Author: Michael Rapoport / Source: WSJ
No matter which movie wins best picture at Sunday’s Academy Awards, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is determined that this year’s show ends with less unscripted drama than 2017’s.
The accounting giant and its predecessor firms have tabulated Oscar votes and acted as keeper of the winners’ names for more than 80 years.
But because of PwC, last year’s ceremony concluded with the gaffe seen ‘round the world: “La La Land” was announced as the winner of best picture, instead of the actual winner, “Moonlight,” after a PwC partner gave presenter Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. The mistake was corrected a few minutes later, as hundreds of millions of television viewers watched the chaos unfold live.PwC apologized for the error and continues to oversee the ballot process for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At this year’s awards, however, there will be some changes, according to people familiar with the matter: an overhaul of PwC’s Oscar team, new safeguards to prevent mistakes and respond more quickly if they do occur, and a no-cellphones rule for the PwC partners handing the envelopes to presenters, after it emerged that the partner’s…
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