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So the MPAA announced they were no longer going to send copies of movies to Oscar members and other award screeners, because they fear piracy. Basically, the MPAA has been sending all the films on VHS/DVD to members in order to vote on the nominations. Small indie type films that get nominated are often inaccessible to older Oscar members because they play in obscure theaters or have short runs. The MPAA wants to stop sending out these film copies, because of internet piracy fears, but the indie producers and directors say this ban will hurt small filmmakers, while the big ones, backed by the incumbents, who have their movies on a lot of screens, will most likely be seen by members of the Academy (why does it feel so ridiculous, typing "members of the Academy"?).
So the indies will fight back. Here's a list of some supporting the statement by Michelle Byrd, head of IFP/New York: Steven Beer of Greenberg Traurig, Ed Carroll of IFC, Ira Deutchman of Emerging Pictures, producer Nelson George, and Carole Radziwill as well as Killer Films producers Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler, as well as Ted Hope, Anthony Bregman and Anne Carey of This Is That, GreeneStreet's John Penotti and partner Fisher Stevens, along with Ed Pressman and John Schmidt of ContentFilm, Jonathan Sehring of IFC Films, directors John Waters and Robert Altman, Rachel Cohen from Artisan, producers Lee Daniels, Sarah Green, Ross Katz and Susan Stover, screenwriter Bill Condon, writer/director Peter Hedges, and actors Selma Blair, Steve Buscemi, Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, and Tracey Ullman.
Has the MPAA thought about issuing DVD's to members, with unique hash marks so they could at least trace back a leaked file to a particular member? Maybe through internal policing they could take care of this, instead of making the whole film community suffer.
The NYTimes also discusses the indie point of view.
Update: NYTimes again here, with the story that the Small Studios Say DVD Edict Will Diminish Oscar Chances.
Posted by Mary Hodder at October 02, 2003 02:06 PMThey already mark those movies by flashing this big annoying message every now and then that says "this film is provided for your judging only, not to be copied" or some business like that... but it's not really irritating enough to make me not want to copy it for free.
But a unique ID seems like a good idea, to be able to trace it back to the copier.
Posted by: Tara on October 4, 2003 01:49 PMI'm a member of AMPAS and the Producers Guild. Here's how I plan to combat the studios and their "Screener Ban":
Non-studios do not have to abide by the ban. That means they are still free to distribute screeners.
Therefore, only vote for films that you receive a screener for. When all of the non-studios end up with the big nominations this year, the major studios will rethink their "Screener Ban".
I hope you'll join me in this "Studio Ban". Please pass the word along.
Posted by: asdf adsfas on October 10, 2003 06:44 AM