2016-2017 Build By Guild: How to Create a Best Picture Nominee

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It’s baaaaack!

The Build By Guild: How to Create a Best Picture Nominee chart is up and running once again. We know what it takes to get nominated by each of the individual branches of the Academy but it’s always helpful to know what the guilds are supporting first. Not only does it keep something in the running or out in front (or even give us a dark horse) but since there is some crossover between some guilds and Academy members it can give us a real barometer of what to expect. For a look at last year’s model go here.

Don’t forget to bookmark the 2016/2017 Awards Calendar to know when these guilds announce. Four of them are this weekend, the last weekend before the Oscars: the Cinema Audio Society (CAS), the Makeup and Hairstyling Guild (MUAH), the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The Costume Designers Guild (CDG) is the final guild of the season, they announce on February 21st.

UPDATE: Now that the Oscar nominations have been announced, this becomes How to Create a Best Picture WINNER.

Here is the breakdown in tier form of the race as I see it, based on guild support and a little bit of intuition-based prediction. Placements are subject to change as more guilds announce their winners.

Tier 1

La La Land – ACE, ADG, ASC, CAS, CDG, CSA, DGA, MPSE, PGA, WGA

Moonlight – ACE, ASC, CSA, DGA, PGA, SAG, WGA

Manchester by the Sea – ACE, ADG, CSA, DGA, PGA, SAG, WGA

Tier 2

Arrival – ACE, ADG, CSA, DGA, MPSE, PGA, WGA

Hidden Figures – ADG, CDG, CSA, MPSE, PGA, SAG, WGA

Lion – ADG, ASC, CDG, CSA, DGA, MPSE, PGA

Tier 3

Fences – SAG, PGA, WGA, ADG

Hacksaw Ridge – ACE, ADG, CAS, MPSE, PGA

Hell or High Water – ACE, ADG, CSA, MPSE, PGA, WGA

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Legend

ACE – American Cinema Editors

ADG – Art Directors Guild

ASC – American Society of Cinematographers

CAS – Cinema Audio Society

CDG – Costume Designers Guild

CSA – Casting Society of America

DGA – Directors Guild of America

MPSE – Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild

PGA – Producers Guild of America

SAG – Screen Actors Guild of America

WGA – Writers Guild of America

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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