Movie Exec Says Studios Should Stop Sending Out DVD Screeners For The Oscars

from the this-has-been-tried dept

Thu, Dec 9th 2010 12:33pm — Mike Masnick

One of Jack Valenti's last great "battles" as the head of the MPAA was his fight against DVD screeners sent out for the various movie awards events. Valenti felt that sending screeners of all the nominated movies was a key factor contributing to unauthorized copies getting out into the world and on the internet. So he instituted a ban on sending out such screeners. This pissed off just about everyone. A bunch of really famous movie directors demanded that he drop the ban and the LA Film Critics Association actually canceled their own awards event in protest. Then, a bunch of independent film producers sued the MPAA. Basically, everyone pointed out that without the screeners, many of the voters simply wouldn't be able to see the movies being voted on, and that would hamper any awards effort -- especially for more independent films. Eventually, a judge sided with the producers, and explained to Valenti that he could not ban DVD screeners.

The following year, he came up with another plan, which involved special screener DVDs that only played on a special DVD player, which each voter would have to get and set up themselves. In other words, it was a "solution" that was a huge pain in the ass for everyone -- especially those who already had a perfectly good home theater setup. After a few years of everyone bitching and complaining about this, the MPAA finally relented in 2007, and went back to just sending out normal DVDs as screeners.

Apparently, some folks in the industry don't know their history. At the "Content Protection Summit" that we recently discussed, a VP from Summit Entertainment, the indie studio who has had some success lately thanks to the Twilight films and The Hurt Locker, apparently told the audience that the industry should get rid of DVD screeners, and who cares if it inconveniences people. She specifically said "we're going to have to agree to be inconvenienced." Apparently, she's totally unaware of how badly that worked out last time around -- especially for independent studios like her own.

Of course, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that Summit Entertainment thinks this way. The company has built up quite a reputation for being an intellectual property bully. In the past 15 months or so, we've had multiple different stories of Summit's overly aggressive attempts at IP enforcement, often threatening or suing people doing completely reasonable things, such as creating a fanzine or filming a documentary about the town where Twilight is supposed to take place. And that's not even getting into questions about The Hurt Locker and its lawsuit campaign against thousands of file sharers -- because that was really done by the movie's producers, Voltage, rather than Summit. Of course, all these actions are doing is reminding me to avoid any pictures associated with Summit.

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Filed Under: dvds, movies, screeners
Companies: mpaa, summit entertainment

23 Comments

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fogbugzd (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 12:47pm

Central Question
One central question in all of this. Did prohibiting screeners or requiring special DVD players significantly reduce piracy?
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- Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2010 @ 12:52pm
  
  Re: Central Question
  My guess is NO, just like with DRM and mostly every other thing that has been done for anti-piracy
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- PaulT (profile), 10 Dec 2010 @ 12:48am
  
  Re: Central Question
  Unlikely. Most "pirate" copies are from studio leaks or theatres, and so come out before Oscar consideration anyway. Even if it did, it only did so for a couple of months before the commercial DVD was produced, and at the expense of profits from the free marketing bump that an Oscar nomination tends to give (some movies are profitably re-released to cinemas even after the DVD release once an Oscar win comes through).
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I-Blz, 9 Dec 2010 @ 12:53pm

I-Blz is my name, not Coward.
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 12:55pm

A Factory!
"Valenti felt that sending screeners of all the nominated movies was a key factory contributing to unauthorized copies getting out into the world and on the internet.
[emphasis added]
Factor, one would think.

; P
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2010 @ 12:59pm

"Those who cannot remember* the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana

*void where prohibited
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 1:16pm
  
  Re:
  "The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace." -- Carlos Santana
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  - The Mighty Buzzard (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 2:08pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Carlos never watched ninja movies I guess.
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  - interval (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 2:53pm
    
    Re: Re:
    "The spirit listens only when the speaker speaks in gestures. And gestures do not mean signs or body movements, but acts of true abandon, acts of largesse, of humor. As a gesture to the spirit, warriors bring out the best of themselves and silently offer it to the abstract." -- Carlos Castaneda (for the acid-droppers among the group.)
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wallow-T, 9 Dec 2010 @ 1:27pm

Where does one find an ongoing list of Summit Pictures films, so that one may avoid them? It seems harder than finding out which music artists are tied up with major labels.
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- angal2 (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 1:45pm
  
  Re:
  I would try imdb. A quick search generated a list pretty easily.
  
  http://www.imdb.com/company/co0046206/
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Nina Paley (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 1:40pm

Studios Should Stop Sending Out DVD Screeners
I agree! DVDs are a waste of plastic. Just put the movie on the internet and let the awards voters download it. It costs less for the filmmaker (making and mailing DVDs is expensive) and is better for the environment.
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- Sun, 9 Dec 2010 @ 2:54pm
  
  Re: Studios Should Stop Sending Out DVD Screeners
  Netflix has drm. You could custom encode each DVD screener with a unique tracking id embedded into the image then jail the screener. One good jail time would prevent the others.
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  - Rose M. Welch (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 3:19pm
    
    Re: Re: Studios Should Stop Sending Out DVD Screeners
    They did, didn't, and haha.
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ervserver (profile), 9 Dec 2010 @ 1:45pm

solution
The best solution is to ban The Oscars altogether
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BruceLD, 9 Dec 2010 @ 2:16pm

Subject
Yes. Banning DVD screeners will stop piracy forever.

We also know how the movie industry lobbyists are crying to law makers that they are suffering devastating financial losses due to piracy (the public financial records actually show that the MPAA are breaking previous years financial records).

YES! Piracy will end FOREVER because of the ban! *shrug*
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Danny, 9 Dec 2010 @ 2:21pm

Get a litte feather in your hat....
and all of a sudden you think you run sh!t.

At the "Content Protection Summit" that we recently discussed, a VP from Summit Entertainment, the indie studio who has had some success lately thanks to the Twilight films and The Hurt Locker, apparently told the audience that the industry should get rid of DVD screeners, and who cares if it inconveniences people.

That's it in a nutshell. I'd bet she wouldn't have said that before they got their hands on those movies and made a bit of a name for themselves. It seems like the key to getting and saying famous is to get famous and then commit any act no matter how unholy, dishonest, or immoral it may be in order to stay famous.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2010 @ 2:52pm

I approve of not sending any screener.
Nobody is doing a better job at cutting their own profits then the people representing them.

LoL
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- btrussell (profile), 10 Dec 2010 @ 2:48am
  
  Re:
  Why don't they just quit making movies if it is so hard to recoup investment? Or are they going to do a remake of Friday the 13th 1-22?
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unkown, 25 Sep 2011 @ 11:00pm

price
i found a academy screenig tape and i want to know how much its worth ???
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unkown, 25 Sep 2011 @ 11:02pm

price
i found a academy screenig tape and i want to know how much its worth ???
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Sep 2011 @ 11:05pm
  
  Re: price
  screening*
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Sep 2011 @ 11:05pm
  
  Re: price
  screening*
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