Hollywood Braces for a Showdown on Capitol Hill

Eight Hollywood studios plan to offer a grab bag of concessions to Washington this week intended to calm the firestorm created by a government report condemning the entertainment industry for marketing violence to children.

The proposals range from providing specific details about why a particular film is rated R to naming a company executive responsible for closely monitoring advertisements geared to children and teens.

Industry executives have been locked in hours of conference calls with lawyers, lobbyists and publicists mapping strategies for their much-anticipated appearance Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee.

But the nightmare scenario of being hauled before Congress and humiliated like the seven defiant tobacco industry chiefs never materialized.

While studio heads are bracing for a tense session with individual senators delivering a serious tongue-lashing to Hollywood, they are relieved that the hearing is not being set up as a political lynching.

In a nod to civility, the committee chairman, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), has agreed to a lineup of the industry’s second-tier executives and to skip a swearing-in spectacle.

McCain is “not going to engage in that kind of activity,” committee spokesman David Crane said. “These are respectable individuals; they run large corporations; they are willing to testify.”

But behind-the-scenes discussions leading up to the hearing have exposed bitter rivalries within the industry. There is the rift, for example, stemming from the Walt Disney Co.’s attempt to upstage its competitors by announcing a new policy on R-rated films the day after the Federal Trade Commission released its blistering report Sept. 11.

While many of the proposed reforms to be unveiled before Congress still are in flux, one thing appears certain: The Hollywood executives won’t dispute the FTC’s findings, according to participants in the discussions.

They are privately seething about the report--characterizing it as grandstanding during an election season--but acknowledge that they can’t win by being confrontational.

“ ‘Contrition’ is the operative word here,” said one studio senior vice president who has been privy to discussions.

The hearing marks the first time ranking studio executives have been called before Congress to defend the marketing of their films. It follows the FTC report, which concluded that producers of films, music and video games systematically promote violent entertainment to teenagers and children.

McCain called a hearing two days after the report was released, which Hollywood studio executives snubbed because they said they didn’t have time to prepare and arrange travel schedules. That irked McCain, who scheduled a second hearing for Wednesday.

Notably absent from the hearing will be the marquee names of the entertainment industry.

They include News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch, Viacom Inc.’s Sumner Redstone, Time Warner Inc.’s Gerald Levin, Seagram’s Edgar Bronfman Jr., Disney’s Michael Eisner and DreamWorks SKG’s Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Appearing will be Alan Horn, president of Warner Bros., Sony Pictures Entertainment President Mel Harris, Universal Pictures Chairman Stacey Snider and DreamWorks film chief Walter Parkes. Also appearing will be Fox Filmed Entertainment Co-Chairman Jim Gianopulos, MGM Vice Chairman Chris McGurk, Paramount Pictures Vice Chairman Rob Friedman and Walt Disney President Robert Iger.

The appearance of senior executives instead will make it difficult for committee members to take any studio to task. That’s because few, if any, of the executives appearing were involved in the marketing of their studios’ films during the 1995-99 period studied by the FTC. Most of them assumed their current jobs during the last 18 months.

The executives do not expect any substantial legislation or regulation to come out of the hearings. Nonetheless, they are bracing for a long day and expect a lambasting from conservative senators for marketing--and making--violent movies.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), one of the committee’s most vocal industry critics, may show film clips designed to humiliate the studio executives. In a hearing last week, he trotted out posters with heavily censored lyrics from Eminem, an obscenity-spewing rap musician.

“In the past, Sen. Brownback has definitely shown clips of violent movies and . . . there is a possibility that he will again,” said his spokesman Erik Hotmire. Brownback last week called for a voluntary code of conduct for entertainment companies.

Also, lawmakers are busy resurrecting dormant legislation that would require universal labeling on violent entertainment and would limit the broadcast of violent television programming to nighttime hours when children are less likely to be watching.

They also are pursuing legislation to allow industry executives to collaborate on marketing strategies without violating antitrust regulations--a protection the industry never requested. Those are not the concessions Hollywood has in mind.

Instead, the industry offerings likely will include an ad campaign to educate parents about R-rated movies, a ban on the showing of trailers for R-rated films before family movies, links to Internet Web sites where parents can learn more about movie ratings, warnings listing specific reasons in newspaper ads and on videos/DVDs explaining why movies are rated R, and a promise not to involve children in research screenings of R-rated movies.

Studios also will promise to encourage theater owners to more forcefully check the IDs of teens. One studio even is considering offering theaters extra personnel to check IDs when especially violent movies are playing.

But other industry executives dismiss the idea because of the prohibitive cost, and theater owners say there are limits to how much extra policing theaters can do.

“We can’t go out and hire a whole bunch of new employees to guard all the doors right now,” said John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theater Owners. “We’re going bankrupt as it is.”

Hollywood’s goal is to fend off any desire by Congress or the FTC to try to regulate its business. The studios already are facing civil lawsuits because of violent films, including one filed last week seeking class-action status in Los Angeles Superior Court. In addition, South Carolina Atty. Gen. Charlie Condon suggested this month that he and other attorneys general might consider suing the entertainment industry over violence, as they did big tobacco companies over cigarettes.

At the Senate hearing, several studios may seek to impress the committee. Warner Bros., for example, is expected to offer a series of its own suggestions.

Disney already has announced that it will not air ads for R-rated movies on its ABC television network before 9 p.m. It also will prohibit trailers for R-rated films on its Disney brand family movies and will add explanations of R-rated movies.

Still, it hasn’t been easy pulling the studios together. Some companies are especially sensitive to any efforts to restrict marketing to teens, notably Time Warner, which owns the youth-oriented WB network, and Viacom Inc., which owns the MTV cable channel.

And then there is the rift between Disney and the rest of the studios, which started when Disney’s chief lobbyist, Preston Padden, failed to persuade other studios to take preemptive action in the wake of the FTC report. But Disney rivals accuse the company of being disingenuous, trying to deflect criticism from its Miramax unit. Miramax often releases controversial, adult-themed films, such as the “Scream” series.

Disney now has set a “floor” on the minimum proposals other studios can offer Wednesday, studio executives said. They also believe Disney is trying to score points in Washington for its lobbying efforts against the merger of entertainment rival Time Warner and America Online.

Disney spokesman John Dreyer denied that was Disney’s motive.

“It had nothing to do with it. We feel we have in general done a responsible job of marketing films, but we feel that we can do a lot better,” Dreyer said.

The rare appearance by studio executives before a Senate committee is testament that the issue is not going away, having captured the attention of a public weary of marketing tactics that sell violent films to children.

“Parents really do care about being at the mercy of marketeers,” said Marty Kaplan, a former Democratic speech writer and now associate dean of USC’s Annenberg School for Communication. “Everybody is feeling the victim of brilliant marketing campaigns to some degree.”

The debate also has gained political currency. The campaign of GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush picked up traction last week when he chastised Democratic opponents Al Gore and Joseph I. Lieberman for attacking the industry’s marketing tactics while courting its moguls for contributions.

All of which creates an atmosphere ripe for a congressional show. Wednesday’s hearing is an opportunity to call to task the leaders of what many see as a politically sovereign industry that answers only to what sells, not who governs.

“When other companies get into a situation where they are requested by the House or Senate to come and testify, they do,” said Hotmire, the spokesman for Brownback. “For them to be the only industry to refuse the Senate Commerce Committee, thereby thumbing their noses at the American people, that’s a serious concern.”

But on Wednesday, studio chiefs will sit at a long witness table before an elevated semicircle of 20 committee members. The scene could be reminiscent in some ways of the infamous tobacco hearings.

But unlike those hearings, when tobacco chiefs stonewalled Congress by their refusal to produce documents, Hollywood has freely turned over thousands of pages outlining its marketing strategies.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), who presided over the tobacco hearings and now finds himself in the position of defending his hometown industry, asserted there are few similarities between cigarettes and violent entertainment.

“Tobacco executives came in to lie. I don’t expect executives from the entertainment industry to come in to lie,” Waxman said. “Tobacco is inherently dangerous with no positive aspects. Entertainment provides great cultural enhancements, informative programming and models for the whole world who seek out our TV and movies.”

The congressman cautioned Congress against blaming Hollywood for acts of violence that have many root causes: “If Congress is using the theater of a high-profile congressional hearing to scapegoat the entertainment industry--I’m not saying that’s what they are doing, but I do have a concern about that.”

But other lawmakers have made no secret of their desire to make Wednesday’s hearing the congressional equivalent of locking film executives in the town square pillory.

“The most powerful tool here,” committee spokesman Crane said, “is good old-fashioned shame.”

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Bates reported from Los Angeles and Fiore reported from Washington.

Times staff writer Amy Wallace contributed to this story.

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The Washington Eight

Testifying before Congress this week will be a clutch of senior Hollywood executives who wield influence but are several rungs down the corporate ladder from the moguls who control the nation’s media empires. Scheduled to appear in Washington:

Walter Parkes: Along with wife Laurie MacDonald, heads the movie division of DreamWorks SKG, the 6-year-old studio founded by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Recent releases include “American Beauty” and “Gladiator.”

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Rob Friedman: Vice chairman of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group. Joined the studio from Warner Bros. in 1996. Studio’s films include “Mission: Impossible 2” and “Double Jeopardy.”

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Jim Gianopulos: Named in July as co-chair-man, along with executive Tom Rothman, of Fox Filmed Entertainment, the movie division of Rupert Murdoch’s empire. Previously headed the studio’s international distribution arm. Studio’s films include “X-Men.”

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Alan Horn: Longtime producer named president of Warner Bros. in 1999. Frequent critic of violent movies. Studio’s films include “The Perfect Storm” and “Space Cowboys.”

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Chris McGurk: Vice chairman of MGM. Joined the studio in 1999. Studio’s films include the James Bond franchise and the upcoming “Hannibal.”

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Mel Harris: Longtime television

executive who joined Sony Pictures Entertain-ment in 1999 as co-president and chief operating officer. Studio’s films include “Hollow Man,” “The Patriot,” and “Stuart Little.”

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Stacey Snider: Chairwoman of Universal Studios. Named to the job in 1999 after working as head of production for the studio. Movies include “The Nutty Professor” films and “Erin Brockovich.”

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Robert Iger: Named president of Walt Disney Co. in January, making him second-in-command to Michael Eisner. Longtime head of ABC television. Films include “Dinosaur,” “Coyote Ugly” and “Gone in 60 Seconds” and such films as “Scary Movie” from its Miramax unit.

Sources: Times research