WHEN THE 86TH Academy Awards air tonight, those watching will have little idea of the painstaking efforts put into every tiny aspect of the ceremony.
Down to the red seals on the back of the 24 winning envelopes.
While we only get to see the outside of a golden envelope, presenters get to see much more than just a winner’s name.
The envelope and inside nominee card were simple cream pieces of paper up until four years ago when the Academy hired Marc Friedland, CEO of Couture Communications, to liven up the stationery.
The old-style envelopes and cards back in 2002. (YouTube: Oscars)
Since then, the winner’s names are housed inside a golden envelope.
Business Insider spoke with Friedland to find out more about the creation of the envelopes.
Three set of 24 envelopes and 121 nominee cards will be made for this year’s Academy Awards.
To us, they’ll look a little like this.
But the presenters will see it from this side.
Friedland says it takes 110 man hours to create all 72 envelopes and 363 nominee cards.
Multiple sets are made in case of an emergency at the ceremony.
Here’s a closer look at the finished product. There are little Oscar trophies lining the inside of the envelope.
The card tucked inside also hold the presenter’s script for announcing the award (including producers’ names etc.)
The ‘pwc’ seal on the envelope are the initials for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accountancy firm that tallies the votes.
The finished product.
What happens to them after? They are kept by the winners.
Friedland says the nominee cards that aren’t selected as winners get destroyed so they don’t turn up on auction sites such as eBay.
Have you not nerded out enough? This video should do it:
(YouTube: Marc Friedland)
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