A call to arms against video pirates

The Motion Picture Assn. of American has sent member companies a draft of a proposal to “combat digital piracy and save jobs in the future,” Variety reports.

Sent to executives such as Walt Disney Co.’s Robert Iger, Vivendi Universal’s Ron Meyer, Paramount’s Jonathan Dolgin and Fox’s Peter Chernin, the memo asked that studios agree to stop sending out screening cassettes or DVDs of their movies during the coming awards season unless they are already in the home video marketplace.

Because the Oscar awards period is short this year, video copies are considered even more important for a film’s exposure. Smaller films could get lost in the shuffle.

“We’ll obviously have to do many more screenings to get our films seen,” said one studio executive. “But the good news is that the movies will be seen in the way that they were meant to be seen -- on the big screen. If a small film, like a ‘Whale Rider,’ has positive buzz, it should be fine -- though some people may have passed on seeing it during the commercial run, expecting to catch it on video.”

An executive from another studio was less optimistic. “Voters like having access to those cassettes, which are so much part of the system, “ he said. “Passage of the proposal would depend on getting a few people to sign on early enough to convince others to go along. That kind of unilateral decision is highly unusual. The political equivalent was Russ Feingold running for office using the guidelines of the McCain-Feingold campaign financing bill to show that it could work. While we have a lot of politicos in Hollywood, I’m not sure there’s a Feingold among them.”

Elaine Dutka