Miscellaneous, Media

…and the OSCAR goes to?

We had the Oscars ceremony this morning and there were a few things which I found to be personally interesting!

We had the Oscars ceremony this morning and there were a few things which I found to be personally interesting!

1. Accountants don’t usually come to mind when we think about the Academy Awards.

But did you know that PwC is the official ‘accountant’ for Oscars and actually plays a pivotal role in it?

The backstory behind this being, there were a few irregularities with the nominations in 1935 which led to a huge media uproar. Post which PwC has been associated with the Academy awards for almost a century now! What does it do exactly? Count votes, ensure the secrecy of the results, and “stem the tide of unfavorable industry sentiment.”

They were also in news recently in 2017 when the winner of the best picture was supposed to be ‘Moonlight’ but was wrongly given to ‘La La Land’ due to a ‘human error’ by a PwC employee backstage!

2. ‘Rags to Riches’ story always fascinates people.

Though Robert Downey Junior’s (RDJ) story is not exactly that, it’s inspiring to see him finally win that coveted honor. RDJ’s career of over 4 decades in the space had not been without its dark corners- from legal troubles and drug addiction which led to jail time and a sever downfall in the late 90s. What makes me root for him, is not only the positive demeanour he carries despite all of his dark past, but the brilliant comeback he was able to do. Who doesn’t like a good comeback story? :)

3. The Oscar Mystery: Naming and Branding

Why are the Academy Awards called Oscars? Actually noone knows for sure! One popular theory, is that Margaret Herrick — a former Academy librarian thought that the statuette looked like her Uncle Oscar. After hearing that, Academy staff started referring to the award as Oscar unofficially!

Crazy, right?