“Captain Phillips” screenwriter Billy Ray has won a runoff election with “The People vs. Larry Flynt” writer Larry Karaszewski for the final seat representing the Writers Branch on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors, the Academy announced on Friday.
The two were among the four candidates for the seat in the recent AMPAS board election. After only the second tie in Academy board-election history, a re-vote was held between July 16 and July 22.
Ray will serve a three-year term on the board, whose first order of business is to elect a president from among its 51 members. Public Relations Branch governor and sitting president Cheryl Boone Isaacs is expected to win re-election.
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The AMPAS board consists of three representatives from each of the organization’s 17 branches. For the coming term, a record 17 governors, one-third of the board, are women.
In addition to writing “Captain Phillips” and “The Hunger Games,” Ray recently wrote and directed the upcoming “Secret in Their Eyes,” a remake of the 2009 Oscar-winning Argentinian film by Juan Jose Campanella. Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in Ray’s version, which will be released in October.
Phil Robinson and Robin Swicord are the two other governors representing the Writers Branch.