch are elected this Fall bringing the total number of Govs to 51. Actors , Directors and powerful executives (ie studio heads) may be higher profile but their branch is given the exact same number of Governors – and votes - as any other. This is a true democracy at work here, a shocker in show biz.
Now some media have speculated Boone Isaacs, who has served in every elected office at the Academy in her two decades on the Board, won because she is a woman and/or African American particularly with the Academy’s very public move toward diversity and away from the “old white man’s club” image. That’s a convenient way to characterize this election but it’s hardly the truth. The Academy doesn’t work that way. And Boone Isaacs may have represented a below- the- line branch (Public Relations) but she is the ultimate Academy insider and has diligently worked her way up through the ranks to the top job. Also those who are against radical change know she is not likely rock the boat. I don’t think her main rival for the job, Lionsgate chief Rob Friedman, would have rocked anything either but below-the-line Governors who may feel their position within the Oscarcast are threatened could easily feel comfortable that Boone Isaacs would not be in favor of kicking their category off the telecast or presenting their Oscars in a much lower profile manner – a proposal that always seems to crop up every year but never gains traction on the Board. There’s a simple fact for that . Those Governors whose crafts – set designers, cinematographers , costume designers, short film makers etc – would be the most endangered have an aggregated voting power that far outdistances actors , writers, directors and producers whose categories would never be touched. And Boone Issacs has been vocal about keeping the status quo. In fact when I brought up the possibility in our interview Wednesday she didn’t hesitate in saying that was a non-starter. “No. That’s a simple no,” she said confirming all 24 categories will continue to be presented on the Oscars as they always have.
Though Friedman is in a position to give many of these so-called below- the- line Governors actual jobs there could be a perception that someone with his level of power in the industry might be more open to pushing through changes that would be unpopular with many on the Board. I don’t think he , or anyone in his kind of job, would necessarily ever do that. Ironically he’s a Governor for the PR branch just like Boone Isaacs but he outgrew that long ago when he went to Summit and then Lionsgate as a studio head. It seems odd that he never switched his branch to Executives.
One well-known producer I spoke with was absolutely convinced Friedman would be elected. “I am very happy for Cheryl. I think it’s great but I am really surprised it wasn’t Rob,” he told me. I heard that also from other members who just assumed the person with a more powerful job would get this one too. But the times they are a changin’ and that obviously includes the Academy which has been moving at a faster pace of change in recent years with past-Presidents Sid Ganis, Tom Sherak and Hawk Koch and now also has a record 14 women on its Board. I was struck by something Ganis told the Los Angeles Times after this week’s results were known. “This academy is now represented across the board. Both above-the-line people and below-the-line people are now running the organization. That’s how it should be. That’s what it takes to make a movie,” he was quoted as saying. Ironically Ganis, now a producer, also rose from the PR branch to become President (he was once a marketing exec).
At any rate the Academy’s election this week was, as Ganis suggests, a big triumph for the below- the- line side of the ledger as make up artist Leonard Engelman and costume designer Jeffrey Kurland were both elected Vice Presidents of the organization, joining above-the-line officers John Lasseter (First VP), Dick Cook (Treasurer) and Phil Robinson (Secretary).
And with the election of Boone Isaacs as President that “line” has definitely been crossed. How can that not be a good thing for the industry?
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