And The Award For The Most Complete Misunderstanding Of Internet Video Goes To… The Motion Picture Academy

from the way-to-go!! dept

The buzz today is about the Motion Picture Academy’s decision to have YouTube yank all the uploaded videos from the Oscars. However, unlike Viacom, who at least seemed to have a plan behind its decision to pull clips from YouTube, the Motion Picture Academy seems to be doing it for either spite or stupidity. Ric Robertson, exec administrator for the Academy, gave one of the most bizarre explanations. It’s got nothing to do with money, apparently as he said it’s “really not about (protecting that) business opportunity.” Even though the Oscars have their own website with clips, Robertson says he plans to even yank down their own clips. Apparently, it’s all an effort to “whet people’s appetite for next year’s show.” Yes, apparently the Motion Picture Academy believes that the best way to get people interested in next year’s Oscars is to… remove all evidence of this year’s Oscars. Back at the Tech Policy Summit earlier this week, David Garfield of the MPAA insisted that movie studio execs weren’t as stupid as everyone made them out to be — but with stories like this, it’s not hard to see where that reputation comes from.


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Comments on “And The Award For The Most Complete Misunderstanding Of Internet Video Goes To… The Motion Picture Academy”

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26 Comments
misanthropic humanist says:

He's as mad a box of frogs

I can only offer ad hominem comment here. Surely the only point here is the mental state of Mr Ric Robertson. I would suggest that he has issues that would best be dealt with professionally. However, if as the owner of the video of this event, he sincerely believes that burying it is the best way to promote it, then he has every right to act like a churlish teenager.

I see and hear about a lot of behaviour these days that reminds me of the cartoon character “Spoilt Bastard”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoilt_Bastard

People in public life increasingly display quite serious entitlement and control issues. Fortunately, unless they are people like Bush who have control of military resources they only succeed in making harmless pricks of themselves. But we should not glorify mental illness, this is not an accptable way to behave however you justify it and we should call these people for what they are, the appropriate technical/clinical term I believe is “fucking loony”.

ScaredOfTheMan says:

Genius Pure Genius…. Since I can’t watch clips of silly self absorbed speeches and awards that really don’t mean that much on Youtube, I am running around the house naked singing West Side story Songs…. I can’t wait for next year!!

Damn you Ric Robenson…Damn you for addicting me to your artifical ceremonies that no one watches. What ever will I do now?

On another note, I predict the Oscars will go the route of Miss America and Miss Universe in the coming years… Stays on TV even though no one watches it anymore.

a says:

Re: Get real and get a clue

“On another note, I predict the Oscars will go the route of Miss America and Miss Universe in the coming years… Stays on TV even though no one watches it anymore.”

You do realize that the Oscars is the second highest rated show in the world, right? You do realize that only the Super Bowl attracts more viewers, right?

ScaredofTheMan says:

Re: Re: Get real and get a clue

Lets put it in Context here sunshine.

“If the estimates hold, Sunday’s ABC telecast, featuring a Best Picture win for The Departed, will go down as one of only seven ceremonies since 1974 to not average at least 40 million viewers. In the scheme of things, it was neither a 2003 disaster (33 million viewers), nor a Titanic-powered 1998 triumph (55.2 million). It was more like a slightly undersized 1977, when Rocky’s upset Best Picture win was witnessed, on average, by 39.7 million.”

So it was mediocre at best…incredible boring at worse.

The Oscars might have been something special back in the 50s-90s but this 2007, we want 3 minute youtube clips not 4 hours of brain drain.

I stand by my comment…they are going to simply continue to lose viewers until the actually telecast falls into Miss. America obscurity

a says:

Re: Re: Re: So it was mediocre at best...incredible boring at

Go ahead and stand by your thoughts, but name one show besides the Super Bowl will have higher ratings in the US?

Name one show that charges over a million dollars for a 30 second commercial?

I myself would never watch the show itself, but just because I don’t enjoy it (or it seems most people here either) doesn’t mean that you can assume it is failing. In terms of trends and styles, most people on the net forget the saying “Will it play in Peoria”. Guess what, you may not think much of flyover country, but it is still there and still is the majority of this fine nation.

Overcast says:

Good, even less of a chance I might happen across that boring drivel.

Believe me, I’ll shed no tears at never see the Oscars or Grammys again in my life, it’s just a big orgy of them all caressing each others ego’s and trying to be politically correct.

I had heard it was a ‘green’ oscars… I wonder how ‘green’ the street outside was with all those V8+ limo engines waiting on the ‘stars’.

lol

Mike C. says:

You mean I missed it...?

Wait, you mean to tell me the Oscars were awarded recently? And that it was shown on TV? And I missed it?

Awwwwwwwwwwww…..GREAT!

In all seriousness, I saw that they were on, visited my favorite movie site (IMDB), saw that they were prepared to post the results and decided to pass on 3 hours of useless speeches in exchange for some family time with my wife and kids (a couple rousing games of Sorry! and Trouble!).

Keep up the good work Ric. Help these silly “pat yourself on the back” shows fade into oblivion. My family thanks you for it.

Reminising on Elementary school Hijinx says:

A candid conversation with Ric Robertson...

It’s little Ricky Robinson! Where have you been?

Man, I remember when we were all playing soccer in elementary school, and we were using your ball, Ric.. What good times. But why did you get so upset that you decided to take the ball away? Didn’t you know we all just wanted to have a good time?

Dosquatch says:

In good company

I was going to say that I quit caring about the Oscars years ago, and even if the clips were left up I probably still wouldn’t care about next year’s… but it appears that I am far from alone. Huzzah, brothers and sisters!

Actually, this isn’t completely true. I certainly don’t watch the show, or care for the most part, but I do hope for the people who deserve to be awarded for their talents. Congrats, Scorsese, on your win. It has been long overdue.

Bob says:

It shouldnt matter if the clips are online or not. Nobody even watches these stupid awards shows anyway. Best Picture should go to the movie that made the most money since it made the most money it must be the best. These award shows are nothing but biased marketing tools to get people to watch movies that Hollywood thinks we should like. Ever wonder why a horror or action movie NEVER wins an award unless its in some obscure category.

srgtick says:

Gotta love it… by stan on Feb 28th, 2007 @ 1:54pm

In keeping with the tone of the previous posts but with less irony and more accuracy… this guy deserves a leadership post in Al-Qaeda or at the very least Castro’s administration. His views probably aren’t extreme enough to get him into the Mikey Moore looney wing of the DNC… but give him time!!!

Keep on riding that train down the toilet psycho.

Search Engines Web (user link) says:

THEY ARE STILL ON THE TEMP INTERNET FILES OF MILL

DID YOU WATCH A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE OSCARS – THEY ARE STILL ON YOUR TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES

They are usually FLV files – (do a sort by day and filetype)

—> Then copy and paste each to a different directory where they will be permanently stored

—> Then use any of the several online convertors to change them into Quicktime, Windows media or SWF files – and you will enjoy them at your will for years (plus they load and play faster) 🙂

Bill Smith says:

Just goes to show you!

Well, what do you expect. These are the same people who killed two of the best TV shows out there. I refer to StarTrek in the 60’s( suprize 40 years later it’s comming back) and Stargate SG1. What if people were really into watching this self absorberd rubish. Where are we to get our daily dose of narcicisim?

JJ says:

If they dont want youtube to show their clips, then they have every right not to allow youtube to show their clips. I believe that the only way they make money is by selling the clips to news agencies.

That being said, I have no interest in these or most award shows. Not only are they boring and drawn out, but they are often inaccurate.

I do have an idea for an improvement. Show the afterparties instead. I would rather watch celebrities get plastered and grope each other.

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