Critic's Screenings: Part Three

For your consideration, the awards screening.

The third type of screening is the Awards Screening. The Awards Screening is very similar to a Screening Room screening, except not as pleasant.

When a studio thinks that one of their movies has a chance to win some awards they will invite members of Critics groups and Guilds (SAG, Members of the Academy, etc.) to view their movie, often months in advance, in the hopes that the group members will vote for their movie when it comes time to hand out their awards. The Award Screening season runs from late October through December.

The screenings are always held in screening rooms, most often in the studio offices. Unlike the typical Screening Room Screening, these screenings are always crowded. I remember last year showing up for an Awards Screening for King Kong at Universal and being told that the room was completely full, but I could, if I wanted stand at the back. Somehow the idea of standing for 3 hours didn't quite appeal to me. At other screenings there have been people sitting on the floor, against the wall and just about any where they possibly could fit.

Also, since many of these movies are being screened months before their release date, there is a higher worry of piracy and consequently there is also security at these screenings. I remember riding the elevator out of one of these screenings with a well known critic who complained the whole way of being treated like the common public and how dare they search through his bag! Because of the security and the crowds, these screenings rarely start on time.

Since there are members of the Academy and SAG and the DGA invited to these screenings, you might think that there would be at least a chance of some celebrity sightings. Apparently not. Maybe I've just been unlucky, but I've never run into anyone that I've recognized beyond the usual critics that I always see at the screenings.

The studios set these screenings up in the hopes that the groups will vote for their movies. You'd think therefore that they would want to make the experience as pleasant as possible so that when those groups think back on their movie it is with fond remembrance. Instead the whole affair is treated like an assembly line. Let 'em in, pack 'em in and get it over with seems to be the mantra practiced at these screenings.