Screener Ban War Rages On

A group of independent filmmakers together with the bicoastal Independent Film Project filed a lawsuit in New York Monday seeking to force the Motion Picture Association of America to lift the ban in time to affect this upcoming awards season.

As the ban stands, only Oscar voters will receive screener copies of movies--and only VHS copies that they pledge not to share. Even those copies are a concession from the original ban, which cut out screener copies altogether.

The suit claims that the MPAA is conspiring to monopolize the film industry and has unlawfully put other awards events, such as the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild awards at a disadvantage by forbidding screener copies to the voting committees.

Specifically, the suit charges the MPAA with creating " an anti-competitive, unjustified and unnecessarily restrictive ban," and states that the ban is an unlawful restraint of trade under U.S. antitrust laws.

The plaintiffs say they want the freedom to decide when, how and to whom to distribute promotional screeners.

"Unlike the major studios--who can buy public awareness through expensive promotional campaigns--independent filmmakers rely on recognition through awards to attract talent, financing and box office revenues. As a last resort, to protect the interests of independent filmmakers and the film-going public, we have taken the step of seeking court-ordered relief of the ban," a statement from the coalition read.

The plaintiffs have been awarded a hearing scheduled for Wednesday morning. Among those involved in the suit are Antidote Films' Jeff Levy-Hinte (Thirteen, Laurel Canyon); Elemental Films' Ross Kantz (Lost in Translation); and Anthony Bregman, Anne Carey and Ted Hope of This Is That (American Splendor, 21 Grams).

"I don't feel that the MPAA set out to injure independent films," Levy-Hinte said, per Daily Variety. "They've clearly demonstrated that they don't know enough about independent filmmaking to give it that much attention. What they did was try to give the impression of fighting piracy but they came up with an ill-conceived and defective means of doing so."

Indeed, MPAA spokesman Rich Taylor claims that piracy purging was the sole impetus behind the ban and that allegations of conspiracy against smaller films are false.

The reason for the ban, Taylor said, "was to reduce piracy and to preserve the motion picture industry for filmmakers, both large and small.

"Any suggestions that this is designed to disadvantage one type of film over another is simply untrue," he said, per the Associated Press.

The ban only affects films distributed by the major studios and their art-house divisions. Truly independent distributors, like Lions Gate and Newmarket, are not signatories to the MPAA and are free to send out screeners of their films--on DVD or VHS--to whomever they choose.

Dawn Hudson, executive director of IFP/Los Angeles, said the lawsuit was the coalition's last resort.

"We tried every possible avenue and did everything we could, including informing the MPAA ahead of time of what we thought the antitrust violations were, but the didn't reverse the ban," Hudson told Daily Variety. "We had to act in a way that we hope can still have some effect of this year's awards season."

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of protests against the ban. More than 400 actors and directors, including Jodie Foster, Martin Scorsese and Sean Penn, attached their names to open letters to MPAA president Jack Valenti, urging him to overturn the ban.

The Los Angeles Critics Association canceled its annual film awards in protest of the ban, as the press was crossed off studio mailing lists.

Oscar-winning performances in independent films such as Hilary Swank's win for 1999's Boys Don't Cry and Halle Berry's take for 2002's Monster's Ball were much touted as examples of performances recognized thanks only to screener copies.

"If the ban is allowed to stand, it could damage not only the films in release this year, but our ability to release independent films in the future," Levy-Hinte told Variety. "Studios can buy publicity, but we have to earn it."