What Does Oscar Campaigning Look Like During the Strikes?

By Ben Miller

The fall film festival season is upon us, but with a notable exception.  The usual lineup of Hollywood A-listers are (mostly) absent due to studio greed and the continuing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.  But so far, the date of the 96th Oscars haven't moved.  Unless the strikes are resolved more quickly than anyone believes they will be, the best films and performances will have to go toe-to-toe without the benefit of a robust campaign.

But what does an Oscar campaign look like if you aren't allowed to campaign?  

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Best Supporting Actor - First Predictions!

by Nathaniel R

Willem Dafoe in "Poor Things" from Searchlight Pictures

Will Robert Downey Jr's scenery chewing in Oppenheimer, John Magaro's stealth beautiful support in Past Lives, and Ryan Gosling's giddy winking joy be "Kenough" several months from now when the Oscar nominations are announced? That's the pressing question at the moment when it comes to the Best Supporting Actor race. They're surely the top violable contenders from the first seven months of the year, give a pair from Air. But can you choose between the foul mouth charisma of Chris Messina and the hesitant gamber cool of Ben Affleck? 

We frame the Best Supporting Actor race this way because who knows what the rest of year might hold in terms of releases...

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Emmys Postpone Ceremony in Light of WGA and SAG Strikes

The show blog must go on.

In lieu of the WGA and SAG strikes, the Emmys have officially moved away from their September 18th date. This is the first time the Emmys have postponed their date since 2001, after the September 11th attacks. No new dates have been announced for both the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Creative Arts Emmys. It stands to reason that the show will not be rescheduled until the strike ends. As stated earlier on the site, The Film Experience stands with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA in their quest for fair wages. Hopefully, all production (including our beloved award shows) can return once the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) agrees to negotiate with the guilds in earnest.

In the meantime, all this means for us is that there’s just more time to celebrate the amazing work of television that is being honored this year.

In the coming months, you can expect more category analyses, volleys on the big four awards and coverage of many of the Creative Arts categories. You can find our Emmys coverage so far below: 

• “The Strange History of Iconic TV Characters That Never Won Emmys,” by Eric Blume

• “Emmy Spotlight: "The Other Two" and the tradition of the 'lone writing nomination’,” by Chris James

• “Emmy Nominations - Who's Up and Who's Down?,” by Chris James

• “Four shows entirely dominated the Emmy nominations. Worthy or excessive?” by Abe Friedtanzer

• “Team Experience Reacts to the 2023 Emmy Nominations”

• “"Succession" Leads 2023 Emmy Nominations”

Are there any shows or categories that you want us to delve into at The Film Experience? Let us know in the comments below.

Stand strong SAG-AFTRA and WGA

by Nathaniel R

There's a lot of good reporting on the current WGA strike out there from the big budget entertainment sites. You absolutely should get caught up at Vanity Fair for instance, to catch up with what's going down. We were thrilled to learn that SAG-AFTRA has joined forces with the ongoing Writers Strike. It's brought Hollywood to a literal standstill today. Productions have halted. Furthermore no actors can promote their current or upcoming TV and movies. It's a disaster for the industry that was already struggling but strikes are supposed to be disruptive and wealth absolutely must be shared. There's no reason why CEOs and executives should consume all the spoils and leave crumbs for the writers and actors who create the stories and characters we all obsess over and spend money on.

While we the audience will feel the painful repercussions for months -- watch out for many delays in movies, tv seasons, and the hobbling of Emmy season and fall film festivals as actors will not be allowed to promote their work -- we applaud the strike...

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SAG Acceptance Speeches, Ranked

by Nathaniel R

SAG Awards are often a good swift night. There's no dawdling around with filler, there's not much in the way of montages, but there are clips, acceptance speeches, and a parade of celebrities. In short, we're into it. The most sublime inspired combo in terms of presenter pairings was the evil twinnage of Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza. (Whoever thought of that deserves a 20% raise.)  But what SAG is all about is the acceptance speeches.

They come one after the other, a veritable parade of gushing. This ranking was done on the fly from memory so... I do not stand by it should you want to fight in the comments. Nevertheless why not share the acceptance speeches? (the ones we could embed at least). Let's look at the speeches  from least best to best best...

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