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In less than 20 days, millions of people from around the world will be eagerly watching as Hollywood hosts its biggest party of the year, the Academy Awards.

And why should I be watching when the Oscars were created to be the film industry’s most self-indulging event, an award created to be given to themselves for simply doing what they’re already paid millions to do?

For those who don’t know, the Academy Awards started in 1929 as a small event open to the public. There were no bleachers set up for the arrivals or even radio stations to broadcast the first event. Winners were announced months in advance, and there was no frenzied atmosphere of who was going to win or what an actress was going to wear.

It started when a small group of filmmakers decided that they needed to create an award to honor themselves and draw more attention to their industry. Believe it or not, there were only five voting members in the Academy at that time, and coincidentally, most of those five received the majority of the first seven awards.

That time-honored tradition of self-congratulation continues today. Martin Scorsese, nominated for “Gangs of New York” this year, and Spike Lee, for example, are both excellent directors who have had a lifetime of amazing films, but both are New York-centric filmmakers as well. Neither has ever taken home an Oscar – and quite likely never will. The history of the awards have shown that the giant L.A. clique likes to keep Oscar to themselves rather than share him with East Coast outsiders.

Granted, Scorsese had the misfortune of making films in years when great actor-directors made theirs. In 1981 Scorsese lost the award to the great director Robert Redford. In 1991 he again lost the award to the great director Kevin Costner.

But there’s hope this year because Scorsese is not competing with actor-directors, such as Denzel Washington, Nicholas Cage or George Clooney. He got lucky, and it didn’t hurt that Miramax head Harvey Weinstein, a West Coast mogul who defeated Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” with the best picture win for “Shakespeare in Love,” is using his publicity muscle on Scorsese’s behalf.

So when the red carpet gets rolled out three Sundays from now, root for your favorites, but put your money on the Westsider. And never, ever, take seriously an award centered around the golden statuette of a librarian’s uncle.

Yu will be hosting his own awards show the same night. Winners will receive a copper statuette of his Uncle Dennis.

E-mail him at cjyu@media.ucla.edu for details.