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Anything that happens after this date is irrelevant to the DGA in choosing their nominees (i.e. if someone were to mess up or present themselves in an unfavorable spot in their campaign). Now potential winners, that's a different story.
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The New York Film Critics Circle is always the first body to announce their winners, they usually kickstart awards season. Their picks sometimes don't mean a whole lot, but they're the first so you have to look at what they pick as somewhat influential
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The Los Angeles Film Critics Association are one of the only critics groups that can kickstart a film's awards chances/momentum. They're known for their often "out of left field" choices. For example, their winner for Best Actress is usually always a foreign language performance. They also usually have many ties in different races.
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The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations are key in figuring out who has the best chance of being nominated for the upcoming Oscars. The Actors are the biggest branch in the Academy, so a lot of the nominees that are represented here, repeat with the Academy Awards.
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The Globes aren't as big of an indicator as the SAG awards, however they are still a major award. The Globes have been known to nominate throwaway films like The Tourist, or Alice and Wonderland, but they have started winning momentum for soon to be winners such as Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained, and Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady.
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12 Years A Slave racked up the most nominations here. This group will most definitely add a lot of wind to its sails.
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By this point the voters' picks for winners are due
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Members of the Academy must begin voting on nominees. This voting is restricted to members within that category (ex: Actors vote on acting categories, producers on picture, directors on director, etc).
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The Producers Guild is a good indicator to what pictures will be nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture.
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The Writies Guild of America nominations can be key to factoring what screenplays will be nominated at the Oscars.
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The Directors Guild of America nominations are not only important in factoring potential Director nominees for the Oscars, but also what the top films will be overall. Films that receive director nominations usually receive complimentary picture nominations, and major support in acting/tech categories.
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The Bafta nominations can be telling of what support the films will get from the "British contingent" within the Academy at large.
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The first of the many televised awards shows to come. It's important not only to see who has winning momentum, but acceptance speeches are seen as that hopeful's way to charm voters and begin their "campaign angle".
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The big day. By this point the voters have nominated the nominees from their respective categories. Winners will be voted on from all members of the Academy
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Tilda Swinton went the whole season under the radar, and then won the BAFTA and soon she was an unstoppable force for the Supporting Actress Oscar. Marion Coltillard is another example of someone who was an underdog, and support from the British contingent was enough for a last minute surge. Wins are important; they reveal which guild supports which nominee, which is important.
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Winners at the SAG awards often repeat at the Oscars. The award for Best Acting Ensemble is also seen as the "Best Picture award", and is a good laurel to have going into the race.
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Last year's winner was Argo, and the year before that was The Artist, and before that was The King's Speech... all who would later win Best Picture at the Oscars.
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The winner of this award is not only a safe pick for the Oscar, but for Best Picture nomination too. Splits in Picture and Director are very rare.
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If a film is really beloved, it'll take a lot of the major categories. Screenplay can be one of the many a film can sweep up. The guild awards preview what will probably win at the Oscars.
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This a chance for the nominees to make an impression on the voting members and the press. The nominees will come out and answer questions from the press. Someone who isn't cold or awkward is always a better potential winner, though sometimes the performance will overpower any other mishaps during the season.
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By this point, the winners have been chosen; voting is now closed
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That's all folks!
