Film Independent Moves to Gender-Neutral Categories and Increased Budget Caps for the 2023 Spirit Awards

Film Independent’s Spirit Awards, or the “alt rock Oscars” as I like to refer to it, has a long history of celebrating films that go unrecognized by other awards bodies and making socially conscious decisions that reflect the world of making movies and television.

To that end, Film Independent announced that they’ll be moving to gender-neutral acting categories for the 2023 Spirit Awards. This move will encompass both film and television. Film Independent also announced that the budget cap for eligible films has increased to $30 million due to rising production costs, with the budget cap for the John Cassavetes Award now at $1 million.

“We’re thrilled to join the other festivals and award shows that are already moving to celebrate great acting without reference to gender. We’re also happy to welcome non-binary performers into the Spirit Awards without forcing them to choose to identify as male or female. Additionally, it has been a long time since we substantially increased the budget limit for eligibility. This new cap allows us to continue to celebrate the same breadth of work that we have in the past.”

— Film Independent President Josh Welsh

In moving to gender-neutral categories, the Spirit Awards joins other awards shows such as The Grammys, The Gotham Awards, The British Independent Film Awards, and the MTV Movie & TV Awards, to name a few.

The newly-revamped performance categories will be called Best Lead Performance, Best Supporting Performance, Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series, and will feature 10 nominees in each category.

That’s not all, though. There are two new awards: Best Breakthrough Performance, and Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series. The former will be the only gender-neutral category with 5 nominees, as the latter category has 10 nominees.

In addition to the move to gender-neutral categories, Film Independent has increased the budget cap to $30 million to account for the rising cost of production for eligible films. For the John Cassavetes Award, the cap has been increased from $500K to $1 million. This marks one of the biggest budget cap jumps in the organization’s recent history, as the budget gap was raised from $20 million to $22.5 million in 2019.

Given that the effects of the COVID pandemic have still been felt by filmmakers and the industry, the organization has once again waived its theatrical release eligibility requirement.

The 2023 Spirit Awards film nominees will be announced virtual on November 22nd, 2022. Television nominations will be announced on December 13th, 2022. The 2023 Spirit Awards ceremony will take place on March 4th, 2023, in the midst of final voting for the 95th Oscars.

So, what does this mean? For starters, it’s a great move by Film Independent to become even more inclusive than they already are.

Furthermore, the increased budget cap means films that wouldn’t be eligible under the old cap like Everything Everywhere All At Once (budget of $25 million), Marry Me ($23 million) and streaming films like Cha Cha Real Smooth, The Fallout, Fire Island, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Mija, and many others (assuming these films cost less than $30 million to produce).

Until next time!

Thanks to Thomas Stoneham-Judge from Movies For Reel, Shane Conto, Joseph Davis, David Walters, Ambula Bula, Matthew Simpson, Thom Blackburn, Aaliyah, Libby Stephenson, Destiny, and Roze for supporting Austin B Media on Patreon!