CHATSWORTH, Calif. - The 25th annual AVN Awards will be the last at which productions shot on film are divided into separate categories from those shot on video.
"There are very few films now, and very few companies producing films," said AVN president Paul Fishbein, "so it doesn't make sense to have separate categories for acting, screenplay, editing, sex scenes, because pretty much everything is being shot on some sort of video format now. So while we love film, and we love the look and the feel of film, there just aren't enough anymore to justify all those extra categories.
"If people make films, they'll be eligible in every category," Fishbein continued, "and if there are enough of them, then we'll have a separate Best Film category."
This announcement comes now, Fishbein said, because "we had to make a decision to give people notice. We want to be fair, so we just want to give them a year's notice before the next Awards. Now if they want to continue to shoot on film, we love it and will continue to embrace it, but we just won't have separate categories for the actors and sex scenes."
Fishbein said that though this move is mandated by the changing of industry standards, "It's sort of sad. I totally understand if people don't do it; you've got to look at technology and look at what it costs to produce a film, and I think with ease of shooting, people are shying away from film. But I love the look of film. To me, it looks better than anything, and probably always will."
The AVN Award categories that have until this year been divided up into film and video are: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best All-Girl Sex Scene, Best Anal Sex Scene, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography/Videography, Best Couples Sex Scene, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Group Sex Scene, Best Oral Sex Scene, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.
The full list of nominees for the 2008 AVN Awards will be announced next Monday, Nov. 26. A video announcement of the nominees for 20 of the top categories will be available to view on Monday morning at www.avnawards.com, and a list of all the nominees will be available at 5 p.m.
