An Oscar ceremony with Beyoncé and Taylor Swift? What television producer wouldn’t want two of the biggest names in entertainment gracing the red carpet for the 96th Academy Awards? But despite two upcoming concert films from the megastars — “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” — neither are eligible to submit or compete for an Academy Award nomination for documentary feature, or any technical category, under the current guidelines.

Per the Academy’s bylaws, the Documentary Branch defines a documentary film as “a theatrically released nonfiction motion picture dealing creatively with cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, economic or other subjects. It may be photographed in actual occurrence, or may employ partial reenactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not on fiction.”

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.

The Special Rules Section,...