New protocols for the handling of Oscar envelopes have been unveiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers to prevent another mistake like the one that happened at last year's Academy Awards when “La La Land” was announced as the Best Picture winner instead of “Moonlight,” which was the actual winner.
According to The Associated Press, Tim Ryan of PwC talked to everyone involved with the mistake as well as many who were affected by it, then held a series of meetings with the Academy to come up with new protocols that would prevent another occurrence like last year’s gaffe.
The mistake occurred when a PwC partner gave an envelope for the best actress category, in which the winner was Emma Stone for “La La Land,” to the presenters of the best picture category, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, who announced “La La Land” as best picture until one of that movie’s producers corrected the error.
Six new envelope protocols were put into place, Ryan told the AP: He will be directly involved in the operations this year, the two partners who worked on last year’s awards have been replaced, a third balloting partner who will memorize all the winners has been added, the celebrity presenter and a stage manager will confirm that they have the correct envelope, the partners will attend show rehearsals to practice what to do if something goes wrong, and PwC partners will not be allowed to use their cellphones or social media during the show.
Last year’s error was the first in the history of the show, and secrecy about the winners has also never been compromised in 83 years.
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