Academy Leadership Defends Reformatted Telecast Under Pressure of Three-Hour Runtime

variety.com:

Clayton Davis Oscars leaders are trying to clarify and justify their decision to move eight categories from the live telecast and ensure that the nominees don’t feel sidelined.“The board has discussed and agreed on the need to make changes to the broadcast, to allow for a celebratory show that also doesn’t ​run well over ​three hours,” says Dawn Hudson, CEO of the Academy, in an interview with Deadline. “That discussion has been ongoing but with more urgency for this year’s show.

The decision to show eight categories in our first hour in the Dolby Theatre was the creative solution arrived at by our producers, our officers, and our awards committee.

We chose a mix of categories which would then be folded into our live broadcast.” The Academy announced on Feb. 22 the decision for several major categories to not be presented live on the air during this year’s telecast to deliver a more streamlined and television-friendly experience.

The awards that will be handed out earlier in the ceremony are for documentary short, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live-action short and sound.Various artisan guilds and key members of Hollywood have condemned the move, including Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro, whose film “Nightmare Alley” is nominated for best picture.Hudson goes on to say: “We thought how do we preserve our values which are have all 23 awards on the show, but still allow for a three-hour show that the TV audience wants to tune into and other ways to celebrate movies within that show?