Academy Has Fewer Seats, More Ticket Requests

   The move of the Academy Awards back to Hollywood and into the new Kodak Theatre is causing Academy officials more ticketing headaches than usual.
   Academy President Frank Pierson said, “There’s a huge interest in seeing the new theater and … that’s good. But it also means that, even with more good seats available than we used to have at the Chandler Pavilion, we’re having to send out more turn-down letters this year.”
   The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles Music Center, where the Academy Awards were held 26 times in recent history, could seat about 2,700 for the Oscars. The other Oscar site, the Shrine Auditorium, could seat 5,600 when configured for the Oscars, though the Academy left the farthest reaches of the vast top balcony empty to seat about 4,000 guests.
   The Kodak seats 3,300, but with broadcast-related “seat-kills” that number is reduced to closer to 3,100.
   Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis said that about 275 members would be receiving disappointing news in the mail. “We did pretty well by members who were willing to take top balcony seats,” he said, “but for those who only wanted the prime orchestra or mezzanine seating, it was brutal. The lottery drum looked as full this year when we finished it as it looks most years before we start.”
   Pierson offered little hope that the situation might improve next year. “To some extent, I’m sure this is a first year phenomenon,” he said. “But next year is our 75th Anniversary show, and we expect there will be more than the usual interest as well.”