MOVIES - Oct. 7, 1992

Having Their Say: Choreographers who have created production numbers for the Academy Awards since 1970 complained Tuesday about mistreatment by the show’s producing organization, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Debbie Allen, Rob Iscove, Alan Johnson, Michael Kidd, Walter Painter, Vincent Paterson and Scott Salmon said at a press conference that the Academy failed to ask permission to use their work in its video, “Oscar’s Greatest Moments,” and said they were not paid as was other talent involved. An Academy spokesman responded that executive director Bruce Davis wrote a letter to the group apologizing, and said if another video is produced, matters would be handled differently. In the case of other talent, arrangements for payment were handled through guilds, the spokesman said. The choreographers do not have a similar representing body.