doc_text: Oscar selection has come under scrutiny as film studios go to new lengths to pull votes out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
  And with the flood of Oscar vote enticements _ from free coffee mugs to complimentary buffet dinners _
  Academy members are acknowledging that some Oscar voting is done by committee, in violation of the rules.
  Secretaries, spouses and friends, several Academy members say, are marking ballots in what is supposed to be the entertainment industry's most esteemed awards competition.
  "It's like a local election of judges," said Academy member Harry Clein, who said he's witnessed team voting.
  "A lot of people don't know who the candidates are.
  So they take a look at who's around them and see what the consensus is."
  "As far as elections go, it's not bad.
  But I've never been through an election in Argentina."
  Dan Lyle, who oversees the Oscar balloting for the accounting firm Price, Waterhouse Inc., said that there is no guarantee that Academy members have actually filled out their own ballots.
  "All we know is that a properly numbered ballot has been returned," he said.
  "Members are on the honor system to fill out the ballot themselves."
  More than 4,600 members were given ballots this year for the 61st Annual Academy Awards, which will be telecast on March 29 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
  Academy members vote on their area of specialty.
  The Academy's actors branch, for example, is the only group to select nominees in the four acting categories.
  Since the voting is done secretly _
  members do not sign their ballots _
  the ballot's authenticity is ensured solely by a numeric control number, Lyle said.
  Ballots are invalidated only if there is more than one vote in a given category, and only the votes in that specific category are not tallied, he said.
  Nominations for acting, directing, art direction and all specialized categories are handled by select branches and committees composed of Academy members.
  All voting members of the Academy can participate in the best picture nominations and may vote for the final awards in all categories.
  Winners for best documentary feature, best animated short film and best live-action short film are chosen by only those members who have seen all the nominees.
  Academy constituent Julian Blaustein said that most of his colleagues take the voting very seriously.
  "I don't even vote (in a category) if I'm not familiar with the pictures in that category.
  ...
  And I've never told someone to vote for a film, even when I've done some of them."
  Meanwhile, other Oscar voting rules are perhaps being broken, speculates veteran Academy member Millard Kaufman.
  "Although you're asked to vote in the nominations for five pictures, I think a lot of people figure out that they have a better chance if they just vote for their own picture and leave the other four blank," he said.
  Given the tremendous impact both an Oscar nomination and an Oscar victory have on a film's fortunes, it's not entirely surprising that a certain degree of artifice might surround the Oscars.
  "The Last Emperor" took in $18.9 million, close to half the film's gross, after it won last year's best picture trophy.
  More than 70 percent of the revenues generated by 1986's best picture, "Platoon," came after the film was nominated.
  On average, a best picture award is worth about $20 million these days.
  A $500,000 Oscar promotional campaign mounted by a studio, therefore, can be a good investment.
  In the case of this year's awards, a flurry of Academy-oriented newspaper advertisements, banquets, complimentary gifts and photo mailings tied to five late releases appears to have been remarkably successful.
  This year, all best picture nominees and the large majority of top acting nominees came from movies released in December: "The Accidental Tourist," "Dangerous Liaisons," "Rain Man" and "Working Girl" were all released after Dec. 16.
  While these five movies might be good, the nearly complete exclusion of films from the rest of the year has highlighted the studios' mastery of Oscar marketing.
  "I think the Academy Awards are crap," said Terry Gilliam, director of "Brazil" and the current "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen."
  "It's about selling films is all it's about," he said.
  "It's one more way of flogging some films.
  When `Brazil' got nominated (in 1986), they asked me to be a member of the Academy.
  And I wouldn't join.
  I just don't want to be a part of that at all."
  And at least one prominent Academy member, director Carl Reiner, says that the manipulation of Oscar voters has reached new depths.
  Reiner said that Universal Studios' all-out effort to bag votes for Sigourney Weaver, a best actress nominee for "Gorillas in the Mist," could lead him to vote against the film.
  "I have in my house more color reproductions of Sigourney Weaver and a beautiful gorilla than I need," Reiner said of promotional material sent to his home.
  "We've got to tell the Academy to stop this advertising.
  I'm getting turned off on the pictures I like."
summary_text: Oscar nominations and victories increase film earnings, with a Best Picture award worth about $20 million.
  Studios go to increased lengths to get votes, with promotional ads, banquets, and gifts.
  Members working in specific categories make nominations, but all voting members may vote in all categories.
  Over 4600 members receive ballots.
  Voting is on the honor system, but there is no guarantee that academy members fill out their own ballots.
  Some Oscar voting is done by committee, in violation of voting rules, when voters unfamiliar with the candidates seek the consensus of friends.
  Authenticity is ensured solely by a control number.