Best Swag

Since this is the first year I've received swag, this is my first chance to give a special Goatie at my year-end awards: Best Swag. Here's an update on the campaigns for this prestigious award, which is all about campaigning.

Little Miss Sunshine started off in the lead, having sent me my first-ever swag, a pack of eight postcards celebrating the movie. They're still holding a slim lead over the competition, Fox Searchlight having recently sent me a shooting script. It includes an essay entitled "How to Write a Sundance Hit in Nine Easy Steps," which is actually a little distressing.

Running a close second is Thank You for Smoking, for which I received one of my first screeners. In the same package as the Sunshine script was a shooting script for this film, which doesn't include any distressing essays, but lacks "extras" in general. That and the fact that I didn't really care for the film (but this isn't supposed to be about quality of film but quality and quantity of swag) are all that's keeping this one from taking over the lead. Could they pull ahead by sending me a pack of TYFS brand cigarettes? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Half Nelson: I received only a DVD, and a burned one in a plain plastic jewel case at that, but I requested this one, which makes it a strong contender. I heard that other critics were getting DVDs, so I emailed ThinkFilm and requested one—and they sent it!

Other contenders include The Illusionist and The Last King of Scotland (a DVD for each); The History Boys (a book that includes both the shooting script and the playwright/screenwriter's diary of the filming); and Notes on a Scandal (a screenplay).

Studios, if you're reading this, certain things could buy you this award outright. They include, but are not limited to: actual invitations to preview screenings of any of your films, tickets for ten to the Oscars, or a remote control car driven by scale models of your characters.