Quota Plan spells the end of the Oscars
Have you heard about Aperture 2025?
It may sound like a Roland Emmerich sci-fi movie, but it’s actually more frightening. And much more controversial. It’s the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s latest initiative to make Hollywood more equitable and diverse—more woke—by changing the rules by which films are eligible for Best Picture nominations. Here’s how it works: Starting in 2024, producers will be required to submit a summation of the race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status of members of their movie’s cast and crew. If a particular movie does not have enough people of color or disabled people or gays or lesbians working on the set—and what is “enough” will be determined by a knotty tangle of byzantine formularies—then that movie will no longer be eligible for an Oscar.
Not surprisingly, the plan is not being universally applauded in Hollywood. Critics say it’s invasive, anticreative, opens the door to privacy issues, and is spectacularly unfair to actors and crew members, who may want to keep their sexual orientation or health profiles to themselves, not to mention to producers and directors who have enough to worry about while shooting a movie than to be saddled with the thankless task of tallying up the identity markers of their creative partners.
“I mean, why aren’t animals in this?” sneers one industry insider. “What if the main character is a horse?”
Unfortunately, Aperture 2025 isn’t the only Academy initiative to recently raise eyebrows in Hollywood. In February, Oscar organizers triggered a civil war in Hollywood over a plan to pretape many of the below-the-line categories—film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, the short-film selections—and roll edits of those awards into the live broadcast. Predictably, many Academy members (especially film editors, makeup and hairstylists, and production designers) balked at the change, but at least that one was designed to address an actual existential threat to the ceremony: that it’s become so long and boring that huge swaths of the audience have begun tuning out.
“The Academy was out of touch with the public when it was mostly white, and it remained so when it became somewhat less white.”
Last year, the Oscars drew an all-time low of 9.85 million viewers—less than what an episode of The Big Bang Theory used to get. Granted, the pandemic and the resulting dearth of theatrical releases contributed to the decline, but the truth is, Oscar ratings began plummeting long before COVID-19. At its height in the 1990s, the ceremony was pulling in as many as 55 million viewers in the United States. Even into the 2000s, it was drawing at least 40 million. But by the 2010s, the numbers started falling into the 30 millions and, by that decade’s end, had dropped further, into the 20 millions. The audience for the last pre-pandemic Oscars, in February 2020, was 23.6 million, less than half of its one-time peak.
There’s no shortage of theories to explain why viewers are turning off to the Oscars: The shrinking of movie actors as cultural icons (as TikTok and Instagram stars become the ascendant media gods); the reluctance of the Academy to update the ceremony, which has remained substantially unchanged since it was first broadcast in 1953; the growing chasm between the esoteric tastes of the Academy’s voting members (who this year nominated Drive My Car, a Japanese drama about a grieving theater director putting on a production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima) and the preferences of the wider theatergoing public (who likes Spider-Man).
Whatever the reason, the conclusion is inescapable: The Oscars are tanking. And no matter how well-intentioned Aperture 2025 may be, the initiative isn’t going to fix that problem. On the contrary, at this rate, by 2025, filmmakers with even the most equitable and diverse sets may not give a damn whether their films are eligible for an Oscar or not because hardly anyone will be watching.
https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/are-the-oscars-over-2/
Those in control with the power do not want people of color or gay people to take their limelight. So they're taking their ball and going home. And we don't really care one way or the other. Sadly people still watch shows to detach from life.
OR IS IT THE 2020 ELECTION TALK ABOUT IN-Q-TEL AND ASU (ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT)?
There is plenty out there. Many of us have archived it. Eventually it will reach the mainstream. If we have to show it to them ourselves in public.
Now:
Dr. Sybil Francis is President & CEO of the Center for the Future of Arizona and was part of its founding team. Dr. Francis brings her passion for creating positive change, her love of Arizona, and her considerable prior national public policy experience to her leadership of CFA, whose mission is to bring Arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for Arizona. Prior to being named President & CEO, she served as executive director of CFA from 2002 – 2018 during which time she spearheaded key initiatives in education, workforce, and civic engagement and grew the organization’s impact and programs.
Dr. Francis began her career working in the U.S. House of Representatives where she played a key role in shaping energy, environmental and national security policy. She later served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where she focused on national research policy. Just prior to moving to Arizona in 2002 She was part of the leadership team of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City.
Dr. Francis is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She serves on the board of The Nature Conservancy of Arizona, for which she chairs the Conservation and Public Policy Committee. She was a founder and remains the Standing Chair of ASU’s Women and Philanthropy program, a model women’s organization with a unique approach for engaging women in the community. Dr. Francis was recognized in 2011 as one of Phoenix Business Journal’s Women in Business and by InBusiness Magazine in 2020 as a Woman of Achievement. She is a member of the Arizona Women’s Forum and Charter 100.
Dr. Francis earned her B.A. in chemistry at Oberlin College and her Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She is a heritage French speaker and enjoys hiking throughout Arizona and around the world with her husband Michael Crow.
https://www.arizonafuture.org/about-us/leadership-staff/sybil-francis-ph-d/
Sybil Francis Dig, Michael M. Crow's Wife (IN-Q-TEL / CSPO)
Biography
Sybil Francis’ career as a public policy analyst/architect for the past 30 years has spanned a number of policy areas, including science, technology, national security, and education. She has worked in a number of settings to affect positive social outcomes, including the U.S. House of Representatives, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and in educational institutions and research laboratories. Francis earned her B.A. in Chemistry from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She began her career in science policy as a Legislative Assistant for Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. and learned through her work with him about the importance of outcomes based thinking in science and technology policy. She has become a practitioner informed by research and a scholar informed by practice.
https://cspo.org/people/francis-sybil/
Weird how she looks a little like Ghislaine.
Sybil Francis Interview
How is CFA’s work important to you?
In my life I've always wanted to be engaged in doing something for my community and the country. Wherever I am, I feel that drive. I have worked in D.C. and took that on with great gusto. In coming to Arizona, I immediately felt this was home and I wanted to engage in important ways. Being engaged is in where I am is meaningful to me. I don't really know where that comes from, but that's just something I really like.
What do you love about Arizona?
Like so many people, I love the natural beauty here. I'm a big hiker. I walk outside and it just makes me feel happy; it's so beautiful. I'm from theEast Coastand I just fell in love with the desert and I love its sense of openness. I love the sense of kind of freedom and independence. It's a welcoming place. Arizona has a fresh and open sense, but there is also rich a heritage that goes back thousands of years. There aren’t a lot of constraints on what you can imagine and do here. If you work really hard, you can actually make a difference.
What’s your story? What was your path to CFA?
In a straightforward, practical sense, I moved to Arizona with my husband who was appointed president of ASU. I had worked professionally my whole life and I was curious about what kind of professional work I could do in Arizona. The previous president of ASU, Lattie Coor, was stepping aside. Lattie and I had lunch one day and had a meeting of the minds. He had this idea for Center for the Future of Arizona. With his area of expertise and my background in public policy, it seemed like the perfect thing for me. It gave me an opportunity to get immediately engaged in the things that I love to do.
How does your work impact CFA?
My role has evolved over time since Lattie and I started CFA. At the beginning I was part of the building and conceptualization. As we started to grow, we needed to hire some staff. Now, as the leader of the organization, I set the strategic direction and make sure all the pieces come together so that we can succeed.
When did you first consider Arizona home to you?
I felt at home here pretty much right away. We moved here fromNew York Cityand I just fell in love with it. I had lived inCaliforniaand spent some time inNew Mexicobefore. I just love the dry air and the colors of the Southwest.
How do you hope to impact Arizona through your work at CFA?
I would love to see people feeling a greater attachment and love for Arizona. I think Arizonans are very independent people and that’s what attracts people here. But we also have to recognize that we have a shared interest in the future. We have all these things in common that we care about, despite our different interests and different cultures. If people could be prouder of Arizona, then we can work together to build a bright future for this state.
They will just say streaming changed Hollywood fundamentally. But it was a lot more than that.
The future of Hollywood is CGI actors to keep them alive much longer.
The Arizona We Want
Through our unique partnership with the Gallup organization and close listening to communities and leaders across the state, CFA created The Arizona We Want, a shared vision of success around what matters most to Arizonans that expresses their highest aspirations and hopes for the future. Arizonans want a world-class education for all, to live in healthy and vibrant communities, and to have rewarding jobs that use all our talents and help our economy thrive. Arizonans are committed to stewardship of our state’s natural beauty and resources for generations to come, and believe in equity and justice for all.
The Arizona We Want is based on the things that bring us together as Arizonans and on which we can all agree. CFA’s goal is to ensure that the public values we share are realized for all Arizonans.
The Gallup Arizona Project
The best way to understand how Arizonans view their community and our state — and what they want for the future — is to ask them.
This is the power of the Gallup Arizona Project. It uniquely helps us understand the shared priorities of Arizonans and provides the basis for regional and statewide action to drive Arizona forward.
In 2009, CFA partnered with the esteemed Gallup organization to create the first-of-its-kind decennial Gallup Arizona Survey to better understand the beliefs and values shared by Arizonans – and what they wanted for the future. From this work, CFA created The Arizona We Want, a shared vision of success for the state coupled with an actionable statewide agenda broadly embraced by communities and leaders. Now, just over a decade later, we've conducted a new Gallup Arizona Survey to refresh our findings and guide our work to create a stronger and brighter future for Arizona.
CFA's Gallup Arizona Project:
Identifies what matters most to Arizonans across a broad set of critical issues
Provides data to guide policy making and action
Mobilizes communities and leaders around Arizonans’ shared priorities
Sybil Francis (IN-Q-Tel Chairman's Wife -CFA's The GALLUP REPORT - The Arizona We Want - A Decade Ahead
Is Ghislaine Maxwell, Sybil Francis?
Sybil Francis (IN-Q-Tel Chairman's Wife) -CFA's The GALLUP REPORT - The Arizona We Want - A Decade Ahead
Partners with CFA and Sybil Francis
*Wal-Mart
*Apollo Education Group
*NCOC
*New America
New America, based in Washington, D.C. is a left-of-center think tank founded in 1999, originally called New America Foundation. The organization also professes to develop political, legal and technological tools “to build democratic capacity.” Ted Halstead founded New America and was president and CEO from 1999-2007.
*Helios Education Foundation (look at the spiral in the logo)
*AZ Board of Regents
*AZ State Board of Education
*The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation
*JFF
*Lumina Foundation
*Gallup
*NCEE
*NISL
Here's a link so you can read it.
https://www.arizonafuture.org/media/unfojhmh/cfa_arizona_we_want_the_decade_ahead_digital.pdf
I had to submit my private info to even get a link.
You don't seem to realize I'm poking the beast, not becoming it.
Sybil Francis / CFA's Money - 2021 Year in Review
See who all the donors are:
https://www.arizonafuture.org/media/zfvehdtr/cfa_fy21_annual_report.pdf
2025 Vision for the Future - Arizona
They actually mention RAUL CASTRO and CESAR CHAVEZ as influential in their future
https://www.arizonafuture.org/media/zciiorfl/vision_2025_arizona_comes_of_age.pdf
Globalism ending is a pretext to end national sovereignty because only with complete control can they say, well we have full power to fix the supply crisis of food and technology. They're going to try it, but it won't work. Just as the digital ID being pushed after cyber attacks won't work.
THAT'S NOT BREAKING. THAT ALREADY HAPPENED.
I knew about it yesterday.
Joe is like Nebuchadnezzar eating grass in the field like a cow.