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Volunteers Assist In The Bahamas` Slow Hurricane Recovery; Examining The Business Of The Academy Awards; Discussion Of The Debate Over A Famous Artist`s Name. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired February 10, 2020 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: It`s been a little over five months since a major hurricane made landfall in the Bahamas and it could be another five
months before electricity is completely restored to some places. That`s our first subject of the week here on CNN 10. My name is Carl Azuz.
I`m at the CNN Center. The year 1851 was the first year when officials started keeping track of hurricanes and since then at least, no storm
that`s hit the Bahamas was as strong as Hurricane Dorian. It made landfall there on September 1st as a Category 5 hurricane, the strongest
classification of storm. It weakened to Category 4 strength as it passed over the islands but one thing that made Dorian so destructive was its
speed.
Hurricanes are damaging enough when they pass over land in a couple of hours but Dorian came to a near stop when it was over the Bahamas blasting
part of the chain for more than 36 hours with unrelenting wind, waves and rain. So many homes were destroyed that even now there aren`t enough
people living in the Bahamas to rebuild quickly. In the town of Marsh Harbor in the Abaco Islands, witnesses say it doesn`t look like anything`s
been done to repair some hard hit areas and that stray dogs are the only signs of life.
For some people who evacuated or had to leave after their homes were destroyed, they couldn`t go back if they wanted to there`s nowhere for them
to stay. The Bahamian government is working to set up domes, temporary houses to address that and for those who are trying to rebuild there`s a
since of urgency. Because June 1st, less than four months from now, is the official start of the next hurricane season. Volunteers have committed to
helping the Bahamas rebuild and prepare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We know that the water line came up higher. So we know for a fact that there`s going to be mold behind these tiles. So they
had to come off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re here in Marsh Harbor on the Island of Great Abaco. It really was the epicenter of Hurricane Dorian and experienced the
most extreme damage from the storm. All Hands and Hearts has made a commitment to be here for at least two years. They`ll help the community
to recover.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re so thankful and so grateful and we are so appreciative of the help that you guys are giving us and you know the
sacrifice that you guys are making is much needed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to continue working in the response phase doing mucking and gutting and debris removal and sanitizing homes and begin
to accelerate more of the recovery and rebuild work that we do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go. Isn`t that beautiful?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The goal really is to get people back into homes and get students back into schools. The need here is for manpower. We need
volunteers. We`re going to need thousands of volunteers over the course of the coming years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re going to have you guys added into a team for tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These people need a lot and they have the time to get it. So it`s an incredible gift that we give and we get.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these films won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture in 1929? Wings, All Quiet on the Western Front,
Grand Hotel, or It Happened One Night. Though it was called Outstanding Picture back then, the award went to a World War I drama called Wings.
In last night`s Oscars the 92nd Academy Award Ceremony it wasn`t just results that the media were watching. It was the ratings. With tens of
millions of viewers, the Oscars are one of the, if not the most watched show in America that isn`t a sports event but in recent years the Academy
Awards have seen a decline in TV viewership. They hit an all-time low in 2018 with 26.5 million viewers but they bounced back a bit last year when
the show got 29.6 million viewers.
One thing unique about last year`s show was that it didn`t have a host and the Academy planned to try that again last night. We didn`t have final
viewership numbers when we put this show together so we don`t know if the hostless approach helped but other awards shows in 2020 like the Golden
Globes and the Grammys saw lower ratings. Regardless of how that played out, the business of nominating stars, movies and producers is a big one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1929, studio head Louis B. Mayer handed out the first Academy Awards. There were only 270 guests. The winners had been
announced months before and the whole thing only cost $5 to attend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have seen the American motion picture become foremost in all the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fast forward 90 years and today the Oscars are awarded in a 3,300 seat theater. Tens of millions of people watched the results
live and tickets cost hundreds of dollars. But the biggest difference, today`s movie studios spend millions to convince the Academy that their
films deserve to win.
KYLE BUCHANAN, REPORTER FOR NEW YORK TIMES/ACTOR: Sometimes the amount of money that a studio will spend when they`re campaigning for an Oscar is
even more money than the budget of the movie to begin with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s Kyle Buchanan. He covers all things Oscars for the New York Times.
BUCHANAN: If you want to get your movie taken seriously, you`ve got to spend. You`ve got to make sure that there are ads out there. That there
are events. That people are contextualizing you as an Oscar contender.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And why do studios spend that much cash for an eight and a half pound statute? For a smaller studio like A24 or Annapurna, the
answer`s pretty obvious.
BUCHANAN: They`re making movies for, you know, not a big budget a lot of the time but in order to be seen when the market place is choked with these
big blockbusters and superhero films. They need that sort of extra headline making ability than an award season can provide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well what about a bigger studio like Warner Brothers or Universal? As we`ve seen over the past couple decades, box office hits
aren`t often considered Oscar contenders and blockbusters don`t really need the exposure that a nomination brings. Isn`t the money enough of a reward?
BUCHANAN: If people who work on these movies by in large are artists who want to be appreciated as artists by other artists in town. So when they
are in contention for an Oscar it means something deeper. It satisfies them in a way that money can`t only.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it`s really about talent acquisition and talent retainment.
BUCHANAN: Yes. It`s about making sure that people are happy, you know. You`ll see it all the time when a star has had success and then they want
to do something more serious. They want to be understood as an artist with something to say. (Inaudible)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Warner Brothers goes all in on an Oscar campaign for Bradley Cooper or Ben Affleck or Clint Eastwood, it`s not just for
bragging rights or even a box office bump. No, the studio spends that cash to show commitment to its stars and to keep them coming back for future
projects. For example, Hollywood`s biggest studio, Disney is pushing harder and harder for its top blockbusters to be in Oscar contention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What next?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the race isn`t just between traditional studios anymore. So why does something like Netflix want to win an Oscar? I mean,
it`s already the talk of Hollywood. It`s one of the biggest media companies on the planet. Why does it need the little gold man?
BUCHANAN: I think Netflix is eager to disrupt any industry it can get its hands on. You know, they`ve already changed the way that we watch
television. Now they want to do the same for movies. Just like any studio, they want to be able to get in the Oscar race so that top tier
authors will come to them to make movies instead of the big studios that are out there. If they can penetrate this race, there`s really nothing
that Netflix can`t do. They want to upend the idea theatrical distribution being the end all, be all of seeing a movie. They want to change the way
you see a movie and if they can get Oscar to validate that then they`ve gotten almost all the way there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Academy is getting younger and more diverse and its nominees and winners are shifting too.
BUCHANAN: I think it`s good and necessary to recontextualize what we think of as an Oscar contender because it means that a lot of better movies that
have maybe been historically overlooked by the season but have certainly not been overlooked by audience members can actually get into the race.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the decades the Academy Awards have become bigger, more expensive and maybe a bit more inclusive. But in the end, Louis B.
Mayer started the awards to flatter stars into working in his movies and today`s studios will spend more than ever to do just the same.
BUCHANAN: When it comes to this town, when it comes to Hollywood a lot of people go into the industry or even before they get into the industry,
they`ve stood in front of that mirror. They`ve practiced that Oscar speech. It is still the summit of this industry in so many ways and a lot
of people want that to really feel like they`ve picked the dream that they`ve always had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: For 10 out of 10, we present to you "The Starry Night" by Vincent van - - Vincent van - - how do you say it? He`s one of the most well-known
artists in the world but an audio guide at a new expedition in London says van Gogh and experts say that`s wrong. Some say that it should be
pronounced "van Goff". Some say "van Gog". Some say "van Gock". This has been a controversy since the artist was alive and that`s reportedly part of
the reason why he signed every painting simply Vincent.
Who would have thought the controversy would still be "van Going" so long after he`d been gone. Some might "van Scoff" at the idea. Some might get
the "impressionism" that the debate is better discussed on let`s say "A Cafe Terrace at Night". Some will just "van Go" with what they "van Know"
and you`ll never be able to "conVincent" them otherwise. Beachwood sounds like it could have been one of Van Gogh`s paintings but we wrap up today
with Beachwood High School in Beachwood, Ohio. Thank you for subscribing and commenting on our You Tube page. For CNN 10, I`m Carl Azuz.
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