In an initiative designed to help ensure the conservation and preservation of modern films, the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have signed an agreement to create a West Coast-based Conservation Collection of new, mint-condition prints of feature films made under DGA agreements. The DGA-Motion Picture Industry Conservation Collection’s main objective is to conserve prints so that they can be used as masters should a film’s original production elements no longer survive in good condition. The collection will consist of feature film projects dating from November 1, 2000.
Numerous well-known films survive today only because prints remained after the original negatives had been damaged or lost. The DGA-Motion Picture Industry Conservation Collection at the UCLA Film and Television Archive will help guarantee that the works of Guild members live on for the cultural awareness and enjoyment of future generations. The Conservation Collection will also be tapped, on a very limited basis, for non-commercial, select screenings. The highest standards will be maintained to ensure minimal risk of incidental damage due to negligence or equipment malfunction. No screenings will occur without the permission of the film’s copyright holder.
The Conservation Collection will be housed at the UCLA Film and Television Archive’s temperature and humidity controlled vaults and maintained by the Archive staff in accordance with accepted techniques for the long-term storage of film and video elements. The UCLA Film and Television Archive is the largest university-based moving image archive in the world, and as such it uniquely and thoroughly documents the 20th Century with over 220,000 motion picture and television titles and 27 million feet of newsreel footage.
The impetus for the creation of this Conservation Collection grew out of the realization that, while many studios are taking steps to ensure that original film and television elements are preserved for both their artistic and future asset value, an industry-wide approach was required in a rapidly changing business climate in which companies and their libraries are bought and sold. The Collection’s aim is to serve as a cinematic heritage ‘safety net’ should original film and television elements get lost in the midst of corporate realignment and reorganization. According to experts, new, mint-condition prints, properly stored and handled, can last at least 100 years and beta videotape masters can last 25-50 years if stored in pristine conditions.
“The DGA is thrilled to partner with the AMPTP and UCLA in what we believe is a historic agreement to ensure that our members’ films endure in the form that they intended,” said DGA National Executive Director Jay D. Roth. “This initiative has been a labor of love for the many feature film directors who comprise the DGA President’s Committee on Film Preservation and is a testament to their tenacity and dedication to the cause of film preservation and conservation. We also salute the studios and their archivists for their foresight and commitment to this issue.”
“Our member companies view this as a collaborative effort on the part of themselves and the Directors Guild of America to preserve our film heritage,” said AMPTP President Nick Counter. “For that reason, the companies are committed to cooperate with the DGA in this effort to make sure that these films can be preserved in a state that will make them available to future generations.”
“Our current film collection contains over 85,000 titles representing the full spectrum of Hollywood’s production in the 20th Century,” said Tim Kittleson, director of the UCLA Film and Television Archive. “The creation of this new Conservation Collection assures that this treasure trove will expand into the 21st century. The Archive is honored to join with the DGA and the AMPTP to proactively plan for the future.”
“I think it’s just wonderful that the DGA, the AMPTP and the UCLA Film and Television Archive have joined together in caring about the preservation of film and our cultural heritage, and have taken this innovative, and so necessary step of setting up a Conservation Collection,” said DGA Past President Arthur Hiller, Chairman of the DGA President’s Committee On Film Preservation. “This is really a historic step forward in the preservation of film.”
“This joint effort by the Directors Guild of America and the AMPTP to create a Conservation Collection of contemporary films is a sign that we can all work together to preserve our film heritage.” said Committee member Irwin Winkler.
“In conjunction with successful preservation programs already in place at the studios and archives, the new DGA-Motion Picture Industry Conservation Collection provides a much-needed safety net by ensuring that pristine prints exist for every single film produced,” said Committee member Martin Scorsese. “Of equal importance is that these films can be used for important screenings and retrospectives when no other print is available.”
The other members of the DGA President’s Committee on Film Preservation are DGA director-members Charles Burnett, Martha Coolidge, Joe Dante, Jonathan Demme, Bill Duke, Nora Ephron, Milos Forman, Curtis Hanson, Neil LaBute, Sydney Pollack, M. Night Shyamalan, Steven Soderbergh and Irwin Winkler.
