MPAA: Valenti Out, Glickman In

Hollywood's found its new man in D.C.

Dan Glickman, who was agricultural secretary during the Clinton administration, has been picked to succeed the retiring Jack Valenti as president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Valenti, 82, announced in March that, after 38 years, he would leave the body, which lobbies for the motion picture, home video and television industries, in particular the seven major studios: Disney, Sony, MGM, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. He announced Wednesday that he would stick around until Sept. 1, when Glickman assumes the spotlight.

"It's been a long run and a great adventure. I do love the movie industry. I wake each morning eager to be at work. But all things have an ending," Valenti said in a typically wordy press release.

He says he planned to continue to supervise the voluntary rating system, which he designed in 1968 to replace the ultra restrictive Hays Code that Valenti considered censorship. Although sometimes attacked by filmmakers unhappy with an R or NC-17, the MPAA ratings code has generally placated lawmakers, who complain about sex and violence in the entertainment industry, from legislating against freedom of expression.

During Valenti's tenure the major studios' worldwide revenues rose from $1.26 billion in 1967 to $41.2 billion today. Access to entertainment has been expanded by home video, including DVD, videocassettes, pay-per-view, satellite and cable delivery, as well as by digital formats and the Internet.

But there has also been a massive rise in piracy--its estimated revenue lost annually is some $3.5 billion. In 1975 Valenti created an anti-piracy division, but theft continues to be a hot button issue. Last year, fears of piracy saw Valenti and the major studios clash with the Oscar voters and independent producers over efforts to ban home video screeners. Glickman has stated his top priority will be fighting piracy both here and overseas.

Both Valenti and Glickman stated there was no pressure for the MPAA to appoint a Republican, and Glickman was known in Congress as a moderate with many GOP friends.

"This is not a partisan job," Valenti, a White House advisor during the Johnson administration, told the Associated Press. It is, however, a well paying job, reportedly in the seven-figure category.

The selection of Glickman, 59, the MPAA says, "climaxed a-four-and-a-half month search" during which names both inside and outside show business were considered.

Glickman served 18 years as a member of Congress for the fourth congressional district of Kansas, and six years as agriculture secretary. He was principal author of the 1990 Farm Bill and headed the House Intelligence Committee during its investigation of the Aldrich Ames espionage case inside the CIA. Since leaving government he has directed an Institute of Politics program at Harvard University and taught at the Kennedy School of Government.

His son, Jonathan, is producer of the Jackie Chan action comedies Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights and Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2 the upcoming Rush Hour 3 and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

During much of his time in Congress, Dan Glickman was also a member of the House Judiciary Committee, where he sat on the Copyright and Intellectual Property Subcommittee.

"I am honored and inspired by the prospect of joining the MPAA," Glickman said in another MPAA press release. "I have long had a deep affection for the movie industry...I am eager to begin working closely with my new colleagues at MPAA, here and abroad, with the Congress, the federal government, state legislatures, with officials of nations on all the continents, as well as the global creative community."

We're not sure if he'll be as effective as Valenti, but he sounds just as wordy.