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Key Points
EW speaks with anonymous Oscars insiders for juicy reactions to a new rule.
The Academy now requires voters to have seen all films in categories they cast ballots for.
There's a "1,000 percent chance" they'll lie, one anonymous insider speculates to EW.
Every year,Entertainment Weeklyasks Oscars voters to anonymously share their candid opinions about the nominated films — and their voting thought process. The conversations are invariably illuminating (andveryhonest), but not always in the way you'd imagine.
Take this secret ballot interview with anOscar-nominated actressahead of the 2022 ceremony: Within minutes, it became clear the voter hadn't done her homework. After admitting she'd failed to watch most of the movies in contention, we mutually agreed that the conversation wasn't going anywhere and disconnected.
But she's far from the only one.Three of the four voters EW surveyed earlier this yearconfessed they hadn't watched Best Picture contenderThe Substance. ("I've seen parts of [it,]" said a casting director.)
Well, that won't fly anymore. Maybe.
In April, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that, starting with this awards season, voters must prove they've viewed every nominated film in a given category before casting final ballots. Careful not to call it a newrule, AMPAS' chief membership, impact, and industry officer, Meredith Shea, classifies the new standard as "a procedural change as part of our ongoing effort to uphold and enhance the integrity of the Oscars viewing and voting process," and points out that this was already standard procedure in a lot of categories in the preliminary and nomination rounds.
Nathan Hackett
Those preexisting standards automatically tracked viewing on the Academy Screening Room streaming platform, as well as through self-service forms that members could fill out before voting in select, specialty categories like Best International Feature.
Now, that procedure will be implemented across all categories, requiring voters to self-report if they watch a film outside of the official streaming platform. After a member proves they've seen all films in a category, the bracket will unlock on their digital ballot, allowing them to vote for that award.
"I really believe that our members take this responsibility very seriously," Shea shares. "And I don't believe that people will fib."
And yet, there's a "1,000 percent" chance voters will lie, one awards strategist speculates to EW on condition of anonymity. "The TV Academy and BAFTA [have this policy] already, and there's no way to police it. There's no way to know if someone has actually seen all the movies."
Though, faking it won't be as easy as clicking through a terms of service form. According to a studio campaign representative, filling out a seen-elsewhere form is difficult, and requires meticulous, verifiable tabulation of screening information (time, location, etc.) that's not easy to fudge.
The strategist feels that "people vote for things they haven't seen" on purpose — like friends wanting to support one another, or voting to advance a societal message symbolically embodied by a given title, versus voting purely on overall quality. The studio rep theorizes that the new system will work just enough to give more final-round voting "power to the branches" than before.
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"Say there's a song or score from an obscure film that gets nominated, that maybe not everyone in the Academy sees. If you're a busy actor or director, you're probably just not going to vote in that category," the rep estimates. "The people who nominated it, the 400 or so members in a branch, will then have more sway over who wins. You're going to see a lot more people abstaining from categories where they aren't informed voters."
The strategist laments that it's "a bummer when we're working hard on these movies and people aren't taking the time to watch them," though the new rule should fix the converse scenario, mindless category-busting, in final voting: "You'll have less of the down-ballot voting like what you saw with stuff likeOppenheimer," the studio rep predicts. "A lot of times, in those below-the-line categories, an actor will only have seen a few of the movies nominated in sound or cinematography, so they end up just checking the boxes, which this hopefully helps with."
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While still confident there will be liars, the strategist is grateful for the new procedure. "You want the best work to win. I think it's a good thing. They should be informed voters," they say, echoing phrasing used by the rep.
Hear, hear, for informed voters.
Hosted byConan O'Brien, the 2026 Oscars air Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC.
This story appears in a special Awardist 2026 Kickoff print edition.
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
