How to win an Oscar: Guneet Monga details networking, money, extensive PR that goes into mounting an Academy Award campaign

This year Indian documentary To Kill A Tiger is nominated at the Oscars. Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Dev Patel and Mindy Kaling serve as executive producers on the film, which will release on Netflix.

As fans across the world gear up for Oscars 2024–cheering for their favourites, hoping for no major upsets– producer Guneet Monga breaks down what exactly happens behind the scenes in an Oscar campaign. The rush, the networking, the strategy, the money and of course, an incredible marketing juggernaut lasting for months, with the sole intention to make a film the biggest talking point.

‘Intense campaign’

“To begin with, an Oscar campaign is intense, especially for people from other parts of the world. You have to put yourself out there, network, push your film. At the surface of it, you are hosting screening, putting the word out there, hoping for more and more voters to watch your film. As you go deeper into it, there are many events that happen. I am also an Academy voter, so I could go to other screenings as well. Mostly it is a lot of press activity and have the press there cover us, have a larger conversation so we can garner more attention of the voters. So, it is definitely challenging for people of other countries (other than the US) who don’t have years of relationship and experience.

“But at the center of it, are your US distributors. They arrange all of this. In both my projects, Period. End of Sentence and The Elephant Whisperers, we were fortunate to have Netflix. They were our US distributors and their team helped us navigate. They would tell us where to go, events that are happening or another award. There are several activities which keep happening and even the Academy hosts lunches in Los Angeles. Before the voting, there are awards which take place like the Independent Spirit Awards. It is about a lot of knowing on ground, what to do, where to go and all that intel comes from your distributor. Because it is an award hosted in the US, they know the best how to navigate a campaign.”

‘What next if your film is selected as the official entry from India?’

“The next step is to get a PR, because it is about the press. But I feel your chances are very limited if there is no American distributor and this effort is not done through the year. Like, if you have a film doing the rounds of festival for months and it is known it helps. But to enter last minute and then organize press is a very last-minute effort. So many films break out at Sundance, which happens in January, and then goes all the way to get a nomination in October. That’s why there is a role that film festivals play in discovery. The reviews then make you aware of the world films making noise that year. If your films break out in Berlin International Film Festival or Toronto International Film Festival and if your country also nominates that same film, and you have a US distributor on board, then your chances of running an effective campaign are the highest.”

‘Hit and miss’

“The Lunchbox is a dukhti rag topic in that sense. There was an article in an international publication which wrote, ‘Guneet Monga got robbed off an Oscar during The Lunchbox and now she comes and wins this.’ It was really heartening to read international journalists tracking your career. But yes, The Lunchbox is a classic case of that and so is The Disciple by Chaitanya Tamhane (the film won awards at Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival) and it also had Alfonso Cuarón as an Executive Producer. Those are the legs you need to open mainstream doors there.

“Why do you get a presenter even between South and Hindi? When a Karan Johar presents The Lunchbox and Baahubali, it creates an awareness, you get into the pop culture and then can garner more media strength. Last year, March 1-7 was voting, and we were trying to get someone big to host our screening. On the last day, we had our screening with Neil deGrasse Tyson in New York! It took us two months to get someone big to host our screening. But all these things can be done before if you break out at a festival. We were a short film, so they have a different trajectory. But for a feature, your competition is at various levels and countries support these campaigns.”

‘Money, contacts, networking’

“These campaigns are not cheap to run, they are very expensive. Now, if you ask me an average cost of an Oscar campaign, I wouldn’t know the exact answer. SS Rajamouli would be the better person because they ran their campaign, while Netflix ran ours. You also need to know the right people. How do you just land in LA and say, ‘Now I want the world to know about my film.’ You need legs to open doors and need to know where to be. There is a big Women in Films party that happens and so many other get togethers and screenings. To get that intel, where maximum voters will be present, is the job of your PR and distributor. There are some rules also, like you can’t directly ask for votes! All you can do is put the word out there and hope more and more voters are championing your film.

“Please tell more people especially those who choose feature films from India that they need to choose films that breakout at festivals, have some sort of global reach and have an American distributor, who would be able to run a campaign.”