Have you ever wondered who the power players really are on the awards circuit and how they stack up this time of year? Are you curious to dive deep on the industry side of things to discover just how that element of the Hollywood machinery operates? Then HitFix’s inaugural Oscar Power List is right up your alley.

With all the other “power lists” you find in magazines and online surveying this or that cross-section of the industry, we at HitFix recognized an opportunity to shed more light on this sliver of the film business. Power brokers, influential artists, intrepid businessmen and women and creative strategists populate the Oscar landscape and each of them are cogs in a massive wheel that turns with purpose each and every fall. Many of them our non-industry readers have heard of, others lurk behind the scenes and out of the spotlight, but all of them are of value.

With the HitFix Oscar Power List, we’ve counted down the top 30 names on the circuit. We’ve used a rubric of influence, pedigree and relevance to dictate the list and the ultimate order. As the business changes and the circuit evolves, we certainly expect the shape of the list to morph over the years, but this is a snapshot of the Oscar world for December 2013.

So without further ado, we give you HitFix’s 2013 Oscar Power List.