Critics dump awards; protest screener ban
Negotiators trying to work out compromise
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Movie critics, independent film producers and organizers of the Golden Globe Awards appealed to the major Hollywood studios Thursday to ease controversial new limits on the circulation of video copies of films vying for Oscars.
 |
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
|
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.
Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
|
|
Two critics' groups, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Chicago Film Critics Association, have suspended their 2003 awards to protest the limits.
The restrictions, imposed last month by the studio-backed Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), stemmed from concern that the "screener" videotapes and DVDs are being illegally copied and sold on the black market or distributed for free on the Internet.
But independent filmmakers and their distributors complain that the new policy makes it harder for smaller, lower-budget films to receive the attention they need to compete with big-studio films during awards season.
The MPAA initially banned Oscar screeners altogether, but later relented to allow encoded videotapes to be sent out to Oscar voters only, sparking a renewed wave of criticism.
Critics and members of other award-giving groups like the talent guilds and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the Golden Globes, said they have come to rely on the Oscar screeners to see many of the art-house films that play in fewer theaters.
MPAA chief Jack Valenti, the chief proponent of the ban, insisted then that the compromise ban was final, declaring, "We're not going to wobble. This is it."
But Lorenzo Soria, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, told Reuters that a nearly hour-long meeting on Thursday with Valenti left him with the impression that there was room for further compromise.
"I got the hint that the door is not completely closed" on the possibility of easing the screener crackdown in time for the current awards season, Soria told Reuters.
Valenti also met separately with a group representing independent film producers and several members of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which decided last month to cancel its annual film awards this year because of the new screener ban.
Jean Oppenheimer, president of the critics group, said Valenti promised to take her proposal back to the studios and to return to the critics with an answer next Tuesday.
An MPAA spokesman declined to say whether Valenti gave any indication that he might budge further on the screener ban but told Reuters Thursday night, "The policy as we speak is intact."
The meetings came a day after a group representing Chicago-area movie critics decided to join their Los Angeles peers in forgoing their film awards this year.
Two other major critics groups, the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics, voted recently to proceed with their awards this year.
Copyright 2003
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
