The Reason for the Rule

Elaine Dutka’s otherwise excellent article on this year’s feature documentary nominees (“Stories That Just Had to Be Told,” March 5) ends with an unchallenged flurry of complaints about one of the rules for that category.

“What irks some [documentary filmmakers] . . . is the rule requiring each entry to play a week in New York or L.A.” This is a little like a skipper who aspires to win the America’s Cup saying he’s irked by the requirement that he has to put his boat into the water.

If you aspire to an Oscar, you have to come to grips with the fact that theaters are where the competition is held. One of this year’s nominees is quoted as asking, “What’s wrong with TV movies? A lot of them are very good.” That’s absolutely true but splendidly beside the point. Television movies have their own awards competitions; the Oscars are for movies that have their initial runs in theaters.

This isn’t some obscure and quirky rule being imposed solely on the makers of documentaries. It is and always has been a prominent part of Academy Awards rule No. 1. Films are made for all sorts of venues these days, but the province of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is theatrical motion pictures.

BRUCE DAVIS

Executive Director

Academy of Motion Picture

Arts and Sciences

Beverly Hills