Thank you award season! The studios send out thousands and thousands of these DVD screening copies of their award-worthy films each year to voting members in all the unions and voting organizations that give out awards. I get most of them because I’m a member of the Writer’s Guild. Two or three screeners will come because I’m also a SAG member, but the WGA is my major hookup.
Every screener comes with a ton of legal warnings:
Because piracy is a huge issue for studios. They want to ensure voters consider their films when award season rolls around, but they don’t want these screeners ending up on eBay or in China. That’s why each DVD is hand delivered by Fedex and specifically coded with my personal ID – so if they do find one of my screeners on the black market, they can trace it back to me and prosecute me to the fullest extent of the law. Yipes!
I love getting screeners because they allow me to enjoy the movies in the comfort of my own home and on my own time. My schedule doesn’t usually allow for all the free screenings around town, and since I don’t go to the movies regularly anyway, I usually haven’t seen any of them. (The last movie I saw in a movie theater was Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Before that, Part 1.)
Awards season is also fun because you can see what films the studios are really putting their money behind. Universal, for example, has sent me so many screening invitations and promotional flyers about Bridesmaids that I wouldn’t be surprised if they followed it up with an offer to pay for my future wedding if I vote for them.
I’ve gathered four screeners so far – I’m excited to see what else comes down the pipeline.
What award-worthy films are you rooting for so far?
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