Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Motion Picture Academy Gets Its First Woman President in 30 Years

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The Oscars are now run totally by women. You can feel it getting better already. Tonight the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences picked a new president. They chose their first female in 30 years, since Fay Kanin ended her term in 1983. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who comes the public relations branch, will take over Hawk Koch closes out his term.

Boone-Isaacs is a much respected veteran of the Academy who ran the successful Oscar campaigns at Paramount for “Forest Gump” and “Braveheart.” She’s also advised on many Oscar campaigns and worked at New Line as VP head of marketing . She has her own consulting business now and helped steer many films, including “The King’s Speech,” to Oscars. She knows quality and has a lot of respect for Academy history.

Also elected tonight: John Lasseter became first vice president; Jeffrey Kurland and Leonard Engelman were elected to vice president posts; Dick Cook was elected treasurer; and Phil Robinson was elected secretary.

Boone Isaacs now joins Dawn Hudson, who runs the day to day operations of the Academy. And it’s all good, even though we’ll miss Hawk Koch. Academy presidents get a two year term. Koch only served one year because he was already in the middle of a term as Governor. (Don’t ask.)

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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