Slashdot Mirror
MPAA Calls for Ban on Screeners
neoThoth writes "The MPAA is calling for a ban on all screeners for awards ceremonies. They state piracy as the rationale for killing of this tradition of the industry. It's interesting how this is never mentioned in their cries for tougher piracy laws. It's own members are the main source of piracy. 'The Directors, Writers and Screen Actors Guild all get screeners, as does the Golden Globe-selecting Hollywood Foreign Press Association and various critics' groups.'" Remember, movie piracy doesn't just hurt actors, but also camera operators, key grips, makeup artists, and costumers.
Their fight against piracy should begin at home. You can't sue people randomly if your own members are copying the stuff you send them. When the start sueing people, I will feel ever so slightly less annoyed with them.
SAILING MISHAP
Also, I think there are literally thousands of Academy screeners sent. It would be a real bitch to do.
I am not a lawyer. I just attach it to my sig incase i forget to put it in the post. It prevents you from getting sued for giving out legal advice, even if you aren't.
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
Didn't they do exactly that with The Hulk?
It was released early & they knew exactly who to go after.
www.4law.co.il (pdf)
null sig
Someone needs to give these idiots a clue or two. With only a trivial effort in steganography they could "watermark" each copy uniquely. That way if if some reviewer leaked his copy they'd have evidence to nail him to the wall.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
See here and here
Though that site seems a bit dead right now - so just have a look at google
Disclaimer: I'm a lighting tech with a low opinion of directors, actors, acresses, and PR people...
Q: "Why do sound techs say 'check 1, 2'?"
A: "Cause if they could count any higher they'd be lighting techs."
I can't see David Letterman actually going and PAYING to see all the crap movies that his guests make!
And he wouldn't have to. SAG, Director's Guild, etc. members and other eligible Oscar voters get into see films nominated for awards for free in the time leading up to the voting. This is why so many candidate films are re-released (at least in NYC and LA) so that they have more chances to be seen by voters just before they vote.
There's one thing computing teaches you, and that's that there's no point to remembering everything.
--Doug Copland
They need to do this. I live in LA, and every friend I know in the MP Industry has loads of free movies they get from screeners. They often have them before it's released in theatres. You can't bitch about people bootlegging your material when you send out a buttload of copies before it's even released just to get votes for an awards show.
It's good discipline on the part of the MPAA. They need a little.
"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
In theory. Nobody cares (or at least, they shouldn't) if you record a song off the radio because it's far from a perfect copy. In the same token, I don't see how a fuzzy, downloaded, ultra-compressed screener with all sorts of "THIS IS THE PROPERTY OF MGM STUDIOS" warnings popping up all over it (I do realize some screeners are better than others but they're all far from a DVD you'd buy in the store) can be said to hurt DVD sales. If the movie is good you'll buy the $14 DVD (for less than the price of the movie's soundtrack on CD, but that's another issue). If the leaked screener causes people to realize that the movie sucks and they don't go pay to see it in the theater, that's a good thing because it encourages studios (at least it should) to make better films. Thus, pirated screeners not only do not hurt legitimate sales of the equivalent product (the DVD form of the movie) but they help to act as a muse for the industry as a whole. This is why people in the industry probably share their screeners. It keeps them on their creative toes.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
"Piracy happens become the product/work/whatever isn't free in the first place, and some people would rather thieve it than buy it."
Correction: Piracy happens when something is unreasonably priced and there's an audience for it. Piracy isn't a big issue here in the USA. The price is a little on the high side, but still affordable. DVD retailers are making money quite comfortably. Now, go somewhere with a lower cost of living, and piracy is rampant.
Piracy is an extension of supply and demand, though the MPAA or RIAA will never admit to that.
"Derp de derp."