Motion Picture Academy votes for membership changes

British actress Charlotte Rampling, who was nominated for her role in drama “45 Years”, told French radio station Europe 1 the objection to the lack of diversity among her fellow nominees was “racist to white people”. Three new governor seats nominated by the President have been added to the current Board of Governors.

Executives have chose to limit the power of members who have not been active in the film industry for extended periods of time – starting later in 2016, and new members will have to renew their membership every 10 years. Lifetime voting rights will be granted only to Academy Award nominees and winners, and to members after three ten-year voting terms.

None of the measures will affect voting for this year’s Oscars race – a contest whose dearth of racial diversity led to the revival of the trending Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite that emerged last year.

According to the Academy, the Board of Governors voted Thursday night to begin “an ambitious, global campaign to identify and recruit qualified new members who represent greater diversity”.

There is historical precedent for Boone Isaac’s efforts to change the academy’s membership. Some may argue the Academy’s delayed response doesn’t exactly constitute “leadership”, but at least they’re offering some sort of substantive response as opposed to maintaining the silence that’s characterized years past.

“This is a hard but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes”, she said.

The Academy’s Board has approved substantive changes created to make its membership, governing bodies, and voting members significantly more diverse.

The Academy committed to doubling the number of women and minorities among its 6,300 members, who are now 90 per cent white and 70 per cent male with an average age in the sixties. The Academy will apply these same standards retroactively to current members.

Those losing eligibility to vote would be moved from active to “emeritus” status, absolving them of paying dues while leaving their academy privileges intact, except for voting. Academy honchos, including president Cheryl Boone Isaacs and CEO Dawn Hudson, opted not to wait for the regularly scheduled board meeting on January 26. “They got me parking cars on G level”.

Four days after the January 14 announcement of nominations, Acasdemy CEO Boone Isaacs issued a statement saying there would be “dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership”.

At the producers awards on Saturday, there were frequent references to the diversity issue. Black-ish star Anthony Anderson presented an award for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and jumped on the opportunity to comment when no one was present to accept the honor.

“But we still need to put pressure on the Hollywood studio heads to make more inclusive and diverse films, because the academy can only nominate quality work that has been made”.