Logies envelopes under scrutiny as staging annual awards hits $5m mark

IN THE week of the most memorable Oscars in history, Australia’s major television minds have already turned their attention to ensuring next month’s Logie Awards — runs without incident.

IN THE week of the most memorable Oscars in history, Australia’s major television minds have already turned their attention to ensuring that the local industry’s night of nights — next month’s Logie Awards — runs without incident.

Much is at stake. In TV-land, the Logies represent a rare splurge during the industry’s toughest times financially, when in-house accountants are counting every paperclip to ensure no waste.

But in the face of this penny-pinching, the Logies spending machine is already in full swing, and it is giving network financial controllers migraines.

The Logies circus is on the horizon, with TV Week again covering the cost, among other things, of staging the red carpet splurge. Picture: Tim Carrafa

The Saturday Telegraph understands $5 million will be splurged on the big night by the major TV networks and the awards owner, TV Week.

This includes flights, hotels and afterparties, as well as the cost to Nine and TV Week of telecasting the ceremony, gathering reader votes and staging the red carpet.

In cash-strapped times, is it worth it? Network marketing departments say yes.

They argue the awards generate many times the money spent back in free promotion and that the platform of winning the Gold Logie transforms mere network personalities into big names.

Witness the rapid rise in profile of The Project’s Carrie Bickmore and Waleed Aly since their Gold Logie wins in 2015 and 2016.

Media strategist Steve Allen agrees. He puts the total value of the Logies publicity each year at a whopping $20 million.

Carrie Bickmore kisses her Gold Logie at Crown Palladium in 2015.

Waleed Aly poses with the Gold Logie for Best Personality last year.

Allen says the red carpet shots of network stars in newspapers and magazines, the halo effect of awards for marquee network shows (often promoted for the full year), and Nine’s telecast itself, all add up for the networks.

“If you’re from Seven or Ten, getting your shows exposed favourably on a rival network like Nine is gold,” Allen says.

The biggest single expense to networks is in the military-style operation of rounding up its people.

There is getting the network’s top stars and executives to the event (including mass bookings on airlines), putting them up in top hotels and running separate afterparties at various nightclubs.

That cost alone will add up to about $2 million across Nine, Seven, Ten, the ABC, Foxtel and TV Week.

Nine and TV Week have booked rooms at the Logies venue, Melbourne’s Crown Towers, well into the future. Seven will this year put its non-Melbourne stars up at the ritzy Langham, while Ten will use Crown Promenade.

The commercial networks will all set up makeshift hair and make-up salons and wardrobe departments at their hotels. One network, for example, will take out two hotel suites to make a super salon, containing three or four hair and make-up places and other services.

We hear that due to unfortunate timing, Seven will face added logistical issues in getting its stars to Melbourne this year with two shows, 800 Words and Wanted, filming in New Zealand at the time.

Nine wears the $1.5 million cost of telecasting the event, while TV Week pays the costs for voting, ticketing, the red carpet and media wall.

Given the Oscars fiasco, will an accounting firm be involved in the Logies? A spokeswoman says yes. But not PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Instead, Ernst & Young has the gig. Thankfully, the accountants will not hand out any envelopes. That job will fall to “three senior producers”, who will triple-check the envelopes before giving them to presenters.

No pressure, guys.

OSCARS BUNGLE A WIN-WIN FOR PWC

THIS week, PricewaterhouseCoopers US partner Brian Cullinan destroyed forever the image of accountants as cardigan-wearing bean counters — and catapulted them into the ranks of global super-villains.

Never before could an accountant have dreamed of outshining the biggest movie stars on Hollywood’s night of nights at the Oscars.

Mayhem ensues behind Fred Berger, producer of La La Land, as he gave an acceptance speech for the award that never was at this week’s Oscars. Picture: AP

PWC reps Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan enter the awards with their locked bags of envelopes, knowing not the fiasco that was shortly to unfold. Picture: AFP

But Emma Stone and Meryl Streep were totally overshadowed by the tweeting accountant. There is even talk he could soon be making his own movie: The Strife of Brian.

Happily for PwC, most experts think the lasting damage to the brand will be minimal, apart from jokes and internet memes. Brand expert Adam Ferrier even thinks the incident could help find more business.

“They won’t lose one account­. If anything, I think it helps PwC’s brand. Everyone now knows that it is the auditor of the Oscars whereas no one knew ­before — so congratulations­ to PwC.”

Being a good accountant, Ferrier argues, has nothing to do with envelope management. “Why would the Oscars have partners from PwC hand out envelopes?

One accountant screwed up by handing over the wrong envelope at an awards ceremony­. But that’s got nothing to do with their core competency.”

Instead, he blames the organisers.

“The Academy should have said: ‘You guys are auditors. You’re not stage managers or producers’.

“They’re in the award ceremony business and they screwed up.”