Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1574 Voting Scandal Exposed
America is a country of rules, and if you play by the rules, you can take advantage of the unclear parts and gray areas of the rules.

Harvey Weinstein's actions are right on the line of violation. If you complain from one angle, then he violated the rules. But if you complain from another angle, he did not violate the rules.

For each film that may be nominated, all judges will score the film from one to ten. Finally, the total score is calculated, and then the top five total scores are selected for the Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

First, Harvey Weinstein bribed some of the judges who voted for the Best Documentary Feature to give full scores of 10 to another documentary feature he released.

This action is theoretically against the rules. But if you don't have any hard evidence that he bribed the judges, this is also the judges' own behavior, and it is hard to say whether there is any violation.

But his other behavior clearly violated the public order and good customs of any Hollywood awards ceremony.

Steve James found some of the judges who voted in the Best Documentary Feature category, obtained their consent, and then obtained and tallied the scores of their votes.

According to the data he provided, unless the judges bribed by Harvey Weinstein all voted for this basketball star dream with the lowest score of zero, otherwise, this movie would not be out of the list of five nominees.

In this case, evidence is very easy to obtain. As long as two-thirds of the academy's professional committee members are persuaded to find and disclose the voting records of the judges, it will be possible to determine whether the actions accused by Steve James actually occurred.

Ronald is very happy to push this matter forward because it will not only give justice to Steve James, but also prevent more such incidents from happening in future voting that will seriously damage the credibility of the Oscars.

Another side effect of promoting this matter is that it can expose some of the executive members of the Academy who are paid to do things. Let these people voluntarily retire and quit the executive positions of the Academy, and then elect some younger people who have a stronger vision for the ecological development of Hollywood to join the executive committee. In this way, Ronald will have a strong influence on the establishment and awarding of honorary awards every year.

"Hello, Ronald..." Harvey saw Ronald coming in. In order to protect Quentin Tarantino and not be poached by Ronald, he took the initiative to step forward and greet Ronald, while cutting off the possibility of him and Quentin talking privately.

"Sorry..." Ronald raised his two hands, each holding an Oscar statuette, to indicate that he had no extra hands to shake hands with him.

"Hahaha, congratulations, this year's Best Director award is really well-deserved... just like last year... what do you feel now?"

Harvey Weinstein was not embarrassed at all. He took the initiative to hook Ronald's shoulders and shook him a few times. He was flexible and knew what to do at the right time. It was not a shame for him to bow down to someone like Ronald.

If he acted like he and Ronald were good friends at the Variety magazine party, it would be good for his future career in the industry. At least he could show the photo to the actors who didn't know what was going on and say, "Look, Ronald and I are good friends too."

"You're too polite. I'm very happy today..." Ronald didn't expect him to have this trick. After all, being praised by his competitors was a happy thing for him. He just stood there and chatted with him with a smile. Unexpectedly, he was ambushed by Harvey in advance. The photographer took many photos.

Ronald had many real old friends at the party, and they all came to congratulate him. This courtesy continued for quite a long time. After 10 minutes, Ronald finally found time to find Arthur Hiller, the president of the American Academy of Motion Picture Technology and Arts.

"Congratulations..." Arthur Hiller looked at the two little golden men in Ronald's hands, still quite jealous. This Canadian director had served as the president of the Directors Guild of America for four years, and then moved to the Academy as president.

His famous work is the tragic romance film "Love Story" which was a big hit in 1970. It earned the tears of countless young men and women and was also the best-selling movie at the time.

Although he was commercially successful, he had never been favored by critics or awards, and his title as a box-office director had long been transferred to new young directors like Ronald.

Arthur Hiller did not make any films worth mentioning after the 1980s or even in the 1990s, and his main focus was on the administrative work of the academy.

"Can we talk for a few minutes in private?"

"certainly……"

Arthur Hiller couldn't refuse the Oscar winner for Best Director's request for a private conversation. The two found a private room, left everyone else outside, and started chatting.

"This is what happened. I think it's time for the academy's executive committee to start correcting its mistakes." Ronald told him about the cheating in the Best Documentary Feature Film, and then demanded that the academy's executive committee must vindicate the basketball star's dream.

"Ronald, no chairman can stay in office for long. I want to have a perfect ending when I leave office."

Arthur Shearer was not happy. This kind of shady dealings had often happened in previous Oscar selections. If it was revealed during his term, it would become an inevitable black spot in his presidency.

"Mr. Chairman, I won't pursue this matter even if you don't. Steve James must seek justice for himself. I guess he will disclose this matter to the media while the Oscar news is still hot. By then, the reputation of the Academy will suffer a worse impact. It is better to take the initiative to investigate... This way, the Academy's reputation for fairness can be maintained."

Ronald blocked Arthur Hiller's window with just a few words. His intention was clear, of course, to delay the incident until after his term ended. Moreover, the situation had changed, and if it was exposed at that time, the news media might not be interested in reporting it. Who would care about the unfair treatment of a documentary that was not nominated for the best documentary two years ago?

What Ronald meant was to tell him that even if you wanted to cover it up, you couldn't.

Steve James has probably already bought his ticket and is waiting to fly to New York, where he will disclose the incident to several major New York newspapers, such as the New York Times, the New York Post, the Washington Daily, the New York Daily News, and other nationally influential media.

Steve James was not very knowledgeable at first. He planned to expose the scandal to the Los Angeles Times in Los Angeles because he thought local newspapers would be more interested in Hollywood scandals. But a senior person with great media experience and justice told him that such things should be reported to New York. They are relatively far away from Hollywood and are less likely to be urgently reported. Moreover, New York is the media center of the world. If any newspaper is willing to report it, no one can cover it up.

The media executive with a sense of justice also told him that some newspapers in New York were keen on reporting on these gossips. If a big newspaper like the New York Times refused to report it, he might as well try the Daily News.

"Okay, I understand. You contact our CEO Bruce Davis, who is in charge of the daily operations of the Academy and the Oscars. Alas, I can't even finish this term happily and then go back to Canada to retire." Arthur Hiller felt a little sad. He was also interested in something. Why would Ronald come forward for this?

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't want my Best Director Award to be forever associated with the word 'scandal'." Ronald gave a very high-sounding reason. If this scandal became a big deal and became a stain in the history of the Oscars, then when people looked back at the 67th Academy Awards in early , there would inevitably be a corner note under the Best Director Award winner Ronald, which would mean that a major scandal occurred at this year's Oscars.

"Hey, why doesn't anyone consider my reputation?" Arthur Hiller was also very helpless.

"I think just the opposite. Under your administration, the Academy will be able to take courageous measures to restore injustice and make powerful reforms. This will be written into the history of the Academy and the Oscars. When someone writes the history of the Oscars or makes a documentary about the Oscars, your name, Mr. Chairman, will be listed alongside Frank Capra and Gregory Peck."

Ronald encouraged Arthur Shearer, saying that if he could get the support of the Chairman, the matter would be much more stable.

"Really?" Arthur Hiller was already 72 years old, and posthumous fame was more important to him than anything else. Frank Capra was the first truly important president of the Academy, and established the status of the Oscars. Gregory Peck made drastic reforms to the Academy in the s and s, recruiting a group of famous stars from the New Hollywood to join the jury.

Moreover, the screen identities of these two presidents are much more prominent than his. Frank Capra has won the Oscar for Best Director many times, and Gregory Peck is a popular star. It is an honor to be on par with them.

"Well, I'll go with you to find Bruce Davis."

Bruce Davis' position is executive director, he is responsible for all administrative affairs, more like a professional manager, not the chairman elected by members. So he has a stronger desire to correct the violation that happened under his nose.

"But we may have the burden of proof, and the director of Basketball Star Dreams will make a formal complaint and make it public in the news media. Later, the college will hold a hearing to hear the evidence from all sides.

But I guess what Steve James has is just reasonable speculation and suspicion. He has no written evidence to prove who bribed some judges to make unreasonable votes that are very unfavorable to them. "

Bruce Davis saw an operational problem in this matter at a glance. The college could hold a formal hearing in a mock court, and let each party present its side of the story, but the court values ​​evidence (even if it is just a mock court), and if everyone just talks about their own side, the most likely result is that there will be no results.

Arthur Hiller looked at Ronald. If no definite conclusion could be reached, then it would definitely not work.

"These people are so blinded by greed that they ask the judges they have publicized to give zero points to their direct competitors and 10 points to their own film. I think we can see everything in the voting records of PricewaterhouseCoopers."

"Wow..." Even Bruce Davis was furious. This matter was concealed and bypassed by him as the executive director, and he was sidelined!
Soon, the chairman, executive director and Ronald, a man of justice, all reached an agreement. After Steve James, the director who was waiting for his dream of becoming a basketball star, formally submitted his complaint, the college would immediately cooperate to conduct a formal investigation.

After the Variety Magazine awards ceremony, there were several other parties waiting for Ronald to attend, one of the most important of which was the Elton John Foundation Party.

Elton John won the Best Original Song Award at this year's Oscars, and he was so happy that he played live at the party and sang his own version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Although Ronald promised to donate tens of thousands of dollars to his foundation, he still hugged the little golden man with both hands and refused to write a check tonight.

Ronald also didn't want to lose the most coveted Best Director award on the same night he received it, so he refused to let the two trophies go.

This has precedent in Oscar history. In 1979, Jon Voight won the Best Actor award for "Homecoming", and he lost his Oscar at the Academy Party after the awards ceremony.

A few years ago, a producer who drove Miss Daisy also lost his golden statue at the party. It was said that it was taken by mistake.

The lost golden statuettes were "found" by the academy. But it is unclear whether they were truly found or the academy made a new one and gave it to them. The golden statuettes also appeared in some auctions afterwards.

Ronald didn't want these things to happen. After returning home, he took out the suede very carefully and began to wipe the sweat and grease on the little golden man. Then he placed it on the table in the bedroom very carefully. He wanted to watch the little golden man fall asleep...

As his son Roger Jr. expected, he stayed up very late and went to bed only after seeing his father and winning the Best Director award.

After going to their son's bed and kissing him, Ronald and Diane lay down on the bed, hugging each other, recalling the good times of the past decade. In this happy feeling, the two slept until the next morning.

After opening the electric curtains with the remote control, the sunlight at ten o'clock in the morning shone on the two little golden statues on the table in the bedroom, emitting charming golden light. Ronald couldn't help but laughed out loud.

But he soon stopped laughing, as the footage of him and Harvey Weinstein arm in arm at the party last night was actually featured in today's Hollywood Reporter.

"I was so surprised..." Ronald was drinking orange juice and eating baguette angrily. The title below the photo was the winners of this year's Oscars. Harvey Weinstein's thick neck was right between the heads of the two tall Ronald and Quentin, as if he was the center of this year's Oscars.

Ronald was in such a mood until the newspapers published in New York were delivered. Then he felt happy again.

"The Oscars are in a voting scandal. Why is the documentary that received the most perfect 10s ranked sixth among the nominations?"

(End of this chapter)