Path to reform for Oscars starts with studios, academy

Efforts have been made.

Since becoming the academy's first African-American president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs has worked to induct a higher rate of minorities and unveiled a five-year initiative to promote diversity in the industry.

Just how much she can do to alter the democratic voting of the academy's membership is unclear; Boone Isaacs declined interview requests from The Associated Press.

Studies have repeatedly found that the movie industry lags in movies featuring black, Hispanic and Asian protagonists; that movie directors are overwhelming white and male; and that executives with the power to greenlight are almost entirely white.

"The industry has been building up over a very long time, starting with white men running the studios who hire other people who look like them," Dawn Hudson, chief executive of the academy, wrote in an op-ed in the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday.

"The lack of diversity among the nominees signals, perhaps, that these voters are selecting actors and narratives in their own image," says Robin Means Coleman, a professor of communication studios and Afro-American and African studies at the University of Michigan.

More nominees means more moviegoers, from more walks of life, would see their favorite films represented at the Oscars, and tune-in to watch.

Following a two-year study of membership to various academy branches, Peck and the Board of Governors took away the right to vote for the Oscars from many retired members, and brought in classes of younger members.