Petteri Pyyny
10 Oct 2003 16:39
Despite various rumors in public during this week that MPAA's chief executive Jack Valenti had met various indie movie authors in order to negotiate about the screener ban for Oscars, it seems that the ban stands.
Indie movie producers, directors, etc that operate in major movie studios' "indie divisions" have expressed their concerns over the decision. MPAA and major movie studios decided on last week to ban so-called Oscar screeners. Screeners are DVDs and videotapes of movies that haven't been released officially on that medium yet, but are being sent in advance to specific viewer groups, such as critics -- and in this particular case, those who are eligible to vote for Academy Awards.
Studios fear that perfect-quality DVD copies of their recently released movies get leaked to Net from people who receive screener copies during the "Oscar season" and therefor decided that they wont be sending any screener copies this year. This obviously doesn't have any meaning whatsoever to studios that aren't affiliated with major movie studios, but causes problems for indie divisions of major movie studios -- chances of voters even seeing niche movies before they need to cast their votes, are rather slim if indie movie producers can't send those movies directly to voters.
Anyway, after Mr. Valenti agreed to negotiate with heads of indie divisions, MPAA released a statement that the announced DVD screener ban stands.
"Jack Valenti has had conversations with individuals and several groups on the subject of the new screener policy," said MPAA public affairs VP Rich Taylor in a statement. "He welcomes the exchange of thoughts and ideas on the critical issue of combating piracy. That said, the screener policy remains as it was originally announced."
More information:
IndieWire (1)
IndieWire (2)
NYTimes (requires registration)