FAQs/Rules

GENERAL

What is Red Carpet Rosters?

Think fantasy football meets film awards season. If you’ve done fantasy sports before, instead of drafting quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers, you draft films, actors, actresses, and crew members. And instead of touchdowns and yards, your team gets points from nominations and wins at ALL the ceremonies in the film awards season. All you have to do is join a league and we take care of the rest!

But wait, I’ve never done fantasy sports before. Can you explain it for someone like me?

If you’ve never done fantasy sports before (which is totally okay!), think of it like this: you pick which films, cast, and crew you think will get your team a lot of points. The leagues start off by conducting a draft, where all the people in your league get together and pick players (i.e. films, cast, and crew members) which comprises your team. Once you select a particular player for your team, no one else can select that player. There’s a catch, though. Once someone else selects, say, Tom Hanks, you can’t have him on your team. Everyone takes turns selecting players until your entire team is filled. Then your team gets points based on how many total nominations and wins your players get.

So whichever team gets the most points wins?

Sort of. After the draft, the regular season begins. What’s unique about Red Carpet Rosters is a head-to-head matchup structure, just like any other fantasy sport. For a typical 10-team league, every team will play each other once in a head to head matchup. If you score more points than your opponent for that matchup, you win! Each regular season matchup will result in a win, loss, or tie for each team. The team who scores more points than their opponent and their opponent alone will win that matchup. The regular season will conclude after nine matchups.

In this example, Matchup #1 has concluded. The standings will be updated after every matchup.

What is the schedule of matchups?

The matchup schedule for the regular season is FINAL.

Matchup 1: 10/29/2024 – 12/05/2024 (38 days)
Matchup 2: 12/06/2024 – 12/08/2024 (3 days)
Matchup 3: 12/09/2024 – 12/12/2024 (4 days)
Matchup 4: 12/13/2024 – 12/18/2024 (6 days)
Matchup 5: 12/19/2024 – 12/22/2024 (4 days)
Matchup 6: 12/23/2024 – 01/02/2025 (11 days)
Matchup 7: 01/03/2025 – 01/05/2025 (3 days)
Matchup 8: 01/06/2025 – 01/08/2025 (3 days)
Matchup 9: 01/09/2025 – 01/16/2025 (8 days)
First Round of Playoffs: 01/17/2025 (1 day)
Semifinals: 01/18/2025 – 03/01/2025 (43 days)
Championship: 03/02/2025 (1 day)

Why do the matchups have uneven durations?

Unlike fantasy football where each matchup is the same duration (Thursday to Monday), Red Carpet Rosters matchups are of varying duration with a minimum of two days. Immediately after the Gotham Awards nominations, the first ceremony of the regular season and early in the season, awards are scarcer. In December it really picks up, then a lull over the holidays, and picks back up in January. To make sure that each matchup has comparable point potential, some matchups last longer than others, especially that first matchup. Be mindful of this when preparing for your matchup. The first matchup will last a few weeks whereas late season matchups may last only two days.

How is the overall winner of my league determined?

The six teams with the best records after the regular season will advance to the playoffs. These records will be used to seed the teams in the playoffs. If there is a tie in record between teams, total points scored will be used as the first tiebreaker and total industry award points will be the second tiebreaker. Then it’s a winner-take-all single-elimination playoff, where the last team standing is the league champion, no matter what their regular season record was, just like the playoffs in most other sports and fantasy sports.

“Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs??” -Jim Mora, 2001

That is correct. In our quest to make Red Carpet Rosters as much like other fantasy sports, we can’t NOT have playoffs! The first round of the playoffs is on January 17, 2025, Oscar nomination day.

After nine matchups in the regular season (starting October 29 with the Gotham Awards nomination), the six teams with the best record will then advance to the playoffs. The top two teams will receive a bye in the first round (i.e. Oscar Nomination Tuesday.) Regular season record will be used to seed the playoffs. The playoffs are single-elimination. Winner advances to the next round, regardless of prior regular season record.

The playoffs start with the Oscar Nominations and will only last one day. This single day will act as the first round of the playoffs. It is possible other awards will be announced unexpectedly on this day, and those points will also be included in the first round. For example, in the 2019-2020 season, Denver Critics announced their nominations (bold move Denver.) The second round of the playoffs will be all awards between the Oscar nominations and the Oscar ceremony. The championship will then be the Oscar ceremony alone.

What if there is a tie in the playoffs?

In case of a tie in a playoff matchup, the previous head to head winner will advance to the next round. If that previous matchup also resulted in a tie, total points in the regular season is the second tiebreaker.

I won the championship in my league. Do I get a prize?

The only prize that Red Carpet Rosters will give you is respect and admiration. Talk to all the people you beat and maybe you can convince them to give you a prize.

How do I get started?

We have public leagues available that are free to join. Just click on Login/Signup and then click “Signup” to join a public league. You can then alert your friends to join the same public league too! When you Sign Up you can select which league you would like to join, or if you’re not sure just select Any League.

We also have private leagues. It’s best played with 10 teams, so gather nine of your friends, and we can set you up with a private league. Just email admin@redcarpetrosters.com to get your private league set up.

ROSTERS

How many players can be on my team?

The default is 16 players, 10 of which are in your starting lineup and 6 of which are on your bench.

What’s the difference between starting lineup and bench?

For any matchup, ONLY players in your starting lineup can score points for your team.

In this example, Willem Dafoe is in my starting lineup but Reed Birney is not. That means any points that Willem Dafoe gets will go towards my team’s point total for this matchup, but Reed Birney’s points will not. However, no one else can have Reed Birney as long as he’s on my team, so maybe I want to start him in a later matchup.

How do I get players on my team? (Draft)

Because the draft is arguably the single most important event in fantasy leagues, we’ve prepared this handy draft guide available for download.

There are several ways to get players on your teams. However, the first event of the season is the draft. This is where you and the rest of the managers of the league will get together and take turns selecting players. The draft order is set before the draft by your league commissioner. The draft is a serpentine draft, meaning the order of picks reverses each round. For example, if you have the first pick of the first round, you’ll have the last pick of the second round, first pick of the third round, and so on. Another example, if you have the 6th pick in the first round, you’ll have the 5th pick in the second round, 6th pick in the third round, and so on.

Once a player gets selected, no one else can stake claim on that player during the draft. Unless you drop that player later in the season, no one else can have that player on their team.

Private League Drafts

Red Carpet Rosters offers online drafts for your league. Your league commissioner will set the draft time for your league. We can also run the draft for your league, if you want us to. Drafts can also be conducted offline and the results of the draft entered later, which works well if everyone can’t meet at the same time. The commissioner can choose whether to use the Basic Draft module or the Live Draft module.

Public League Drafts

NEW FOR 2025 – ALL PUBLIC LEAGUES WILL HAVE A LIVE DRAFT

All public leagues will participate in a LIVE draft on Sunday, October 27 2024. Team managers will be emailed with exact draft times for their league.

For public leagues, you will receive an email with draft details, including the time the draft starts. Once the draft starts, you will be emailed when it is your turn to select a player. You can then navigate to the draft by going to My Team and clicking on Draft in the sidebar menu. Then click Enter Live Draft Module to make your selection. Before you enter the Live Draft Module, you can click on the Basic Draft module to review all draft picks that have been made already. We recommend sorting by “Rank” and also using your browser search to find the specific player you want to select. Once you click on the player you want to draft, that player will appear in the draft window for your confirmation. When you are satisfied, click “Draft Player.” Once you’ve made your selection, the next team in the queue will then be emailed notifying them it’s their turn to make their selection.

Do you have pre-draft rankings?

Yes. The default rankings will be loaded onto the site in early October. You can also rank your own players using the pre-draft rankings module on your My Team page.

What happens to all the players which don’t get drafted?

All unowned players will be placed on waivers.

Transactions

What are waivers?

Waivers (or free agency) are all the players that are not on any team. Waivers are a very important part of fantasy sports, Red Carpet Rosters included. Waivers give teams an opportunity to drop a player from their team in favor of another player that is offering more value. Last year, Charlotte Wells, writer/director of Aftersun, went undrafted in most leagues, but savvy managers picked her up from waivers where she got quite a few points despite being undrafted.

How do waivers work?

After the draft, all unowned players go on waivers. Waivers are then processed the last night of each matchup. You can add and drop as many times as you wish, but your team can ONLY have 16 players on it. If you see a player on waivers you want to add, all you have to do is make a waiver request. Click on “Waiver Wire” on your My Team page in the sidebar menu.

This displays previous waiver requests pickups and an option to Request a Player. Click on “Request a Player.” This takes you to the available players in the roster pool. To the right of each player, there is a “Request Player” link. Click on that to enter the “Request Player” interface, that looks like below.

If you have 16 total players on your team, you must select someone to drop. Use the dropdown menu to designate whom you want to drop if this waiver request is successful. If you have multiple waiver requests, which is common, before the next waiver deadline (which is the last night of the current matchup), then please use the Comments box to prioritize your waiver wire picks.

Sometimes you may want to make many waiver requests, but don’t want to drop as many. For example, let’s say your first choice is 12 Mighty Orphans, but only want to drop Malgosia Turzanska. If you don’t get 12 Mighty Orphans, you have a second choice of picking up Annette. You can make another waiver request as seen below.

Of course, both cannot be honored simultaneously because the dropped player appears twice. Since you provided a first choice and second choice, only the first waiver request is honered if 12 Mighty Orphans was not picked up by another owner with a higher waiver priority. If someone else claimed 12 Mighty Orphans, the second waiver request is processed. If two owners with higher waiver priority request 12 Mighty Orphans and Annette, then you will not receive either of those players.

When are waivers processed?

Waivers will be processed on the last evening of each matchup for use on the next matchup. Waiver requests are due by 6:00 pm Eastern Time on the last day of EACH matchup. They will then be processed by 10:00 pm Eastern Time, but often sooner. Because of this, we recommend to check your starting lineup no later than the morning of the first day of the matchup and submit any necessary changes to your starting lineup with your new players.

What if other managers want the same player on waivers?

This is where waiver priority comes into play. To add parity to your league, teams with worse records will have higher waiver wire priority. For owners who submit multiple waiver wire requests, the waiver priority will cycle through each team. For example, if Team1 has a worse record than Team2, then Team1 has a higher waiver priority. Assume that Team1 wants, in order of preference, the Pictures 12 Mighty Orphans, Annette, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye, while Team2 also wants, in order of preference, the Pictures 12 Mighty Orphans, Annette, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Team1 would acquire 12 Mighty Orphans, Team2 would then acquire Annette, and Team1 would acquire The Eyes of Tammy Faye.

I added a player off waivers. Can I get retroactive points applied to my team?

No. Any points gained from the dropped player up until the dropping will be kept by your team, but any future points by that player will not be credited to your team. Likewise, any points gained by an added player up until the add won’t be credited, but any future points by that add will be credited to you. In other words, free agency pickups are not retroactive.

Are trades allowed?

Yes. It’s even encouraged! Click on Trades from MyTeam and then choose the team you would like to trade with. You can then add players/picks to the trade and submit the trade when you are ready.

How long is a trade offer valid?

When you submit a trade you can select how many days the trade offer is valid for. During the time if the team you offered the trade to accepts the trade will be automatically processed. After this time, the trade will expire.

Also, while a trade is Pending the players involved in the trade are locked. This means that you will not be allowed to include these players in another trade or waiver wire transactions. Once a trade Expires or is Rejected then the players are unlocked.

Can I protest trades? I have a feeling two managers are in cahoots.

Yes. If you and the rest of the league think a trade is too lopsided, you can protest the trade within three days.

My favorite [Film/Actor/Actress/Celebrity/Musician] is not in the player pool. What gives?

There are likely two reasons for this.

1. Your favorite [Film/Actor/Actress/Celebrity/Musician] did not work on a film this year. If that’s the case, they’re not going to get you any points, so why do you even want to draft them?
2. They got overlooked when the player pool was populated. We are continually adding movies each week, and we’ll inevitably miss some. There are literally thousands of movies made every year, and it would simply be too overwhelming for users if everything was included. We’re also not pulling every single cast member from the movies. Yes, there are no small parts, but it’s just impractical to include Security Guard #3 from the latest direct to video action thriller. To that end, if there is a good case to be made for inclusion (points are the BEST case), we can add them. Just email us at admin@redcarpetrosters.com.

LINEUPS

How many players are in my starting lineup?

The default is 10 players in your starting lineup.

What needs to be in my starting lineup?

Default starting lineups in Red Carpet Rosters will consist as follows:

• 1 picture (PIC)
• 1 actor (ACTR)
• 1 actress (ACTRS)
• 1 director/screenwriter (DIR/SCRN)
• 1 animated feature/foreign language film/documentary (ANI/INT/DOC)
• 1 editor/cinematographer (aka director of photography) (EDIT/CIN)
• 1 production designer/costume designer/makeup & hairstyling team (PD/CD/MUAH)
• 1 visual effects/score composer/song/sound team (SCORE/SONG/SOUND/VFX)
• 2 flex (can be anything) (FLEX)

The slashes mean that the player in that starting lineup slot can be any of those categories. For example, you can have either an editor OR a cinematographer in your EDIT/CIN slot.

How do I set my starting lineup?

After the draft, you MUST set your starting lineup. Otherwise you won’t get any points!

To submit your starting lineup, click on “Starting Lineup” from the “My Team” page. This will display your current starting lineup. You also have the option of displaying previous starting lineups.

To change your starting lineup, click on “Submit Starting Lineup.” If the first ceremony in the matchup hasn’t started, you will be able to edit your starting lineup. If it has started, the “Submit Starting Lineup” page will be read-only for that matchup. If not, then the interface will appear like this.

Each dropdown menu will contain all eligible players from your team for that roster slot. For example, as long as a player has “ACTR” as one of his position designations, they can fill your actor slot. For the Picture (PIC) slot, you may select a Picture, Animated, Foreign/International, or Documentary. Your FLEX spots can be anything.

I recommend exercising your option to “Update all lineups for future matchups” by selecting the checkbox, especially if this is your first time submitting your starting lineup shortly after the draft. If you fail to do so, you run the risk of submitting a lineup for Matchup 1 only and all subsequent matchups will still have your players on your bench. This option will save you if you happen to forget to set your lineup before Matchup 2 and beyond.

 You’re not allowed to start the same player more than once in the same matchup. If you attempt to start a player more than once, you will receive an error saying, “You entered the same player more than once. Please submit your lineup again.”

When are starting lineups due?

Starting lineups are due before the first ceremony of each matchup has started. Starting lineups are set for the ENTIRE matchup. Once the first ceremony begins, your starting lineup for that matchup will lock, preventing you to make any changes to your lineup for that matchup. However, you can set your lineup for future matchups.

One of my players has a category of “ACTR-DIR-SCRN.” Does that mean he can be in either my Actor slot or my Director/Screenplay slot?

Yes. Some players have cross eligibility.

Can my ANI, INT, or DOC film be put into my PIC slot?

Yes. Any film with ANI, INT, or DOC as their category can also fill your PIC starting slot, as long as you have another ANI/INT/DOC in that slot. For example, you could have the animated movie Turning Red in your PIC slot and foreign film Bardo in your ANI/INT/DOC slot. However, PIC’s can NOT fill your ANI/INT/DOC slot.

My ACTR-DIR-SCRN is in my ACTR slot. Does that mean he can only score points for acting?

No. The category only means where in your starting lineup he can be. Players earn points for ANY nomination or win they get. For example, Paul Thomas Anderson had CIN-DIR-SCRN as his categories last year for his film Licorice Pizza. Even though he could be in the EDIT/CIN slot, he would still earn points for directing and writing.

Think of it like Patrick Mahomes scoring a rushing touchdown. That’s still allowed in fantasy football, so we’re allowing it here at Red Carpet Rosters.

Wait a minute. I have Anora in my PIC slot, and Sean Baker got a directing award. Why didn’t I get points?

This is a common misconception. Pictures get points for the picture as a whole. The reason why you didn’t get points is because Anora didn’t win best director, Sean Baker did. To that end, awards like Best Picture go to the producers of that picture. We’re not drafting producers, so those points go to the PIC.

Just remember, we’re drafting ALL films, cast, and crew, so those are the exact recipients of points for your team.

My player worked on two movies. Can they be nominated for both?

Yes. Three years ago Adam Stockhausen was the Production Designer for The French Dispatch and West Side Story, earning points for both and even getting an Oscar nomination for one. Jonny Greenwood composed music for THREE movies three years ago: The Power of the Dog, Spencer, and Licorice Pizza, scoring points for all three, including his Oscar nomination for The Power of the Dog. Past years have seen the same person scoring multiple Oscar nominations for different movies. Remember Scarlett Johansson with her roles in Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story?

I noticed that a movie has two writers. Do I have to draft both to get those points?

No. It’s very common for teams to be nominated for one movie, especially writers. They’re separate people, so they’re both able to be on teams. If you happen to have both, say, Jon Spaights and Denis Villeneuve in your starting lineup and they earn a writing nomination, you get both those points.

Think of it like if Patrick Mahomes passed a touchdown to Travis Kelce. Patrick Mahomes would get a touchdown and Travis Kelce would get a touchdown. Same principle here.

And just to make sure, the same person can get multiple nominations for the same movie, right?

Yes, absolutely! Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won a whole bunch of points two years ago for writing AND directing Everything Everywhere All at Once. The animated documentary Flee was a juggernaut three years ago, earning points for being an animated film, a foreign film, AND a documentary in the same ceremony, even earning THREE Oscar nominations.

Why are there no crew from documentaries?

For documentaries, ONLY the documentary can be drafted and not any crew from that documentary will be available to draft. Many of the crew members from documentaries get overlooked in more mainstream awards as opposed to documentary specific awards. If any documentary is recognized in ANY category, the points will go to the documentary. For example, the editor from Apollo 11 was nominated at one ceremony, so Apollo 11 earned points instead of the actual editor.  For example, the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) and Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) guilds specifically award for sound in documentaries, so those points will go to the documentary as a whole. This rule is only applicable to documentaries because crew are available to draft for the other types of films (picture, foreign, and animated.)

NEW FOR 2024 – ONLY BEST DOC, DEBUT, DIRECTION, & GENRE DOCS CATEGORIES WILL EARN POINTS AT DOCUMENTARY CENTRIC AWARDS CEREMONIES

There are several documentary centric awards. Because this gives the documentaries too much of an edge, only select categories will earn points for these ceremonies.

NEW FOR 2025 – SONGWRITERS WHO WROTE AN ORIGINAL SONG FOR DOCUMENTARIES ARE NOW ABLE TO BE DRAFTED. ALL OTHER AWARDS FOR DOCUMENTARIES WILL STILL GO TO THE DOC.

Notable examples this year include Pharrell Williams (Piece by Piece), Diane Warren (Diane Warren: Relentless), and Kristen Wiig (Will & Harper).

What about Makeup, Sound, and Visual Effects?

It’s often difficult to determine the makeup supervisor, chief hairstylist, sound team leaders, and visual effects supervisor of films around draft time. Because of this, you are drafting the entire makeup & hairstyling (MUAH) team, sound team, or visual effects team for these movies. For example, you think that The Creator‘s visual effects will get a lot of points, so you would simply select VFX The Creator for your team.

All these categories are making my head spin.

Don’t worry, the site won’t let you break the starting lineup rules. And if you feel like your player should’ve earned points, just let us know at admin@redcarpetrosters.com.

SCORING

How does my team get points?

Scoring in Red Carpet Rosters will be computed each time nominations are announced and/or winners are announced. Players may only start at one position in any given week. Players will earn points for each nomination and win regardless of what those nominations and wins are. The Daniels won many awards for writing and directing Everything Everywhere All at Once. All points earned will count towards your team.

In general, each film, cast, and crew will receive points for each critics’ award, industry award, and Academy Awards.

What’s the difference between critics awards, industry awards, and the Academy Awards?

There are LOTS of national and regional film critics associations, and they often give end of the year film awards. These critics associations are coast to coast and everywhere in between. If they vote on awards, it’s likely they’re represented here.

Industry awards are other film groups and guild associations. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Director’s Guild of America (DGA), Independent Spirit Awards, and the Golden Reel Awards are examples of industry awards.

The Academy Awards, or the Oscars, are the main event, representing the pinnacle of film awards season.

How many points is a critics award vs. an industry award vs. an Academy award?

• The critics’ awards will earn 1 point per nomination plus a 1 point bonus for a win. For critics associations that only announce winners, two points will be awarded for each winner.
• The industry awards will earn 2 points per nomination plus a 2 point bonus for a win. (If a film is included in the AFI Top 10 films, four points will be awarded to that film.)
  • NEW FOR 2025 – The “Big Five” critics organizations will now count for 2 points, just like normal Industry awards. The Big Five include the Critics Choice Awards, New York, Los Angeles, National Board of Review, and National Society of Film Critics.
• Some Academy Award categories are “shortlisted.” This means that for that category, only the shortlisted have a chance of then being nominated. Those shortlisted crew and films will receive 1 point each. There are seven applicable categories that are shortlisted with the number of eligible films: Documentary (15), Score (15), Song (15), International (15), Makeup (10), Sound (10), and Visual Effects (10).
• NEW FOR 2024 – BAFTA shortlists are NOW counted for points. They call them longlists, but you get the idea. These long(short)listed players will receive 1 point each.
• The Academy Awards technical categories (Cinematography, Costume Design, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Score, Song, Production Design, Sound, and Visual Effects), animated, foreign/international, and documentary will earn 4 points per nomination plus a 4 point bonus for a win.
• Academy Award major categories (Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Original Screenplay, and Adapted Screenplay) will earn 6 points per nomination plus a 6 point bonus for a win.
• The Academy Award Best Picture will earn 8 points plus 8 point bonus for a win.

In some cases, no nominations are presented, so the winner will receive 2 points if critics and four points if industry. In some critics’ awards, winners are presented with runner(s)-up with no other nominations announced. The runner(s)-up will receive one point and the winner will receive two points. However, some critics awards announce nominations and THEN announce a runner-up and a winner. If prior nominations were announced, no extra points will go to the runner-up.

Is there a calendar of awards?

Yes. The calendar of awards will be updated on the Calendar of Awards page and in the “Ceremonies” section of your league page.

What happens if there is an awards announcement that wasn’t on the calendar?

This is much more common than you’d think. A lot of the regional critics associations conduct a vote and release their awards without alerting anyone else the day on which they announce them. This is one of the main reasons why starting lineups are set for the entire matchup. Nonetheless, “surprise announcements” as we like to call them are included in Red Carpet Rosters, and add a little bit of unexpected excitement to matchups. For example, two years ago the Iowa Critics Association announced on the LAST day of a matchup, resulting in enough of a point swing to change some outcomes! Sure, fantasy football has the advantage of pretty much knowing when the games are going to be played each week, but this is better than fantasy football. This is fantasy film awards.

Also, it’s quite common for announcements to change schedules. We roll with the punches at Red Carpet Rosters. One year, a regional critics group were victims of a hotel conference room double booking, so they had to postpone their vote. Not to mention the Satellite Awards postponing their announcement, placing it in another matchup. Generally, if a ceremony occurs within the matchup dates, that ceremony will be included for points.

How do I know when a ceremony’s points are reflected in my league?

If you click on “Ceremonies” and then navigate to the current matchup, you will see the current matchup schedule of ceremonies along with the awards they are handing out. If “DONE” appears before the date of the ceremony, that means all points from that ceremony have been entered, tabulated, and processed for your league’s teams. Sometimes, categories within ceremonies change. These points will still be valid, even if that category doesn’t appear in the Ceremonies section. As long as it’s a competitive award and not a special mention or lifetime achievement or similar, those points will be reflected in your league.

The maximum amount of time between ceremony announcements and those points being updated on Red Carpet Rosters is 24 hours.

Strategy

Okay, I’m sold. Let’s do this. Last question. How do I win?

Ah, the $10 million question! (Fun fact, it’s estimated Apple spent $10 million for CODA‘s Oscar campaign.)

You win by beating all the other managers who also want to win. Well, duh, but here are some important tips to give yourself an edge on your competition.

GROUP YOUR RANKINGS INTO TIERS

If you’ve ever done fantasy sports before, you know how important grouping players into tiers is. The same is true, but even more so, for Red Carpet Rosters. The concept of tiers simply means that there are natural groupings of players. If we ranked each player, the point difference between the, for example, first and second players is way different than the difference between the second and third players.

Having somewhat of a grasp on the tiers beforehand will help you in the draft. If it’s your turn to draft, and you can draft a top tier DIR/SCRN, ACTR, or ACTRS, do it. But don’t reach for that fourth Actor if he’s in the next tier. Instead, go after another top tier, even if it wasn’t your top choice. When you prepare for the draft, try to make your rankings into groups. Then when all of one group is selected you can concentrate on the next group, and so on.

DRAFT PLAYERS WITH MORE THAN ONE CATEGORY DESIGNATION

If you have first pick of the draft, you better be picking someone with that DIR-SCRN by their name. Anytime your player can get you multiple points per ceremony, you need to take that opportunity. Think Daniels last year with Everything Everywhere All at Once. Every single ceremony, they were pulling down a directing nomination/win and a writing nomination/win. That’s huge upside. Chloe Zhao three years ago with Nomadland is another example, but she also EDITED the movie, potentially getting THREE nominations/wins per ceremony. If you can identify those that can get you multiple awards in a single award announcement, you’ll gain a significant edge on the competition.

This just doesn’t include work on a single movie. Two years ago Jonny Greenwood only was nominated for an Oscar for scoring The Power of the Dog, but for a LOT of other ceremonies he was also getting nominations for scoring Spencer, and throw in a few for Licorice Pizza. The animated foreign documentary Flee nabbed THREE Oscar nominations, and pretty much was guaranteed to at least get three nominations/wins everywhere else.

And last tip regarding players with more than one category designation. The “below-the-line” categories don’t get you as many points as the “above-the-line” categories for a few reasons, the most major reason being that not all ceremonies even award some “below-the-line” categories but every single ceremony will award, say, Best Picture and Best Actress. If you can find someone that can fill a “below-the-line” slot in your starting lineup, that gives you a huge edge. Think Daniels as a DIR-SCRN-SONG, because they co-wrote an original song for the movie. Even though they didn’t get any awards at all for that particular song, points are points, and they can just camp out in your SCORE/SOUND/SONG/VFX slot.

Don’t get too fooled with multiple category designations though. They have to get points in general, so if you see someone with five categories but they worked on a movie that not many people have heard of, well, buyer beware.

DRAFT LIKE YOU’RE PREDICTING THE OSCARS

The entire regular season, with NINE matchups, is played before the Oscars can give your team any points whatsoever, and that’s assuming if you make the playoffs. So why in the world is it a good strategy to draft like I’m predicting the Oscars? Two reasons: One, you are probably a beginner, and it’s a very solid beginner strategy.

And two: There is considerable overlap between the Oscar buzzworthy films, with the cast members in them and the crew members behind the scenes, and all those precursor awards. Granted, over 1,000 films, cast, and crew got at least one fantasy point last year, but the big point earners were from films that were getting some Oscar buzz back in October when it was draft time. Sure a LOT can change between October and March, but don’t overthink it.

Plus, if you draft like you’re predicting the Oscars, all you have to do is make the playoffs, and you’ve already got a good advantage when the Oscars are starting to give you points.

On the other side of the coin, though, there are Oscar surprises that really don’t register anywhere else. Sure, if you drafted Andrea Riseborough from To Leslie, you’re happy on Oscar nomination Tuesday, but she barely registered anywhere else.

THE MIDDLE AND LATE ROUNDS OF THE DRAFT ARE ALL ABOUT VALUE

Your top four picks should be your core. Your middle and late round picks are value. Scour the prognosticators to find the diamond in the rough. A perfect example from two years ago is the Best Picture itself, CODA. The average draft position of CODA that year was in the NINTH round. That’s major value! It didn’t get a lot of points early in the regular season, but it gained a lot of momentum late. Not bad for a ninth round pick. Another example was Nicolas Cage for Pig. He became something of a sleeper pick to get an Oscar nomination, eventually getting snubbed, but he was also a late round pick for teams getting a whole bunch of regular season points for arguably his best performance of his career.

Speaking of snubs, there are always at least one actor and/or actress that gets a LOT of points in the regular season only to get snubbed when Oscar nominations come around. Recently, these included Nicolas Cage (Pig), Ruth Negga (Passing), Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems), Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers), Ethan Hawke (First Reformed), Danielle Deadwyler (Till), Viola Davis (The Woman King), and Charles Melton (May December). All later round picks. All good value, even if they didn’t get that elusive Oscar nomination. Your late round picks should be getting you points, but maybe not so far as an Oscar nomination.

Last year, Charlotte Wells (DIR-SCRN) with Aftersun had good late round value too, basically dominating the debut director points.

SPEAKING OF VALUE, “BREAKTHROUGH” OR “FIRST TIME” DIRECTORS, WRITERS, AND ACTORS HAVE VALUE AND ARE WORTHY OF A LATE ROUND PICK

Some awards, including the Director’s Guild, have a category of first time or breakthrough or youth performance or something like that. These may not necessarily get you Oscar nominations, but will certainly help you in the regular season. Charlotte Wells, with her directorial debut for Aftersun, is an excellent example of this. So is Celine Song (Past Lives) and Cord Jefferson (American Fiction.) Other notable names in recent years include Rebecca Hall (Passing), Regina King (One Night in Miami), Florian Zeller (The Father), and breakthrough actors and actresses such as Frankie Corio (Aftersun), Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza), Emilia Jones (CODA), and even Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog), although he was snagged pretty early.

SPEND A DRAFT PICK ON A TOP TIER COMPOSER

The starting slot SCORE/SOUND/SONG/VFX favors those with SCORE designation, because they are much more represented in ceremonies than the others. Last year, Michael Giacchino, Justin Hurwitz, and Andrew Volkermann were top tier. If your top tier composers are gone, go for one with upside and/or go after a SONG, but wait until late in the draft. VFX and SOUND are worthy additions late in the draft, but they should be treated as plug and plays. They’re more of a draft and stash.

DON’T SLEEP ON THE WAIVER WIRE

Ryusuke Hamaguchi went undrafted in most leagues two years ago, mostly because October is too early for foreign films, like Drive My Car, to generate a lot of Oscar buzz. However, he became the most valued waiver add, and if teams picked him up, it paid dividends.

Scouring the waiver wire will also help you with “plug and plays.” Maybe one matchup is heavy with sound awards, so you go and pick up a SOUND player. Those extra points can only help you.

VALUE BASED DRAFTING

This is a good strategy in fantasy sports, and it applies here too. This is the notion that it’s not about selecting the player that get a lot of points, it’s about selecting the player that get MORE points than your opponent. Flee is a good example of this for the ANI/INT/DOC category. It pretty much cleaned up everywhere. The difference between Flee and the second ANI/INT/DOC (which was Summer of Soul, by the way) who got the second most amount of points is quite large. Much larger than, say, the top two actors. Remember tiers? Flee was in a tier by itself.

THE FIRST MATCHUP IS WAY DIFFERENT THAN THE NINTH MATCHUP

Don’t let the first matchup, with many ceremonies going towards independent features and documentaries, get you down. Don’t overreact. If anything, those first ceremonies may hint at some good waiver wires additions, but don’t get too enamored with them. Many Gotham Awards nominees pick up steam in the awards season, but others do not.

YOU WILL DRAFT FILMS THAT HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN RELEASED TO THEATERS YET

And that’s okay. Don’t let that deter you. Instead, look at film festival buzz from the major film festivals. CODA premiered at Sundance. Films are eligible if they’re released by December, and you draft in October. Again, don’t let that deter you from picking up a December release.

LET OTHER PEOPLE DO THE HARD WORK FOR YOU

There are a lot of Oscar prognosticators out there, and drafting for the Oscars is a strong strategy. Here are some great resources to help you on draft night:

a. goldderby.com – The site is a little hard to navigate, but you’ll get nice rankings from experts, editors, and a combined ranking with user polls. These rankings also include “odds,” which might help with your tiers. Even so, it puts a lot of different opinions into one ranking. What’s also nice about this site, is they also do predictions for some other awards like SAG, Golden Globes, etc.

b. indiewire.com – This site isn’t solely dedicated to Oscars predictions, but they have a fair amount that are pretty good and insightful

c. nextbestpicture.com – They offer predictions, but we heavily rely on this site for the awards ceremonies results

d. awardswatch.com – One guy’s predictions that always offer some surprises

e. variety.com/t/awards-circuit – Variety bought AwardsCircuit, and they have some good insights too.

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