Hollywood publicist Peggy Siegal joined a HuffPost Live segment hosted by Ricky Camilleri on Tuesday to share some insight about what the road to an Academy Award looks like. In short, it's paved with industry screenings, Q&As and luncheons that allow Academy voters to hobnob with the contenders. Siegal walked us through some of the detailed rules surrounding Hollywood's award campaigning and spotlighted the various maneuvers made to bolster contenders' likelihood of Oscar glory. One such example involved Philomena Lee, the subject of The Weinstein Company's Best Picture nominee "Philomena," and Steve Coogan, the movie's co-writer and co-star, meeting with the pope earlier this month.
Siegal goes on to discuss this year's campaigning season, which is extended by two weeks due to the Olympics. "The rules have been changed and you're not allowed to contact the Academy members directly or feed them, so I'm out of the catering business. You can have five events -- screenings and Q&As: three in LA, one in New York and one in London. ... And then, because of this, we've been forced to be creative and sort of think outside of the box as far as getting additional publicity for these films."
Watch above as Siegal discusses various other industry events that have doubled as Oscar politicking. She's joined by Deadline awards columnist Pete Hammond, New York Times Carpetbagger blogger Melena Ryzik and Vanity Fair digital director Michael Hogan. Head here to watch the full HuffPost Live discussion about this dirty business that is Oscar campaigning.
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