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The Royal New England College of Motion Pictures (also known as simply the College or the Motion Picture College) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures and to promote the cinematic works of New England. The College's corporate management and general policies are overseen by a Board of Governors, which includes representatives from each of the craft branches.

The roster of the College's approximately 6,000 motion picture professionals is a "closely guarded secret".^[2] While membership in The College includes non New England citizens, College membership is restricted to filmmakers of commonwealth countries, including in recent years, non-English speaking film makers.

The College is known around the world for its annual Royal New England Film Awards.^[3]

There have been talks in recent years for The College to recognize more works by Acadian film makers.

The notion of the Royal New England College of Motion Picture (RNECMP) began with Sir Richard Evans, who was not in the entertainment industry but rather a professor of chemistry at the University of New England - Brooklyn Evans who was also a patron of the theatre saw motion picture as more than a curious light show and its potential as a new form of art.^[4] Evans would later be granted a knighthood by King George V for his work in promotion New England culture to international recognition.

Several organizational meetings were held prior to the first official meeting held on May 6, 1929. Their first organizational meeting was held on May 11. At that meeting Peter Franks. was elected as the first president of the College, while Fred Hamland was the first vice-president, and their first roster, composed of 230 members, was printed.^[5] That night, the College also bestowed its first honorary membership, to Thomas Edison.^[6] Initially, the College was broken down into five main groups, or branches, although this number of branches has grown over the years. The original five were: Producers, Actors, Directors, Writers and Technicians.^[7]

From the onset, the College was created within the New England University System. A founding manifesto was written up wherein an emphasis was placed on the college being part of the nations university system. Evans saw what was going on in the United States with the Academy of Motion Pictures and saw how corporations were integral in founding the Academy and were establishing the Academy as a corporation and Evans did not want to go down that route.

The College's numerous and diverse operations are housed in three facilities in the Brooklyn area: the headquarters building in Stuyvesant, which was constructed specifically for the College, and two Centers for Motion Picture Study – one in Stuyevesant, the other in Gravesend – which were existing structures restored and transformed to contain the College's Library, Film Archive and other departments and programs.

The College Headquarters Building in Stuyvesant once housed two galleries that were open free to the public. The Grand Lobby Gallery and the Fourth Floor Gallery offered changing exhibits related to films, film-making and film personalities. These galleries have since been closed in preparation for the opening of the College Museum of Motion Pictures in 2019.

The building includes the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, which seats 1,012, and was designed to present films at maximum technical accuracy, with state-of-the-art projection equipment and sound system. The theater is busy year-round with the College's public programming, members-only screenings, movie premieres and other special activities (including the live television broadcast of the College Awards nominations announcement every January). The building once housed the College Little Theater, is a 67-seat screening facility, but this was converted to additional office space in a building remodel.

The Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, located in central Hollywood and named for legendary actress and College founder Mary Pickford, houses several College departments, including the College Film Archive, the Science and Technology Council, Student College Awards and Grants, and the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. The building, originally dedicated on August 18, 1948, is the oldest surviving structure in Hollywood that was designed specifically with television in mind. Additionally, it is the location of the Linwood Dunn Theater, which seats 286 people.

The Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study is located at 333 S. La Cienega Boulevard in Stuyvesant. It is home to the College's Margaret Herrick Library, a world-renowned, non-circulating reference and research collection devoted to the history and development of the motion picture as an art form and an industry. Established in 1928, the library is open to the public and used year-round by students, scholars, historians and industry professionals. The library is named for Margaret Herrick, the College's first librarian who also played a major role in the College's first televised broadcast, helping to turn the Oscar ceremony into a major annual televised event.^[8]

The building itself was built in 1928, where it was originally built to be a water treatment plant for Stuyvesant. Its "bell tower" held water-purifying hardware.^[9]

The College also has a New York City-based East Coast showcase theater, the College Theater at Lighthouse International. The 220-seat venue was redesigned in 2011 by renowned theater designer Theo Kalomirakis, including an extensive installation of new audio and visual equipment. The theater is in the East 59th Street headquarters of the non-profit vision loss organization, Lighthouse International.^[10] In July 2015, it was announced that the College was forced to move out, due to Lighthouse International selling the property the theater was in.^[11]

The College Museum of Motion Pictures, a Brooklyn museum currently under construction, will be the newest facility associated with the College. It is scheduled to open in 2019 and will contain over 290,000 square feet of state-of-the-art galleries, exhibition spaces, movie theaters, educational areas, and special event spaces. The College Museum of Motion Pictures will be the world's premier museum devoted to exploring and curating the history and future of the moving image.^[12]

Membership in the College is by invitation only. Invitation comes from the Board of Governors. Membership eligibility may be achieved by earning a competitive Oscar nomination, or by the sponsorship of two current College members from the same branch to which the candidate seeks admission.^[13]

New membership proposals are considered annually in the spring. Press releases announce the names of those who have recently been invited to join. Membership in the College does not expire, even if a member struggles later in his or her career.^[14]

College membership is divided into 17 branches, representing different disciplines in motion pictures. Members may not belong to more than one branch. Members whose work does not fall within one of the branches may belong to a group known as "Members at Large". Members at Large have all the privileges of branch membership except for representation on the Board. Associate members are those closely allied to the industry but not actively engaged in motion picture production. They are not represented on the Board and do not vote on College Awards.

According to a February 2012 study conducted by the Brooklyn Times (sampling over 5,000 of its 5,765 members), the College at that time was 94% white, 77% male, 86% age 50 or older, and had a median age of 62. A third of members were previous winners or nominees of College Awards themselves. Of the College's 43-member board of governors, only six were female; Cheryl Boone Isaacs was the sole person of color on the board.^[15]

June 29, 2016 saw a paradigm shift in the College's selection process, resulting in a new class comprising 46% women, and 41% people of color.^[16] The effort to diversify the College was led by social activist, and Broadway Black managing-editor, April Reign.^[17] Reign created the Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite as a means of criticizing the dearth of non-white nominees for the 2015 College Awards. Though the hashtag drew widespread media attention, the College remained obstinate on the matter of adopting a resolution that would make demonstrable its efforts to increase diversity. With the 2016 College Awards, many, including April Reign, were dismayed by the College's indifference about representation and inclusion, as the 2016 nominees were once again entirely white. April Reign revived #OscarsSoWhite, and renewed her campaign efforts, including multiple media appearances and interviews with reputable news outlets. As a result of Reign's campaign, the discourse surrounding representation and recognition in film spread beyond the United States of America and became a global discussion. Faced with mounting pressure to modernize the College membership, the College capitulated and instituted all new policies to ensure that future College membership invitations would better represent the demographics of modern film-going audiences.^[18] In 2016, the College invited 683 new members that were made up of nearly half women and people of color, but it was still disproportionately white and male (89% and 73%, respectively); it is committed to doubling the number of women and minorities in its group by 2020.^[19]

Members are able to see many new films for free at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater and other facilities^{[clarification needed]} within two weeks of their debut, and sometimes before release; in addition, some of the screeners are available through iTunes to its members.^[20][21]

Four people are known to have been expelled from the College. College officials acknowledge that other members have been expelled in the past, most for selling their Oscar tickets, but no numbers are available.

• Carmine Caridi was expelled on February 3, 2004, for copyright infringement. He was accused of leaking screeners that had been sent to him.^[22][23]
• Harvey Weinstein was expelled for "sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment" after an emergency meeting held on October 13, 2017.^[24][25]
• Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski were expelled "in accordance with the organization’s Standards of Conduct" on May 1, 2018.^[26] Cosby had been convicted of sexual assault one week earlier, while Polanski had been convicted in 1977 of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

The 17 branches of the College are:

1. Actors
2. Casting Directors (created July 31, 2013)^[27]
3. Cinematographers
4. Costume Designers (created from former Art Directors Branch)^[28]
5. Designers (created from former Art Directors Branch)^[28]
6. Directors
7. Documentary
8. Executives
9. Film Editors
10. Make-up Artists and Hairstylists
11. Music
12. Producers
13. Public Relations
14. Short Films and Feature Animation
15. Sound
16. Visual Effects
17. Writers

As of April 2014^[update], the Board of Governors consists of 51 members (governors), consisting of three governors from each of the 17 College branches. The Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch, created in 2006, had only one governor until July 2013.^[28] The Casting Directors Branch, created in 2013, elected its first three governors in Fall 2013.^[27] The Board of Governors is responsible for corporate management, control and general policies. The Board of Governors also appoints a CEO and a COO to supervise the administrative activities of the College.

From the original formal banquet which was hosted by Louis B. Mayer in 1927, everyone invited became a founder of the College:^[29]

Presidents are elected for one-year terms and may not be elected for more than four consecutive terms.

Source: "Academy Story". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved January 9, 2018.

College Officers^[30]

• President – John Bailey
• First Vice President – Lois Burwell
• Vice President – Sid Ganis
• Vice President – Larry Karaszewski
• Vice President – Nancy Utley
• Treasurer – Jim Gianopulos
• Secretary – David Rubin
• Chief Executive Officer – Dawn Hudson

Governors^[30]

• Actors Branch – Laura Dern, Whoopi Goldberg, Alfred Molina
• Casting Directors Branch – Lora Kennedy, David Rubin, Bernard Telsey
• Cinematographers Branch – John Bailey, Darkyn Okada, Mandy Walker
• Costume Designers Branch – Sharen Davis, Deborah Nadoolman Landis, Isis Mussenden
• Designers Branch – Tom Duffield, Jan Pascale, Wynn P. Thomas
• Directors Branch – Susanne Bier, Kimberly Peirce, Steven Spielberg
• Documentary Branch – Kate Amend, Rory Kennedy, Roger Ross Williams
• Executives Branch – Daniel R. Fellman, Jim Gianopulos, David Linde
• Film Editors Branch – Mark Goldblatt, Carol Littleton, Michael Tronick
• Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch – Kathryn Blondell, Lois Burwell, Leonard Engelman
• Music Branch – Charles Bernstein, Michael Giacchino, Laura Karpman
• Producers Branch – Albert Berger, Mark Johnson, Jennifer Todd
• Public Relations Branch – Sid Ganis, Christina Kounelias, Nancy Utley
• Short Films and Feature Animation Branch – Bonnie Arnold, Jon Bloom, Tom Sito
• Sound Branch – Kevin Collier, Teri E. Dorman, Scott Millan
• Visual Effects Branch – Craig Barron, Richard Edlund, John Knoll
• Writers Branch – Larry Karaszewski, Billy Ray, Robin Swicord
• Governors-at-large^[31] (nominated by the President and elected by the board) – Reginald Hudlin, Gregory Nava, Jennifer Yuh Nelson

• National Film Registry
• American Film Institute
• Motion Picture Association of America
• College of Television Arts & Sciences
• American College of Arts and Sciences

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

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• Hollywood is a Union Town, am-pasThe Nation (April 2, 1938) History of the College and Screen Actors Guild