Presiding Officer: Donald Eastlake III
Parliamentarian/Deputy P.O.: Kevin Standlee
Secretary: Robert Sacks (standing in for Pat McMurray)
Emergency Holographic Secretary: Cheryl Morgan
Timekeeper: 'Zanne Labonville
1. Committee Reports
Committee reports may include motions. Motions made by committees consisting of more than one person need not be seconded.
1.1. Mark Protection Committee (Including Nominations for MPC)
See the World Science Fiction Society Constitution, Sections 1.7 and 1.8, and Standing Rules 11 and 12. Zone residency of elected members is shown as follows: WWest; CCentral; EEast; RRest of World.
Officers: Randall Shepherd (Chairman), Tim Illingworth (Vice Chairman), Scott Dennis (Treasurer), Gary Keith Feldbaum (Secretary).
Membership: elected until Chicon 2000: Scott DennisC, Donald Eastlake IIIE, Ruth SachterW; elected until the Millennium Philcon: Tim IllingworthR, Kevin StandleeW, Ben YalowE; elected until ConJosé: Stephen BoucherR, Gary Keith FeldbaumE, Sue FrancisC. Worldcon appointees: Covert Beach (Bucconeer), Randall Shepherd (Aussiecon Three), 'Zanne Labonville (Chicon 2000), Todd Dashoff (Millennium Philcon), Cheryl Morgan (ConJosé). NASFiC appointee: Vacant (Conucopia). Other (non-voting) officers appointed by the Committee: Mark Olson, George Flynn (Postal Officers), Kenneth Smookler (Canadian Mark Registration)
Postal address: P.O. Box 426159, Kendall Square Station, Cambridge MA 02142 USA.
E-mail: mpc@wsfs.org
The committee is to report and the positions currently occupied by Scott Dennis, Donald Eastlake, and Ruth Sachter are up for nomination. The election, if necessary, will be held at the Main Business Meeting on September 2. Due to zone residency restrictions, we can elect at most two people from the Western zone, two people from the Central zone, one person from the Eastern zone, and three people from the Rest of the World.
1.2. Nitpicking & Flyspecking Committee
The 1986 WSFS Business Meeting voted to create a special committee to research and codify all resolutions of the WSFS Business Meeting that are still in force. This committee has submitted reports to Business Meetings since 1987, and has each year been continued to report to the next Business Meeting. Written report attached.
Membership: Donald E. Eastlake, III (Chairman), Tim Illingworth, Kevin Standlee.
Postal address: 140 Forest Ave., Hudson MA 01749, USA.
E-mail: dee3@torque.pothole.com
1.3. Worldcon Runners' Guide Editorial Committee
This committee was established by the 1989 WSFS Business Meeting, and has been continued ever since. See report below.
Membership: Saul Jaffe (Chair), Sharon Sbarsky and Ben Yalow
E-Mail: crg@sflovers.rutgers.edu
I regret to say that the committee has not done much over the last year. I won't make excuses. All I will say is that is my personal opinion that fandom has had too much of illness and death this past year.
At last year's Business Meeting, we said we wanted to make the guide available on the web. We've converted it from Word format, into HTML and there's a working copy currently available on the Internet at http://sflovers.rutgers.edu/wcrg.
This copy will be updated, and expanded and, hopefully by next year's meeting, if this committee is continued, be ready for publication as a full website.
There have been no contributions to the guide in the last year, and only one request for a copy of the guide. Questions, contributions, and requests can be sent to the committee's email address: crg@sflovers.rutgers.edu.
The WRGE Committee moves the adoption of the following motion:
Short Title: Continue WRGEC
Moved, To continue the Worldcon Runners Guide Editorial Committee as previously constituted, and to instruct the committee to report to the 2001 WSFS Business Meeting.
1.4. Rest of the World Hugo Eligibility Committee
At the 1999 WSFS Business Meeting, a constitutional amendment intended to extend the eligibility of works first published outside of the USA was referred to a committee consisting of Vincent Docherty and such other persons as he may choose to appoint to the committee. (See separate sheet for report and recommendations.)
2. Worldcon Reports
2.1 Past Worldcons and NASFiCs
2.1.1. ConAdian (1994)
2.1.2. L.A.con III (1996)
2.1.3. Bucconeer (1998)
2.1.4. Conucopia (1999 NASFiC)
2.1.5. Aussiecon Three (2000)
2.2. Seated Worldcons
2.2.1. Chicon 2000 (2000)
2.2.2. The Millennium Philcon (2001)
2.2.3. ConJosé (2002)
3. Business Passed On from Aussiecon Three
There is no Business Passed On from Aussiecon Three.
4. New Business
4.1.Resolutions
Items under this heading may be voted upon and final action taken by the Preliminary Business Meeting.
4.1.1. Hugo Eligibility Extension: The Sky Road
Moved, To extend the eligibility of The Sky Road, a novel by Ken MacLeod, for a year, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.
Discussion: The novel appeared in 1999, but only as a UK hardcover. The UK paperback, and the US publication, all took place (or will take place) in 2000. Since UK hardcover print runs are often so limited, as compared to US print runs, or UK paperback print runs, this book meets the criteria set out for extending eligibility.
Moved by Ben Yalow and Jim Mann.
This motion extends eligibility for the Hugo Award; therefore, it requires a ¾ vote.
4.1.2. Hugo Eligibility Extension: STET 9
Moved, To extend the eligibility of issue 9 of the dated periodical STET, based on limited availability, as authorized by Section 3.4.
Moved by Mark Olson and Ben Yalow.
This motion extends eligibility for the Hugo Award; therefore, it requires a ¾ vote.
4.2. Standing Rules Amendments
Items under this heading may be voted upon and final action taken by the Preliminary Business Meeting. Standing rules amendments take effect at the conclusion of the 2000 Business Meeting unless given earlier effect by specific provision and a two-thirds vote. In all amendments, new text is shown in underline type and stricken text is shown in strikethru type.
4.2.1. Breakfasters’ Rights Amendment
Moved, to amend Standing Rule 4 as follows:
Rule 4: Scheduling of Meetings. The first Main Meeting shall be scheduled no less than eighteen (18) hours after the conclusion of the last Preliminary Meeting. No meeting shall be scheduled to begin before 10:00 or after 15:00 local time.
Moved by Kevin Standlee and Tim Illingworth.
4.2.2. Amending Amendments
Moved, to amend Standing Rule 2 as follows:
Rule 2: Preliminary Business Meeting(s). The Preliminary Business Meeting may not directly reject, pass, or ratify amendments to the Constitution; however, all motions adhering to a Constitutional amendment are in order if otherwise allowed. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not refer a Constitutional amendment to a committee unless the committee’s instructions are to report to the Main Business Meeting. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not postpone consideration of a Constitutional amendment beyond the last Preliminary Business Meeting. The Preliminary Business Meeting may not amend a Constitutional amendment pending ratification. The Preliminary Business Meeting may consider any business not expressly forbidden to it by the Standing Rules or expressly reserved to the Main Business Meeting.
Moved by Tim Illingworth and Kevin Standlee
Discussion: This would prevent a Preliminary Business Meeting changing an amendment that has already been passed by the previous year's Main Business Meeting. This preserves the Main Business Meeting as a superior house over the Preliminary Business Meeting, and will also help people know which meetings they need to attend.
4.3. Constitutional Amendments
Items under this heading have not yet received first passage, and will become part of the constitution only if passed at Chicon 2000 and ratified at The Millennium Philcon. The Preliminary Business Meeting may amend items under this heading, set debate time limits, refer them to committee, and take other action as permitted under the Standing Rules.
4.3.1. Return to 2-Year Bidding
Moved, To Amend Section 4.1.1 of the WSFS Constitution to shorten the lead time for selection of future Worldcons from three years to two years, as follows:
4.1.1 WSFS shall choose the location and Committee of the Worldcon to be held three (3) two (2) years from the date of the current Worldcon.
Provided that: this amendment shall not take effect until the conclusion of the 2004 Worldcon; that there shall be no Worldcon site selection election at the 2005 Worldcon; and that the 2006 Worldcon shall select the site of the 2008 Worldcon.
Moved by Vincent Docherty, Kent Bloom and Mark Olson
See separate handout for makers' commentary on this motion.
4.3.2 Best Television Series Hugo Award
This item and the next two items all affect the Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award. The Preliminary Business Meeting may take action to choose between these items and only allow one of them to be considered at the Main Business Meeting.
Moved, To Amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to create a new Hugo Award Category "Best Television Series" and related purposes, as follows:
3.2.4: Works appearing in a series are eligible as individual works, but, except in the "Best Television Series" category, the series as a whole is not eligible. However, a work appearing in a number of parts shall be eligible for the year of the final part.
3.3.6: Best Dramatic Presentation. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects which has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year. An individual episode of a television series is eligible in this category but the series as a whole is not.
3.3.X: Best Television Series. A series of programs of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects that have been publicly presented on television for the first time in their present dramatic form during the previous calendar year.
Moved by Richard S. Russell and Hope Kiefer.
Discussion: More people get their regular fix of SF from TV than from any other source. Yet, when it comes to the Hugo Awards, we continue to suffer from literary snobbishness -- 5 separate categories for written SF and only 1 for every other medium combined.
We make fans of televised SF jump through this incredible hoop to get SOMETHING nominated from their favorite series: we force them to try to pick out ONE episode from the previous year that they can rally behind. This presumes that many of them even notice, let alone remember, the title of an episode. It is a testament to the award-worthiness of "Babylon 5" that its fans were actually able to overcome these obstacles on several occasions.
The analog in literary terms would be to have an award for "Best Paragraph" of a short story or "Best Chapter" of a novel -- something so obviously ludicrous that we'd dismiss it out of hand. Yet we seem blind to the same situation confronting TV series.
The Hugo Awards provide us with kind of a historical snapshot of SF. "Best TV Series" is a category that we should have had for the last quarter century. We can't fix the past, but we can start now to build the historical record of the future.
4.3.3 The Long and Short of It
Moved, To amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to have the effect of splitting the existing Best Dramatic Presentation category into two categories, Long Form and Short Form, to regulate the administration of such categories, and for other purposes, as follows.
1. Strike out existing Section 3.3.6, "Best Dramatic Presentation."
3.3.6: Best Dramatic Presentation. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects which has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year.
2. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.3.5:
3.3.x: Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year, with a complete running time of more than 100 minutes.
3. Insert the following section before existing Section 3.3.7
3.3.x: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects that has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year, with a complete running time of 100 minutes or less.
4. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.2.5:
3.2.x: The Worldcon Committee shall not consider previews, promotional trailers, commercials, public service announcements, or other extraneous material when determining the length of a work.
5. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.2.6:
3.2.x: The Worldcon Committee may relocate a dramatic presentation work into a more appropriate category if it feels that it is necessary, provided that the length of the work is within the lesser of twenty (20) minutes or twenty percent (20%) of the new category limits.
Moved by Chris Barkley and Lew Wolkoff.
Discussion: This amendment has a three-fold purpose:
A) To split television and motion picture presentations into two length categories, Long Form and Short Form.
B) To give fans a wider choice in their selections for Best Dramatic Presentations; for example, as a result of the category split, fans have the option of choosing radio dramas, books on tape/CD, music albums, musical performances, etc.
C) Attract more media minded or casual reading fans into the Hugo selection process and expand the voting base.
4.3.4 The Not So Long and Short of It
Moved, to substitute for the entire text of the motion titled "The Long and Short of It," the following:
Moved, To amend portions of Article III of the WSFS Constitution to have the effect of splitting the existing Best Dramatic Presentation category into two categories, Non-Episodic and Episodic, to regulate the administration of such categories, and for other purposes, as follows.
1. Strike out existing Section 3.3.6, "Best Dramatic Presentation."
3.3.6: Best Dramatic Presentation. Any production in any medium of dramatized science fiction, fantasy or related subjects which has been publicly presented for the first time in its present dramatic form during the previous calendar year.
2. Insert the following section after existing Section 3.3.5:
3.3.x Best Dramatic Presentation, Episodic. Any production in any medium of dramatized Science Fiction, Fantasy, or related subjects that formed a single episode from a regularly scheduled ongoing production.
3. Insert the following section before existing Section 3.3.7:
3.3.x: Best Dramatic Presentation, Non-Episodic. Any feature film, short subject, television mini-series, live theater production, or any other production in any medium of dramatized Science Fiction, Fantasy, or related subjects, not eligible for the Episodic Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award.
4. Insert the following sentence at the end of Section 3.2.4:
3.2.4: Works appearing in a series are eligible as individual works, but the series as a whole is not eligible. However, a work appearing in a number of parts shall be eligible for the year of the final part. A multi-part episodic or non-episodic dramatic production shall be eligible for the year in which the final part is first publicly performed.
5. Insert the following sentence at the end of Section 3.2.6:
3.2.6: The Worldcon Committee may relocate a story into a more appropriate category if it feels that it is necessary, provided that the length of the story is within the lesser of five thousand (5,000) words or twenty percent (20%) of the new category limits. The Worldcon Committee may relocate a dramatic presentation work into a more appropriate category if it feels that it is necessary.
Moved by Skip Morris and Cris Shuldner
Discussion: As an individual who as run numerous convention film and video programs over several decades I feel qualified to comment on the main motion and my amendment. While I feel it is a worthwhile goal to expand the Best Dramatic Presentation Hugo, splitting the award by length does not best represent the differences in movies vs. television episodes. There are many films I've shown at SF cons whose length is close to an hour. (The shortest one I remember is "La Jette", the basis for the film "12 Monkeys" which ran about 30 minutes, or Hugo winner "The Capture" which was a slide show running about 20 minutes.) Many TV show episodes likewise are multi-parters running 2 or 3 hours. (Several Star Trek and Babylon 5 episodes come to mind.)
The biggest difference in the mediums are that TV episodes are produced under a deadline, typically have a smaller budget, a story has to be developed to fit a setting and cast of characters, and there is typically a "writers bible" which limits what a story creator is allowed to do.
Films, TV Mini Series, and other such productions are different. The story, setting & characters can be developed together. There is more freedom for the writer to make changes to the universe being developed. Deadlines are not as important; a movie production can easily slip a few weeks or months. TV episode schedules are much less flexible. I can draw a comparison to the effect of deadlines on creativity with the American Pulitzer Award, which has different awards for stories published both "under a deadline" and "not under a deadline". This to me reflects the most crucial difference in the medium.
Notes: Section three spells out things like "television mini-series" to make it clear that productions like "From the Earth to the Moon" and "I, Claudius" belong in the non-episodic category. Also, section two originally had the words "of no less then 8 episodes in a single production season" at the very end. In talking to people I've been convinced that it is better to leave such decisions as to what constitutes an "ongoing series" to the judgement Hugo Administrators.
5. Site Selection Business
5.1. Report of the 2003 Site Selection & Presentation by Winners
This item is scheduled for the Main Business Meeting on Sunday, September 3.
5.2. Reports by seated Worldcons
This item may be combined with items in 2.2 above
5.2.1. The Millennium Philcon (2001)
5.2.2. ConJosé (2002)
5.2.3. Presentation by bidders for 2004
6. Adjournment
