TheWrap asks “What’s wrong with the Oscars?” of MILES BECKETT, co-founder and CEO of social entertainment company EQAL and one of the four original creators of lonelygirl15.
“If you can make the moviegoing audiences more a part of the process then that’s going to help.”
TheWrap’s Amy Kaufman spoke to Beckett:
Beckett: I think that having a stronger web presence for the Oscars online would help.
So whether it’s having an interactive website or having screeners available. Trailers available or bonus content or whatever might be on the Internet could make it easier for moviegoers who haven’t seen the movies that are up to see portions of those films.
Or frankly, make iTunes downloads available. If you look at the smaller films that are available, there are frankly just distribution issues so they might not be in theaters in Kansas somewhere.
If there was a way to have Hulu embedded versions of the videos or iTunes downloads -- utimately the Academy is going to vote, As the independent theaters have sprung out and limited releases it definitely fragments the audience.
Yeah, I think it could certainly be as big as the Superbowl again. Movies are still the most powerful storytelling medium. Obviously our company does interactive shows. As our medium grows, I think there is potential to touch people in a way that the great movies of our time have touched people.
But right now in terms of cultural relevance and reach and all that, movies reach millions of people and create celebrities…so I think that it’s still there and it’s still in the culture. It really needs to reach out more to go to where people are.
Titanic is a perfect example, ratings skyrocketed because it was nominated for Best Picture and was the biggest box office grossing film. Definitely familiarity with the nominees absolutely will increase ratings at the Oscars.
The Academy Awards does have this aura to it and I think it’s important to preserve that. There is something special about a theatrically produced movie about our history as a country and so I think that preserving that aura and that specialness is important.
It’s nice that it’s a big ceremony and that there are big celebrities there. But I think that the important thing is that everyone can feel that they’re a part of that. People feel a part of it when people have seen the movies, or create a community site using technology so the movies that are nominated become movies people know about because of the wide distribution.
Published Date:
4 years 15 weeks ago