As Usual, the Little Guy gets Screwed...

[LarreeMP3]

Blame the creeps who feel that they have the right to steal just because it's on the net. Blame the download traders and copyright thieves.





btw, Russ is still out of town! When he gets back we'll be doing some recording!

[Seismic Anamoly]

Quote:

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MPAA BANS OSCAR SCREENERS

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In fear of increasing movie piracy, MPAA (Motion Picture

Association of America) has decided to ban Oscar screeners.

Screeners are pre-release copies (but already full movies,

not workprint copies) of movies that studios tend to send

out to video rental chains, critics, etc before movie launches.



Screeners have been specially important in Academy Awards,

also known as Oscars, as most of the people able to vote for

the movies, actors, directors, etc don't actually go out to

movie theatres to see every single movie that has been

nominated (only foreign language movie category rules

require that voters have seen all the nominated movies). So,

to persuade voters to vote for their works, studios tend to

send out DVD and video versions of movies to those eligible

to vote (and number of people who are allowed to vote is

rather whopping, so chances of having someone to "leak" the

DVDR copy of the movie to Net are quite high).



Such decision taken by MPAA which is the main lobby group

of all the major studios might affect the votings in future

as smaller studios, who are not members of MPAA, can still

send out screeners of their movies.



Obviously there are some sad things in such decision as

well -- apart from pirates having harder time to find

good-quality copies. Now small subsdiaries of major

entertainment companies, who produce "indie films", but

under a wing of megalomanic entertainment companies, can't

send their movies to voters either, so chances of

small-scale productions by such outlets to succeed in

Academy Awards are rather slim.



Source: E!

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Edited by: Seismic Anamoly  at: 10/5/03 3:11 pm

[Seismic Anamoly]

Quote:

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btw, Russ is still out of town! When he gets back we'll be doing some recording!

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Hott Damn!! Thanks, bro....

[Blumberg]

I think that a company that wants to send them out should be allowed and a company (Major) that doesn't want to doesn't.



That's what they should have done about it

[MIKE BURN]

Quote:

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Hollywood heavyweights slam Oscar 'screeners' ban

Ban is intended to fight movie piracy



Saturday, October 11, 2003 Posted: 6:47 PM EDT (2247 GMT)





LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Many of Hollywood's biggest names, from directors Martin Scorsese and Joel Coen to actors Robert Redford and Jodie Foster, teamed up on Friday to publicly denounce a ban by the major studios on Oscar-screening DVDs and videotapes.



More than 130 filmmakers led by veteran director Robert Altman signed an open letter, published as full-page ads in industry trade papers Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, calling the ban an "unwarranted obstacle" that will keep independent, cutting-edge films from gaining the wide exposure they deserve.



The letter was addressed to Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, and the chief proponent of the controversial ban, intended to thwart illegal copying of of films.



"It has been said that we in the film industry are honor-bound to go along with this ban," the letter said. "We believe that as filmmakers, we are honor-bound to oppose it."



The MPAA sparked a Hollywood furor when it announced last week that the seven major studios it represents, plus non-member DreamWorks SKG, had agreed to end their long-held practice of sending videos and DVDs of Oscar-contending movies to Academy Award voters.



The ban also applies to such "Indiewood" outlets as Miramax and Sony Pictures Classics, the studio-owned distributors of independent films like "Monster's Ball" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" that have gained increasing Oscar recognition in recent years.



Valenti has said the ban is intended to fight movie piracy after a year in which tapes and DVDs of several films vying for Academy Awards were copied, then appeared for sale on the black market in Asian countries and for download on the Internet.



But many in the film industry say the "screener" ban will make it harder for lower-budget movies to compete with big-studio fare at Oscar time because they play in fewer theaters and are seen by fewer members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which sponsors the Oscars.



"Many great films, and in particular films that take risks, rely on critical acclaim and, when the film is fortunate enough, Academy consideration to reach a broad audience," the letter from filmmaker said. "The MPAA decision to ban screeners irreparably damages the chances of such films."



Other filmmakers joining the letter include Pedro Almodovar, Francis Ford Coppola, David Cronenberg, Jonathan Demme, Atom Egoyan, Nora Ephron, Terry Gilliam, Lasse Hallstrom, Spike Jonze, Ange Lee, Sidney Lumet, David Lynch and Sydney Pollack.

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MIKE

[Seismic Anamoly]