On Tuesday, February 22nd, in a letter to Academy voters, AMPAS president David Rubin, announced the following catagories would be presented in the Dolby Theatre one hour before the telecast was to begin:
Best Documentary Short-Subject
Best Editing
Best Make-Up & Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Production Design
Best Short Film (Live-Action)
Best Short Film (Animated)
Best Sound

Mr. Ruben's letter states that they plan on weaving the presentations smoothly into the telecast because the upper echelons are conscious of 'equity' and the 'indispensability' of every category... uhaaaa, no. Sorry, that's a hard one for movie lovers to believe. Why? After last year's embarrassing telecast, one could accuse those who are in charge of honoring movie making with not appreciating filmmakers or their craft.

Mr. Rubin's letter talks about making the show "more entertaining and more thrilling," — yes, filmmakers are entertainers. Yes, the Academy Awards is a celebration of movies. Yes, we want everyone to enjoy the show... and that definitely will NOT happen when the art of filmmaking gets sidelined in lieu of advertising and gimmicks. This concept applies to every single profession: when the central focus gets diluted, the whole suffers. Movie lovers are painfully aware that the Academy is dealing with the dilemma of extensive running time and decreasing viewership, yet short changing the filmmakers is the worse way to address the problem. 

Consider the following: the current plan is to edit in the presentations that will happen off camera. The irony is that Best Editing won't get presented live. Last year, the five songs were performed before the show began (some were disappointed with this), however the Oscars honors filmmaking, not musical performances. Therefore, doesn't seem strange that this year's Best Song musical performances will be incorporated into the telecast, but the composers for Best Score get bumped? For all the actresses that will be getting made up for the evening, please ask the people who will be doing your hair and makeup their opinion about Best Make-up & Hairstyling getting presented outside of the telecast. For all those indie filmmakers who may not have seen the fifteen shorts, do they have any thoughts about the low-budget shorts getting placed outside of the telecast? Finally, it would be interesting to ask all the stagehands, who are right now conceptualizing and constructing the set-pieces for the show, their opinion about Best Production Design getting cut?

The theme of the 2022 show is Movie Lovers, Unite. Therefore, we shall.

To ABC, the advertisers, the Academy voters, the maintenance staff of the Dolby, the security, the gift shop clerks, and the guy making a coffee run down to the Starbucks in Hollywood & Highland... every single one of you are tasked with the honor of celebrating America's premiere art form. There are countless other ways to solve this problem, and we strongly caution you against slighting the filmmakers in attempt to increase viewership.

Honor the craft, honor the artists, honor the history, and you will bring forth a massive audience. Sideline them, as you are now... and movie lovers will begin to lose faith in you.