The companies are paying an average of $3,500 a month to rent each studio and one-bedroom apartment in the renovated building.
Studio representatives are expected to say in court in coming weeks that if they did not offer programs just like Blockbuster's to the independents, it was for legitimate business reasons -- like the lack of computerized systems by the independent stores to monitor each studio's share of rental revenue.
"We wanted to create a building they could be proud of coming home to". Residents enter each studio from a shared, open balcony, which helps to make the apartments as light-filled and airy as possible.
Visitors to the artists' studios must also register, either by sending a text message to a number listed on posters at each studio or by entering a studio number using a "Go" mobile application.
Mr. Taylor of the motion picture association said he disagreed with with Mr. Curtner's interpretation, adding, "It now falls to each individual studio to determine what they'll do regarding screeners".
We are all creators, so we go to each others studio and we talk art.
That kind of ambition is what draws artists to the city, to the galleries and to each others' studios.
Meanwhile, the Motion Picture Association of America is putting together a committee, with an executive from each studio, to help co-ordinate Hollywood's war effort.
"Every morning they would get dressed up, go to the gates of each studio and the directors or the assistant directors would come out and pick people," Bender said.
While there are best-picture contenders from Oscar powerhouses among the independents, like the Weinstein Company, each studio appears to have a credible candidate for the Academy Awards, which are to be handed out on Feb. 24.
