Frankly, I doubt any good will come of this, but it’s an interesting petition. Puppet Buzz is advocating for Puppeteer Recognition at the Oscars.
Whilst watching Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back and listening to the commentary; George Lucas stated he tried to get Frank Oz recognized for his role as Yoda as Best Supporting Actor in the Academy Awards that year but was denied. My question is if puppeteers are not classified as actors, then why are they required to join the actors unions to perform? I have started a petition to submit to the Academy. I know that it maybe a long shot, but there’s no harm in trying.
The same thing happened to Andy Sirkus for his role as Golem; motion-capture is widely regarded as a form of puppetry. Mostly, it makes me cranky that to work in film, we have to pay dues to the Screen Actors Guild but then aren’t considered actors.
Edited to add: When I went to this it was not asking for donations; it is now, and so I’ve taken the direct link to the petition down.
We don’t have to donate, do we?
Good heavens! No. Absolutely not. I don’t think there’s even an option to donate, and I wouldn’t link to it if there were. At best, I think this might raise people’s awareness of puppetry as a form of acting, but, really, I will be surprised if it gets beyond the choir.
After signing the petition, you are prompted to indicate the amount of your donation… zero is not an option… then click continue. I THINK the signature registers without continuing, but actually, it is unclear.
You know, it didn’t ask for a donation when I went to it. That is so not okay. I’ve taken the direct link down.
Sorry people,
I’m the writer of the petition and could not believe that ipetitions asked for donations. It didn’t ask when I first signed but then I checked back after reading this and it asked. I wrote them asking for the petition to be taken off and I printed out all those who signed it- I will individually contact you to apologize for this. I only came into this with good intentions and DID NOT want to cheapen the subject. If you know any petition site that I could post on then I will try to get it up and running again.
I’m so sorry and hope that you all forgive this mistake.
Tom Stewart- Contributor of Puppetbuzz as well