Academy Lets PwC Keep Its Job Despite Oscars Fiasco – But With Big Changes

For the first time in decades, more than two people will know the identity of the Academy Award winners in advance of the Oscars ceremony. “We’ve been unsparing in our assessment that the mistake made by representatives of the firm was unacceptable,” said Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs in an email to members on Wednesday, following a Board of Governors meeting on Tuesday night at which the PwC mistake was the main order of business. Despite warnings against it, Cullinan was tweeting and posting backstage photos during the Oscars ceremony, including a shot of Best Actress winner Emma Stone that he posted right around the time when he gave the wrong envelope to Beatty. The Academy and PwC also promise “implementation of partner rehearsals for possible onstage issues,” “improvements to onstage envelope category verification” and “ongoing evaluation of backstage protocols and procedures.” Here is the full text of the email letter sent to Academy members by Boone Isaacs, which also discussed progress on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and upcoming board and executive committee elections: Throughout the last month, the Academy team has worked hand-in-hand with PwC to review our wide-ranging relationship – everything from Oscars voting, auditing, and taxes – during which we asked them to lay out for us a path and a process towards ensuring that everything will continue to the high standards the Academy expects and you deserve. · The PwC on-site team at the Oscars will now include a third balloting leader with knowledge of award winners who will sit in the control room with the show’s director throughout the ceremony. · We’ve developed Oscar night protocols including implementation of partner rehearsals for possible onstage issues, removal of electronic devices from backstage and improvements to onstage envelope category verification.