First-Run Movies Go Home

Studios get a waiver granting limited use of technology to control piracy. Some films could be viewed in the living room at the same time they're showing in theaters.

By Richard Verrier, The Los Angeles Times
May 07, 2010|

The way has been cleared for movie lovers to enjoy watching a blockbuster film on opening weekend without budging from the couch.

Federal regulators have granted a controversial waiver to the Hollywood studios that will allow them to show first-run movies in the home shortly after — or even at the same time as — their release in theaters.

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday granted a petition from the Motion Picture Assn. of America, the chief lobbying group for the major studios, that would permit for a limited-period use of "selectable output control" technology for watching movies in the home. The technology disables video and audio outputs on set-top boxes that prevent illicit recording.

Hollywood studios are preparing for the day when they can debut "event" movies directly into the home, charging a hefty premium for a special showing. Studios are eager to experiment with shorter release "windows" to keep up with the changing habits of consumers, who want to see movies on big-screen TVs or portable devices without waiting months for the DVD or video-on-demand release.

Currently, movies are available for people to watch in the home via video-on-demand three to four months after they appear in theaters and when, or soon after, they are released on DVD. However, fear of piracy has been an impediment to delivering first-run movies directly to consumers in the home: A pirated copy of a newly released movie could wreak instant financial havoc on the picture.

Calling the FCC's ruling an "important victory," MPAA interim Chief Executive Bob Pisano said "it is a major step forward in the development of new business models by the motion picture industry to respond to growing consumer demand."

But movie theater operators view warily any move by the studios to push up the showing of major Hollywood movies before they come out on DVD, fearing that it would undercut ticket sales.

Walt Disney Pictures confronted a revolt among theater owners in Europe earlier this year over its decision to accelerate the release of its upcoming 3-D film "Alice in Wonderland" on DVD, with major chains threatening to boycott the movie until they received assurances from Disney executives that such decisions would not become standard.

"The FCC's decision is not surprising," the National Assn. of Theater Owners said in a statement. "Movie theft is a serious problem. The issue of the theatrical release window, however, will be decided in the marketplace."

Also unhappy with the FCC's decision are consumer groups, which say that disabling the video and audio outputs on the set-top box will limit the ability of people to record programming and require consumers to buy new equipment to watch movies on TV.

"We are disappointed that the [FCC] has succumbed to the special-interest pleadings of the big media companies and ignored the thousands of letters from consumers," said Public Knowledge, a Washington-based public interest group. "The order allowing the use of 'selectable output control' will allow the big firms for the first time to take control of a consumer's TV set or set-top box, blocking viewing of a TV program or motion picture."

The Consumer Electronics Assn., which represents device and TV manufacturers, also was unhappy with the ruling. "The fact that the motion picture studios want to create a new business model does not mean that functioning products should be disabled by them,'' the group said. "The decision is not in the public interest and harms the very consumers that the commission is in place to protect."

Under the ruling, studios could use the technology for a window of 90 days, or until the movie is released on DVD, whichever comes first. After the 90-day window, the studio would no longer have the security protocol. The limited granting of the waiver was a concession to consumer groups that opposed it.

You Have the Day Off...

Not feeling too hot, so class for Wednesday the 5th is canceled. Have a nice afternoon. See you next week.

Watching R-Rated Movies May Lead to Early Alcohol Use

By Robert Preidt, Bloomberg Businessweek
April 26, 2010

MONDAY -- Children who aren't allowed to watch R-rated movies are much less likely to start drinking alcohol at an early age, a new study suggests.

Researchers questioned nearly 3,600 middle-school children in New England and followed-up about two years later. In that time, 3 percent of the kids who said their parents never allowed them to watch R-rated movies said they had started drinking alcohol, compared with 19 percent of those who were sometimes allowed to watch R-rated movies and 25 percent of those who said they were allowed to watch such movies "all the time."

The findings are reported in the May issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

The results highlight how important it is for parents to monitor their children's media exposure, said Dr. James D. Sargent, a pediatrics professor at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, N.H., and an author of the study.

"We think this is a very important aspect of parenting, and one that is often overlooked," Sargent said in a news release from the journal.

He added that the new findings supplement the work of previous studies that have linked exposure to R-rated movies and shows with adult content to early drinking, early smoking, sex at a young age and violent behavior.

"The research to date suggests that keeping kids from R-rated movies can help keep them from drinking, smoking and doing a lot of other things that parents don't want them to do," Sargent said.

Depictions of alcohol consumption appear in about 90 percent of R-rated movies, Sargent said, which may be one reason why children who see such movies are more likely to start drinking at a young age. But he noted that previous studies have suggested that children who watch R-rated movies become more prone to "sensation seeking" and "risk taking."

"We think seeing the adult content actually changes their personality," he added.

(Un)Original Ideas

By Ben Magid, Script Journal Blog
April 28, 2010

I recently went on a general meeting at a studio, which I won't name, and asked if they were looking for original ideas. The answer was, "We are always looking for original ideas. As long as they are based on underlying material like a comic book or video game or novel." I sat there a bit confused, then finally responded, "So you're answer is no then? If it's based on someone else's IP, then it really isn't an original, is it?" Then he sat there a bit confused. He didn't understand what I was talking about.

And he's not alone. In today's marketplace, original ideas carry little weight. Studios are risk averse and are only looking for sure things. Sure things equate to pre-awareness. Comic books, novels, video games, remakes, sequels. They are counting on making their money back opening weekend. The odd thing is, many of these materials have zero pre-awareness to them, and are fairly derivative concepts as well. I'm a comic book fan, and I've never heard of some of these titles getting set up at studios or sent to me for an assignment. And if I haven't heard of them, 99.9% of the world hasn't either.

The main aspect to be considered is quality. Everyone knows Superman, yet the recent film lacked in my opinion. Or you can take Iron Man, a well known comic inside of the comic world, but not really that well known outside of it; yet, it was a great movie. Recent hits like Avatar, District 9 and The Hangover all performed exceeding well with relatively smaller actors, yet all had compelling stories.

A lot of producers and writers now try to convert their scripts to comic books to help sell them to the studios. It's an odd business model. A comic costs about 5 to 10 thousand dollars to make. The studio will then have to option the rights to the comic book, add another producer's (the comic book publisher) salary, and then pay a writer, or writers, to write the script, when all they had to do from the beginning was read the original script, pay the writer, and save a lot of money. Some say that a comic helps the studio exec "see" the movie. I say, if your imagination is that limited, you are in the wrong business.

In the end, it should come down to the story and how it is told, not what it is or isn't based on. But that's just my opinion.

Screenwriter Ben Magid is best known for thinking outside the box, creating high concept worlds and big ideas. Magid entered the entertainment industry in 2006 with the sale of PAN to New Line Cinema, a revisionist take on Peter Pan that garnered mention on the Black List. He went on to write HACK/SLASH for Rogue Pictures, scheduled to shoot early 2010. He has worked with Legendary Pictures on BIGFOOT, Level One Entertainment on THE MAZE and sold his spec script INVASION in 2009 to Participant and Summit produced by Strike Entertainment and Eli Roth. His script ATLAS has been optioned by the producers of Paranormal Activity. Currently developing a TV show with Warner Horizon / Warner Bros, Magid is also active in the comic book world, with the upcoming debute of graphic novel TROUT published by Arcana Comics due out in 2010. He is repped in film by Mike Esola and Rob Carlson at WME and Brooklyn Weaver at Energy Entertainment, and in television by David Stone and Richard Weitz at WME.

Week 14: Gay Film

MIKE
If I had a normal family, and a good upbringing,
then I would have been a well-adjusted person.

SCOTT
[Laughs]
Depends on what you call normal.


MIKE
Yeah, it does. Well, you know, normal, like, like
a mom and a dad and a dog and shit like that.
Normal. Normal.

SCOTT
So you didn't have a normal dog?

MIKE
No, I didn't have a dog.

SCOTT
Didn't have a ... a normal dad?

MIKE
Didn't have a dog or, or, or a normal dad anyway.
That's alright. I don't feel sorry for myself, I
mean, I feel like I'm, I feel like I'm, you know,
well-adjusted.

SCOTT
[Laughs]
What's a normal dad?

MIKE
I don't know.

—River Phoenix as Mike and Keanu Reeves as Scott in
My Own Private Idaho (Van Sant, 1991 USA)

M 5.3/W 5.5: Gay Cinema
In-class: “History of Gay Cinema, Pt. II”
Screening: Transamerica (Tucker, 2005 USA)
Due: Journal Response 1

UPCOMING:

M 5.10/W 5.12: Science Fiction
In-class: “Sci-Fi on Film, Pt. I”
Screening: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Jones, 2004 US)
Due: Journal Response 2