# how can I be eligible to vote for an oscar and pick up all the free goodies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-be-eligible-to-vote-for-an-oscar-and-pick-up-all-the-free-goodies/226560 "2004-01-29T11:55:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-be-eligible-to-vote-for-an-oscar-and-pick-up-all-the-free-goodies/226560/1 "2004-01-29T11:55:34Z")
My understanding is that it is the members of the screen actors guild that votes for the Oscars. Visiting their website [www.sag.com](http://www.sag.com) , it seems that I can be a member for 1000 bucks/year and a couple of days as an extra on a film site. Yet there are only 5000 or so voting members for the oscars. Am I missing something (which wouldn’t suprise me). I also thought that a lot of retired people were on the voting list. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-be-eligible-to-vote-for-an-oscar-and-pick-up-all-the-free-goodies/226560/2 "2004-01-29T12:53:52Z")
There’s an approval process of sorts. I know this because I read an article mentioned Rodney Dangerfield’s inability to vote. Even though he was a member of the SAG, and even though he had turned in a respectable dramatic performance in _Natural Born Killers_, he was still viewed as a stand-up comic who appeared in a couple of B-movies. Apparently he brought his lack of membership in the Academy to the attention of (his union steward, the president of the Academy, _someone_), who also viewed him as a B-movie stand-up comic, who told him to “work on [his] craft” and come back next year. Sorry, no cite. This is all from hazy memory ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-be-eligible-to-vote-for-an-oscar-and-pick-up-all-the-free-goodies/226560/3 "2004-01-29T13:28:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Membership in the Academy is by invitation of the Board of Governors and is limited to those who have achieved distinction in the arts and sciences of motion pictures. Some of the criteria for admittance are: film credits of a caliber which reflect the high standards of the Academy, receipt of an Academy Award nomination, achievement of unique distinction, earning of special merit, or making of an outstanding contribution to film. Members represent 13 branches: Actors, Art Directors, Cinematographers, Directors, Executives, Film Editors, Music, Producers, Public Relations, Short Films and Feature Animation, Sound, Visual Effects and Writers.([http://www.digitalhit.com/academy/whatisacad.shtml](http://www.digitalhit.com/academy/whatisacad.shtml)) Dangerfield didn’t get an invitation because he gets no respect, of course. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-be-eligible-to-vote-for-an-oscar-and-pick-up-all-the-free-goodies/226560/4 "2004-01-29T14:19:23Z")
am I getting confused? Are the SAG awards different than the acadamy awards? The academy is then quite distinct from the SAG? ---
**Author:** ![richardb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@richardb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardb)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-be-eligible-to-vote-for-an-oscar-and-pick-up-all-the-free-goodies/226560/5 "2004-01-29T14:24:08Z")
Just in case it wasn’t obvious from the previous two posts, membership in SAG does NOT qualify you to vote on the Oscars (but SAG membership, I’m sure, entitles you to vote for the SAG acting awrds). Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are the ones who get to vote. One of the branches of the Academy is Actors, and those members are certainly members of SAG as well, but not every member of SAG is a member of the Academy. From the quote by **RealityChuck** on the criterion used to gain membership, it seems to me that any actor who gets an oscar nomination can become a member and vote for future Oscars. ---
**Author:** ![richardb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@richardb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardb)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-be-eligible-to-vote-for-an-oscar-and-pick-up-all-the-free-goodies/226560/6 "2004-01-29T14:34:08Z")
> [@scm1001](#): > > am I getting confused? Are the SAG awards different than the acadamy awards? The academy is then quite distinct from the SAG? Should have noticed this post in preview, but anyways: Yes, they are two distinct organizations. SAG is the Screen Actors Guild. It is a union (made up of actors). Any “union” motion picture must use SAG actors (or get SAG membership for those who aren’t). There are certain exceptions, etc., and as I’m not a member I don’t know all the rules, but it is a Union and ANY ACTOR who gets a certain amount of spoken lines in a film is eligable to join. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, however, is a voluntary organization. (It is not a union, and they are free to admit or not admit anyone they choose as members). They are the organization that gives out the Oscars. The Oscars have come to be the most prestigious awards, but they are not the only awards. As you have poihnted out, the Screen ctors Guild gives out acting awrds every year, just as the Writer’s Guild (the union for screenwriters) give out seperate screen writing awards. The Golden Globes, I believe, are awarded by the Foreign Writer’s Press association, or some such thing.