Oscars row 'nearing compromise'

Smaller films rely on screeners to reach Oscar voters

A row in Hollywood over a controversial ban on Oscar "screeners" is reportedly on its way towards being resolved.

Screeners are DVDs of films sent out to voters for viewing. They are useful for smaller films seeking Oscar nomination.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) had banned them to try to curb movie piracy which it says is costing millions of dollars a year.

But now it is said to be inching closer to a compromise that would allow the studios to send them to Oscar voters.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, MPAA leaders have agreed in principle to distribute the screeners to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

They would take the form of VHS tapes or VHS-quality, lower-resolution DVDs.

One sanction could be possible expulsion from the Academy for recipients to whom pirated screeners were traced back, the MPAA has suggested.

Academy members would promise not to allow encoded screeners out of their possession.

MPAA president Jack Valenti is reportedly pursuing this proposal with studios on Wednesday.

Another sticking point could be the policing of other screener recipients.

These include the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which organises the Golden Globes, the guilds, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) and the various critics' groups.

Whether studios should be seen as favouring the Academy over other awards groups is another subject of contention.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) said it was "very encouraged" that the MPAA was reconsidering its position.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has attacked the ban as tilting "the playing field from small films to large".

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has voted to cancel its awards this year unless the ban is lifted. The New York Film Critics Circle also opposes the move.