Membership Requirements & Ethics Guidelines Membership Statement for The Kansas City Film Critics Circle The Kansas City Film Critics Circle is a group of media-based film critics who critique current motion pictures on a regular basis. Dr. James Loutzenhiser, who passed away in November 2001, founded the group in 1967. The annual film awards are now called The Loutzenhiser Awards. A film critique is defined as an analysis of a film, expressing an opinion of its quality based on criteria such as acting, cinematography, music, directing, story/plot development, or relation to a specific genre or aspect of film history. The Kansas City Film Critics Circle does not accept merely announcing or printing titles of films, release dates, show times, cast lists, plot synopses etc., with no actual critique included. Membership Consideration Guidelines for Current Film Critics : To be considered for membership in the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, applicants must meet the following guidelines. After meeting the guidelines an applicant must request sponsorship from a current KCFCC member. That member is responsible for providing evidence of the applicant's qualifications to the full membership. Survival of a simple majority vote is required for membership. (1) For membership in good standing, by July 1, 2003 and yearly thereafter, a member must watch and critique at least 25 current theatrical-release motion pictures in the approximate twelve-month period between membership meetings (held in early summer). Critiques (as defined above) must be distributed via a mass-medium to the movie-going public (print, radio, television or Internet). Print outlets must be professionally edited, printed and distributed. Internet outlets must also be professional in style, updated regularly, and have as a minimum 5,000 hits a month. To qualify, a written review must be at least 300 words in length. Two (2) capsule reviews of 100-150 words each may be counted as one regular review of 300 or more words. If a critic writes more than one review of a film, the additional reviews may be counted so long as they are significantly different from the original. Reprinted or syndicated reviews, with minor or no changes, will not be considered separately. Critics who review via audio or video media (television, radio or online), must have at least eight (8) hours of "on-air" time in the twelve-month period as defined above. (2) The annual awards meeting, held in January, is mandatory for all KCFCC members. A proxy vote will be allowed, but the absent critic must notify the Membership Committee three days in advance of the vote, specifying who the proxy will be. The proxy must already be a member of the KCFCC. No abstentions or unexcused absences from the Annual Vote will be allowed. Unless the critic can provide a hardship excuse (family emergency, accident, etc.), that critic will be immediately dropped from active membership. Annual membership dues of $15 will be collected from all members at the time of the meeting. Members who cannot attend must make sure the Treasurer has their dues within one month after the meeting takes place. (3) Senior Members of the Circle, who have a lessened workload or are retired, may remain members, but must have seen a sufficient number of films to vote at the annual meeting. Senior Members must also abide by all other rules and ethics guidelines. (4) Educators who regularly teach classes pertaining to the film industry must also abide by the membership guidelines, as defined above. (5) New applicants must be at least 18 years of age and must have met the Kansas City Film Critics Circle criteria during the 12 months prior to application for membership. (6) The Kansas City Film Critics Circle is defined by a 60-mile radius around the Kansas City metropolitan area using 10th and Main Street, Kansas City, Missouri, as the center point of the circle. (7) University/college student newspapers within the 60-mile radius are eligible to send a representative film critic to the annual awards vote. The newspaper must be published regularly (at least weekly) and must be affiliated with the college. If the university publication has two or more reviewers, the publication has the option of holding a consensus vote among its reviewing staff to select final vote entries for the KCFCC awards. Regardless of the size of the staff, the publication will receive only one vote per category. Major daily papers which have an ongoing section written by teens are also eligible to send a representative voter to the KCFCC awards. Student writers from either the college paper or teen section must have published 10 reviews or 20 capsule reviews during the calendar year in their respective publications to qualify. (8) Critics who violate standards of professional behavior may jeopardize their standing with the KCFCC, and are subject to being voted out of KCFCC membership. (See ethics guidelines below.) A formal request for a membership vote-out can be made at any time during the year by any current member of the KCFCC, in which case a meeting will be called to vote on the individual in question. A critic is voted out of the organization by majority vote of the full KCFCC membership. A critic who is voted out can petition for reinstatement during the next new membership vote. (9) In order to run for a seat on the KCFCC Governing Committee or as an officer, members must have been active and in good standing for at least three (3) years. The committee consists of four (4) officers (President, Vice President, Secretary & Treasurer) and three (3) at-large members. Committee members and officers are elected at the annual membership meeting. Ethics Guidelines At a session of the KCFCC Governing Committee in September, 2004, the following ethics guidelines were established for members of the KCFCC. Any breach of these guidelines may be punishable by censure or expulsion as outlined in the KCFCC Guidelines & Requirements. The following actions are prohibited by the KCFCC ethics guidelines: - Plagiarizing material - Stealing goods or services from studio representatives, theaters or other KCFCC members - Using KCFCC membership to demand special treatment (this includes demanding promotional items for personal use, demanding extra screening passes or demanding free passes to films that have already opened) - Allowing gifts or favors to influence the content of reviews - Reviewing films you have not seen - Reviewing films in which you, or someone you know well, has a creative or financial interest without disclosing that information in the review - Threatening or harassing artists, studio representatives, theater owners/employees or other KCFCC members - Falsifying press credentials or professional associations - Falsely claiming to be an official representative of the KCFCC - Unauthorized recording of theatrical releases - Unauthorized copying and / or sale of studio screeners, including (but not limited to) Internet distribution The Governing Committee reserves the right to review and alter these guidelines as needed or upon the request of the KCFCC membership. Copyright 2007-2008 Kansas City Film Critics Circle All Rights Reserved KCFCC logo created by December Lambeth |
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