# How can I join the academy, when I don't act, direct, produce, etc? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-join-the-academy-when-i-dont-act-direct-produce-etc/163795 "2003-03-24T16:23:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zombie\_dude13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecccb3/32.png) [@zombie\_dude13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombie_dude13)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-join-the-academy-when-i-dont-act-direct-produce-etc/163795/1 "2003-03-24T16:23:10Z")
Hi I’d like to become a member of the Academy Awards so I can get all of those freebies they send out on dvd and such before you vote. Problem is, my job has absolutely nothing to do with the motion picture industry. I couldn’t be further away from being a apart of Hollywood if I was a garbage man in Boise. Is there any hope for me to join? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-join-the-academy-when-i-dont-act-direct-produce-etc/163795/2 "2003-03-24T16:35:23Z")
> [@](#): > > A candidate for membership in the Academy must be sponsored by at least two members of the branch for which the person may qualify. Each proposed member must first receive the favorable endorsement of the ap-propriate branch executive committee before his or her name is submitted to the Board of Governors for its approval. > > The Board of Governors also may invite to membership members-at-large and associate members. From [http://www.oscars.org/index.html](http://www.oscars.org/index.html) So, your best bet is to get incriminating pictures of someone on the Board of Governors. ---
**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:** [March 24, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-join-the-academy-when-i-dont-act-direct-produce-etc/163795/3 "2003-03-24T16:38:35Z")
Nope. Membership is by invitation only. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-join-the-academy-when-i-dont-act-direct-produce-etc/163795/4 "2003-03-24T16:49:06Z")
Nuh-uh, no hope. But, for the record, if all you want are the free screening DVDs, you don’t necessarily have to be a member of the Academy. I’m not, just a Writer’s Guild member, and I get some (but sadly, not nearly all) of them. ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-join-the-academy-when-i-dont-act-direct-produce-etc/163795/5 "2003-03-24T23:27:25Z")
Well, there’s always the Golden Globes, though I don’t know if they give out freebies. These awards are given out by the Foreign Press Association in Los Angeles, whose members, by and large, do not have much association, if any, with the film industry. This helps account for the absence of awards for “dull”, technical fields. I don’t know if there is an expensive membership fee. By and large, the group appears to be the movie industry equivalent of Shriners or a Mardi Gras crew; they are basically guys who like to party. (This is not meant as a slight on the important charity work some groups of this kind accomplish). To be a member of the association, one does not even have to be a foreign corespondent. I once heard a report on the group on National Public Radio. IIRC, it said that only about half of the members were actually connected to the foreign press, and many of them only tangentially. Apparently a number of the members who do have a connection with the news industry are like Jack Ruby; he had translated articles for Israeli media outlets from time to time, which was his excuse for hanging around the Dallas police headquarters after Oswald was arrested. One longtime head of the association ran a children’s clothing store.