Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” is less a movie about the murderous Manson family than it is a homage to Tinseltown itself, every scene a love letter to the Los Angeles of a half century ago. With the film earning 10 nominations up and down the Oscar ballot, it is fair to ask: Does Hollywood love films about itself?

After all, early in the last decade, there were back-to-back best picture victories for films centered on making movies. “The Artist” (2011) won using precious few words to tell the story of a pair of actors struggling to make the transition from silents to talkies. A year later, “Argo” (2012) took the crown for its based-on-real-life tale of C.I.A. agents working with silver-screen producers to camouflage a dangerous mission as an innocent motion picture. And for years, awards-season pundits have repeated the old saw that the academy votes for films that remind voters of themselves.

Yet, an analysis of all 91 best picture winners reveals only two (as previously noted) with major plot points about filmmaking. If this analysis is expanded to all 563 best picture nominees, only nine fit the bill: “Once Upon a Time,” “The Artist” and “Argo,” along with the 1937 version of “A Star Is Born,” “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), “All That Jazz” (1979), “The Aviator” (2004), “Hugo” (2011) and “La La Land” (2016). (The 2018 rendition of “A Star Is Born” swapped out film stars for pop stars and the other versions weren’t nominated for best picture.)