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J.K. Rowling Invited to Be a Voting Member of the Academy Awards

I’ve always wondered who votes for the Academy Awards and how they get the opportunity to. It turns out that you have to be invited to be a voter.

The mistress of magic herself, J.K. Rowling has been granted the honor of being invited to become a voting member of the Academy. She is among 927 new members to be invited. Her credits from the Fantastic Beasts screenplays as well as creating the Harry Potter universe earned her the invitation.

If accepted, Rowling will be able to vote to nominate a film within the writing field: Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay and then vote across the board once nominees are set.

So, how do you get invited to vote? Well, historically speaking, the voters were almost exclusively white men but due to the calling out of the whitewashing of the Oscars, the academy has upped its diversity game. As of now, the academy is 28% women and 30% people of color and is made up of more than 7,000 voting members. These members include film-industry professionals, most are US-based, and almost half are active filmmakers.

This year, 49% of invitees are female and 38% people of color. Among the invitees, 17 are Oscar winners, while 92 are Oscar nominees. The rest include actors (on screen and on stage), musicians, writers comedians, and directors. Check out the complete list of invitees here.

Do you think the Academy is doing enough to diversify the film industry?

 

Congrats J.K. Rowling!