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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.
So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.
Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?
BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere. And the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory.
Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study, or maybe just my podcast, Dark History. Now this, my friends, is a chance to tell the story like it is and just to share the history of stuff that maybe, I don't know, you would never think about.
and honestly just stuff that I've learned along the way. It's so interesting. I'm just like loving it. Anyways, all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let me just gab away about that hot, juicy history goss. So let me tell you how I got to today's story. Every year, I find myself driving around Los Angeles doing, I don't know, running errands, getting food, road raging at people who don't use their turn signal.
it's there for a reason god damn it whatever it's just typical you know everyday stuff and everywhere i go i would see these billboards uh promoting a television program or a movie and it would always say on the billboard for your consideration plastered all over them and it wasn't just on billboards it was like on bus stops inside magazines on television radio
You can't escape them. And I was like, what does that mean for your consideration? Like me? I should consider it? I don't know. It's just very vague. For your consideration? For whose? Mine? And what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to consider? So I had to turn to Google because I got to know what the hell is that about. Turns out I'm not supposed to consider anything.
All of this advertising is for a very special, very elite group of people. And these ads are targeted at the people who vote for award shows. You know, like the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Oscars, all of them. So I started digging into these secret societies and award shows in general. And the stuff going on behind the scenes, once again, did not disappoint. One of the first things I found out right away
You know the Hollywood Walk of Fame? It's those stars that seem to only be given to Hollywood icons in Los Angeles. You can walk down there and look at the stars. So it's like always given to Hollywood icons, right? Legends, wow. Yeah, well, as long as someone nominates you, I mean, it could be anyone. And once you get selected, all you have to do is pay for a star.
The star itself comes at the low, low price of $55,000. And then, boof, you're a famous person with a star on Hollywood Boulevard. And I found out that you don't even need to be a human being to get a star on the boulevard. You know, uh, the Chevy Suburban? The car? Yeah. They got a star. So, okay. I'm sure it's been in a lot of movies, but like,
Where does it end? Why don't we give Grass a star on the Walk of Fame? Grass has been in tons of movies. Grass could be considered an icon. And then I started to learn about all the corruption
I mean, I don't know about you, but I didn't realize the lengths filmmakers and studios and actors would go to get people to nominate their film. I guess I'm naive and I just thought it was as simple as "if the people who vote see the movie and like it, they nominate it." But it's way more complicated and way more expensive than that. We're all overwhelmed with the thousands of movies and documentaries that come out every day.
Like shit, I'm never gonna be able to watch all of that. And don't get me started on television, okay? Every time I sit down to watch something, I can't decide on what I want. I mean, there's like this popular dragon show that everyone keeps telling me to watch and
Then there's some cooking shows, the Royal Family Show, a show about a cult. Yeah, I just, there's so many. All 90 of them. I mean, the list never ends. And that's the problem. But it's not just a big problem for us. It's also a big-ass problem for our first awards show.
The Emmys. They're struggling with this. Now the Emmy Awards are given to people that are a part of what are considered the hottest TV shows of the year, but they're given out by an organization known as the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences. I know, TV Academy sounds very official, but this just means a whole bunch of people who have worked in television for a certain amount of time. There are actually 31 specific areas of television you can work in that make you eligible to join.
Everyone from animators to stunt people, to casting directors, to writers and directors can vote on who gets an Emmy. Because of this, the TV Academy has a few members. I'm talking more than 25,000. And when it comes to casting votes for the Emmy Awards, there really is no way to make sure all the voters have seen everything that's been nominated. It's essentially on the honor system, and we all know how that goes.
In 2021, there were 133 drama series, 68 comedies, and 41 limited series. Like who the hell has all the time to watch that, you know? So voters are gonna watch what is recommended to them by friends, the same way you and I pick a restaurant. So this is a major problem and a whole lot of television shows get overlooked for not just an award, but a nomination as well. This is what they call in the biz as being snubbed.
As in, Bailey should have been nominated for an Emmy, but she was snubbed. Anyway, this is a problem for all the award shows, not just the Emmys. And because there is so much content fighting for just a few awards, this opens the door for people trying to game the system. And because there's so much content fighting for just a few awards, this opens the door for people trying to game the system. First,
Let me tell you about the Golden Globe Awards. This ceremony goes down every year in January and gives out 26 awards for both movies and television. But that's not what makes this gala so special. At the Globes, people get ripped. They get drunk. And everyone at the Oscars, the Emmys, and other award shows rage at the after parties. But at the Globes, honey, people booze the whole time. In 2021, Moet...
Shandong, I just have fancy champagne. They handed out 1,500 mini bottles of bub for free. Well, they better if you're gonna be sitting there for hours, boring ass show, shit. I'll go, free alcohol? Sure, I'm there. And then the attendees reportedly drink something like 7,500 glasses of champagne.
Then there are martinis. The cocktails, I mean, the list keeps going. I imagine people are probably barfing, but don't let the party atmosphere fool you, because hidden behind all the fun is one of the reasons why FYC should actually stand for For Your Corruption.
The Golden Globes are run by a group of entertainment journalists called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, or HFPA. Great. There are only about 100 of them in the entire organization. So, compared to the Emmys, think of them as like a mysterious little clique. There isn't a whole lot of information about the organization or its members out there. It's surprisingly hush-hush.
Now, the HFPA was first formed in 1940s by a group of international journalists who were involved in entertainment. And the idea was that they would share contacts and info about the business between one another. They were just gossiping about movies and I guess called it networking.
To this very day, the members of the HFPA are the people who decide who is nominated and who will win the Golden Globes. So it's interesting that such an important group of people is almost never talked about. And even more interesting is that we don't really know who they are.
What are you trying to hide? Well, when it comes to HFPA, there's always a scandal with them. Look, there have been allegations that the actors will flirt with the Golden Globe members to get a vote and allegations that members are well, easily bought.
It's just simple math, you guys. It's easier to bribe 100 people who are able to vote in the Golden Globes versus the 25,000 who decide on Emmy winners. And in 2021, one splashy TV show took advantage of that very... This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.
Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.
discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.
Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?
BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp.
Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. In 2021, a little Netflix show called Emily in Paris was nominated for a Golden Globe. If you haven't seen it, I guess it's like a campy show about an American girl living in, maybe you guessed it, Paris. And people were actually really surprised it was nominated. One critic called it, quote, bad and not in a fun way.
End quote. And the French were really pissed about it, I guess, allegedly. Their reviews were scathing. A major French writer said it was, quote, embarrassing, completely wrong, deplorable, and badly acted. Paris is not all about romance, fashion, and croissants. End quote. No, it's not. But, like, remember that murder mystery we did about the guy in Paris who, like, what'd he do? He, like, chopped up some girl and put her in some suitcase. That's what Paris is about, baby.
Show 'em that side. Anyway, so when Emily in Paris was nominated for TV show of the year at the Golden Globes, people's jaws, I guess, just really hit the floor. It made no damn sense to them. This thing was a silly show never meant to win awards. Even worse, a show called I May Destroy You was not even nominated.
And word on the street was that this series was incredible. It was dark and shocking, but funny, heartbreaking, powerful, and relatable to many women. It tackled big subjects like sexual assault, and it was one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the year. The New York Times called it the, quote, perfect show for an anxious world, end quote. My God, what accolades.
So how did or how does "Emily in Paris" get nominated, but a show like "I May Destroy You" doesn't? Well, this is where the scandal part comes in. In 2021, there was an investigation into the Golden Globes looking at bribery and bitch. They found it. A lot of people were caught red-handed. They found out that one member of the Hollywood Foreign Press sold tickets to the award show for $39,000.
That's smart. Good for him. I would. No, I wouldn't, but maybe. But then they also found out that nearly one third of the members were given a gift from that little show on Netflix called Emily in Paris. The gift? Well, I'm gonna tell you, it was a full-on vacation to the set in Paris. And on top of that, they got to stay in a luxury resort nearby. Would you say no to that, Joan? Oh my God, Joan! Girl!
You're shocked, huh? You were shooketh. Suddenly, the nomination for that random show made sense. It was just straight up bribery that exposed countless other briberies the Golden Globes had participated in. You can't tell me you would take that trip. Come on. If someone offered you an all-play trip to Paris in a luxury hotel, you would go, don't lie. I would vote for them. Look, if you give me free shit to Paris, yeah. Okay, enough about me, Bailey. This is about...
Corruption. A big one happened in 2011. Let me tell you about this other scandal. A former publicist for the Hollywood Foreign Press sued the organization for $2 million. He alleged that the people in the organization, quote, abused their position and engage in unethical and potentially unlawful deals and arrangements. End quote. The lawsuit was quietly settled in 2013. Hmm.
I wonder if anything changed. Doubt it. So yeah, the Golden Globes, they've been a hot mess for a while. But for this story, think of them as a pre-show, like the red carpet with paparazzi, because we're all here for the main event, the queen of award shows, the one that every actor wants to be invited to. Ladies and gentlemen, the award for most corrupt award show goes to the Academy Awards.
AKA the Oscars, which look, I didn't know this. I'm not a big like Academy Award show watcher. Like I'm not their Democrat. Like no, I just never really watched it. So when I found out that the Academy Awards and the Oscars were the same thing,
Two on my scoot, you know? I didn't know that. I was like, damn, okay. The Oscars? Like, what? Like, why do they have two names? I don't know. Anyways, joke's on me. Turns out they're the same. Now, this is Hollywood. We're talking about, baby, where everyone has a hidden agenda, so it shouldn't surprise us to learn that the Oscars did, too. So most of us normies out there would think that these award shows were just a nice way to congratulate everyone on their hard work. But
But of course not. They only started this award ceremony because some guy wanted a beach house. A beach house. Not just any beach house, the beach house. And his name was Louis B. Mayer. Now Louis was the head of a big studio in Hollywood called Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. And if you've ever watched an old movie that starts with a lion roaring and he's got his head through that little circle, you know? Or maybe you've been to Vegas and you stayed at that fancy ass MGM hotel.
Yeah, that's them. That's them. They were a big deal. They produced all the hits back in the day. I'm talking Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain, you name it. I'm talking about MGM Studios. I haven't made that clear, but I'm telling you, MGM.
By 1926, Louis had collected some major coin from all his box office hits and he wanted to treat himself specifically to a palace on the beach. This was going to be a very expensive job. So Louis wanted to, you know, cut costs a little bit. So he had this bright idea to hire the same contractors that built his movie sets to build his house. He wanted his beach mansion and he wanted it now. But Louis ran into a little bit of a problem.
A bunch of these builders were starting to join unions, and one in particular was called IATSE. It stood for International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Louis Panik.
If all of his builders were joining unions, not only would his beach mansions be way more expensive than he thought, but it also meant that the budget for his films would also increase. But this is when crafty old Louie had his light bulb moment. He decides to start his own union that he can control. And this union would be the big daddy umbrella union that would actually oversee the other unions.
and all aspects of the filmmaking community. So this would put him at the top of the pyramid and into the beach house of his dreams. So he gets some friends together to brainstorm and they do just that. They decide to create an organization that can not only handle labor disputes from these pesky unions, but also work as a PR company
The PR side would be able to handle publicity, advertising for Louis' movies, and deal with any bad press that came their way, which was great timing because Hollywood movies were just starting to get worldwide fame. And we all know fame comes with scandals. So Louis and his buds name it the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Oh, they just built that museum over here. Ah!
Okay. The Academy basically oversaw and handled PR for five types of people working in Hollywood.
writers, directors, actors, producers, and lead technicians. In 1927, someone suggested giving out awards to one person from each of these branches. Well, Louis was obsessed with this idea. He actually said, quote, "I found that the best way to handle filmmakers was to hang medals all over them. If I got them cups and awards, they'd kill themselves to produce what I wanted. And that's why the Academy Award was created." End quote.
So I stand corrected. It wasn't just for Louie's beach house. It was also for his own ego, I guess. Ultimately, Louie got impatient and hired someone else to build the house, which is probably for the best because once again, like those set guys weren't really building things to last. So I don't know. But
To this day, his big ass beach house is still around and it's right on the beach and worth $10.7 million. So Louie got everything he wanted and he had fun there. It was a big old party house and all the A-list celebrities were
from the old Hollywood days would party there. I'm talking about legendary actors like Douglas Fairbanks and Mae West and Samuel Goldwyn, who was actually the G in MGM. And the party kept going even after Louis died. JFK's sister ended up
up buying the place and it got a little reputation for being a house of ill repute, AKA people were having sex there. Yeah, sex. And guess who was doing the sexuals? Allegedly, JFK and Miss Marilyn Monroe. Mm-hmm. What a small world, huh?
Wow, that's the end of the show. Thanks. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.
So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.
Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?
BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp.
Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. To our story. To Louie's credit, the Academy Awards were a hit. Today, the whole production of the event costs over $40 million to produce.
For what? Who's watching? Are you watching? Why? It's so boring. I don't get it. But it started small. The first Oscars happened in 1929 and it was pretty low key. It was held in a hotel. No press was allowed inside, no cameras, no live stream. Oh yeah, no live stream. It was 1929, Bailey. No red carpet, no phones. Yeah, again, 1929.
The winners had actually already been announced in a newspaper article a few months before, so if you were nominated but didn't win, there was no pressure to show up and pretend to be happy. I mean, isn't that the most awkward part of the whole show? When, you know, you're on camera and then you lose and you're like, "Ugh."
And the first Academy Awards, the actual awards portion of it, only lasted as long as your ex. 15 minutes. I'm just kidding. He only lasted five. But yeah, it was only 15 minutes long. So we should go back to that. That's nice. Today, it's barely about the awards. It's about the red carpet. It's about the tweets. It's about the fashion, the sponsors, blah, blah, blah. Who's dating who, blah, blah, blah. If you're invited...
allegedly you show up no matter what. Because even if you don't win the Oscars, I hear they give you a little gift bag called a swag bag. I love free shit. Wow. Look at me. I'm like throwing myself out there. Like, please. And, but I guess a swag bag it's filled with high end items and gift certificates that are usually worth like tens of thousands of dollars. Oh,
The swag bag at the 2022 Oscars was worth $138,000. Yeah, that's a house in a bag. Well,
Well, yeah, not out here in California. Well, maybe. Let me not fight myself on that. That's a house in a bag and filled with fancy olive oils. Oh, nevermind. I don't want this bag. Candles. Oh, now I have enough. And beauty products. Okay, I'll take it. There was like a gift certificate for $50,000 to a Scottish castle getaway. Okay, I'll take that. $25,000 in home renovations and $15,000 in spa treatments. Oh man, I'll take it. Yeah. But back then,
In the original award ceremony, it was just like free dinner, simpler times. The voting back then was also different. One judge was selected by the Academy to represent each of the five branches, writers, directors, actors, producers, you know, and that judge would then pick 10 candidates from their field who they thought deserved to be in the running for an Oscar. Once the 10 candidates from each branch were chosen, everyone who was a member of the Academy would
vote internally and then narrow it down to their top three favorites. And back then when the Academy first started, it was only about like 40 people in total. From there, a central board of judges voted and the popular vote would win. Now this didn't actually hold true the very first year the Academy Awards were a thing because the first ever Oscar for best actor, it was, it was actually supposed to go to a dog, like a little dog.
His name was Rin Tin Tin, and this dog had been in more than 20 movies. Great work ethic.
And in the very first round of voting, Rin Tin Tin won. Hands down, paws down, whatever. But at the end of the day, Louis and the other high ups put their heads together and decided the first ever Oscar should go to a human. So they changed it and then it went to a guy named Emil Jannings. Turned out that Emil was a Nazi. Of course, of course he was.
And he actually got his little trophy sent to him a few weeks before the ceremony because he had to fly back to Germany to make Nazi propaganda films. So yeah, in hindsight, it might have been better to let the dog win, but what do we know? You know, we're stupid.
Pretty soon, everyone in Hollywood wanted one of those gold statues. I mean, they were sexy. They were cool. They made you feel special. The story goes that the name Oscar actually caught on because one night at the awards ceremony, a famous actress named Betty Davis...
She was overheard saying that the tight little hiney on that Oscar statue reminded her of her husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson. Lucky girl, what a small, tight ass he must have had. Anyway, people just, I guess, love it. And the people wanted Oscars. I was hoping it was named after the fish. That would have been more fun, right? Who doesn't like a fish?
Okay, so there's like this well-known actress at the time. Her name is Mary, Mary Pickford. Now, Miss Mary, she had been acting since she was a little kid. During the silent film era in the 1910s, she had nicknames like the Queen of Movies and America's Sweetheart. She had these like cute little curls and was known for mastering roles where she played a sweet, wholesome, virginal girl, just like me.
The second she grew up, she wanted to be seen differently. I mean, she wanted to be considered an adult woman now and not this sweet little angel that they were making her be. And this was happening just in time for her because movies started to have sound. Mary starred in a movie called "Coquette." She chopped off her signature little girl curls for it and made it clear that she was an adult actress now. Not like a porn star, just an adult actor. And she felt like she deserved the Oscar for her amazing performances.
And then the reviews of the movie came in and they were not great. They came in saying that she was okay. You know, she wasn't great. She wasn't bad. She was just okay. Mary was not going to give up though. She was going to get that Oscar no matter what, God damn it. And lucky for her, she was married to a founding member of the Academy, Douglas Fairbanks.
who was such a big deal that he actually hosted the first ever Academy Awards. Safe to say, Mary knew she had his vote, but it wasn't just his vote she needed. She needed the other five members of the Oscars board to vote for her as best actress. He ran over to his phone and invited the members over to their luscious Los Angeles estate. They wined and dined them, trying to convince them that the critics were wrong about Mary's performance.
And the rest was history. She probably participated in some horizontal collaboration. In 1930, Mary would go on to win the Oscar. Everything was great. It worked out for her. Yay. But then people in Hollywood found out what she did and they went bananas.
I mean, at the time, bribing your way into a vote through a dinner party was one of the most scandalous things you could ever do. So the community protested Mary, her husband, and the Oscars. So just to recap, in the first ever Oscars, the Academy overruled the people's choice and decided among themselves to nominate a completely different actor
Justice for Rin Tin Tin. And then, I mean, 20 movies. Come on, you gotta give that dog some credit here, you guys. And then the very next year, Mary and her husband pulled their little stunt and rigged the Best Actress nomination. So they don't really have like the best...
track record so far. But unfortunately, lessons were not learned. Things would only get worse. The deeds got darker. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.
Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.
discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.
Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.
Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?
BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory. ...and the corruption would run even deeper.
Now the Academy continued to grow and evolve over time. Instead of five branches, there are now 17. And instead of 40 members, there's over 10,000 of them. Well, here's the thing. The little secret society that is the motion of picture art and sciences, once you're in, you're in. You're just in forever, for life.
And every year the Academy invites new people into the fold, sometimes hundreds at a time. I want in, can I get in? Well, if you do get in, it's a big honor because I guess it's not easy to become a member in the first place. First of all, you have to qualify. And in order to qualify, you have to work in the film industry. Hello, I am qualified. I mean, this isn't the film industry, but I am, you are watching me on your device, right? I qualify, I qualify, let me in.
I'm just kidding, I'm not that desperate. But I will participate in some horizontal collaborations if needed. Anyway, so you have to work in the industry and you have to have two friends who are already members of the Academy that will vouch for you. And then they have to be in the same branch of the Academy that you're trying to join.
Then each separate branch has its own requirements. So for instance, if you're a director, you need to have directed at least two movies and one of them has to be in the last 10 years. The shortcut to becoming a member is getting nominated for an Oscar, which automatically gets you into the club. Let's say though, you're a writer and a director and you wrote and directed a movie that gets nominated for an Oscar.
Well, you gotta choose whether you wanna sit at the writer's table or the director's table. You can't do both. You have to pick a side. You have to pick a category. Which one do you pick? It's so much pressure.
Every spring, the Academy releases a list of people they're planning on inviting into their exclusive little club. But the identity of most of those 10,000 members is a secret because the Academy has never published a full list of their active members. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. We don't know who they are, so when it comes to voting, it's always a bit of a mystery. But here's what we do know. There are two phases, nominations and voting.
Members can only nominate things for awards in their branch and for best picture. So if you're Meryl Streep, you can suggest nominations for best actor, best actress, supporting actor, and actress, but you can't nominate any candidates for, like, best editing or best costumes. So you gotta fucking stay in your lane, bitch, you know? Then all these ballots are tallied by actual certified accountants and there's a runoff.
Here's the interesting thing, I guess. In order to determine that a film has widespread support and not just popular support, the Academy uses a system called preferential voting. It means that each film has a different predetermined magic number that it needs to reach in order to get through the runoffs. So who do you think is deciding this magic number? I don't know. And what was the magic number for Mary Pickford? Her husband?
You know, this whole system is just, it doesn't make any damn sense. Nobody knows what's going on. And I think they do that on purpose. So besides for a couple of big wigs at the Academy, no one really ever knows the number of votes a movie needs to get in order to be announced as a nominee. Nominees are announced. A few weeks later, the voting begins. All members of the Academy are technically allowed to vote in as many categories as they want.
but they're discouraged from voting in any categories where they quote lack expertise. Once all the ballots have been collected they're tallied and the popular vote determines the winner in all categories except for best picture. It comes back into play for best picture meaning that someone behind closed doors has decided what the magic number is for each contender.
Now the accountants doing all the tallying know these numbers, but there's only two. These two people are responsible for keeping their lips zipped. I guess they memorize the names of the winners and then they put their names into two sets of envelopes and pack those bad boys into a briefcase. So dramatic. Oh my God. Just give them the letters, right? Nobody cares that much. These briefcases are stored at an undisclosed location until the day of the ceremony. Oh God.
And no one, not even the host of the award show, knows who will be winning what until those envelopes are open and read in front of the crowd. So dramatic. I'm so over them already. I don't even watch them, but I'm over them. But all these measures don't mean a damn thing if people are willing to play dirty.
and one man wrote the book on how to play dirty to win awards. At one point, he was the man everyone in Hollywood wanted to work with, a man who was so shameless about getting the Oscar, he would literally do anything, including ruining the careers and lives of hundreds of people over the last several decades. I'm talking about that shithead,
toad-looking Harvey Weinstein. Looks like a fucking toad. Fuck that guy. Now, I just want to be clear and say this up front. Harvey Weinstein was a sexual predator and just an all-around piece of shit.
but he also changed the face of four-year consideration in Hollywood forever. Yeah, here we go with that shit. For a long time, Harvey Weinstein was a super popular movie producer known as the Oscar It Man. A report found that he was thanked or mentioned in 34 Oscar acceptance speeches, the same amount of times as God. Yeah, I think that'll probably do something to someone's ego, right?
So one of these major things he did in his career was create an entertainment company called Miramax. I know it reminds me of like a laxative, right? Miramax, right? Isn't that a laxative?
Anyways, it was very successful and put out hits like Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love. Now, Shakespeare in Love is what put Harvey on the map. It won movie of the year that year at the Oscars, and it went on to launch the career of an actress by the name of Gwyneth Paltrow. Harvey then left Miramax to create a company with his brother called the Weinstein Company.
and the hits just keep on coming. They put out dozens of movies and had major hits like Silver Linings Playbook. I didn't really like that one. It's not about that Bailey. And was it Django Unchained? I never saw that one. I heard it was good but I never saw it. They were also in the TV game. You can thank them for Project Runway. Oh I loved that one. Yeah.
That's unfortunate. That makes sense. Like his wife's work, she was like a host on that show a couple times. Unfortunate. To this day, Harvey is one of the most nominated producers in the history of the Oscars. His films have like 341 nominations and 81 wins. He was the guy you wanted to work with because your movie was essentially guaranteed to be a hit.
So everyone was wondering like, what was his secret to having such successful award show campaigns? Well, it turns out he was a massive bully. Yeah. He was infamous for intimidating people into doing what he wanted. He'd scream at them. He threatened to pull funding for projects and he would even buy a film off someone he hated just so he could bury it and make sure it was never released. Petty Toad King.
When it came to Academy voting, it's no secret that he was totally shameless and clearly did not care about boundaries. He would place thousands of calls to Academy voters. He was worse than those annoying ass car insurance phone calls. And if you didn't answer those calls, oh, don't worry, he'll show up at your office all pissed off because he had a notorious temper.
Screaming, yelling, throwing his ugly toad weight around. Some of the people that worked with Harvey were also people who got to vote for the Academy Awards. So he would threaten former employees saying that like he would get them fired from their current job and blacklisted if they didn't do what he told them to do. So he'd essentially scare people into voting for his movies. What a toad.
What if you were an influential member of the Academy that was out of town, nowhere near a movie theater? Well, Harvey would find where you are. He would find where you are and he would send someone to set up a special screening to make sure that the voter got to watch Harvey's movie. No one could hide from him. He was on it.
And remember when I said that you're in the Academy for Life? Well, that means there are like a ton of older people that get to vote for the Oscars. And some of them lived in nursing homes. So if you were a senior citizen stuck in one of these homes, like don't worry, Harvey's showing up. He would set up screenings in retirement homes just to like make sure he could get the old members votes too.
Like bro, calm your tits. And let's not forget that Harvey was just rolling in dough. He's filthy rich. He could outspend anyone in their Oscar campaigns. If they spent two million dollars, he spent five million dollars.
If they had a party, he would throw an even bigger, more fun party. He would buy up most of the ad space and magazines so you'd see his advertisements for his movie over and over and over again. Like you couldn't run from it. You couldn't hide. It was following you everywhere. But he wasn't just some eager film producer. He was a bully, like I had mentioned earlier, and everyone knew he had a short temper. So if he felt things might not be going his way and he might not get the nomination,
he would pull out the next trick in his bag. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.
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Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. Putting out a good old-fashioned smear campaign. When the movie The Reader, starring Kate Winslet, was up against Slumdog Millionaire, a movie set in India, accusations of the movie came out of left field.
saying that the movie, Slumdog Millionaire, mistreated its young Indian actors, and the movie was using and profiting off of child labor. Some people were going around saying kids were being abused and exploited. Many thought it came from Harvey because, you know, it makes sense, he would do that, but there was never any direct evidence, just speculation.
The next year, Harvey's movie, Inglourious Bastards, about soldiers in World War II hunting down Hitler, was going up against The Hurt Locker, also a military movie. But this movie was about technicians who defused bombs.
Well, a whole bunch of real life soldiers happened to come out of the woodwork and say that the Hurt Locker was actually very inaccurate. All the drama in the movie about human men strapping on bomb suits, going right up to the explosive and saving the day, according to the soldier, that doesn't happen. But the soldiers said in real life, they use robots to defuse the bombs.
So, I don't know, there was like this rumor going around that the Hurt Locker was just one big lie and the negative press had Harvey's fingerprints all over it. I mean, we could really spend all day talking about this guy.
But the point is like, his tactics worked. His tactics worked. There's no rules against saying that you can't do it. So he did it. Everyone started doing it. And today Harvey, whoa, I hope you know this, but he's in jail. He's in jail because he's a rapist and a convicted sex offender. So fuck that guy. Hopefully Hollywood is moving away from corruption and the legacy of Harvey. It's amazing what happens when people get caught. Damn.
They love a scandal. Nowadays, getting one of these awards is a huge honor. Is it? Because it still seems like it's pretty shitty. It can launch your career, it can give you a platform, and it could turn you into a household name.
Because in 2022, 15 million Americans tuned in to watch the Oscars. 15 million, just in America. Yeah, they're doing just fine without my view. But then people started to ask the question, if we don't know who's doing the voting, are we really giving everyone a fair shot at that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Back in 2016, a report went public showing that all of its active members, 94% of the Academy members were white.
and 77% were male. The Academy did promise to make changes to correct that imbalance, and since then, there seem to be some big steps happening in the right direction when it comes to openness and diversity.
Troy Kotsur, a deaf actor, took home an Oscar in 2022. Chloe Zhao was the first woman of color to win Best Director of 2021. And let's not forget about Moonlight, which won Best Picture in 2017. I never saw it.
But even that year, there was a ton of controversy. When it came time to award the best movie of the year, the presenter said it was La La Land. La La Land had won. I remember watching this on YouTube. It was so juicy. I was like, I'll watch if this happens every year. It was so funny. It wasn't funny. It was just like awkward, you know? Love it. But then the show had to correct itself and say like, oops, whoopsie.
It was moonlight that won. Moonlight won. It was almost like the Academy showed its hand. So it seems to me like the Academy is being dragged, kicking and screaming against its will into being better. Because since the Academy started in 1929, they've given out 3,140 Oscars. I was thinking about fish. Can you imagine if they gave out like 3,100 fish? That's funny, Bailey. Wow. Do you get that? I know. I'm so funny.
Fish, they gave out fish. Okay. So they gave out 3,140 Oscars and just 1.6% of them have gone to black Americans. 0.3% have gone to Asian Americans and 0.1% have gone to Hispanic Americans. And what about Native Americans? There's only been one Native American who has been awarded an Oscar. Not 1%, literally one. So I'm over here wondering, do award shows even matter? Do we care?
And the answer I've come to is no, I don't. Maybe you do. That's fine. But like, come on, they gotta make some changes. It's no secret that most of us don't care about like these award shows. Ratings have been sliding into the gutter for the last couple decades. The only reason they got a lot of views last time was because, weren't we in quarantine? We had nothing else to do. I'm blaming that. The finale of The Bachelor got more viewers than the Emmys did this year.
Maybe, hey, idea, maybe award shows can take a page out of reality TV's playbook. What if they voted someone out of Hollywood every year? Ooh, that could be fun, some drama. I can think of like a dozen I'd vote off the island right now.
How do we get more people on these voting boards? Why can't we all just like vote for Oscar winners? It'd be way more fun and we'd probably watch because it's like, I hope the person I voted for wins. Like, come on, they do it on American Idol. They could do it for the Oscars. We watch many movies, probably more movies than the Academy members in those nursing homes, but their vote counts over ours, you know? Or maybe we just stop watching everything altogether and just let it die. I vote for that.
because something needs to change. I mean, in 2019, Netflix spent $25 million on the Oscars campaign for a movie called "Roma." It was about the life of a housekeeper to an upper-class family in Mexico. They didn't win the award for best picture, but then you hear the story of Quinta Brunson, the creator of "Abbott Elementary," which you absolutely need to watch. It's so good. It's a sitcom about teachers, and it's so funny. I love that show.
She and her team, they took all the money they were given for promotion for the four-year consideration ads, and they donated it to teachers and schools in need of supplies. And guess what? Quinta and her show cleaned up at the Emmys. They were nominated for seven, and they won three of them. Deserved, deserved, deserved.
So next time you see a four-year consideration ad on a billboard, remember that it's essentially people just paying to win awards. Throw eggs at it. And you know what? I would love one day, I would love one day to just, come on, can't we just have one honest award show? I would like one honest award show. It would make the people very happy. Give it to us. And don't tell me to watch People's Choice. They're not putting money into that show. I want like a nice award show. Thank you.
Well, everyone, thank you for learning with me today. Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions and stay curious because you deserve that. Now, I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to today's story. So make sure to use the hashtag dark history so I can follow along.
Join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch Murder, Mystery, and Makeup. I hope you have a great rest of your day. You make good choices. And I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye.
Dark History is an Audioboom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junya McNeely from 3Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Maiden Network. Writers, Katie Burris, Alison Filobos, Joey Scaluzzo, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot and edited by Tafadzwa Nemarundwe. Research provided by Dark History Researcher Team. I'm your host, Bailey Sarian, and this is my goodbye.
Shut up. I know it's not graduation, but shut up. Okay, bye.
