“Organizers of the 80th annual Academy Awards, scheduled for 2.24, said they remained hopeful they could still produce a show as good as any of the preceding Oscars,” L.A. Times guys John Horn and Meg James reported today.
“‘We really think we can work out some sort of agreement that will allow us to do a traditional Academy Awards broadcast,’ said Bruce Davis, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ executive director. ‘We will not be resorting to the kind of expedients that the Golden Globes are resorting to. We can do the kind of show the public expects of us.’
“The academy has yet to ask the WGA for a waiver for Oscar host Jon Stewart and his writing staff, but the WGA already has denied an Oscar request to use film clips without paying customary union residual fees.
“Academy officials are hopeful that their membership — thousands of prominent filmmakers representing all of Hollywood’s top unions, who value the importance of an Oscar — can help it reach a compromise with the WGA. But the WGA is on strike against Oscar broadcaster ABC, among other companies and networks, and the ceremony brings ABC tens of millions in profit.”