Amanda Berry, CEO of Bafta, and Emma Baehr, director of awards and membership, are in the eye of the storm that is this year’s condensed awards season. They talk about the impact of an earlier awards ceremony, introducing unconscious bias training for jury heads and consulting the industry on eligibility rules
Bafta conducted an industry consultation after last year’s awards, in the wake of the multiplex chain protests over the eligibility of films from streaming platforms for the Bafta Film Awards. What were the conclusions?
Amanda Berry: The feeling was people understood Bafta had got caught in the middle of an industry issue. But we also realised we needed to make sure our eligibility rules were fit for purpose. We talked to all of the interested parties and the conclusion was then reached there would be no change to the existing eligibility rules.
Has Vue Cinemas continued to work with you in every way?
Berry: Yes.
Is Cineworld’s withdrawal of its screening passes to Bafta members ongoing?
Emma Baehr: It is. But what has been great out of this process is that we have an open dialogue now with Vue and Cineworld. We always had a relationship with them but now we can pick up the phone and really talk issues through. They have their view and we have ours. But we are a neutral body and we have reached out to all of the industry and have come to the conclusion that our rules are fit for purpose.
Berry: What’s equally important is that if you look at a film like The Irishman, it is in cinemas for a number of weeks before being available on Netflix. That is a change that has happened year on year. And if you compare our rules to the Oscars’ rules — they ask for a film to be in one cinema for a week with three screenings a day — our rules are much more onerous, or robust, whichever is the better word. We feel looking at the industry and at all the different types of films being made that our rules are fair.
Baehr: The film committee is rigorous at making sure the films aren’t purely being released to just qualify for the awards. And they are making sure films are being released across wider geographical areas. We are encouraging entrants to provide us with more information than ever before.
Do you talk to Ampas about these issues?
Berry: We’re in constant dialogue with Ampas. We see ourselves as sister academies. One example is our viewing platform. We have been doing online viewing for a number of years and when they were looking to put together a viewing platform they came to us to share our experience.
The threshold of theatrical eligibility in the best British film category is higher than that of the outstanding British debut category. Did you consider lowering the best British film threshold, given that some producers feel the challenging UK distribution market effectively shuts them out of Bafta recognition altogether?
Baehr: Debut and best British categories are very different. Debut is about emerging talent, they are smaller releases, they tend to be less commercial so they do have a lower [eligibility] threshold. Part of this consultation was looking at both. We still feel that debut does need to be at this lower threshold but as Amanda said, the eligibility for the other categories are all fit for purpose. It is about striking that balance between making sure audiences have a chance to see the films and creating wider release patterns. That’s why we stuck to where we are.
What has been the impact of bringing 2020’s awards forward by almost two weeks?
Baehr: It hasn’t had that much of an impact on voting. In round one, we’re open one day earlier and we’re shut one day earlier. There is a shorter voting period in round two by six days. Because we’ve had a year to work on it, we’ve encouraged distributors to get the films out earlier, to get DVDs out earlier. The fact we know it is only for one year is great.
Berry: In terms of the impact on us personally here at Bafta, I describe it this way: we’ve saved Christmas but we’ve had to cancel New Year. The response from studios and film companies has been brilliant. We’ve seen the number of screenings go up dramatically year on year.
What were the considerations behind the introduction of the new award for best casting director this year?
Baehr: We’ve been discussing this category for several years and wanted to make sure we got it right. As with everything we do, we consulted the industry. You have to really understand the craft before you can put an eligibility criteria together. We need to ensure we are judging it in the right way. We’re going to have a longlist of 10 and a casting chapter of over 100. We’re also asking for a supporting statement. We do that for the VFX categories to give us that insight.
Did you invite more casting directors to join this year to ensure you had enough to form the chapter?
Baehr: We already had members [who were casting directors] but we had an invitation model this year for membership of all sorts of areas and one of those we really wanted to push was casting so we could ensure this category was robust.
The heads of all the Bafta film juries have undergone unconscious bias training for the first time this year. Presumably you both have too. What did you make of it?
Baehr: I’ve done it twice. Once for recruitment and the second as part of this. [The training] acts as a reminder, it makes you aware: yes, we all have bias, we acknowledge that, but this is how we are going to make sure this conversation is really good and really rigorous. What I found fascinating is [the knowledge] we only use a small part of our conscious thinking and so when we are judging something we need to be aware of that. And very small things, like not being hungry and not being thirsty and really being present [makes a difference]. As members of staff we make sure everyone is comfortable, the room is warm, all those little things.
What’s interesting about our juries is quite often people come in with their own little shortlist thinking that’s what they are going to choose and then they go away thinking something else because the discussions are so rigorous. [The training] elevates that and makes people really aware of showing up in the right mindset.
Source: Bafta film chiefs talk streaming challenges, eligibility rules, date changes | Features | Screen