Gross Behaviour - by Leonard Klady

Taping Up is Hard to Do

"We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."
..................................................................... - Sir Winston Churchill

It occurred to me recently that Motion Picture Association of America president Jack Valenti was beginning to literally and figuratively resemble bulldog politician Winston Churchill (and maybe just a dot of TR). Valenti, warts and all, is a shrewd politician. One doesn't hold sway as spokesman for one of America's greatest export industries for four decades and receive a lifetime contract by being mediocre on the job. He's good in person; he's good on camera and he's great behind-the-scenes.

Valenti is a warrior-politician and people of that stripe require battles and issues. He may have learned that lesson during his tenure in the Johnson White House (Lyndon not Andrew) or the notion may have just crystallized there. Regardless, it didn't take him long to find his first dragon at the MPAA. A little more than a year after his arrival in 1966, Valenti established the Classification and Ratings Administration, a self-regulating body to sort movies based on content and their appropriateness for the youngest moviegoers. Though it represents a mere sliver of the Association activities, CARA has been a media lightning rod, setting off storms and rages pertaining to censorship once or twice each decade.

It's understandable that over time even as variegated an issue as censorship, artists rights and a parent's right to choose would grow tiresome for even the most zealous crusader. Valenti and the MPAA have been largely silent on the recent CleanFlicks controversy that's apt to drag through the courts in series of suits and counter-suits in the next three years.

Instead, the organization and its front man have taken up the cudgel against piracy. Understand that it's a serious issue (June 18, 2003) involving, according to impact studies, several billion dollars in lost revenue annually. It involves notorious international crime cartels, government pay-offs and is fueled by a general public perception that acquiring or downloading a film is neither illegal nor will it seriously affect star and executive salaries. It's a victimless crime.

Piracy and copyright protection have been a top priority of the MPAA for decades. And it's held the line at somewhere between 8% and 10% of all revenues, year after year. There's probably nothing it can do to significantly reduce that level but there's considerable industry paranoia that the rate could double or triple to a point that's had crippling effects on the music industry. So, while the issue itself is a chestnut, it's been pushed out of the chorus line and into the spotlight.

Prior to politics, Valenti ran a well-regarded ad agency in Texas and has never forgotten the value of a clever campaign or the need to have your product in the headlines and part of the public dialogue. Shaking hands with Vladimir Putin following the signing of an agreement to crack down on intellectual theft is a great photo op but it's fleeting. Similarly, torching a factory where pirated DVDs are being manufactured in Thailand is no more than a blip on the radar screen, and prosecuting a teenager who's acquired thousands of illegal tapes won't win friends or influence people.

Nonetheless, there had to be some effective way to seize the public and media's interest and put the issue on page one. The industry found its headliner this week in the form of video screeners - DVD copies of current and forthcoming movies sent to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, film guilds, the Hollywood Foreign Press and other critics' organizations for award consideration. It's been a standard practice for about 15 years.

The decision was made quickly though it's been a discussion point among the company CEOs for a couple of years. During that time several of these screeners popped up for sale on eBay and rumors have circulated that a couple of HFP members had ties to overseas bootleggers. However, weeks before the Internet sale, the titles involved were already available on the street and the source copy was not from a larcenous critic.

In discussing the issue with Valenti last weekend, I queried him about the major leaks that the Association felt had to be plugged. When it rolled around to For Your Consideration screeners, his tone changed and he seemed both angry and defensive. He said, "so what if its only 1.5% (one and a half) - this is a top priority and we're going to fight it on every front, great and small."

The MPAA had already shut down sales of DVD screeners on eBay but the industry position is that it's too difficult and unreliable to watermark the tapes as a method of tracing back the source of the original copy. However, an executive at a major film lab -speaking on background - says the technology is there if the studios want to spend the money to monitor the situation. There's no question that the MPAA neither has the resources nor the inclination to be a legal enforcer. It leaves that part of the business to the FBI, Interpol and other policing agencies.

The issue of screeners is symbolic. It's the sort of flashy maneuver that gets notice and misdirects focus. But there's no question that it serves the higher purpose of putting it into the public debate. It is a very hot button today in Hollywoodland.

The practice of sending tapes to members of the Motion Picture Academy began in the mid-1980s and evolved rapidly from a modest perk into a perceived right of membership. Sally Kirkland personally underwrote the cost of duplicating and mailing copies of her star turn in Anna and was rewarded with an Oscar nomination. Both majors and independents understood that perhaps the only way members would see and consider a movie destined for theaters in December was in the privacy of their living room. The reason wasn't always sloth or laziness. Members with active careers used the tapes to catch up on missed movies and others found that the only way to navigate the glut of late year prestige product was though a balance of big and small screen presentations. There's also the fact that about 1,200 or 20% of the membership live outside greater Los Angeles or New York City and certainly don't have easy access to all the major year end releases.

The tapes have also been passed on to family, friends, hospitals, hospices and all the ships at sea. Tapes were doled out to virtually every organization that was part of the three-month campaign that culminates with Oscar night. Compared to print advertising, the cost - ranging from $5,000 to $12,000 - was a modest part of campaign budgets and could be enormously effective at generating nominations.

With the studios and their subsidiary labels officially adopting a policy of no screeners other than those of films already on store shelves, the legions of filmdoms embittered have swelled overnight. Academy members loved their tapes and all the prestige that came with having a copy of Chicago or The Pianist before either film opened nationally. Many had developed rituals that began around Thanksgiving of at home parties and screenings and plans for upcoming events involving Cold Mountain and Master and Commander will now have to be scrapped … or, at least, altered.

While the MPAA's constituency extends to the likes of Miramax, Focus and New Line, it does not include Lions Gate, Artisan, Newmarket, Strand and dozens of other indie companies. Valenti confirmed that he'd talked to several of these outlets and it was clear that they would not be part of the screener policy. So, Academy members can likely expect such mailbox stuffers as Whale Rider, The Secret Lives of Dentists and Shattered Glass for the holidays. Some are already predicting a voter backlash that would benefit the smaller films when nominating ballots are send January 2, 2004.

One popular conspiracy theory that's been gaining ground purports that the no screener policy is an effort by the majors to shut out these smaller companies from the Oscars. The opposite effect would seem more likely though that sector doesn't have a lot of star candidates on this year's roster. However, if the announcement of nominees in February includes a significant number of non-MPAA releases, the studios honchos will have to do a serious rethink. The Academy Awards remain the industry's best promotional tool, particularly for films that appeal to adults. Nominations and wins in major categories spur hundreds of millions of dollars in the short run and if the no-screener policy were to jeopardize or diminish that situation … well, cash trumps all other suits.

Just one week ago, the pulse on the situation was that the award's process was too far along to abruptly remove screeners from the equation. Besides, for the first time, the season had been abbreviated by a month and the importance of screeners would be tested for movies opening on a limited basis at Christmas and New Year. Academy members girded themselves for the inevitable stern letter from Frank Pierson that the screeners - not sanctioned by the organization - were a privilege and any abuse (read: piracy) would forfeit that special status.

But last Thursday the industry tom toms were beating out a different message and it was basically too late for specialized divisions and marketing and publicity departments to weigh in with alternative plans. One studio marketing exec said special DVD runs of two titles were already complete and he may have to torch thousands of copies now sitting in a warehouse.

Someone once observed that there was no such thing as bad press. I remain unconvinced that the sentiment is absolute and predict that the MPAA will encounter plenty of frosty response from the Fifth Estate on this one small step against piracy. It could well be Valenti's equivalent of the as yet unfound weapons of mass destruction. I've asked anyone and everyone to point to the smoking gun in the scenario and the best that's been offered are urban legends and the tapes on eBay. Valenti himself admits screeners are a very small part of the problem - less than the tip of the iceberg.

Still, it's a good start and better than anything the record industry has done in the arena. I'm confident there will be a lot more to milk in the screener issue. Personally, I'd like to see an industry leader come forward with a Solomon-like solution that puts happy faces on Academy members and film critics. It could even be a new technical breakthrough. But it should be dramatic and soon and the MPAA should definitely have another sexy piracy story to immediately replace it.