ELIGIBILITY

There are dozens of ways to make a musical, but the folks over at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have a very specific definition of an "Original Musical." The Challenge is to make one of these Oscar®-compliant films!

The requirements and guidelines are specified in the Academy's Rule 16 which governs the music awards. We've broken down the rules one by one:

• Not fewer than five original songs [but we recommend a couple more than five in case the Academy deems one or two ineligible for whatever reason]
• All qualifying songs must be written by the same writer or team of writers [note that the Academy does not specify a maximum number of team members]
• The songs have to be used as voice-overs or visually performed by the actors [this means that animation and puppets are OK! It also means that if you forget to record enough songs on set, you can add one as voiceover in post...as long as it's still meets the other criteria]
• Each song must be substantively rendered [that means it has to be the whole song, and not just a clip - this is what sank the eligibility for "Polar Express"], clearly audible [you can't hide it in the back of the mix while people are talking], intelligible [if in doubt, subtitle it], and must further the storyline [see next].
• What is simply an arbitrary group of songs unessential to the storyline of the film will not be considered eligible. [the Academy® is very picky about this point - vaguely thematic or emotional relevance is not enough, the lyrics have to actually move the story along. This was the real sticking point with the French film "Les Choristes" but the Academy ultimately decided that the song lyrics didn't actually move the story - even though the whole movie was about the songs]
• The adapter (if any) or the composer of the instrumental score may be considered eligible ­ in this category only ­ if his or her contribution is deemed relevant and substantial [that means that even if you're musically inept, but work with a talented composer to clean things up, he or she can still share the Oscar].
• The songs have to adhere to the rules governing the Original Song category: An original song consists of words and music [instrumental and score doesn't count, nor does spoken word], both of which are original and written specifically for the film [the Academy puts "written specifically for the film" in bold]. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits [so a hummed version with the full version as the second end credit just won't cut it].

• 1. The work must be specifically created for the eligible feature-length motion picture [so can't just slap on a soundtrack by your favorite emo singer-songwriter from Omaha]
• 2. The work must be the result of a creative interaction between the film maker(s) and the composer(s) or songwriter(s) who have been engaged to work directly on the film [so if you find a collection of unreleased Elliot Smith songs and incorporate them into the film, that won't count. He's dead. The easiest way to insure this collaboration is to be all three. But if you've got no musical ability, don't sweat it - collaborating with real musicians is fun and exciting. The good ones can turn a hummable tune into real sheet music!].
• 3. The measure of the work's qualification shall be its effectiveness, craftsmanship, creative substance and relevance to the dramatic whole [here's the catch-all for 'it can't completely suck' - that's why you should plan on a couple extra songs]
• 4. The work must be recorded for use in the film prior to any other usage including public performance or exploitation through any of the media whatsoever [this means the film can't be based on a pre-existing stage show or album. But the key, as Neil Young pointed out to the Academy with 'Greendale,' is that as long as you record the music for the film prior to the release of an album or stage show, it doesn't matter if the film itself isn't released until later.]
• 5. Only the principal composer(s) or song writer(s) responsible for the conception and execution of the work as a whole shall be eligible for an award. [unlike Best Picture this award doesn't go to the producer of the film, nor to the director. If you want to walk away with the Oscar, you'll need to be part of the songwriting team.] This expressly excludes from eligibility all of the following:
  • (a) supervisors
  • (b) partial contributors (e.g., any writer not responsible for the over-all design of the work)
  • (c) contributors working on speculation
  • (d) scores diluted by the use of tracked or pre-existing music
  • (e) scores diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs [this means that if you're eligible in the Original Musical category, you probably won't get an Original Score nomination]
  • (f) scores assembled from the music of more than one composer [again, more applicable to the score category].
• 6. The Executive Committee shall resolve all rules interpretations and all questions of eligibility [this is when a secret committee largely consisting of the musical branch governors try to find ways to make you ineligible].
• 7. It is within the sole and confidential discretion of the Board of Governors to determine what awards, if any, shall be given [this is the part when they decide to eliminate the category completely rather than having a few indie films eligible. But that's where strength in numbers comes in! If we make enough films, they'll have to accept their rules.]

OK, now that you know what you need to do to make an Original Musical, you're going to have to find financing. Simple. Just tell your Uncle Harry or periodontist Dr. Webber that you just need a few thousand dollars to make a film. They will ignore you. Tell them it's a musical. They will laugh at you. Now tell them they have a chance of being thanked in an Oscar speech in front of a worldwide television audience of 2 billion people. And then deposit the check. Don't think it's that simple? Check out how Dan Mirvish successfully raised $10,000 for his Oscar campaign through real estate product placement.

PRODUCTION

Shoot the film on 24p miniDV, or consumer HD. It's cheap and it'll look good. For sound, be creative - but follow the rules. Either have your actors sing live with live accompaniment, prerecord the instrumentals and have them sing live, or prerecord everything and have them lipsync. Or since you're allowed to have the songs in voice-over, you can add the songs afterwords over dramatic montages (as long as the lyrics still move the story ahead). With wireless mics and 8-track digital recording, there's a lot of ways to shoot a musical and still keep your costs very low. And here's the best part: Actors love to sing and rarely get a chance to. So you can find good - even famous! - actors and have them work for only $75/day (the SAG limited exhibition contract), or if you don't mind giving them de facto final cut, then make them work for free in the SAG experimental contract.

DOING AN ELIGIBILITY RUN

Most Oscar categories - including the Original Musical - have strict requirements about how and where your film needs to do an eligibility run. The Academy® has a full page of eligibility requirements, but here are some high points you need to keep in mind:

"[The film has to be] publicly exhibited by means of 35mm or 70mm film, or in a 24- or 48-frame progressive scan Digital Cinema format (minimum native resolution 1280 by 1024 pixels, with pixel bit depth, color primaries, and image and sound file formats suitable for exhibition in commercial Digital Cinema sites)."

The film has to screen at least once a day for seven consecutive days in Los Angeles County [contrary to conventional wisdom, it doesn't have to screen in New York] and it has to be advertised consistent with standard Hollywood films [which only means that it needs to be in the regular theater listings - whose cost is always paid by the theater].

If you have a film print, getting an eligibility run is fairly straightforward. But if you shot digitally and can't afford the $40,000 to do a blowup to film, then it gets a bit more complicated. Alrighty, then, what was that mumbo-jumbo about Digital Cinema formats? Here's what it comes down to for practical purposes: There's only about a dozen Oscar-compliant Digital Cinema screens in LA county - they have to have the fanciest Christie digital projector available - not any Best Buy home theater projector will do the trick. Now you've got a projector and theater, can you just plug in your handy camcorder and play your Final Cut Pro miniDV output? Nope. The Academy says you have to play off a fancy-schmancy deck. And it's got to be in 24p HiDef. What to do?

Well, you could go through Technicolor which has a near monopoly on the theaters and servers and they will charge you upwards of $10,000 - NOT including theater rental (which could cost from $3,500 to $10,000). But hear at the Coalition of the Musical, we'd like to suggest an alternative route. Thanks to our supporters at QuVIS - who also makes Oscar-compliant servers - here's what you do. Take your miniDV master to a lab (we've used LaserPacific in LA, but there may be others that can do the trick). They'll run your tape through a snazzy toy called the Teranex Box that upconverts you to 24p Hi Def. As they're doing this, they can also download the film directly onto one of the QuVIS servers (basically a really fancy hard drive). The nice guys at QuVIS then drive over to the theater and plug it into the projector. When the projectionist is done smoking his joint after lunch, he just needs to push "play" for seven days in a row and you're now Oscar-eligible!

Depending on what time of year you're done with the film will make a difference what theater you actually use. If you're done by August, you'll want to combine forces with the documentary features and do a run through Laemmles (in which case, they've got a guy who can take your 24pHDcam master if you've got one and take it from there). If you finish later than that, it'll probably cost you more, but the best bet is the Magic Johnson Theater in South LA which is actually owned and booked by Loew's. Either way, the process is essentially the same.