Many Oscar pundits, film bloggers, and long-time industry soothsayers predict what will be nominated for Academy Awards each year -- and their prognostication begins almost as soon as the previous Oscar ceremony has finished its broadcast! Most studios don't have their entire release schedule in place, many potential films don't have a distributor, and some films will be delayed due to a myriad of problems (financing, re-shooting, etc.). Since this often seems sheer folly and a waste of time to those outside the industry, what might  be the possible motivation or purpose for such forecasting by so many?

     (a) It's fun.
     (b) It's a way of looking ahead at the coming year's film releases.
     (c) It allows for competitive use of Oscar history and its award patterns.
     (d) Each prognosticator thinks they can outwit each other.
     (e) All of the above.

My answer would be (e). I've been doing this for a long time -- and it is most definitely fun. But you also have to know where to get your information. A reader of Variety and The Hollywood Reporter for decades, I gleaned most of my information from those publications in the early days regarding film production, release dates, casting, crew, distributors, and reviews. I also made phone calls to studio PR departments or arranged meetings or phone calls with film critics to get specific information that I, as an outsider, did not have. Now, with virtual accessibility to all this information, I don't have to work as hard. The days of having to pick up hard copies of the Daily Variety from its New York office or picking up Hollywood Reporters in Times Square are long over -- but it was always exciting to peruse each issue and discover . . .