How TBD Became Most Prolific Producer In The Best Picture Oscar Race

Yesterday’s unveiling of the nominees for the 97th Academy Awards by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott was about as seamless an affair as we’ve seen in a long time. Until, that is, they got to naming the ten Best Picture nominees. That’s the moment where producers who actually made the movie see their names broadcast globally. Only, this time, fully half of the ten nominees had a credit list with “nominees to be determined.” A lot of kicking, screaming and lobbying goes into the Producers Guild of America‘s arbitration process that results in the producer’s mark, the standard that the Academy follows to put the right people on stage when that last category is announced in the Oscarcast. That process has become increasingly important since the embarrassing Shakespeare In Love stage stampede. Why wasn’t that vetting process finished in time for Thursday’s big morning event, especially since the nominations got pushed back not once but twice because of the wildfires that wreaked havoc on Southern California?

Deadline is told that the high number of TBD films was highly unusual — Emilia Perez, Nickel Boys, I’m Still Here, The Substance and The Brutalist. It happened because those films did not apply to the PGA for their producers vetting process in a timely fashion, and so the blame falls on their feet. The PGA is now doing the vetting process anyway. But that scrutiny, which involves a body of PGA vets who take a list of multiple choice answered furnished by credit-seeking producers, and then talk to department heads and others involved in each film to ascertain who was most vital in getting each picture to the screen. PGA hopes to wrap up the process quickly, but it does take time. If nothing else, the embarrassment Thursday is a reminder for wannabe Oscar winning producers to make sure they petition the PGA and start the process well in advance. Producing can be a thankless job, but at least they get their shout out on global TV, and TBD doesn’t get to strut around as the hottest producer in Hollywood.