With awards season in full swing, a quartet of top publicity and marketing execs and campaign veterans took to the stage at the Zurich Summit over the weekend to discuss its evolution and tips for success.
PremierPR Director of Film Jonathan Rutter said the season had expanded considerably in terms of its impact, duration and geographical reach over the course of his career.
“25, 30 years ago, awards campaigning didn’t really exist. Now it’s the driving factor for film releases between September and February,” Rutter told film professionals at the Zurich Film Festival’s annual industry meeting.
“One thing that’s changed is that, before, the day a film opened in cinemas, that was it. That was the end of your work. You just moved on the next film. Now, something opens in November, and you have to sustain interest through to the last point at which people can vote, and that’s the Oscars,” he said.
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Final ballots for the 97th Academy Awards are due February 18, 2025, ahead of the March 2 ceremony.
“Sometimes you’re talking three, four months of trying to come up with more opportunities to get editorial coverage for a film, which is challenging,” added Rutter.
Publicity and Marketing Consultant Tolley Shields, who worked on the campaigns for All Quiet At The Western Front and The Zone Of Interest among many others, said a key challenge was striking the balance between launching a film at a festival, but also holding back to keep interest going.
She suggested this was a particular challenge for films premiering in Cannes in May, although plenty of Oscar winners have debuted at the festival, including last Best International Feature Film winner The Zone of Interest.
“Anora and Emilia Pérez, these are the breakouts from Cannes this year. They want to make sure they’re not peaking too early and keeping momentum going,” said Shields.
She added said that Cannes titles eying an awards season run, should always hold back from screening at festivals in its immediate aftermath.
“If you go to Cannes first, and premiere there, you want to continue a film festival run in the fall. You have to hold it, because Toronto, Telluride, New York, they’re very specific about that. They don’t want the films that they select to be playing in multiple festivals around the world before they come there,” she said.
Danish producer Kim Magnusson at M&M Productions, who has been involved in the campaigns of 12 Oscar-nominated features, brought up the internationalization of the awards season due to the drive by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to diversify its membership.
“We’ve seen a shift in campaigning. Twenty-five years back, there was really no campaigning, or the campaigning that was being done was all L.A-based, because the Academy was in Los Angeles, and maybe a bit in New York and London,” he said.
“With the doubling of the membership – I think maybe 40% of all that new membership came from outside of the U.S. – that means there has been a huge shift in where the voters come from, and we’re seeing campaigning that is more European and worldwide”
Claudia Tomassini, Founder & Owner of claudia tomassini + associates, said her awards season campaign work now involved coordinating screenings with international distributors and partners in several cities in Europe.
“The campaign is very long. It starts in September, or even August, and it goes through to March. You have to keep momentum, without jeopardizing the local releases,” she explained.
The panel also addressed the issue of campaign budgets and what bearing they have on votes.
“You can have huge budgets on some of these campaigns… but I don’t think that’s the deciding factor. Voters are very savvy now. They’re very aware in the industry in general and a campaign that’s too big or too loud can actually work against you and start to turn people off,” said Shields.
“That’s really a tricky balance. It’s about being smart and impactful with whatever you’re doing. If you’re going to spend money, spend it the right way.”
For films without the budget to travel the director and cast, Tomassini said the virtual events created during the pandemic remained an effective way to boost awareness.
“Many of these virtual events are still running,” said Tomassini. “These filmmaker conversations can add a lot of visibility.”
Shields also highlighted the buzz that can be created around non-U.S. awards like the BAFTAs in the U.K. as well as Spain’s Goyas and France’s Césars.
On that note, Tomassini pointed to the decision of the European Film Academy to shift the ceremony for its European Film Awards from December to mid-January, beginning in 2026, with the aim of boosting the visibility of European films within the wider international awards season.
The panelists also touched on the growing profile of the Best International Feature Film Category. Around 85 non-English titles appear to be on track to compete for the single prize this year, which has been won by Parasite (Korea), Another Round (Denmark), Drive My Car (Japan), All Quiet On The Western Front (Germany) and The Zone Of Interest (UK) in recent years.
Quizzed on whether it made sense for territories to invest in promoting outsiders in the category, Shields suggested the benefits went beyond winning the main prize.
“There are certain films that probably won’t get nominated or even shortlisted, but to give them a small campaign is actually to give the film a spotlight and a moment,” she said.
“What’s really fun about awards campaigning too, is that even if you don’t have a winner every time, what you’re giving that film and those filmmakers is something else. Other people in the industry will notice who they are and get to know their work, and with the the international race, a shortlist inclusion, before you get to nominations, is a massive win,” she added, referring to the 15-title shortlist in the category.
Rutter also highlighted the fact that Academy members who opt to vote on the category are divided into groups and obliged to watch a selection of around 10 to 12 films depending on how many films are submitted.
“I’m not saying that campaigning from elsewhere or higher visibility isn’t going to help some of the titles. But it does mean that if the people in a specific group watch a film from, say, Chad, and it’s wonderful, then there is a strong chance that that it might just rise up, and at least get onto the shortlist,” he said.
Magnusson said that Denmark had long used the buzz around the category to help promote its films by unveiling a shortlist of three films for its country submission ahead of the fall festivals.
“We were one of the first country’s to do this, starting 15, 20 years ago… we started doing it prior to TIFF… because then those three films would have an uplift and maybe make a sale because there was a chance they might become something. We did it as an industry thing and as an independent financing thing.”
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