Movie Studios Bring New Plan to Washington

Eight Hollywood film executives spent Tuesday night rehearsing for their high-profile congressional appearance today, but some lawmakers already grumbled that the studios’ plan to stop marketing violence to children does not go far enough.

The executives--most of whom have never testified on Capitol Hill before--gathered at their trade headquarters on the eve of the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on entertainment violence and practiced answering questions in a mock session conducted by Jack Valenti, their chief lobbyist and veteran stand-in.

They came armed with an initiative designed to help parents better judge violent movies that their children may want to see. The plan calls for more detailed explanations of R ratings in newspapers and on Web sites and videocassette boxes; regular internal review of studio marketing practices; and a ban on showing trailers for R-rated films before family movies.

But absent from the proposal was a blanket pledge to stop advertising violent films to young viewers--the central recommendation in a recent Federal Trade Commission report on Hollywood’s marketing practices. The executives vowed only to “further the goal of not inappropriately specifically targeting” children--language that riled senators hungry for a firm industry commitment.

“I don’t quite understand why they couldn’t just say, ‘We’ll stop it,’ ” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the committee chairman who summoned the film executives to their rare appearance here. “I will be eager to hear the justification for what seems like a complicated approach to a pretty simple issue: When are they going to stop marketing to children?”

The film industry leaders are here to explain the report’s key finding--that they target a range of children’s outlets, from Girl Scout groups to morning cartoon shows, when advertising adult-rated movies. They spent Tuesday staging a public relations blitz before today’s expected congressional tongue-lashing.

In an attempt to spotlight the industry’s more wholesome creations, Walt Disney Co. officials called a Capitol Hill news conference to tout their new PG-rated movie, “Remember the Titans,” about a football coach who leads a racially divided team to victory. The film premiered Tuesday night in Washington, with President Clinton and all members of Congress invited to attend.

“We in Hollywood try to do the right thing. We don’t always get it right,” Jerry Bruckheimer, the film’s producer, told reporters.

On hand at the news conference was Rep. J.C. Watts Jr., an Oklahoma Republican and former college football star whose applause for Disney officials seemed to underscore the love-hate relationship Washington has with Hollywood.

“Though I will be among the first to complain when I see Hollywood making movies that tear down society, I want to praise Disney for making this film that appeals to the highest potential of the human spirit,” Watts said.

But what the industry does right was not uppermost in the minds of the Senate committee members who have waited a long time to get ranking film executives in the witness chair. Although music and video game leaders appeared two weeks ago to discuss the FTC report, top film studio executives declined to attend, saying that they had not been given sufficient time to juggle schedules and prepare responses.

McCain--whose daughter Sid is a senior publicity director for Capitol Records in New York--promptly set today’s hearing and challenged them to come. But although some senators pushed to confront the executives with examples of cinematic violence--bloody scenes from “Scream” have emerged in the past--McCain sought a less sensational atmosphere. There will be no mass swearing-in spectacle and no film clips.

“I just don’t think it’s necessary to do that,” he said of the film-clip issue. “I think everybody knows from the FTC report what has happened. This is about marketing, not censorship or content.”

The initiative the studios are touting was designed to take some of the steam out of the hearing. Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, described the plan as a baseline reached after 10 days of “round-the-clock” conferencing. He said that some studios might go further than the initiatives proposed but that none would do less.

Indeed, Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Entertainment Group on Tuesday pledged that it will not advertise any R-rated movie on a network program when 35% or more of the audience is under 17. It also plans to produce a one-hour special about ratings for the Fox Family Channel and to launch an educational campaign about ratings.

The eight studios agreeing to the plan--and sending representatives to today’s hearing--were Disney, DreamWorks SKG, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, Sony, Fox, Universal and Warner Bros.

The industry has been struggling to devise proposals specific enough to show Washington it is serious, yet vague enough to give companies flexibility when needed. The result was broad and general language agreeing to “goals” rather than standards, with ample wiggle room.

For example, in response to the FTC finding that children as young as 10 had been used in focus groups for R-rated movies, the companies stopped short of ending that process. Instead they vowed not to “knowingly include” people under 17 “unless . . . accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.”

Explaining the studios’ reluctance to flatly declare an end to marketing R-rated films to children, Valenti said: “That’s a kind of rigidity that cannot work in creative artistic expression. We are not dealing with canned beans or asparagus.”

Asked whether it is ever appropriate to advertise such films to an under-17 audience, Valenti said: “I think it’s perfectly appropriate to target a picture like ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ maybe even ‘Schindler’s List.’ There are a number of pictures that show great moral efforts that spring from some family’s connection to violence.”

Valenti also argued that it is impossible for the industry to shield children from some advertising, particularly during football games and television shows that attract a diverse age group. “You cannot ban that which grown-ups have a right to see because you want to protect the 7- and 8-year-olds,” he said.

That thinking did not set well with Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a forceful industry critic who contends that Hollywood too often tempts children with forbidden fruit and pits them against their parents.

“I’m appalled that the movie executives still have not stated they will stop marketing violent movies to children. This is the least they should do,” he said Tuesday. “As a parent I hope that at tomorrow’s hearing they will articulate serious steps to stop marketing adult-rated entertainment to children.”

But Valenti said the studios are prepared to go no further, a stark reminder that for all of its bluster, there is not much Congress can do legislatively to regulate a constitutionally protected industry.

“We are not being coerced because we can’t be. We’re not being forced because we can’t be,” Valenti said. “This is a voluntary program . . . that has its roots in the fact that we all have children.”

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Times staff writers James Bates in Los Angeles and Richard Simon in Washington contributed to this story.

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MUSIC SITS ONE OUT

The film industry will take most of the heat at latest hearings on violent media. A14

* EDITING THE RATINGS

Many parents, film executives agree system needs to give more information on films. A14