Steven Spielberg thinks Netflix films shouldn't qualify for Academy Awards, 
as he believes they should be considered TV movies.
The prolific director, who next will debut Ready Player One, told ITV News he believes that the easily accessible
 format of streamers like Netflix and Amazon has made filmmakers less eager to
 raise funds and submit their films to festivals.
He said, "Fewer and fewer filmmakers are going to struggle to raise money or to go to compete in Sundance, 
and possibly get one of the specialty labels to release their film theatrically. 
And more of them are going to let the SVOD businesses finance their films, maybe with the promise of 
a slight one week theatrical window to qualify them for awards as a movie."
He added, "I don’t believe that films that are given token qualifications, in a couple of theaters for less
 than a week, should qualify for the Academy Award nomination."
Spielberg also reflected on the danger the television industry poses to filmmakers, saying, 
"It is a challenge to cinema the same way television in the early 1950s pulled people away from movie theaters 
and everybody stayed home because it was more fun to stay home and watch a comedy on television
 than it was to go out to see a movie." He added, "Hollywood’s used to that. We are accustomed to
 being highly competitive with television.”
He also said, "The television is greater today than it’s ever been in the history of television. 
There’s better writing, better directing, better performances, better stories are being told."
The director then confirmed that he doesn't plan to conform to the trend of making films 
with streaming services, saying, "I’ll still make The Post for audiences asking them,
 'Please to go out to the movies to see The Post,' and not make it directly for Netflix."
Netflix has accumulated eight Oscar nominations in recent years. Mudbound earned four nominations 
at this year's Academy Awards for best supporting actress, original song, adapted screenplay 
and cinematography. The streaming service’s other original films that have received nods include
 the short documentary Heroin(e), Hungary-based foreign language film On Body and Soul
 and documentaries Icarus and Strong Island.
For the full ITV News interview, head to THR.com. Until next time, 
for The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
