An article in today’s Hollywood Reporter says that the Director’s Guild of America has announced a one-year ban on the practice of sending out DVD copies of movies (called “screeners”) to DGA members in advance of the 59th Annual DGA Awards.
Film distributors send out screeners to judges in hopes of increasing a film’s chance of winning awards. The practice has had a controversial history. Proponents say screeners level the playing field and give low-budget films a chance against highly visible big-budget films. In 2003, screeners were briefly banned for Academy Award contenders, until a lawsuit overturned the ban.
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