Secret Settlements

The only people affected by the screener ban in the first place were those filmmakers who had signed the rights to their films over to divisions of the big studios: the ban was a mutually agreed upon decision that the MPAA was just the front person for. Those very companies' speciality divisions hated the decision as it affected them. The filmmakers who couldn't get their studios to send out screeners were affected, whether directors or producers. Even the Independent Feature Project got involved, rallying the cry against the screener bans. And industry professionals accused of being a source of piracy were miffed.

But ultimately, the "real independents" -- those speciality distributors who weren't signatories of the MPAA, including most non-US distributors -- could send out as many screeners as they wanted. The crux of the lawsuit, though, was that the decision was an anti-trust issue, which was convincing enough for the judge to throw up an injuction. A secret settlement (that may or may not have included a cash payment) seems like a remarkable snubbing of the "rest of the independent community" that supported those that had perhaps sold out a bit too much.

I rooted for the coalition to win, because I thought it would be good for independents in general, and because the argument that industry voters were such a major source of piracy. Who knows what actually was won now: I'd never had imagined that a representational organization like the IFP would agree to a secret settlement.