Ep. 52: Inside the Down and Dirty Business of Oscar Campaigns

As much as we love to argue about their relevance, there’s no denying that an Academy Award is still the height of prestige in the film industry. But is winning an Oscar more about politics then merit? Over the last 40 year’s studios have increasingly relied on incredibly expensive, and often quite nasty, campaigns to get their film’s a statue. To get the story the evolution of Oscar campaigns, Rob and Geoff talk to Screen Rant’s Kayleigh Donaldson. Donaldson talks about how the term “Oscar bait” originated, how Michael Cimino’s now classic film The Deer Hunter defined the modern Oscar campaign, and the unfortunate legacy of Harvey Weinstein and Miramax’s smear campaigns. She also discusses what an Oscar means to the bottom line of a film in 2018, why, despite their massive marketing budgets, superhero films have not been able to get in the academy’s good graces, and why Get Out may have run this year’s most effective campaign.