95th Oscars: The Academy Makes Big Rule Changes for Next Year's Ceremony

By Spencer Perry

Ahead of next year's Academy Awards ceremony, The Academy's Board of Governors have announced rules changes to the event along with alterations to "campaign regulations." The biggest of these is that The Academy is now returning to a theatrical qualifying run for any film to be considered, the governing body previously ruled that films were able to qualify by streaming on The Academy Screening Room in the midst of the pandemic, but that will no longer be the cast moving forward. Qualifying runs for films will not be limited to playing in Los Angeles however and remain open to playing in New York, the Bay area, Chicago, Miami, and Atlanta, for those hoping to earn a nomination. 

Three rule changes were also made to specific branches/awards, with The Academy announcing that moving forward studios will not be allowed to submit more than three songs from any one movie for the Best Original Song award (in the past there have been films with multiple nominations for best song but 2007's Enchanted as the last film to do so, earning nominations for three songs). They've also changed the names for both Documentary categories, with "Documentary Feature" being changed to "Documentary Feature Film" and "Documentary Short Subject" being renamed "Documentary Short Film." Finally, for the Sound category, "producers will be required to make their films available for viewing by Sound Branch members, particularly when the release date is after the preliminary voting cycle opens."

Regarding the regulations they've created for "campaigning," the practice by which studios use to try and woo potential voters with screeners/swag/etc, The Academy has set specific rules for what can be sent via mail and digitally to voting members. Specifically, they write: "In an attempt to strengthen this effort and streamline the mailing of awards materials to Academy members, ALL sanctioned items for eligible films must be sent using an Academy approved mailing house. Any film company that wishes to send materials to Academy members must follow this protocol."

To put not too fine a point on it, they add: "The Academy requires that voting members of the Academy make their choices based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible films and achievements." The Board of Governors notes that any "campaign activity" determined to have violated this agreement is subject to penalties, including disqualification, while members that "authorized, executed or otherwise enabled" prohibited campaign activity could find themselves suspended or expelled from The Academy.  

The Academy also released a list of key dates leading up to the 2022 Oscar season. Here is the schedule:

  • General entry categories submission deadline Tuesday, November 15, 2022
  • Governors Awards     Saturday, November 19, 2022
  • Preliminary voting begins 9 a.m. PT   Monday, December 12, 2022
  • Preliminary voting ends 5 p.m. PT   Thursday, December 15, 2022
  • Oscar Shortlists Announcement   Wednesday, December 21, 2022
  • Eligibility period ends     Saturday, December 31, 2022
  • Nominations voting begins 9 a.m. PT   Thursday, January 12, 2023
  • Nominations voting ends 5 p.m. PT   Tuesday, January 17, 2023
  • Oscar Nominations Announcement   Tuesday, January 24, 2023
  • Oscar Nominees Luncheon    Monday, February 13, 2023
  • Finals voting begins 9 a.m. PT   Thursday, March 2, 2023
  • Finals voting ends 5 p.m. PT    Tuesday, March 7, 2023

The 95th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 12, 2023, and apparently they're not against having Chris Rock host.

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