BAFTA has made changes to the voting regulations and eligibility criteria for its 2024 Film Awards. Scroll down for the changes in full.
For the 2024 awards, BAFTA will be giving voters “detailed guidance and regulations on campaigning, hosting screenings, and communicating with voters” via a new handbook.
The move comes after last year’s Oscar race was enlivened by the guerilla campaign from Andrea Riseborough and friends for movie To Leslie. The Academy was moved to review its campaigning procedures after questions were raised over the late-in-the-day celebrity-backed campaign.
As of this year, BAFTA will also require UK-based productions to have a policy in place on tackling bullying and harassment if entering into the Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer categories.
In the director branch, the BAFTA longlist will be expanded from 16 to 17 to include the top female, male, and now non-binary directors, with gender parity between male and female directors upheld. In the nominating round, the number of nominated directors will remain at six.
Discussing today’s changes Emma Baehr, Executive Director of Awards & Content, said: “The changes to the 2024 rules reflect BAFTA’s ongoing commitment to using our Awards to help effect meaningful cultural change in the screen industries and our continued efforts to level the playing field through equitable, transparent and robust processes. We are hugely grateful for the expertise of BAFTA’s cross-industry Film Committee and the rigour and diligence they bring to reviewing and setting these rules annually. Celebrating creative excellence continues to be at the heart of our Awards and in a challenging and uncertain time for many working in the sector, our awards recognise the craft, creativity and tireless work that goes into bringing the magic of films and their stories to life.”
BAFTA RULE CHANGES (as provided and described by BAFTA):
Campaigning
Detailed guidance and regulations on campaigning, hosting screenings and communicating with voters is now set out in a dedicated handbook for entrants and BAFTA members. A significant tightening of the rules around campaigning were last introduced as part of the 2020 BAFTA Review to ensure a fair and equitable process for entrants regardless of their origin, networks or marketing and PR budget. The updates for 2024 build-on and further clarify this ongoing work and can be found in full on the BAFTA website here.
Eligibility updates
UK-based productions will be required to have a policy in place on tackling bullying and harassment if entering into the Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer categories. To support this rule change going forwards, free guidance and policy templates will be available on Creative UK in the coming weeks. This new intervention, announced in December 2022, builds on BAFTA’s long-standing work to help tackle bullying and harassment across the screen industries, and forms part of wider, ongoing collective cross-sector activity.
UK-based productions will be required to provide information about meeting BFI’s new Diversity Standards as BAFTA’s eligibility for Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut transitions from a minimum of two (Standard C + 1) to the BFI’s new diversity standards requirement to include Standard E (accessibility).
Following BAFTA’s introduction of the BFI Diversity Standards in 2019 and Academy of Motion Picture Arts’ (AMPAS) introduction of new Inclusion Standards for its Best Picture category from 2024 onwards, BAFTA will be monitoring the film industry’s progress on diversity and inclusion internationally.
Specific category changes – Director
BAFTA’s 2020 Review included a positive intervention for female directors submitting into the BAFTA Film Awards Director category, allowing for a 50:50 gender split for male and female directors in the longlisting stage (16 in total). This has had a very positive effect on the number of female directors nominated and winning in this category compared with the years prior to the Review. This intervention is now being evolved to include directors who identify as non-binary. For 2024, the top female, male and directors who identify as non-binary will be longlisted to a maximum of 17, with gender parity between male and female directors upheld. In the nominating round, the number of nominated directors will remain at six.
Zac Ntim
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