“I talked to Steven about this yesterday. I asked him very specifically. What happened is a journalist was onto a story about this and had heard a rumor about Steven. They called a spokesperson to get a comment and honestly, just twisted it around.”
Jeffrey Katzenberg comments on rumours that Spielberg wants to ban Netflix films (and those of other streaming services) from qualifying for the Oscars.
This story has rumbled on for over a week now, and I really hope this draws it to some kind of an end because it’s nothing more than a storm in a teacup. Let’s review the story so far.
Spielberg has indeed spoken about Netflix films, stating that he wants to preserve the theatrical experience and that a film that does not get a theatrical run is a TV movie that should not qualify for the Oscars. Here are those quotes:
“I hope all of us really continue to believe that the greatest contributions we can make as filmmakers is to give audiences the motion picture theatrical experience. I’m a firm believer that movie theatres need to be around forever.”
"Once you commit to a television format, you're a TV movie. You certainly, if it's a good show, deserve an Emmy, but not an Oscar. I don't believe films that are just given token qualifications in a couple of theaters for less than a week should qualify for the Academy Award nomination."
Further to these quotes, Amblin issued a statement (the one Katzenberg refers to), and this can be seen below:
“Steven feels strongly about the difference between the streaming and theatrical situation. He’ll be happy if the others will join [his campaign] when that comes up [at the Academy Board of Governors meeting]. He will see what happens.”
Nowhere in any of those quotes does Spielberg dismiss the quality of Netflix films (he is not using ‘TV movie’ as a pejorative) or argue that there should be a blanket ban on their qualification for an Oscar. The numerous reports that he is stating such things are simply not true and are drawn more from speculation, click-bait headlines and poor journalism than anything that the man himself has said.
What we can draw from these comments is that Spielberg believes that a meaningful exclusive theatrical window should be in place: that to qualify for an Oscar, films should have to play for a certain time in cinemas before they are available on a streaming service. The Hollywood Reporter speculated that this window may be four weeks, but there have been no comments from Spielberg stating that so we can’t be sure that he actually believes it.
Indeed, amongst all the chaos, the real truth of this debate has been lost: we don’t actually know what Spielberg wants to do (if indeed he wants to do anything) with regard to Netflix and Oscar qualification. What we do know is that he does not hate the platform, as some have suggested. He was pictured celebrating with the Roma team after the Oscars and has worked with Netflix in the recent past, both directly (through 2017′s docu-series Five Came Back, which he appears in) and indirectly (through The Haunting of Hill House, which is an Amblin production).
Spielberg’s also been very vocal about his love for TV, a medium which he got his break in and which Amblin continues to work and thrive in to this day.
“I love television. I love the opportunity. Some of the greatest writing being done today is for television, some of the best directing for television, some of the best performances [are] on television today.”
Also lost in the madness is the fact that Spielberg almost took Lincoln to HBO because he didn’t think it would find a big enough audience at cinemas. In a joint interview with George Lucas, the following was stated in The Hollywood Reporter:
"I think eventually the Lincolns will go away and they're going to be on television," Lucas said. "As mine almost was," Spielberg interjected. "This close - ask HBO - this close."
So, what’s to be learned from all this? Not much really. We still don’t know exactly what Spielberg thinks of how streamed films should be dealt with at the Oscars. Perhaps he really does think they should be banned and perhaps he really does dislike Netflix.
But considering his actions, that’d be quite a strange stance to take and nothing he’s said so far suggests he believes it. If there’s anything that can be drawn from this debate, it’s that everyone should wait for clear statements and consider them with clear minds before jumping to conclusions that may not be true.
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