There is television and then there is the movie theater. There are movies made for television and there are movies made for the movie theater.…
There is television and then there is the movie theater. There are movies made for television and there are movies made for the movie theater. There are television movies and there are theatrical movies. Television movies are eligible for Emmys. Theatrical movies are eligible for Oscars.
Using director Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, Netflix gamed the system to qualify for the Academy Awards. As a result, Roma earned ten Oscar nominations (including Best Picture), and took home three (Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography). Nevertheless, Roma is still a TV movie, and the reasons for this should be obvious, especially to the Academy…
Netflix is a streaming service that produces movies for one purpose: to be streamed at home on your television, not in a commercial theater. Therefore, Netflix is producing TV movies.
You might argue: Wait, Roma played in a bunch of movie theaters!
Yes, yes, it did, but it is far from the first made-for-TV movie to makes its way into theaters.
In fact, nearly 50 years ago, a little made-for-TV gem called Duel made its way into overseas theaters. The director even shot additional footage for the theatrical release, and did so without demanding Oscar consideration. The director’s name? Steven Spielberg; and Duel is one of the greatest TV movies ever made — much better than the stilted, pretentious Roma.
Between 1964 and 1968 there were a total of eight made-for-TV movies released in American theaters from The Man From U. N. C. L. E. TV series. No one dreamed of qualifying those as anything other than TV movies.
Believe me, there are plenty more examples.
So the argument that Roma enjoyed a theatrical release does not hold water.
Let’s move on to the next argument: Roma looks and feels like a movie-movie and was directed by an Oscar winner!
Yes, yes, that is all true, including the fact that Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director in 2013, but HBO has been making those kinds of movies with that kind of talent for decades; theatrical-quality TV movies starring Big Movie Stars directed by Oscar winning directors.
