LOS ANGELES, CA – Directors Guild of America President, Michael Apted, announced today the DGA's support of the agreement reached by the MPAA and the Motion Picture Academy to allow encrypted screeners to be sent to Academy members to aid in their voting decisions.
"We recognize the inherent difficulty in balancing the important interests of ensuring access to independent films while guarding the entertainment community from the serious threat of digital piracy and support the MPAA and the Motion Picture Academy in their approach," stated DGA President Michael Apted upon hearing of the MPAA/Academy decision. "No solution is ideal, however, this experimental approach ensures Academy members direct access to all films under consideration, and smaller independent films in particular, yet takes a necessary step in the fight to protect the work of directors and other creative artists from the peril of digital piracy."
Recognizing that the MPAA and Academy decisions are experimental this year, and the impact on independent films and filmmakers is unknown, Apted also announced, "The DGA plans to review and evaluate the impact of this experiment and assist the MPAA and the Academy in developing approaches for future award seasons."
The DGA will continue its long-standing practice of private member screenings of films in theatrical release to ensure that its members have the opportunity to see the work of their fellow directors in the theatrical format for which it was created. These screenings enable DGA members to view just about every film in contention in preparation for the DGA Awards, which will be held on Saturday, February 7, 2004.
