Entertainment Industry Gets Clinton’s Free Trade Pledge

Sixteen top entertainment industry executives received a pledge from President Clinton on Thursday that the United States will not accept trade restrictions or quotas on its film, television and video exports, which generate about $18 billion in foreign revenues annually.

Reporting on the results of the one-hour meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Motion Picture Assn. of America President Jack Valenti said Clinton was “quite supportive and knowledgeable on the issue. . . . He says that he does not want any special favors for American products, just that the trade agreement must be fair and it must be just.”

The meeting--whose participants included MCA Chairman Lew Wasserman and President Sidney Sheinberg, Paramount Communications Chairman Martin Davis, Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone, Walt Disney Co. President Frank Wells, Warner Bros. President Terry Semel, Sony Pictures President Alan Levine and Fox President Chase Carey -- underscored the importance of the tradeissue to the entertainment business and the White House. Last year, the American film industry alone produced an estimated $4 billion in surplus balance of trade.

The issue of American entertainment exports has grown increasingly tense in the last few weeks as U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor and European Community trade chief Sir Leon Brittan have struggled to meet a Dec. 15 deadline on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Recently, two of America’s premier filmmakers, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, took the unusual step of issuing statements decrying any restrictions or quotas on any works of art.

Spielberg’s representative said the statement was in response to the wave of anti-American feelings Spielberg noticed while attending the recent Venice International Film Festival in Italy, as well as being timed to the current GATT talks.

Their comments drew a response from well-known French director Claude Berri, the president of the French Assn. of Authors, Directors and Producers. Berri told The Times that American films “are much better known here in Europe than numerous works of European filmmakers. Our movie theaters and TV programs are wide open to you. Unfortunately, we know very well it cannot be true the other way around.”

On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that Brittan interrupted his talks with Kantor to meet with directors Wim Wenders, Coline Serreau and Andrei Konchalovsky. They planned to ask Brittan to insist that audio/visual goods be excluded from the new GATT pact, which would mean that individual nations could set import quotas.

“We cannot compete against ‘Jurassic Park’,” said Belgian director Andre Delvaux. “Our goal is just to defend the little piece of territory that we have.”

Currently, the EC movie, television and video industries benefit from state subsidies and are protected by limits on the amount of non-European products that can be shown. Despite the restrictions, U.S. films account for about 70% of movies shown in EC cinemas.

According to the French consulate in Los Angeles, when Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park” opens in France next week it will play on 450 screens. “The Fugitive” is now playing on 300. This means that two American films will be on one of every five screens in France’s major urban areas. The consul also said that American film share in France grew from 31% in 1980 to 57% in 1990. The French share of its own market, meanwhile, dropped from 46% to 37%.

In a statement to The Times, French Minister of Culture Jacques Toubon said his country is not suggesting that American exports be limited. “We do not suggest going backwards or limiting American exports, but rather securing for the future some room for European programs.”

Valenti, in response to the French position, says the MPAA seeks “an open, competitive marketplace, free of restrictions that the Europeans want to put in place.”

“The Americans have between 55% and 93% of markets in EC nations,” said Spanish director Fernando Troueba. “They are not happy with that; they want everything.”

Wenders accused the U.S. industry of protecting its market by refusing to distribute foreign-language films either dubbed or with subtitles.

Konchalovsky, a Russian director who made “Maria’s Lovers” and “Shy People” in the United States, agreed. “The American market is closed . . . it’s closed by its mentality.”