FILM STUDIOS RELAX OSCAR JURY VIDEO BAN

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Film studios relax Oscar jury video ban

Hollywood studios are ready to relax a keenly disputed ban on giving copies of new movies to awards juries, saying they would make an exception for Oscars voters, sources say.

The Motion Picture Association of America, the studios' powerful lobby group which banned the screening copies saying they could be used to create pirate copies, is prepared to allow the 5,600 industry figures who decide cinema's highest honours exclusive access to the special copies.

The apparent compromise came after an unholy row erupted in the movie industry over the ban, with hundreds of top stars and filmmakers coming out publicly against the ban saying it could kill independent movie making.

"The MPAA has been in deep talks with the studio heads and it seems that a solution by which Academy voters would get copies of the movies on encrypted videotapes may be in the works," an industry insider said.

Under the proposed deal, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters would be able to receive the special screening copies of movies to allow them to decide whether the pictures deserve a shot at greatness, while the number of screening copies in circulation would drop dramatically.

The MPAA had no immediate comment on the deal over the issue that has sharply divided Tinseltown over recent weeks, but trade media said the deal would be officially announced this week.

But the leading actors' trade union, the Screen Actors Guild, hailed the news filtering through the industry, but indicated that its award voters also wanted to stay on the mailing list for screening copies of new movies.

"The Screen Actors Guild is very encouraged that the MPAA is reconsidering its position to allow coded screeners," the union said in a statement.

It said it was looking forward to working with studios to stamp out piracy -- that the MPAA says costs the industry three billion dollars annually -- while allowing awards voters crucial access to movies.

The row over the banning of screening copies of new movies that was announced on September 30, just two months ahead of the start of the frenzied annual Tinseltown awards season and has caused a major hubbub.

Hundreds of stars and movie makers have signed public petitions protesting the crackdown amid fears the move would scupper the Oscar hopes of small-budget movies and damage the industry.

They say that the move would deny smaller independent movies crucial visibility and prestige -- and therefore audiences -- that awards bring some movies, effectively killing the hopes of independent producers of raising funds for films.

Among those railing against the move are movie titans from Michael Caine to last year's best actor Oscar winner Adrien Brody to Susan Sarandon, who have signed petitions in the past week calling for the ban to be repealed to avoid damaging their industry.

Also lobbying against the move are top filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Bernardo Bertolucci, Francis Ford Coppola and James Ivory, who feel that outlawing screening copies will do more harm than good.

"The ban penalizes the smaller independent films, these include one of the most artistic films that compete in major awards," said Los Angeles Film Critics' Association president Jean Oppenheimer.

"It damages the smaller companies that don't have the same financial elements as the big players," she said adding that it was not the smaller independent films which were most targeted by film pirates.

Hollywood's annual awards season is set to kick off in December, with the 2004 Oscar nominations due on January 27 and the awards ceremony scheduled for February 29.