Awards Season Reflections From Variety Veteran Tim Gray
variety.comTim Gray Senior Vice President After 42 years of covering awards at Variety, I recently became executive VP of the Golden Globes and, like Joni Mitchell, I’ve looked at life from both sides now.
Here are a few conclusions: Campaigning is a business.More than 2,500 years ago, ancient Greeks honored the best plays at their spring festivals.
Did Sophocles and Euripides campaign to win first place? Entirely possible. A few years ago, I wrote in a column that awards campaigns must seem strange to outsiders because you can’t imagine FYC ads for a Nobel or Pulitzer.
I received multiple emails basically saying, “Are you nuts? The campaigning for those awards makes Hollywood seem like amateurs.” Some awards contenders (especially British ones) are horrified at the word “campaign,” but Hollywood Decision Makers know that marketing is part of their DNA and awards are a great way to drum up interest.
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