MPAA bans Oscar screeners

[FeeReep]

I don't give a shit about the Oscars, or pretty much any award show that wins awards from other award shows. But I do care about independent filmmaking. The following article (courtesy of ew.com) runs down the latest asanine decision by the Motion Picture Association of America. Can't they just prosecute 8-year-old girls like their counterparts in the music industry?

Screener Pastures
by Gary Sussman

This year's race for Oscar nominations may have ended on Sept. 30. That was the day the Motion Picture Association of America made official its ban on year-end ''screeners,'' the tens of thousands of DVDs and VHS tapes of movies sent to Oscar voters and other awards juries who can't -- or won't -- see the films in theaters.

MPAA president Jack Valenti said that the ban's intent is to stem piracy, but smaller distributors who depend on screeners to expose their hard-to-find films to voters say the move will hurt their Oscar chances and favor the major studios. In other words, voters could shift their favor toward widely distributed movies (like ''The Alamo'' and ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'') and ignore those playing on markedly fewer screens (like ''Lost in Translation,'' or this fall's buzzed-about drama ''House of Sand and Fog''). In earlier years, such a policy might have kept stars in little-seen movies -- like ''The Pianist'''s Adrien Brody or ''Pollock'''s Marcia Gay Harden -- from picking up Oscars.

Actually, it's not quite that simple. A lot of the ''independent'' boutique distributors that are complaining are actually divisions of the major studios. Truly independent studios, who are not MPAA members and therefore not bound by its rules, will still be able to send out screeners, while movies that played early in the year will also be unaffected because they'll have been released on home video anyway. Here's a rundown of who the ban will actually help and hurt.

WINNERS
The major studios Hollywood's big studios -- Disney, MGM, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros. -- as well as New Line and DreamWorks have the ad money and distribution power not to have to worry so much about not being able to send screeners. Movies in wide release at the end of the year -- this year, that'll include ''Return of the King,'' ''The Alamo,'' ''The Last Samurai,'' ''Mona Lisa Smile,'' and ''Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World'' -- are the ones voters are likely to see first. And it's those blockbusters that are most in need of the protection from piracy that the ban is meant to provide.

The true independents Unaffiliated distributors like Lions Gate, Newmarket, and Magnolia can still send out screeners of movies like ''Whale Rider,'' ''Girl With a Pearl Earring,'' and ''Capturing the Friedmans.''

Early releases Oscar hopefuls that came out earlier in the year, like ''Seabiscuit'' or ''Bend It Like Beckham,'' will already be available on home video anyway. Plus, if voters buy or rent these DVDs, they'll get all the commentary and extras, which screener versions (which contain the movie only) don't have.

The Academy The Academy, which does not play a role in enforcing the MPAA decision, nonetheless gets to enjoy the perception of a cleaner campaign season that's less tainted by the kind of blatant politicking that screeners represent. Besides, as Academy members who are movie purists (directors like ''Kill Bill'''s Quentin Tarantino, for instance) will tell you, they'd rather have voters judge their movies as they appear on the big screen than cropped or squished on a TV.

LOSERS
The studios' boutique divisions The quasi-independents -- Disney's Miramax, Fox Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics, Paramount Classics, New Line's Fine Line, and Universal's Focus -- had enjoyed big Oscar payoffs because of screeners, but this year, a number of awards hopefuls won't be making it into voters' living rooms. Among them are Sofia Coppola's acclaimed ''Lost in Translation,'' the Jennifer Connelly/Ben Kingsley drama ''House of Sand and Fog,'' Palm D'Or winner ''Elephant,'' Gwyneth Paltrow's ''Sylvia,'' and several others. With a shorter voting season this year (the Oscars having been moved from March to February starting in 2004), the boutiques now have to scramble to come up with alternate ways of bringing these films to voters' attention.

Theater owners To make up for the lost screeners, Valenti has promised to double up on year-end theatrical screenings for Academy members. Theater owners in Los Angeles and New York, where voters get into screenings free, are already grumbling that even more seats that would have gone to paying customers will be lost, costing them as much as 25 percent of their lucrative seasonal box office.

Critics' groups Movie-critic groups based outside Los Angeles and New York, which also used to depend on screeners, will have a harder time coming up with year-end kudos lists, since many of the eligible movies don't play in those cities until January or even later.

The MPAA By scrapping screeners, the MPAA is blaming piracy on (and taking a perk away from) awards voters -- the very people whose praise it seeks for its member studios and their movies. Not exactly a way to engender good will from the industry insiders who comprise the Academy or the journalists who cover Hollywood.

[slink]

It's happened with numerous movies now, and we all know how the MPAA feel about piracy.



A: Much like the RIAA!

[jough]

Piracy is such a non-issue with film, especially in the DVD age where DVDs are:

1. Cheap
2. Widely Distributed
3. Offer "value-added" content such as supplemental features, commentaries, multiple audio and subtitle streams, etc.
4. Collectible
5. Difficult to reproduce with adequate quality
6. If quality *is* preserved, the file sizes are impractical for downloading

The MPAA, who are comprised of and run by the major studios, is using Piracy (arrrrr...) as an excuse to cut out the indie producers and fight back against companies that have been winning more Oscars of late because... well gee, because they're better films.

But without screeners people will have to go to shitty art house theatres to see a film.

I'm lucky in a way - Philly has a pretty decent chain of art house theatres - The Ritz - and while they seem to refuse to show films in their proper aspect ratios (they tend to cut off the sides) the theatres are otherwise of finer quality than the multiplexes that show the big studio films.

Hasn't Valenti backed down about this yet?

Roger Ebert wrote an interesting piece about this recent MPAA idiocy this week:

http://suntimes.com/output/eb-feature/cst-edt-ebert07.html

[slink]

Yea, Edinburgh has a couple of good arthouse theatres which easily surpass the bigger more corporate ones. Not only do they show superior films, but the seats are more comfortable and the views better.
OK, the sound may not be quite as good, but generally for lower budget fetures it's not an issue.

And I certainly agree with you on DVDs and piracy, though for some reason the internet seems to have almost censored itself of that view being aired in an odd way. So few people ever say what you just said. And when someone says something similair eveyone jumps on it and shouts at them.
Dissention. Oh no!
I do really like DVD's. The quality is wonderful. The only thing I hope of them is that (now that I own a fair quantity - chances are if I mention a new film having watched it it's 'cause I broke down and bought it) they stay standard for a good time. I mean VHS managed to but I'm always slightly scared that DVD might not last and I'll be stuck with this huge number like some luddite.

[CortJstr]

Supposedly the next big thing will be blue-laser DVDs but they'll be backwards compatible and probably more useful for data than movies

[slink]

Supposedly the next big thing will be blue-laser DVDs but they'll be backwards compatible and probably more useful for data than movies

Oh yea, I certainly want a blue laser writer. I have far too much data to consider backing up on anything but DVD, and I could do most of it on a single blue laser disc.
And yes, I don't mind them coming up with new standards, as long as they're backwards compatible. But how long will that last?

[jough]

Well, look how long audio cds have been around.  Sure, they're releasing new titles on DVD Audio, but dvd players can play cds and it'll be the same with the new players.

You'll probably want to upgrade to HD at some point, but the old discs aren't going anywhere for a LONG time.  Think 20 years or so.

It is incredible how quickly DVD destroyed VHS as a sell-through or rental pre-recorded media.  But not unexpected - VHS has no advantages over DVD as a pre-recorded media except ONE, which is an inherent flaw of any disc-based media: when you remove a disc from a player and pop it in another player somewhere else, the disc doesn't "remember" where you left off - with tape-based media you can pick up from where you left off.

Chapters/tracks help that, and often if I'm going to be changing locations I'll watch a film until the end of a chapter before popping it out of the player.

And my Sony will remember where I left off on the last 100 discs I played - which is nice.  I can change them in and out and resume right away.

[FeeReep]

Just an update. The Los Angeles Society of Film Critics plans to cancel their annual film awards if the MPAA goes ahead with its ban on screeners.

[pmcd9]

Houston's arthouse circuit is a mixed bag.  A couple are dumps (read old and un renovated for many years), but clean.  But we also have the MFA which is fantastic, but mostly the only new films they show are foreign.  It's the place to be for revival films though.

It is incredible how quickly DVD destroyed VHS as a sell-through or rental pre-recorded media.

It did away with VHS about as fast as CD's did away with LP's.  Don't expect VHS to linger like LP's have though.  It's going the way of the 8-track.

~Paul

[pmcd9]

I totally forgot, we've got the shiny new Angelika Film Centre which shows all the latest art films.  I haven't been there yet though.  So scratch what I said.  Houston has a great arthouse theater.

~Paul

[CortJstr]

It is incredible how quickly DVD destroyed VHS as a sell-through or rental pre-recorded media.

It did away with VHS about as fast as CD's did away with LP's.  Don't expect VHS to linger like LP's have though.  It's going the way of the 8-track.

What I find funny is that VHS still comes out with rediculously priced rental versions with the sell-thru date a month or two later. Yet DVDs come out for sale and rent at the same time. I'd think they'd try to cash in with DVD rental versions. Or are DVD first day sales that good?

[slink]

 I'd think they'd try to cash in with DVD rental versions. Or are DVD first day sales that good?

Sssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[jough]

Actually, DVD is the fastest growing consumer media item EVER.  Its growth well exceeded the CD's growth, gaining a deeper household penetration level much faster than VHS, certainly, and even CD, which was embraced pretty quickly itself.

[AlohaDawg]

I must admit, my household has been penetrated. And we like it.

[FeeReep]

Well, a weird compromise, but the screener ban is lifted. I wonder how many Academy members haven't made the switch to DVD...

Film Studios Agree to Lift Oscar 'Screener' Ban

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's major movies studios have reached agreement on a plan that will lift the controversial ban on mailing videotapes and DVDs, or "screeners," of films vying for Oscars, officials representing the studios said on Thursday.

The deal was unveiled by the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the studios, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, or Academy Awards, the U.S. film industry's top honors.

The ban was begun by the MPAA to combat illegal copying, or piracy, of movies because copies of about 50 percent of last year's screeners were found for sale in black markets or on the Internet. The ban, however, has caused a firestorm of criticism from independent filmmakers, actors and other award groups.

Under the pact, only videotapes of movies -- not DVDs -- will be sent to Academy members who agree not to pass along the video to other people. Should they do so and the tape is pirated, the member would face expulsion from the Academy.

The studios have agreed to organize special screenings of their films for other award groups, such as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which awards the Golden Globes, or the Screen Actors Guild, which has its own prestigious awards.