Dec 7, 2020

How to Run a Successful Animated Short Film Oscar Campaign: Expert Advice

The world may be in crisis and the film industry in flux, but at least one of the seasonal traditions of winter is the awards show: two months late (April 25), next year's Academy Awards will be held, albeit in a different format than in previous years.

In brief, an Academy Awards campaign is a sustained publicity strategy aimed at getting a film shortlisted, nominated, and awarded. Short animation campaigns are usually conducted by professionals, who travel to animation studios (where the Academy Awards voters are concentrated), generally in conjunction with the filmmaker, in an effort to raise the film's profile in the press and elsewhere.

It sounds easy, but it is not. Campaigning is a delicate matter, fraught with pitfalls and obscure conventions. In a panel discussion last week at the virtual edition of Les Sommets du cinéma d'animation in Montreal, two veterans of the process discussed what it takes to run a good campaign. Christine Noel is the director of marketing at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and Benoit Berthe Siwarde is the founder and CEO of Animation Showcase. Here are the main takeaways from their discussion:

Noel will measure the buzz of new NFB films at Annecy and Animafest Zagreb, which will determine which films the NFB will promote for the Academy Awards. Bert Siwald keeps a close eye on a wide range of film festivals, adding that Annecy is an important place for film appreciation and networking.

Bert Siwarde adds that he is constantly approached by filmmakers and ends up working with some of them. He also finds out about films through word of mouth.

Voters not only want to see the shortlisted films, they also want to meet the directors and producers and learn about their creative process through onstage Q&As and informal interactions. As Berthe Sieward says, it's like a "big family," and these filmmakers may eventually join the Academy.

Of course, during the campaign, the filmmakers need to communicate with their audiences. Berthe Sieward, who makes sure that the filmmakers she works with have some media training, adds that not being American can be an asset.

In the week leading up to the Academy Awards ceremony, the final stage of a nominee's campaign, "the doors of Hollywood are wide open," says Berthe Sieward. This is the time to maximize your network of agents and potential collaborators. Both Berthe Sieward and Noel talk extensively with filmmakers to understand their career goals and organize their campaigns accordingly.

Membership is not as dominated by US coasts as it used to be, and campaigns have adapted to this. Aside from its impact on the films that are nominated, this fact also means that speaking fluent English is not as important to the filmmakers in the campaign as it used to be.

Berthe Sieward said that early in her career, she felt misled by the publicists she worked with on campaigns who never delivered the service they promised. Noel agrees that this is a risk and suggests asking others with campaign experience to recommend a good publicist.

Berthe Sieward launched a movie streaming service this year that he represents. Noel's team is contacting studios individually to create custom formats for virtual screenings and Q&As.

The full discussion (in French) can be viewed below:

Top image: the 2017 Oscar-nominated Garden Party. Bert Siward created the campaign.