Thank Yous Banned from Oscar Acceptance Speeches

This year’s Oscar broadcast could be a lot less boring as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday that acceptance speeches can no longer contain the endless lists of “thank yous” that have become a staple at the awards ceremony.

At the annual Oscar nominee luncheon in Beverly Hills on Monday, the Academy announced that for the first time, all nominees would submit written lists of those they wish to thank that will then be displayed on screens at the Dolby Theatre and on viewers’ screens at home.

“As you probably are aware, and we don’t want to embarrass anybody, but there is a long list of winners who have totally forgotten their directors, their husbands, their wives, their children and their animals,” producer David Hill said, according to the Independent. “It’s a permanent record which could be kept, even framed and kept in the family forever. How cool is that?!”

Acceptance speeches were capped at 45 seconds beginning in 2010. The new move allows the Academy to skip past what is traditionally the most boring part of any Oscars ceremony, and nominees will be under less pressure to remember every single producer or associate they ever worked with.

While the new policy will help cut down on famously long speeches like those from Dallas Buyers Club winner Matthew McConaughey and Monster’s Ball‘s Halle Berry, it could also deprive viewers of some of the most memorable Oscars moments ever, like Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s acceptance speech at the 1997 Oscars:

Joe Pesci, however, is unlikely to be affected.