Why the Oscars would never have been cancelled

By Michael Mclean on Feb 27, 08 11:35 AM in Film

Did anyone really think that the Oscars would not go ahead this year? I mean really, really think that the event would not happen?
Let me run an idea by you, take one of the biggest, flashiest, money orientated industries, give them a six hour advert broadcast to tens of millions around the world, media domination for weeks before and days after, millions of dollars added to the box office take of the winners.
Now ask yourself does this sound like something that Hollywood would pass up?

The writer's strike may have cast a giant shadow over all of the arrangements for the biggest show of the awards season, but was it ever really in doubt? All of the industry knew that if you cancelled every awards show from the golden globes to the best actor in your local primary school play, the Oscars had to go ahead.
The significance of the Oscars ceremony cannot be down played, its importance to the US movie industry both trade and consumer, love it or hate it, it's something that we cannot get away from, everyday the latest twists and turns in the dispute were headline news, actors boycotted, shows were cancelled, pundits expressed concerns and the public lapped it up.

The timing of the strike was crucial, too far ahead of the big night and it becomes a waiting game with the power in the hands of the studios, too close and it will be played out in the media as something verging on blackmail.
What the both sides managed to do was butt heads and then back down without losing face, the main thing that came out of the strike other than a better pay deal for the writers, was to put the issue into a much bigger market place.
Think about it: when was the last time you thought about the faceless hardworking men and women who put the words into mouths of Daniel Day-Lewis, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem or Marion Cotillard, when was the last time they were given a voice that we the cinema goer could hear? They knew that time was on their side; the industry could not afford to have the annual film and fashion spectacular not happen, the writers knew it and the studio bosses knew it as well.

Now I'm a big fan of the Oscars and I think that this year, the best performances got what they richly deserved.
Daniel Day-Lewis may have won the Oscar for best actor, but was that really the best performance in this year's Oscar's?