No More Academy Screeners... (BREAKING NEWS) (1 Viewer)

[Vickie_M]

If anyone's curious, here's the list of names of people who've signed the Independent Film Project's petition.

Directors and actors are mixed together.

Signatories to the IFP's Call for a Moratorium on the MPAA's Ban on Screeners

As of 10/20/2003 at 5:00pm

Richard Abramowitz
Andrew Adamson
Laird Adamson
Alexis Alexanian
David Alexanian
Michael Almereyda
Pedro Almodóvar
Robert Altman
Allison Anders
Paul Thomas Anderson
Wes Anderson
Ken Annakin
Gregg Araki
Denys Arcand
Darren Aronofsky
Josh Aronson
Rosanna Arquette
Miguel Arteta
Steven Ascher
Josh Astrachan
Allen Bain
Bob Balaban
Lucy Barzun
Judy Becker
Steven C. Beer
Jamie Bell
Karen Beninati
Shari Springer Berman
Fred Berner
Bob Berney
Dorothy Berwin
Laura Bickford
Carol Bidault
Selma Blair
Lawrence Bock
John Boorman
Josh Braun
Chuck Braverman
Anthony Bregman
Peter Broderick
Adrien Brody
David Brown
Effie T. Brown
Tony Bui
Edward Burns
Ellen Burstyn
Steve Buscemi
Mara Buxbaum
Patricia Cardoso
Anne Carey
Seth D. Carmichael
Ed Carroll
Don Cheadle
Jeremiah Chechik
Lisa Cholodenko
Caldecot Chubb
Glenn Close
Dan Cogan
Rachel Cohen
Toni Collette
JT Compton
Bill Condon
Carol Connors
Karen Cooper
Francis Ford Coppola
Noah Cowan
Brian Cox
Richard Curtis
Willem Dafoe
Karen Dalzell
Lee Daniels
Gary Dartnall
Rosario Dawson
Bob Degus
Benicio Del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Ira Deutchman
Tom Dicillo
Matt Dillon
Jeff Dowd
Marcy H. Drogin
Olympia Dukakis
Faye Dunaway
Kirsten Dunst
Amy Ebenstein
Marty Edelstein
Atom Egoyan
Roland Emmerich
Nora Ephron
Jim Fall
Jon Favreau
Ilene Feldman
Julian Fellowes
Robert Festinger
Todd Field
Mike Figgis
Jennifer Flackett
Alexa L. Fogel
Bridget Fonda
Peter Fonda
Naomi Foner
Frank Frattaroli
Brenda Fricker
Dan Fried
Peter Friedman
Jim Fulmis
Sheri Fults
Sean Furst
Andy Garcia
Rodrigo García
Troy Garity
Martin Garner
Sarah Michelle Geller
Nelson George
Terry George
Jon Gerrans
Brian Gersh
Alex Gibney
Darren Goldberg
Kit Golden
Michel Gondry
Ryan Gosling
Michael Graf
Todd Graff
Edith Grant
David Gordon Green
Guy Green
Sarah Green
Matthew Greenfield
Maggie Gyllehaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Stephen Gyllenhaal
Philip Haas
Don Haber
Lianna Halfon
Dolly Hall
Vondie Curtis Hall
Lasse Hallström
Mark Hanlon
Marcia Gay Harden
Catherine Hardwicke
Anne Harrison
James V. Hart
Tomas Hart
Todd Haynes
Peter Hedges
Monte Hellman
Dennis Higgins
Leslie Holleran
Nicole Holofcener
Ted Hope
Shawn Hopkins
Bill Horberg
Paul Howson
Marcus Hu
Evan Hunter
Holly Hunter
DJ Hupp
Nicholas Hytner
Joseph Infantolino
Annette Insdorf
James Ivory
Mick Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Judith Rutherford James
Jim Jarmusch
Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Catherine Jelski
Tamara Jenkins
Norman Jewison
Spike Jonze
Jeanne Jordan
Michael Kafka
Sharon Kahn
Laurie Kahn-Leavitt
Irma Kalish
Denise Kasell
Ross Katz
Moisés Kaufman
Richard Kelly
Jeff Kleeman
Jason Kliot
Pam Koffler
Eva Kolodner
Peter Kosminsky
Jasmine Kosovic
Wayne Kramer
Donald Krim
Neil LaBute
Greg Laemmle
Richard LaGravenese
Jody Lambert
Dale Launer
George LaVoo
Terry Lawler
Jerome Lawrence
Jack Lechner
Ang Lee
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Kasi Lemmons
Jennifer Leonard
Joshua Leonard
Jeremy Lerman
Mark Levin
Barry Levinson
Richard Linklater
Jeff Lipsky
Lynne Littman
Michael London
Dave Lowery
Sidney Lumet
Susan Lyall
Scott Macaualay
Alison Maclean
Mike Maggiore
Amir Malin
John Malkovich
David Mamet
Luis Mandoki
Tom Mangan
Liz Manne
John Manulis
Bert Manzari
Karol Martesko-Fenster
Tim Mather
Dave Matthews
Robert May
Tom McCarthy
Frances McDormand
Ross McElwee
Doug McGrath
Kathleen McInnis
Ismail Merchant
Charlotte Mickie
Paul Miller
Rebecca Miller
John Cameron Mitchell
Matthew Modine
Andrew Mondshein
Christopher Monger
Karen Montgomery
Risa Morimoto
Errol Morris
Samantha Morton
Gail Mutrux
Ginger Myers
Mira Nair
Ronald Neame
Eileen Newman
Nick Nolte
Michael Nozik
Lena Olin
Edward James Olmos
Frank Oz
Lisa Panzera
Kip Pardue
Laurie Parker
Taj Paxton
Raoul Peck
Mark Pellington
Elizabeth Peña
Richard Peña
Arthur Penn
Robin Wright Penn
Sean Penn
John Penotti
Lee Percy
Rosie Perez
Elizabeth Peters
Lydia Dean Pilcher
Oliver Platt
Amos Poe
Mark Polish
Michael Polish
Sarah Polley
Richard Portman
Parker Posey
Pete Postlethwaite
Ed Pressman
Jason Prugar
Robert Pulcini
Lisa Raden
Carole D. Radziwill
Robert Redford
Keanu Reeves
Linda Reisman
Christina Ricci
Paul Richardson
Linus Roache
Denise Robert
Jeff Roda
Howard A. Rodman
Robert Rodriguez
Rosemary Rodriguez
Nicolas Roeg
Adam Roffman
Leslie Rogers
Mark Romanek
Scott Rosenfelt
Jane Rosenthal
Tim Roth
Bruce Joel Rubin
Alan Rudolph
Mark Ruffalo
Judith Rutherford
Winona Ryder
Ira Sachs
Sonoko Sakai
Bob Salerno
Walter Salles
Peter Samuelson
Midge Sanford
Susan Sarandon
Peter Sarsgaard
Michelle Satter
Nancy Savoca
Ed Saxon
Fred Schepisi
Adam Schiff
John Schmidt
Barbara Schock
Paul Schrader
Liev Schriver
Rick Schroder
Barbet Schroeder
Sandra Schulberg
Annabella Sciorra
Jesse Scolaro
Jonathan Sehring
Chlöe Sevigny
Steve Shainberg
Jim Sheridan
Patrick J. Shields
Chris Sievernich
Gail Silva
Mary Jane Skalski
John Sloss
Alex Smith
Brooke Smith
Cauleen Smith
Russ Smith
John E. "Jack" Snyder
Robert H. Solo
Sofia Sondervan
Irene Suico Soriano
Sissy Spacek
Michaelle Sparrow
Marion Spiegelman
Kirk Stambler
Darren Stein
Fisher Stevens
Randy Stone
Susan A. Stover
Charles Sturridge
Andrew Sugerman
Mark Suozzo
Peter Sushitzky
Hilary Swank
Mary Sweeney
Massy Tadjedin
Jonathan Taplin
Jim Taylor
Lili Taylor
Michael Taylor
Julie Taymor
Betty P. Teng
Victoria Tennant
Jeremy Thomas
Jennifer Todd
Marisa Tomei
Lisa Tornell
Paul Torok
Leo Trombetta
Basil Tsiokos
John Turturro
Tracey Ullman
Christine Vachon
Greg Vena
Joana Vicente
Thomas Vinterberg
Daisy von Scherler Mayer
Alan Wade
Brigid Walsh
John Waters
Eric Watson
Naomi Watts
Roger Weisberg
Stanley Weiser
John Wells
Ryan Werner
Audra Whaley
Frank Whaley
Diana Williams
Tim Williams
Tod Williams
David Willis
Gary Winick
Mare Winningham
Michael Winterbottom
Jeff Wolf
Charles Wood
Cary Woods
Eden H. Wurmfeld
Boaz Yakin
Janet Yang
Rebecca Yeldham
Marina Zenovich

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Looks like they've scrapped the ban idea.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Yeah, for Academy members only.

This means the vast majority (guild members, press and critics) are still on the "untrustworthy" list.

 

[Angelo.M]

Why not distribute VHS screeners?

If the point is simply to screen a film, that ought to do. I'm guessing it would also put a serious kink in the plans of bootleggers and pirates looking to make digital copies of films.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

VHS lets you evaluate acting and script and such, but its poor color fidelity, resolution and relatively low-quality 2-channel sound make it difficult to evaluate technical categories.

 

[Angelo.M]

But if it's a choice between a VHS screener and not seeing a film at all...

 

[Dan Rudolph]

That's only the choice because Jack Valenti chose to make it so. I'm not saying screeners won't do any good in this category. I'm saying VHS screeners aren't nearly as useful as DVD.

 

[Vickie_M]

Chicago joins LA

CHICAGO - The Chicago Film Critics Association has suspended its 2003 awards to protest a ban on the distribution of "screener" videotapes to most awards groups.



The Motion Picture Association of America banned all screeners Sept. 30 to fight movie piracy. The MPAA later decided to allow videotapes for the approximately 5,600 Academy Awards (news - web sites) voters, but not other groups that hand out lesser honors.


Chicago Film Critics Association President Dann Gire said Wednesday that his group approved the suspension pending further action by the MPAA. The group includes movie critics from most area publications.

...

Good for them too. I hated to see LA out there all alone.

 

[Michael Reuben]

A federal judge in Manhattan has temporarily enjoined the MPAA's ban on screeners. Here's an early report; others are bound to follow.

This is by no means the end. I'm sure the studios will be in the Court of Appeals by Monday morning.

M.

 

[Adam_S]

okay, he prevented the ban, but does that mean the majors will send out screeners anyway? They may decide to go with their already established plans for oscar campaigns sans screeners. They're no longer compelled to obey the ban but that doesn't mean that screeners will be sent out. :p

 

[John_Berger]

Here is the AP story courtesy of iWon.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Interesting turn of events indeed.

From Variety:

The judge nevertheless dismissed the notion that the MPAA member companies had banded together against the independents as "a paranoid fantasy" but seemed nonetheless sympathetic to their plight.

Stay tuned...

~Edwin

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

From Variety:

Studio resistance to the distribution of awards screeners appears to be crumbling, as formerly staunch holdout Warner and other majors have indicated they would supply tapes to the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. for Golden Globes consideration.

Universal's "Seabiscuit" was sent to HFPA members early Wednesday, along with New Line's "Elf" and Fox Searchlight's "In America" and "Thirteen."

~Edwin

 

[Michael Reuben]

It's not just the studios. I think the MPAA itself is tacitly backing down, at least for this year. Immediately after Judge Mukasey's decision, their lawyers announced that it would take several weeks to file an appeal. Given the time element, that effectively renders the appeal process moot for the current awards season. And the fact is that it needn't take that long, especially for the kinds of law firms involved in this case. An appeal could have been prepared over the weekend, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is very cooperative about expediting matters when there's a pressing time element.

My guess is that everyone would like to put some distance between themselves and what may someday be referred to as "Valenti's Folly".

M.

 

[Vickie_M]

The Los Angeles Film Critics decided to hold their party after all.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ar_screeners_1

The Chicago critics are thinking about it.

 

[Pete Lee]

And the fact is that it needn't take that long, especially for the kinds of law firms involved in this case. An appeal could have been prepared over the weekend, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is very cooperative about expediting matters when there's a pressing time element.

Michael, even if the MPAA had filed a notice of appeal immediately, there is no way the appeals court would have briefed and held arguments from both sides in days or even weeks. This isn't Bush v. Gore, where time was of the essence and any delay would have result in irreparable harm. The MPAA would have a hard time arguing harm since the injunction doesn't prevents the studios from voluntarily choosing not to mail screeners. In the best case scenario, the appeals court would have given both sides weeks to prepare. More likely, it would have been months.

The best the MPAA could have hoped for is a stay of the injunction pending a decision by an appeals panel. But the Second Circuit's standard of review for preliminary injunctions is abuse of discretion, which means the appeals court has to conclude that the district judge either made an error of law, such as applying the wrong legal principle or a clearly erroneous factual finding, or that the judge's decision "cannot be located within the range of permission decisions," i.e. is just simply crazy. Abuse of discretion is not easy to show and nothing I've read about the case suggests the district judge screwed up so badly.

You may be right that the MPAA decided to hold off on the fight until next year. But the evidence of that isn't from the "slow" pace of the appeal. They could have filed the paperwork the next day and it still wouldn't have done them any good.

 

[Michael Reuben]

there is no way the appeals court would have briefed and held arguments from both sides in days or even weeks

Pete, I used to clerk on that court. I saw it done in days. I once saw the Second Circuit receive briefs on a Friday afternoon from a trial court decision issued three days earlier, hold argument the next morning, and issue a decision first thing the following Monday morning. It was the fastest "bench memo" I ever wrote. When the judges on that court deem the circumstances to be sufficiently exigent, they can move very fast (and force the parties to do likewise). Now, I agree that a panel may not have accepted that the circumstances here warranted any kind of expedition, but my point was that the MPAA didn't even try -- and that says something.

M.

 

[Pete Lee]

Michael, I didn't say the circuit couldn't do a quick turnaround, I said it wouldn't (even in the text that you quoted, I used the word "would"). The point I was trying to make was that maybe the MPAA and the studios decided not to risk another dose of distracting bad publicity in the middle of the awards season when the appeals court would very probably have refused to stay the preliminary injunction or expedite. So yeah, the MPAA passed up the 100-to-1 shot that the appeals court would rule quickly but I don't think being realistic about your odds, when you're almost certain it would be futile, should be read as "backing down." There's another way to interpret the MPAA's decision, as smart strategy.

In any case, it looks like the screener ban is a dead until next year at the earliest.

 

[Michael Reuben]

The point I was trying to make was that maybe the MPAA and the studios decided not to risk another dose of distracting bad publicity in the middle of the awards season when the appeals court would very probably have refused to stay the preliminary injunction or expedite.

Without making any comment on the likelihood of what the 2d Cir. would or would not have done (since I have no familiarity with the record), that is exactly the point I was trying to make. Glad you agree.

M.

 

[Malcolm R]

Once again, I'd appeal to the MPAA to start addressing the real problem and stop haranguing paying customers in theaters with their condescending PSA's.