ESPN will open ‘O.J.’ series in theaters

One of the biggest questions facing the documentary world is how to categorize the emergent form of the docu-series. Are projects like “Making of a Murderer” and “The Jinx” akin to the time-honored television miniseries, just in nonfiction form?

Or are they more of a classic documentary, just really, really long?

ESPN thinks it has the answer. Or at least an answer. When it comes to “O.J.: Made in America,” its new five-part, 7 1/2-hour documentary series, the network is treating the material like a traditional film.

The biggest piece of evidence? The Times has learned that, in accordance with the Motion Picture Academy’s theatrical requirements, the series will play in Los Angeles and New York theaters for a week, ahead of its television airing, so that it can qualify for an Oscar in the documentary category.

“Made in America” is director Ezra Edelman’s epic look at race relations in Los Angeles and across the country through the prism of the O.J. Simpson affair (and a journalistic world apart, it should be noted, from the current FX dramatization).

The series, which premiered as a documentary at Sundance, takes a deeper, grander look at a case many thought had been thoroughly examined long ago. (On Tuesday, ESPN announced the series will air its first episode on ABC on June 11, then switch it to the cable network, with new episodes playing most nights between June 14 and June 18.)

The first three hours (two episodes in TV time) don’t even deal with the chase or the trial. They look at the rise of Simpson as a hero that white America felt it could embrace and a larger culture of racial tension that includes the Watts riots and Rodney King.

All of that sets the stage perfectly for the more familiar elements of the case, so that when they finally happen, we see them, powerfully, against a much larger backdrop. And we come away feeling potentially differently – or at least with more sociological and historical perspective – about the trial and its outcome.

Because of that degree of ambition, ESPN believes the piece should be treated like a film and thus be eligible for nonfiction’s top Hollywood prize.

“This was not constructed as an episodic series — it was constructed as a film that just happens to lay out the story over a longer period of time,” said Connor Schell, senior vice president and executive producer of ESPN Films and original content. “Positioning it like this we hope will help people think of it that way.”

This is happening despite the fact that an Oscar is not something other high-profile docu-series such as “Jinx” and “Murderer” have pursued. HBO in recent years has been hesitant about qualifying even its traditional documentaries, keeping the focus on TV premieres. Netflix has generally resisted a theater-first play, though it’s had narrative (“Beasts of No Nation”) and documentary (“What Happened, Miss Simone?” and “The Square”) Oscar contenders in recent years.

One question: Will theater-goers want to experience the 7 1/2-hour series in one sitting? Even for those thoroughly immersed in our current on-demand, binge-watching culture, there’s something unique about watching a piece like “O.J.” communally with an audience of theater-goers, as film insiders who committed to the all-day affair at Sundance can attest. (Tribeca will hold a similar event at its film festival next month.)

And besides, if the definition of TV can change, merging with the definition of cinema, shouldn’t awards bodies update their thinking too? Making this series eligible for an Oscar sends a larger message — the old definitions of who can produce films, and how long they should be, and even what we call them, are irrelevant. The best work is the best work and should be eligible for the highest prizes.

Qualifying “Made in America” for an Oscar isn’t an easy undertaking. It’s not simple to find theaters that have eight free hours every day for a single showing. (ESPN has already booked theaters, but Schell did not reveal which ones.)

The network also had to work with the academy’s documentary branch on reinterpreting a rule that mandates four showings per day — impossible for a 7 1/2-hour piece.

Still to be faced: the review hurdle. To be eligible for a documentary Oscar, the academy requires that “the film must have a movie critic review in either the New York Times and/or Los Angeles Times — a television critic review will not be accepted.” So the ending is yet to be written on that.

“What I love about the nonfiction space right now is the notion that a documentary can be 15 minutes long or it can be 75 hours long, and it can still be great,” Schell said. Basically, it’s a new world for everyone, with new questions. No one yet knows the answers.

And with the #OscarsSoWhite debate that gripped the entertainment world this past award season still fresh in many people’s minds, “O.J.” strikes at the heart of that issue.

The documentary realm has not suffered some of the problems as other categories — Oscar nominees have included at least one movie with predominant black characters in each of the last five years. But the “O.J.” series — in a way, like “The Birth of a Nation” on the narrative side — will throw down the gauntlet in a different way. This is not just a story with black characters; it’s a story about race and inclusion that goes right to the same issues as the #OscarsSoWhite debate itself.

The academy has long been able to avoid long-form documentary work. And it has, to many critics’ eyes, chosen to avoid movies with African American subjects.

In one fell swoop ESPN will provide a path for change on each. Oscar voters will make the next move.

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 9:54 AM with the headline "ESPN will open ‘O.J.’ series in theaters."