AfterDawn: Tech news

MPAA and Academy make a deal over Oscar screeners

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 23 Oct 2003 3:41 User comments (6)

MPAA and Academy make a deal over Oscar screeners MPAA and Academy of Motion Picture Art have managed to reach a compromise over the MPAA's decision to ban Oscar screeners that has infuriated tons of industry insiders.
According to the deal, MPAA member studios wont send out any DVD screeners (screener is a DVD or VHS pre-release of a movie on DVD or VHS that hasn't been released for rental distribution yet), but will send out watermarked VHS screeners instead. These screeners will be sent out only to Academy members, i.e. for all of those eligible to vote for Oscars, but leaves out other award institutions, such as Golden Globes.

Each Academy member will have to sign a contract where he/she agrees that the screener wont be taken out of their homes and that the tape would be watermarked in a way that copies made from it could be tracked back to the individual who "leaked" the copy. If anyone gets caught of "leaking" a screener copy, they would get expelled from the Academy.



In addition to MPAA member companies, New Line Cinema and DreamWorks Pictures have agreed to arrangement. According to both, Academy and MPAA, this will be a one-year experiment to see what kind of effects it has on overall movie piracy.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Previous Next  

6 user comments

123.10.2003 20:15

How about NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER. This is just beyond stupid.

224.10.2003 08:14

At least they made a rational deal.

324.10.2003 11:00

The MPAA is threatening Academy members with expulsion (and lawsuits no doubt) if they "leak" copies of screeners. They have to sign a contract to that effect. I suppose one could consider that rational, but I feel it sends a very hostile message to the Academy. Kind of like the RIAA to it's customers. "You are our sworn enemy and will be treated as such". That's f**ked up.

424.10.2003 14:53

This is a really good way to fight piracy, but for some people here, it's "too effective" ;)

525.10.2003 09:37

Yeah I guess I didn´t formulate my reply very well. What I meant was that the deal is good considering what could have been.

628.10.2003 15:04

Doesn't matter. The watermarks can be taken out by a tech savy individual so this is just another scare tactic. If the MPAA starts taking away rights of the corporate people they will find themself washed out. Voodoohippie

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments
How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller How to Enable Bluetooth on Stadia Controller (11 Feb 2023 1:04)
Google shut down its streaming game service Stadia late last month and this means that some people have Stadia controllers lying around that seem to be of no use. That is fortunately not the ....
2 user comments
Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account Guide: How to Kick Unwanted Guests from Your Netflix Account (26 Jan 2023 2:14)
Sharing a Netflix account with a person in a different location is possible and indeed very common, although the company doesn't necessarily enjoy this behavior from their customers. However, ....

News archive