Hollywood writer Andy Maltz was recently and quietly fired after leading the Academy’s Science and Technology Council for nearly two decades. Did you learn? He began working at the Academy in 2003 as the Managing Director of the Council, and in January 2020 he was promoted to Senior Vice President of the Council.
George Joblow has been appointed to the new position of vice president, technology and standards. He was previously Sony Pictures’ executive vice president of advanced technology and a former co-chair of the council. He is now handling several of Maltz’s prior duties.
The Academy’s dedication to developing the scientific and technological facets of filmmaking is stronger than ever, according to CEO Bill Kramer of the Academy. At a private gathering earlier this year, we returned our scientific and technical prizes and just approved the building of a new manufacturing and technology branch. We integrated the teams working on the Prize and the S&T Council as part of this procedure to establish a unified science and technology division in the Academy. This merged staff will be more closely connected to the Academy’s primary collecting, archiving, and conservation efforts in addition to recognizing and developing the scientific and technical components of filmmaking.
After its announcement last week, the new Production and Technology Branch now comprises individuals who were previously categorized as At Large members who are employed in a range of technical and production roles.
In the midst of significant changes at the school under Kramer and President Janet Yang, who assumes her role in 2022, Patrick Harrison, its top official in New York, was also just let go.
A study of crucial issues relating to the long-term preservation and archiving of motion picture content in the digital age was one of the SciTech Council initiatives Maltz led while serving as the Academy’s president. This study resulted in the publication of the reports Digital Dilemma in 2007 and Digital Dilemma 2 in 2012. The Academy established the Academy Digital Preservation Forum (ADPF) in 2021 as a forum for discussion of these topics online.
The Academy Color Encoding System, an Emmy-winning technology created to provide consistent color management across digital production workflows in motion pictures, television, and streaming video, was also developed and introduced during Maltz’s term by the council. The Council-initiated Academy Software Foundation was established in 2018 by the Academy and the Linux Foundation as a neutral hub for the creation of open-source software used in the entertainment sector, specifically in the areas of animation, visual effects, and sound.
