In a blow to independent filmmaking, according to a Hollywood Reporter article by Martin A. Grove, the Academy's Board of Governors voted to eliminate the Original Musical category despite the fact that there were the requisite number of eligible films according to the Academy's own rules. This decision was based on the Academy's arbitrary assessment that the films were not up to Academy standards of quality.
"It's an outrage," said filmmaker and Slamdance Film Festival co-founder Dan Mirvish, who would have been a potential nominee for two of the five eligible films. "I have a great deal of respect for the Academy, but this decision was disingenuous at best, and arbitrary and capricious at worst. The Academy is a huge stickler for the rules when it comes to filmmakers following them, but it's clearly disregarded the spirit and letter of its own rules because it suited them. You can't score if the ref keeps moving the goalpost."
The five eligible films were "Home on the Range", "Team America," "Greendale" (directed by Neil Young), "Open House" (directed, co-written, and co-produced by Mirvish), and "Big in Germany" (co-written and co-produced by Mirvish, with director Robert Peters). According to the Academy's rules, three of these five films would have received nominations.
Dan Mirvish continues:
"And then they tried to eliminate 'Greendale' by saying it's based on previously existing material, which was simply factually incorrect. If they had simply been curious about which came first, the album or the movie, they could have just called the filmmaker. But they didn't. So we kind of allied together with the 'Greendale' folks and (very quickly) they had a whole package together saying exactly what came first (and) what Neil's intents were. I think they even said, 'Hey, Neil will come and sing at the board meeting, if you really want it.' I mean, he felt that strongly about it. And Neil's an Oscar nominee, himself, for 'Philadelphia.'"Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
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