None of the measures will affect voting for this year's Oscars - a contest whose dearth of racial diversity led to the revival of the trending Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite that emerged in 2015.

The moves were hailed by Kevin Tsujihara, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. and an Academy member himself, who said in a statement, "The changes being made by AMPAS are a great step toward broadening the diversity and inclusivity of the Academy, and, by extension, the industry". As part of the plan, the Academy promises to double its number of women and minority members by 2020.

Boone Isaacs said the new measures will "begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition".

Beginning later this year, each new member's voting status will last 10 years, and will be renewed if that new member has been active in motion pictures during that decade.

The Academy, which just announced changes to its voting rules after two straight years in which all 20 acting nominees were white, is not in the business of conducting a popularity contest.

Three new seats will be added to the Academy's board of governors to improve diversity in leadership, while voting rights will be stripped from those who have not been active in the industry for the past decade.

NPR's Neda Ulaby reports that the academy called an emergency meeting on Thursday night in response to threats of boycotts against this year's awards ceremony.

Three new governors will also be appointed to the group's board. The Executive Board, which now consists of 51 people, will be enlarged to include three new members.

"This will allow new members an opportunity to become more active in Academy decision-making and help the organization identify and nurture future leaders", the release stated. Are we going to do the right thing?

The landmark decision comes after a number of Hollywood celebrities criticised the Academy for failing to recognise people of colour in four of its acting categories for the second consecutive year. -Gil Robertson, president of the African-American Film Critics Association, in an interview.

High-profile performers and creators like Spike Lee, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith are boycotting this year's ceremonies, and everyone from George Clooney to Robert Redford has commented on the larger movie industry's approach to diversity and advocacy in recent weeks.

Early reaction to the changes from academy members was mainly positive though some stipulated that all new members should be held to the same standard as current members.

"I'm a voting Oscar member [and] I nominated Idris Elba for [his] great performance in Beasts [of No Nation]", she told her followers on Saturday.

"You can never know for sure, but maybe black actors did not deserve to be in the final selection", Rampling told Europe 1 radio, speaking in French.

You can't just say, 'I'm going to vote for him.

Members vote for people that they think should get an Oscar, so by having more non-white members it's hoped more non-white actors and filmmakers will be nominated.

"We all kind of looked at each other and said, 'We need to step this up, ' " she said.