DVD screener decision will cost DGA million$
The Directors Guild of America will pay a huge price for the decision it announced this week not to permit DVD screeners to be sent to its 13,400 members. A rough dollar amount can even be attached to it: Millions. That's how much money, for example, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences — which has a membership of similar size — earns from its DVD biz surrounding Emmy campaigns over a few years. In the race for film awards, other guilds like SAG and the Writers Guild of America don't earn nearly as much, but they still reap big bucks from handling the DVDs shipped to its award voters. In the past no DVDs were shipped to DGA members in the absence of a formal policy on the matter, but now that there is one, the price may be high. (Read more about the new ruling in blog item below — or CLICK HERE).
The TV academy charges every Emmy contender a fee of more than $1,000 to route a DVD to its members. Then there's profit to be made from managing the manufacture and distribution of discs, depending on the scope of distribution. Some contenders only pay to have their work sent to, say, the actors' branch. Others pay to reach all 13,000 members. ATAS doesn't disclose how much profit it makes from the process, but it's millions of dollars over the course of just a few years.
The Screen Actors Guild of America doesn't earn so much money because campaigners only need to reach the 2,100 members of the guild's nominating committee. It's extremely expensive to send a disc to the full membership exceeding 100,000.
Lionsgate was the first to blitz all of SAG. It sent "Crash" two years ago and ended up winning its ensemble award. Then later, of course, the Oscar for best picture. Last year "Little Miss Sunshine" won the ensemble prize after a mass guild mailing. It was also nominated at the Oscars for best picture, but lost to "The Departed," which also paid for a full SAG blitz. "Venus" is the only contender to fail to reap a top prize at either kudo after canvassing all of SAG. Peter O'Toole lost both prizes to "Last King of Scotland's" Forest Whitaker.
The membership of other guilds is much smaller and thus more affordable to reach, with the exception of the Writers Guild of America, which has 12,000 members. But contenders can choose just to ship to West Coast members, for example, who are more likely to also belong to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
AMPAS doesn't distribute discs like other award groups, but it does manage the procedure from a distance, enforcing strict rules governing how DVDs may be shipped. It penalizes violators by slashing the number of tickets they're permitted to purchase to the Oscar ceremony. Campaigners compile their own lists of AMPAS members or purchase lists from rivals.
Movies with an early annual release date have a cost advantage over rivals released late in the year, which is probably why "Crash," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Venus" and "The Departed" are the only pix ever sent to the full SAG membership. Those DVDs were already released for public distribution so they didn't have to be watermarked. It only costs about $5 to manufacture and ship a DVD in general release. A watermarked DVD costs about $20.
