#noah trying not to get voted off while knowing that al knows that HE knows. while al also can manipulate pretty much everyone else.

[losergendered]

back in my total drama era so. if u send in a td request. i will bump it up in the inbox LOLZ

[assistant-of-drama]

What if Owen angrily called out Alejandro?

"Owen," Chris chimed. "It's time to go pal."

"What?" Owen gasped, turning to the rest of the contestants.

Most of them don't bother looking at Owen, either out of shame or apathy.

Except for Alejandro, who was squinting and smiling cruelly at Owen.

"But I don't understand." Owen said. "I thought I was getting along great with everyone. Why would you guys vote me off? What did I do wrong?"

"Do the reasons honestly matter?" Alejandro asked smugly. "Just accept your defeat with dignity like Noah did, mi amigo."

"Yeah, the reasons actually do matter, Al." Owen said, with surprising firmness. "I would get it, if I had gotten voted off for eating something I'm not supposed, like back at Germany with the sausage. But I managed to control myself from eating the cake! I didn't do anything wrong this time! So, I think I deserve to know why I'm being eliminated!"

Sierra couldn't take the guilt anymore and awkwardly raised her hand. "Uhh, Alejandro said that he would bless my marriage with Cody, if I voted for you... I'm sorry, Owen."

"Yeah, the guy told me to vote for you too." Duncan said, while pointing at the charming man.

"Me three." said Courtney calmly.

Owen's jaw dropped. "Wait a minute... Al... You... You want to get rid of me?... But I thought we were friends..."

"Yeah, I had to make you think that, so you'd listen to me." Alejandro scoffed and then chuckled. "I mean, did you really think that I would EVER want to be friends with someone as childish as you?"

"I can't believe you just said that!" Owen gasped again in disbelief. "But you said I was your amigo... You mean, every terrible thing that you did to me, was done on purpose?... The glares, hitting me with a baby carriage, leaving me to get eaten by caterpillars..."

"Don't forget when he hypnotized you into giving yourself a wedgie and dance a jig." Duncan pointed out with a small smirk.

"Oh my god! I thought I dreamt that! You seriously did that, Al?!" Owen yelled with a glare. "What the hell is wrong with you?!?"

Alejandro blinked at the larger and softer man's surprising fierceness, but the charming yet cruel man keeps his cool. "Well, that's what you get for being childish and incompetent... My only regret was not getting you eliminated sooner... Even Noah and Tyler would've been much more useful to me than you."

Heather gazes at Alejandro in pure shock. "Wow, that's cold even by my standards."

Owen's glare hardens. "You know Al, when Noah first told me about your true colors, I didn't want to believe him at first. Not even when he pointed out all the messed-up stuff you did to people, including me. I kept telling myself that those things you did were accidents or that you were misunderstood, like how Noah, Izzy and Eva often are. But boy, was I wrong! Heather was right about you all along! Behind that charming face you're nothing but a mean, nasty, selfish, heartless, cheap con artist! And you're also a big, fat, dumb-"

Everyone's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at what Owen said next. Alejandro's jaw goes slack as his left eye twitches a bit. The only ones who weren't in shock were an amused Chris and Chef as well as a strangely proud looking Heather.

"-in all of Kalamazoo!" Owen finished with ragged breathes. "Wow, I feel better already! No wonder other people curse!"

Owen grabs his parachute and looks back at the others with a calm, accepting smile. "Bye, guys."

The contestants awkwardly said their goodbyes, still trying to get over their shock at Owen's previous rage.

Then the big guy looks straight at a certain girl with a bright grin. "Bye Heather, kick Al's butt for me!"

"Trust me Owen, I will." Heather responded with a bold smirk.

"Oh, and Al?" Owen called for Alejandro's attention. "One last thing..."

Owen had a suringly evil smile on his lips, as he says his next words. "See you later, Alligator!~"

Owen jumps through the open plane door with a loud cackle, already long gone before the slippery Charmer could do anything.

Owen's cackles were quickly replaced by the laughter of Heather, Duncan, Cody, Sierra and Blaineley.

Even Courtney was trying to hide her own smile.

"Oh, the audience is gonna love that!" Blaineley piped up.

All Alejandro could do was wait until he could angrily curse at the confessional camera, again.

Noah is going to be so proud of Owen.

[kookidough]

i know world tour rewrites are probably overdone by now but i wanna see an alenoah world tour rewrite where pretty much everything is the same but (predictably) it changes at/around i see london

so in this rewrite, pre-london, similarly to canon alejandro is flirting with other teams to get them off their game and eliminate them (cough cough bridgette, leshawna, etc) but he thinks it’d be a good idea to flirt with someone on his own team- not to throw them off their game, but to get a closer bond with them and hopefully a steady alliance once merge rolls around. after all, it’s easier to get closer to a team member than an enemy right now.

he’s weighing up his options and he Hates owen, izzy is Insane, and tyler serves no use to him, which leaves noah.. alejandro thinks he’ll be a good choice since while noah is weak he does somewhat try in challenges and he is very smart, so having him as an ally will benefit alejandro, also he genuinely enjoys noah company, viewing him as being on the same level as him in levels of wit/intelligence/humour, so boom it’s settled, noah will be his ally post-merge

anyway back to i see london, the episode goes the same up until the elimination ceremony, alejandro yaps in the confessional about it being unfair that chris let team amazon win since his team were the ones that actually caught the ripper-type guy. he also knows that since he was caught before the challenge even started, he’s probably going home !! so he needs to figure out a way to gaslight gatekeep girlboss everyone and stay in the game

he, like in canon, is of course irritated at noah for talking about him behind his back and thinks about eliminating him, despite previously thinking he’d be a good ally. this is where i diverge fully from canon and say he can’t really risk losing an ally here and maybe, without noah having the influence of anyone else, he’ll be able to turn things around with him. izzy is already gone so if alejandro eliminates owen, then noah will have no other allies and most likely be searching for one, so this is where alejandro can swoop back in and continue to ally with him (while definitely planning to use him for his intelligence and double cross him later as revenge for gossiping about him, and also because alejandro wants to win)

so with 2 votes for ale and 3 votes for owen, the big guy is sent packing and things are playing out the way alejandro wants them to. when he approaches noah for an alliance he’s surprised at how little convincing it takes, and he thinks this plan will be easier than he thought

hoooowever noah is also planning to double cross him and he approaches heather, despite disliking her, because he knows shes currently the only other one that can see through alejandro. he may not like heather but he knows she’s smart and a very capable player and hey, if things go south then it can’t be that hard to get her eliminated, because she’s literally heather

so just . AUFHHR i need this dynamic of noah and alejandro thinking they’re one step ahead of each other and they’ve got each other all figured out but they’re actually both just playing each other’s game and they have all the stupid flirty rival banter while they tango around their feelings for each other it’s great

and they dont even have to be final 2 !!! maybe their plans crumble and they end up voted off and get into some tense aftermath segment and have a very chaotic game of “truth or volcanic eruption” !!

[destinygoldenstar]

Total Drama World Tour My Way

Don't get me wrong, I actually really like World Tour, but I said this before, I have some issues with the season's elimination order. Mainly those problems stem from Team Victory losing all the time, defeating the purpose of three teams.

So this is just a my way on how I personally would have had the elimination order be.

Now, while I am not adding any cast members, or removing any, I AM gonna CHANGE who's on which team. My reason for this is so that we don't have to favor Team Amazon since they have the most plot relevant characters, and for that reason as well, we also don't have to trash on the other two teams as much

So with that said...

I'm changing to...

Uh...

So this doesn't sound like a big grandeos change, but it could definitely make all the difference

So first elimination in canon is with Duncan quitting.

Will I keep that the same?

I'm gonna say yes

Like, we don't need Duncan having a lion share of screen time like he always seems to, so this was actually kind of a decent call. It's a flawed call, from what happens later, but... you know what I mean

Same goes for Ezekiel...

Like... what are you going to change there?

You could make a fic where he makes it far and even wins, but for a CANON scenario? Eh?

(Sorry Zeke stans)

So Episode 3,

In canon, Harold quit, and DJ would have been voted off...

I'm actually going to have DJ go out like he should have

The animal curse thing is just not funny and I don't think even goes anywhere.

So if we want to save DJ's character from suffering, get him out of the game as soon as we can

Episode 4,

I'm actually gonna keep Bridgette's elimination

Would she still try to kiss Al? Probably not.

Like, I think Duncan is the ONLY character who gets called out for cheating. Meanwhile everyone else who does it seem to get a pass.

Like, Courtney, Beth, Bridgette, Trent (okay that one was a trick to be fair)? "Nah, that's fine"

Episode 5, non elimination

Episode 7...

That's a tough one

I feel like since they're on the same team here, Leshawna and Heather would be in a conflict about Alejandro and who to believe.

So it's 50/50 whether or not Leshawna would still slap Heather

Regardless, would we still have her be eliminated?

I'm actually gonna have Team Chris lose this

And Lindsay gets the boot

The reason for this is because this is also the episode where she remembers Tyler... and after that, her plotline is basically done

Plus, I think Alejandro would just HATE her as a teammate, so he'd probably cause the loss, but throw Lindsay under the bus

Noah would probably vote off Lindsay for that, since he's, you know, very proud of the brains department

Episode 8...

I'm gonna do something

This is gonna be framed like an elimination round...

BUT, the person that gets voted off, will actually SWITCH TEAMS

So I'm gonna say Team Amazon loses, they vote off... I'm gonna say Cody, for the medicine incident going out of hand

So he moves to Team Victory

Sierra... not happy

Episode 9

Every team's evened out with 4 people

Now who loses this?

I'm gonna say Team Victory loses

And they vote off Harold here

Why this?

Well now he had six extra episodes to develop this 'egotistical mindset going out of hand', for him. By that point, while I think he'd feel guilty over DJ and Bridgette's boot, I think this is where'd he be called out further by Leshawna and especially Heather for his leadership attempts failing. Cody would be on their team now, he'd be occupied with Sierra being mad at him for voting her and all of that, plus they're not on the same team anymore. So I think THIS is where Harold would vote for himself over voting Cody, ultimately preventing a tie so that he'd take responsibility for pretending he had certain mad skills he didn't have. Or using them for selfish reasons, I guess that's better.

Plus now, we get him and Heather's friendship, and his and Leshawna's relationship a bit, which I actually like those

Episode 10, non elimination

Episode 11,

You know what this is, Izzy gets Brainvilla'd and she gets taken away by the military, sad sad :(

And then I'm actually gonna eliminate Leshawna here.

Reason?

It's similar to DJ's situation, except she would eventually see through Alejandro, only too late, leaving Heather ticked. Cause they're still friends here, Leshawna and Heather be working together here. By the way, what I mean is not 'she has the animal curse instead of DJ' I mean her story would relatively continue from Action, with her recognizing she has no desire to win over people close to her. At least that's how I read it. So instead she'd more so focus on being the heart of her team. Harold being gone, Alejandro being a bro to her, not necessarily a romantic interest, and then that gets shattered over... some false idea on what her victory is Alejandro drilled in her head.

Episode 13

First off, Duncan comes back. Boo hoo, I know

He's actually joining Team Victory here

And then I'm gonna eliminate Tyler from Team Amazon

Ultimately, Team Amazon capturing Duncan or whatever doesn't save them. It really shouldn't have.

And why Tyler? Because Courtney and Gwen are on good terms, (for now) and Alejandro convinced Courtney or someone here that Tyler was behind something when he wasn't

I would note though that despite this, we could give Tyler some individual characterization, not just be Lindsay's love interest. I can see him forming some other friendships here. Even in canon, he was just kind of a plot device until he got eliminated

Episode 14, this straight up won't be an elimination. Just no bias here from Chris, just it was planned from the start

Note though that instead of Tyler catching Duncan and Gwen kissing, it's Noah. BUT, he keeps it to himself for now, because unlike Tyler, Noah isn't so gullible.

Episode 15,

Who do I eliminate here?

There's no Tyler to boot now...

So one of these love triangle birds is gonna get it

If Victory loses, Duncan goes, because Heather and Cody are on good terms

If Chris loses, I would probably boot Owen, but then I'd have to keep the love triangle longer. I don't want to do that, because a lot of you will hate me if I do.

So I'm not gonna do that, Team Chris wins it.

Team Amazon...

In this universe, Courtney doesn't know about the kiss yet.

This episode, she gets that info from Noah, who is a secondary antag in this, collabing with Alejandro. She confronts Duncan about it in disbelief, she finds out it's true, she does the violent actions she does, and she lashes out at Gwen and throw the challenge.

In MY WAY, Courtney would actually get consequences for acting like some brutal assassin, and get voted off for it.

I mean... come on. Courtney is the LAST person I expect to fall for Al, let alone as long as she did, and second, I PERSONALLY didn't like that Courtney got away with her behavior, and deemed as a victim. Yes, she's a victim, but she went at it in such a negative way that ultimately, should NOT be rewarded in the end. She wanted to kill Gwen, she did so. She won.

I... NO ONE should win in that scenario.

Feel free to disagree with me, but this plotline makes EVERYONE disagree with each other, let's be real.

Episode 16

I'm gonna say it, Duncan's outta here

He ALSO gets comeuppance for what he did.

Like, I'm gonna be real, I sympathize with him more than Courtney. I always have for some reason, in EVERY plotline these two have, NOT just this one. BUT I do acknowledge that Duncan is in the wrong, and needs to get consequences for it.

Plus... why must Duncan need the lionshare of development again?

Give other people a chance

With that, we have the MERGE

Now, for the gag and the gag alone, I'm gonna have Izzy be the one who returns

I mean, come on, make it a tradition.

Plus Izzy as a bride, that'd just be funny

ANYTHING is better than Blaineley

Owen gets booted the same way, there's no real reason to keep him around any longer

Episode 20,

This is a double elimination

I'm gonna boot both Izzy and Gwen

Reason for Izzy? Alejandro saw her as a threat, so HE sabotaged her into cheating accidentally, Izzy not doing it on her free will. (I mean, EVERYONE says Izzy'd beat Alejandro in Squid Game)

Reason for Gwen? Heather spites her, everyone deems her the 'new heather' or whatever. Alejandro takes advantage of that to pretend to sympathize with her, as Gwen knows she messed up. Though Gwen'd probably get on Cody's good side, and maybe Noah's, it'd still end up being a tie with Gwen and Izzy, and they both get the boot.

Some people say that Gwen would have been better written if she was evil. Like she purposefully kissed Duncan to spite Courtney, and was a completely heartless villain...

I disagree.

I actually think that would have been worse

Episode 21,

Like I said earlier, Alejandro and Noah are in a scheming alliance, but Noah is the lesser evil here and begins to sympathize with people like Cody, Heather, Gwen, and so he reveals (probably in some confessionals) that he's planning a sneak attack to turn on Alejandro and get him voted off...

But that backfires on him, and he gets eliminated.

Then the final four, it's all exactly the same

I don't want to change this at all, Sierra gets 4th, Cody gets 3rd, Alejandro and Heather are the finalist

HEATHER WINS

I wouldn't change this at all

Now, would I change Sierra's writing and have her simping over Cody less frequent and creepy, and have it be called out more? YES.

But other than that, yeah I like this final four

And there you have it, Total Drama World Tour MY WAY

What's your way? Let me know what you think, and what you disagree with

[mastcomm]

William Barr, Coronavirus, Harvey Weinstein: Your Friday Briefing

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.)

Good morning.

We’re covering Attorney General William Barr’s challenge to President Trump, the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak, and good news in the fight against Australia’s wildfires.

‘Stop the tweeting,’ attorney general says

Attorney General William Barr said in an interview on Thursday that President Trump’s attacks on the Justice Department had made it “impossible for me to do my job,” adding, “I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.”

Mr. Trump has repeatedly criticized officials in the department and denounced a sentencing recommendation for his associate Roger Stone. Here’s a transcript of excerpts from Mr. Barr’s interview with ABC News.

Mr. Trump did not immediately respond on Twitter, but his press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, said, “The president wasn’t bothered by the comments at all.” The attorney general had let the president know some of what he planned to say and is remaining in his job, a person familiar with the events told The Times.

Another angle: Critics of Mr. Barr dismissed his comments as mainly a way to deflect responsibility for carrying out Mr. Trump’s political wishes. “The tell here will be Trump’s reaction,” said Joe Lockhart, a White House press secretary under former President Bill Clinton. “If he doesn’t lash out, we’ll all know this was pure political theater.”

More than 1,700 medical workers infected in China

The Chinese authorities disclosed for the first time today that 1,716 medical workers had contracted the coronavirus and that six had died. The number of infected workers represents 3.8 percent of China’s overall confirmed infections. Here are the latest updates and maps of where the virus has spread.

A look at Pete Buttigieg’s time as mayor

The experience that he gained as the leader of South Bend, Ind., is a central part of Mr. Buttigieg’s pitch to be president, while his rivals try to sow doubts about whether he is prepared for the Oval Office.

His record in trying to turn the Midwestern city around has also been challenged by some residents and activists, particularly on problems facing black residents.

Our correspondent traveled to South Bend to learn more about how Mr. Buttigieg, 38, governed and grew over his eight years in office.

Yesterday: Elizabeth Warren criticized Michael Bloomberg after video emerged of a lecture he gave 12 years ago in which he linked the 2008 financial crisis to the end of a discriminatory housing practice.

Dueling misjudgments by the U.S. and Iran

A nine-month period that shook up the already tense relationship between the two countries began with the Trump administration’s escalation of sanctions and ended with Washington and Tehran in a direct military confrontation.

A team of our reporters has traced the path to last month’s violent standoff, finding a story of miscalculations by both sides.

Yesterday: The Senate voted to require that President Trump seek congressional authorization before taking further military action against Iran, a mostly symbolic measure that lacked the support needed to override a promised veto.

If you have 20 minutes, this is worth it

A glimpse of the coastal future

An estimated 600 million people worldwide live on coastlines — hazardous places in an era of climate change. The Times examined how two metropolitan areas, Manila, above left, and San Francisco, are handling rising sea levels.

Will they try to hold back the waters or move people away? Their decisions could offer crucial lessons for coastal cities around the world.

Here’s what else is happening

Billions diverted for wall: The Pentagon said it would devote $3.8 billion that Congress had designated for other purposes to building a wall at the southwestern border.

Harvey Weinstein’s defense: A lawyer for the former Hollywood producer told jurors at his rape trial that he was the victim of an “overzealous prosecution” and that his accusers had engaged in consensual relationships with him.

Australian fires controlled: The wildfires that began in September and consumed millions of acres are finally out in most of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, emergency services said today.

The Weekly: The latest episode of The Times’s TV show is about the police crackdown on protesters at a university in Hong Kong last year. It premieres today on FX at 10 p.m. Eastern and will be available on Hulu starting Saturday.

Snapshot: Above, the German city of Dresden in 1945, the year it was bombed by the Allies. On Thursday, Germans commemorated the 75th anniversary of the devastating attack, which a resurgent far right has used to promote a revisionist history of World War II.

News quiz: Did you follow the headlines this week? Test yourself.

Modern Love: In this week’s column, how a woman’s worst date became her best one.

Late-night comedy: The hosts watched as President Trump and Michael Bloomberg traded insults. “This is crazy,” Trevor Noah said. “Two mega-rich dudes dissing each other in the most personal way. It would be like if a rap battle was on CNBC.”

What we’re listening to: This episode of “The New Yorker Radio Hour.” Sam Sifton, our food editor, writes: “I enjoyed listening to Hilton Als talk about Louis C.K.’s return to the stage, and about how it might have gone differently, had Louis attempted art and not commerce.”

Now, a break from the news

Cook: Take time this weekend for stuffed shells.

See: Two paintings of Napoleon, one wearing Timberlands, are on display at the Brooklyn Museum. It’s a face-off between two visions of the political power of art, our critic Jason Farago writes.

Read: In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’ve listed works of fiction from each of the 50 states that explore matters of the heart.

Smarter Living: There are good ways and bad ways for colleagues with different circadian rhythms to work together. Here are some tips.

And now for the Back Story on …

Reporting on the coronavirus

Donald McNeil, a science reporter for The Times, is part of a team covering the spread of the virus. This is a condensed version of a conversation about his observations and concerns.

What do we know, and what don’t we know, about the coronavirus?

In the beginning of every epidemic, there is the fog of war.

I’d say we’re still in that fog. We know this virus is much more transmissible than SARS or MERS. We don’t know if it’s quite as transmissible as the flu. We know it can kill people. We know it’s not nearly as lethal as MERS or SARS.

One of the things we don’t know is what the Chinese aren’t saying. We know that they’re reluctant to let in outside experts and wouldn’t share samples of the earliest cases with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When you ask scientists, “What’s your fear for the Big One, the pandemic that’s going to kill us all?” — not that there is a pandemic that’s going to kill us all — but if you ask them that, they say, “Flu.” They worry about some new flu, bird flu or swine flu, that’s highly lethal but becomes very transmissible between humans. I know only one or two scientists who have said, “You know, I also worry about coronaviruses being the Big One.”

I don’t want to raise alarm that this is the Big One. But this is a new, scary and confusing one, and we don’t yet know how far it’s going to spread and how many people it’s going to kill.

What do you think about the public’s reaction to your reporting?

I’m always trying to figure out: Am I being alarmist, or am I not being alarmist enough? I was too alarmist about H5N1 back in 2005, the bird flu. I was not alarmist enough about West Africa and Ebola in its early days. All previous Ebola outbreaks had killed a few hundred people. That one killed 11,000.

A big part of my beat is debunking the panicky stories. It actually consumes almost as much of my time as reporting does.

I try to spread truth instead of panic, even if it takes me a little longer to get it right.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Chris

Thank you Mark Josephson and Kathleen Massara provided the break from the news. Alex Traub wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S. • We’re listening to “The Daily.” Today’s episode is about the post-impeachment President Trump. • Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Facebook reaction button symbolized by a heart (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here. • The Visual Investigations team at The Times will be answering questions, live and on-camera, today at 10 a.m. Eastern.

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/william-barr-coronavirus-harvey-weinstein-your-friday-briefing/

[mastcomm]

Netflix Spent Big on Oscar-Worthy Films. That May Not Be Enough.

LOS ANGELES — Ballots for the coming Academy Awards are still being tabulated. But it already seems clear: This will not be Netflix’s year.

The streaming giant will arrive at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony leading the field, with 24 nominations. That’s up from 15 last year and eight the year before, a trajectory that highlights the success that Netflix has had in building a prestige film operation with a minimal presence in actual movie theaters. But the company could end the evening with only two wins, according to Gold Derby, which compiles the predictions of 28 awards handicappers, despite dumping truckloads of cash into awards-oriented marketing campaigns. Competitors estimate that Netflix has spent at least $70 million, a startling sum even by Hollywood’s profligate standards. Netflix declined to comment.

“The Irishman,” Martin Scorsese’s gangster character study, nominated for 10 Oscars and relentlessly hyped by Netflix as “one of the best films of the decade,” is expected by awards forecasters to get shut out completely. Prognosticators like Mark Harris of Vanity Fair and Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter base their opinions on how films have performed at predictive awards ceremonies leading up to the Oscars.

At the same time, Oscar voters are poised to shower statuettes on films from old-line studios that received traditional runs in theaters, including the late-arriving World War I drama “1917” (Universal), which is the front-runner to win best picture.

It raises unpleasant questions for Netflix. Spending freely on awards campaigning is one of the ways it has been able to woo marquee filmmakers like Mr. Scorsese. But with some analysts starting to question the return — Netflix already had a poor outcome at the recent Golden Globe Awards — will the streaming giant change its ways?

While there are those who would argue that competing films like “1917” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” (Sony) are simply better, the film establishment has been wary of Netflix. Could the lack of statuettes be a backlash to a tech giant that is upending entertainment-industry business practices and threatening Hollywood power hierarchies?

Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said losses at awards shows leading to the Oscars in no way represented an uprising against the company.

“A pushback? Nobody can say that with a straight face,” he said last week at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annual nominee luncheon. “We got 24 nominations, the most of any studio. Our films have been honored across the board.”

The academy’s old guard has resisted a dogged push by Netflix to join the best picture club, arguing that, since the streaming service does not release its films in a traditional theatrical manner, its offerings should be better considered by Emmy voters. (Helen Mirren, onstage at the most recent National Association of Theater Owners convention, used an expletive to refer to the company.) Some longtime academy members say that Netflix’s campaigning has turned them off, in part because it reminds them of the days when Harvey Weinstein solicited Oscar votes with no-stone-unturned vigor.

“Obviously, there is one company that is spending more than the others, but that’s not going to affect how I will vote — nor do I think it will affect other members,” said Hawk Koch, a producer and former president of the academy, who recently wrote a memoir about his long career in Hollywood. “There is an awful lot of wasteful money being spent that could be used for making movies rather than trying to win an award.”

Netflix made its Oscar ambitions clear in 2018, when it hired one of Hollywood’s top awards campaign strategists: Lisa Taback, who cut her teeth at Miramax with Mr. Weinstein in the 1990s and whose résumé includes best-picture winners like “The King’s Speech” and “Spotlight.” She orchestrated a costly Oscar push for Netflix’s black and white “Roma” for last year’s Academy Awards. That film received 10 nominations, including one for best picture (Netflix’s first), and won three: director (Alfonso Cuarón), cinematography (Cuarón) and foreign film. It was a very solid outcome, one that seemed to signal the academy’s warming to Netflix.

This time around, Netflix seemed to be holding an even stronger hand. It had a living legend in Mr. Scorsese. His ambitious “Irishman,” which cost at least $160 million to make, brought Joe Pesci out of retirement and paired him with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. Netflix also had “Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach’s unnerving portrait of divorce; “Dolemite Is My Name,” a flamboyant comeback vehicle for Eddie Murphy; and “The Two Popes,” a well-reviewed drama about Vatican politics starring Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins.

“Marriage Story,” with six Oscar nominations, is expected to win for Laura Dern’s supporting performance as a formidable divorce lawyer. “Dolemite” did not receive any Oscar nominations. “The Two Popes” received three nods, but is not expected to win any on Sunday.

Another win for Netflix is expected to come from “American Factory,” a documentary backed by Michelle and Barack Obama that looks at a clash between a Chinese entrepreneur and blue-collar Ohioans.

“That’s a lot of campaigning for not a lot of hardware,” said Sue Fleishman, the head of September Media, a corporate communications consultancy, and the former communications chief at Warner Bros. and Amblin Partners.

In truth, no film wins the top Oscar without spending. All nine of this year’s best-picture nominees have been draped in for-your-consideration campaigns for months. Sony has certainly not been stingy with its “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” get-out-the-vote effort, which included a 28-minute special about its themes (“a love letter to making movies”) that ran on two Los Angeles television stations. Neon, the scrappy indie with the potential best-picture disrupter “Parasite,” has been spending money like a major, hopeful that the love for the genre-defying South Korean film will help it make Oscar history.

But Netflix has taken campaigning to a new level. Most studios put their firepower behind a couple of contenders. Netflix pitched eight films to awards voters this year, including two that received nominations for best animated film: “Klaus,” a hand-drawn holiday story that triumphed at the BAFTAs, Britain’s equivalent of the Oscars, and “I Lost My Body,” about an amputated hand. About 60 people work in Ms. Taback’s department, which also includes talent relations.

“Think of all of our awards work as a really smart way to make us the best home for talent in the world,” Reed Hastings, Netflix’s chief executive, said during a quarterly earnings call last month. “The business benefit is that we will win deals that we wouldn’t have otherwise.” Netflix may be spending a lot on awards campaigns. But the sum is a rounding error when you consider the company is poised to spend $17.3 billion on content this year.

Like all studios, Netflix flies stars to ceremonies that are seen as campaign stops, advertises in trade publications and sends swag to reporters (a pair of red slippers to support “The Two Popes,” for instance). But Netflix has also gone a great deal further, promoting films in ways that have raised eyebrows.

Rather than rely on trade news outlets, Netflix has opted to create its own, including a thick, expensive-looking magazine called “Queue,” filled with glossy photos and essays from high-profile contributors like Roxane Gay, and two separate podcasts from the former entertainment journalists Kris Tapley and Krista Smith (now consultants for Netflix).

The company rented out the famed Belasco Theater on Broadway to screen “The Irishman” and reopened the defunct Manhattan single-screen theater the Paris with a long-term rental deal. The company is still conducting talks to buy the historic Egyptian theater in Hollywood.

In December The Washington Post revealed that Netflix courted members of the Broadcast Film Critics Choice Association, which puts on the Critics’ Choice Awards, with free trips to Los Angeles and New York for private access to filmmakers and stars. Members of the association who accepted stayed in luxury hotels like the Four Seasons. The group awarded Netflix films and television shows with nine trophies, including best acting ensemble for “The Irishman.”

In a statement this week, Netflix responded to The Post article, saying, in part: “Promotional tactics like junkets, screenings and festivals are standard industry practice and not just for awards.”

“Netflix is not violating any rules. They just have lots of resources,” said Joe Pichirallo, a producer and a professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. “They do it to gain credibility and legitimacy and to let skittish auteur directors know that if you make a movie for Netflix, they will go all out to get you an Oscar, just like the studios.”

Even without winning big on Sunday, the company has already won. Netflix’s many nominations mean that 30 million people in the United States will watch a celebration of a lot of movies that they have not seen in theaters. Netflix will have succeeded in creating an emotional and intellectual shift — high-caliber original films associated with television sets and computer screens.

The streaming giant’s bruising night at the Globes certainly didn’t cast a pall over its after-party. Many of the night’s biggest stars made the soiree their first — and perhaps only — stop on the evening’s celebration circuit.

Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio huddled alongside “The Irishman” cast in a cordoned-off corner of a tented structure in Beverly Hills as waiters offered fried-chicken sandwiches, mini corn dogs and specialty Casamigos cocktails. Scarlett Johansson, Ms. Dern and Jennifer Aniston all showed up to pay their respects to the town’s deepest pockets, and that was before Tiffany Haddish grabbed the DJ’s mic and started rapping.

“We ready,” Ms. Haddish shouted into the microphone, while holding a glass of white wine in her other hand. “Netflix putting food on people’s tables.”

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/netflix-spent-big-on-oscar-worthy-films-that-may-not-be-enough/