Clean Flicks' Preemptive Strike For the Right To Edit

alanjstr writes: "We all hate how movies get 'edited for tv,' removing the sex, gore, and foul language that make them worth watching. A private firm decided to rent videos for private use after having made them clean. The Directors Guild of America doesn't like things like this (a la The Phantom Edit). CNN.com carries an article about Clean Flicks suing for the right to make edits. It's copyright vs. the first amendment as they battle over the right to censor and fair use." Since the equipment to make your own versions of movies is so ubiquitous, it would be interesting to see edit decision lists circulate for particular films.

Comments

Ignore legalities

[gmhowell]

Ignore the legalities, and listen to some of the rhetoric. The DGA is full of shit. Totally. "These films are for a certain audience" "We can't tolerate random cuts and edits"

Bullshit. Look at any movie that makes it to broadcast tv (and channels such as TBS, TNT, TNN on cable) and you will see movies shown and marketed to a different audience. Look at movies shown on planes, and you will see random cuts and edits.

The directors don't care as long as they get their money.

This has nothing to do with artistic freedom. The DGA has shown that the artistic integrity of the members can be bought and sold.

I'd like to see the product being rented by the plaintiffs. Is it marketed as an original, or is it clearly marked? If the latter, how is it any worse than what is done by broadcast and cable stations 1000x per day? Oh, yeah, they probably didn't write a big fat check to the studios.

There are solutions. In some cases, the studios do the editing. They should make these tapes available to rental shops looking to cater to... whatever invented market they cater to. There could be a flat, low cost, fee to allow the shops to do their own editing, provided it is very obvious to someone renting a movie.

But here's the very best idea. DVD. The studios spend some time making sure that it's near impossible to skip the FBI warning, the Interpol notice, and the ads for the next 12 Disney films to come out. So why not program a 'safe for kids' title? Same disc, you just hit the 'for kids' option, and it automatically skips and/or edits the title on the fly.

There is obviously a market for this. First, there are the plaintiffs in this case. Second are the airlines, cable networks, broadcast networks, etc. Clearly, some people disagree with the 'artistic vision' of the studios.

This is another case of technology being available, and large (powerful), entrenched organizations being afraid of it. Anyone with an ounce of sense would see this, not as something to be afraid of, but something to embrace, a new market to tap.

Artistic vision be damned. It's all about the Benjamins.