OSCARS 2017: Price Waterhouse Coopers Statement and Apology about Wrong Best Picture Envelope
Epic Academy Awards flub: What went wrong
The apology
PwC apologized to the casts of both films, as
well as Beatty and Dunaway, for the "error."
"The presenters had mistakenly been
given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately
corrected," the firm said in a statement. "We are currently
investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this
occurred.
PwC has in the past portrayed its involvement in
the Oscars as a symbol of its integrity.
"PwC's role in the Oscars balloting
process represents the firm's lasting legacy of utmost accuracy and
confidentiality," Ruiz said in a statement issued before the 2015
ceremony.
On Sunday, Cullinan's twitter feed was
filled with photos taken backstage at the event -- including best supporting
actress Viola Davis and best actress Emma Stone.
Later, after PwC issued its apology, all
Oscar night tweets disappeared from Cullinan's account.
"We appreciate the grace with which the
nominees, the Academy, ABC, and [host] Jimmy Kimmel handled the
situation," PwC said in its statement.
Cullinan, the managing partner for PwC's
business in Southern California, explained the envelope logistics in an interview
published on Medium on
February 10.
"The producers decide what the order of
the awards will be. We each have a full set. I have all 24 envelopes in my
briefcase; Martha has all 24 in hers. We stand on opposite sides of the stage,
right off-screen, for the entire evening, and we each hand the respective
envelope to the presenter. It doesn't sound very complicated, but you have to
make sure you're giving the presenter the right envelope," he said.
It's not clear why two sets of envelopes are
needed, but security appears to be a major concern for PwC. The briefcases used
are kept under lock and key, for example.
And the loser is ... PricewaterhouseCoopers
The global accounting firm has apologized for
the embarrassing envelope mix-up that resulted in "La La Land" being
wrongly announced as best picture at the Oscars.
It's still not clear exactly how PwC, which
has administered the Oscars balloting process for more than 80 years, allowed
the wrong red envelope to be carried on stage in a snafu that spoiled
Hollywood's biggest moment of the year.
PwC says it maintains control over "all
aspects" of the Academy's voting process.
The firm has sole custody of all votes, and
is responsible for keeping the results confidential. Once the ballots have been
tabulated, two senior accountants memorize every winner, and then prepare two
briefcases with the envelopes used by presenters on the big night.
The two accountants -- Martha Ruiz and Brian
Cullinan -- carry the briefcases to the ceremony via "separate, secret
routes." The pair stand backstage and hand envelopes to award presenters
before they walk onstage.
It was a breakdown in the final stage of this
process that led presenter Faye Dunaway to announce "La La Land" as
the winner of cinema's most prestigious prize, only for "Moonlight"
to be confirmed as the true champion moments later.
What went wrong?
The first sign that something was amiss came
when Warren Beatty took an extended pause before showing the card to his fellow
presenter. Dunaway went ahead, pronouncing "La La Land" as best
picture.
The cast and crew of the musical reacted in
typical fashion: They bounded up to the stage and began issuing a flurry of
"thank yous" to supporters and family members. A man wearing a
headset and holding an envelope then appeared onstage.
It fell to "La La Land" producer
Jordan Horowitz to explain that something had gone very wrong.
"I'm sorry, there's a mistake.
'Moonlight,' you guys won best picture."
"This is not a joke," he said. He
flashed the real card at the crowd: "Moonlight," it read.
Beatty suggested that he had been given the
wrong envelope.
"I want to tell you what happened,"
Beatty said before leaving the stage. "I opened the envelope and it said
'Emma Stone, La La Land.' That's why I took such a long look at Faye."
Cullinan, the managing partner for PwC's
business in Southern California, explained the envelope logistics in an interview
published on Medium on
February 10.
What It Feels Like To Count Oscar Votes
A behind-the-scenes
look at the world’s biggest awards show
Courtesy of https://medium.com/art-science/what-it-feels-like-to-count-oscar-votes-f89a38efdf1c#.s3cauuvu2
As we gear up for the Oscars on
February 26th, we’re sharing an exclusive look behind-the-scenes through our Making the Oscars series.
Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz are
partners at the professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. They are
also the only two people who know the list of Oscar winners before the rest of
the world. In this post, they reflect on PwC’s history at the Academy Awards
and why theirs is the coolest job an accountant can have.
How does one
become an Oscars balloting leader?
Brian Cullinan: Both Martha and I are based in Los
Angeles, but that’s not the main criteria necessarily. We both work heavily
with entertainment companies. My background is in assurance and Martha works
mostly with tax clients. When my predecessor retired from the firm, he asked if
I’d be willing to take over his role, and of course I said yes. This will be
the fourth consecutive year I have been involved, and Martha joined the team as
one of
the lead partners just a
couple of years ago.
Martha Ruiz: Prior to becoming one of the Oscar ballot
leaders, I had been involved as one of the team members for a number of years.
So I had some history behind the overall process, and was fortunate enough to
be asked to take on this role.
BC: This is the 89th Academy Awards and it’s
PwC’s 83rd year doing the ballot counting. During that entire time, we’ve had
two partners lead the process in order to ensure redundancy in everything we
do.
In the 83 years we’ve been
doing it, I’m the 13th partner to do it and Martha’s the 14th.
We have a lot of continuity.
We keep the teams intact as much as we can over time.
What
was your first Oscars experience like?
BC: I knew about PwC’s role in the
Oscars before I even joined PwC 32 years ago. It’s surreal to walk down the red
carpet carrying the briefcase with the winning envelopes in it, doing
interviews with the global press and being part of this line of well-known
actors, actresses, producers and directors on the red carpet.
It’s one of the coolest
jobs that an accountant can have.
MR: My first year, I didn’t realize
until the end of the show all that had happened that day because I was focused
on making sure that I followed every single protocol. I distinctly remember,
after the last envelope was handed to the presenter, it was like a flashback — “Wow
that was great, that was exciting.” — but as each minute was passing during the
day of the show, I was laser-focused.
How does it feel
once you’ve delivered the last envelope?
MR: As soon as that last award is
announced, Brian and I meet onstage and head over to get something to drink
very quickly at the Governors Ball.
BC: Some people ask us if we are
relieved once the last envelope is handed out and the show is concluded,
suggesting that we have no further secrets to keep.
In reality, there are a
number of secrets that we keep forever.
Some of those include:
who got second? Or, how close was it? Those questions we never answer. It
doesn’t end with the last envelope.
What does the
ballot-counting process entail?
MR: The ballot-counting process is
still done very manually. Although members have the option to vote online, we
convert to a paper process to do the tabulation. We divide the counting amongst
a number of team members in such a way that no one will have a significant
percentage of the total. Brian and I will then get everything together so that
we’re the only ones that see the total count for each of the categories.
Ideally, we like to have everything completed several days before the show.
That last day is when Brian and I will start memorizing the winners of each
category and start quizzing each other.
We make sure that we
don’t have any of the final winners written down anywhere.
It’s that extra measure
to make sure it really is only to our memory at that point, to make sure that
everything’s accurate.
BC: The show is at the end of February
this year. We’ll probably start work on next year’s Oscars in March. It’s
almost a full year-round process. Some months are lighter than others, but it
builds all the way until the show.
What
is your role during the show?
BC: The producers decide
what the order of the awards will be. We each have a full set. I have all 24
envelopes in my briefcase; Martha has all 24 in hers. We stand on opposite
sides of the stage, right off-screen, for the entire evening, and we each hand
the respective envelope to the presenter. It doesn’t sound very complicated,
but you have to make sure you’re giving the presenter the right envelope.
PwC has been
involved in the Oscars ballot count for decades. What has changed over the
years? What has stayed the same?
BC: I can say for sure that our view of
our role has stayed the same — how critical it is to be accurate and keep it
confidential. We check things dozens of times, recounts and double-checks.
We’ll have staff go back two and three times to make sure, and then Martha and
I will review and recount to ensure there are no differences between what we
have and they had. So far, there’s never been a problem.
MR: I think online voting has been a
positive change because you certainly see more members have the ability to vote
right until polls close. What’s stayed the same: the protocols, the procedures
and the length to which we go to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of
the process.
Do
you have a favorite Oscar moment?
BC: A couple of years ago, when Neil
Patrick Harris was the host, he set up his Oscar predictions at the beginning
of the show, had them in our briefcase and was going to reveal them at the end.
The briefcase was under lock and key. Through the rehearsals, they told me my
role was to hold the key and then, at the end of the show, right before Best
Picture was announced, I would go on stage and hand Neil the key without saying
anything.
Then the show came, we got to that
part at the very end, and just before I was up to go onstage, one of the stage
managers came over and attached a microphone to my lapel and put a battery in
my pocket.
He told me that Neil had changed
his mind earlier that day and that when I went out there, he was going to ask
me a few questions. Of course, I had no idea what he was going to ask me. I had
about two minutes to think about it, but in the end it turned out great.
MR: That first year, we were taking some
pictures on the red carpet and we got photo-bombed by John Legend because he
saw the briefcase and wanted to be a part of the picture. We have a couple of
those that happen from time to time.
When Brian and I walk
down the red carpet, people know who we are simply because we’re holding the
briefcase.
BC: Martha raises a good point. I
think, a lot of times, we’re amazed because celebrities will come over to us
and ask if they could have their picture taken with us, which is kind of a 180
from what normally happens.
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