How much credit does Apple deserve for CODA's Academy Awards?

Apple brought it to the masses, but there's a fine line between distributor and artist.

- DAVID PRICE

The creative arts have long had a troubled relationship with money. Somewhere along the line, you have to suck up to somebody with a checkbook, whether it's the local banking dynasty or a bunch of Patreon subscribers. Most artists don't have the power to tell their backers, as Ben Affleck does in Shakespeare in Love, "You may remain, as long as you remain silent. Pay attention, and you will see how genius creates a legend."

Affleck's financier timidly refers to himself as "the money," but such reticence is rare in real life. Most patrons of the arts use the exercise to publicize themselves, promote their favorite causes, or art-wash their past. If they didn't stand to benefit, why would they cough up the cash in the first place? For disinterested love of the arts? Get out of here.

This brings us to Apple, whose angle when it comes to financing filmmaking seems more straightforward: It provides the funds for movies and TV shows to be made, then in return it gets to distribute them exclusively via its subscription-based TV+ streaming service (fave.co/3Jjztap). The in-house Apple Studios has a ton of shows and movies planned, but only a handful have been released (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey is the most notable) and none of them has been eligible for awards yet.