Jack's final word: no screeners

MPAA chief Jack Valenti has told the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and critics that there will be no changes in the screener ban this year. The Hollywood Reporter says that after more than a week of internal discussions, the MPAA decided in a conference call late Thursday evening not to supply screeners to anyone but members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Variety reports that the ban has claimed "its first conscientious objector" in ICM president and vice chairman Ed Limato, who represents Richard Gere, Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer, among other stars. He resigned Friday from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, after learning that 600 non-voting members of the Academy will also be excluded screener lists. Limato called it "another example of the Academy wanting to keep agents in their place."