Playing Against Type

Had the decision been up to a casting director, Dan Glickman might never have gotten a callback to play Hollywood’s leading man in Washington.

First, there’s his look. The Motion Picture Assn. of America president wears cowboy boots in lieu of Gucci, off-the-rack sports jackets instead of Armani.

Then there are his previous roles: 18-year Democratic congressman and six-year Clinton Cabinet member. Not exactly a resume to open doors as a lobbyist in a partisan town where Republicans control Congress and the White House.

So far Glickman is playing against type, both in looks and in the job. He’s trying to prove that Democratic-tilting Hollywood can play ball with the Republicans in power if it means making legislative inroads on such issues as trade and movie piracy.

To that end, Glickman recently made two key hires: John Feehery, a former aide to House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert (R-Ill.), as his chief spokesman and veteran GOP lobbyist Stacy Carlson to head government affairs. Glickman also made his first-ever Republican contribution at a Los Angeles fundraiser, joking that his hand trembled as he wrote the check.

“I recognize I need to build bridges to the Republican Congress,” Glickman said, adding, “I’m certainly not going to run from the fact that I’m a Democrat.”

Glickman had to move quickly. When he took over the MPAA last September, Republicans greeted him with skepticism.

Predecessor Jack Valenti, who retired after 38 years, was a Democrat, but over the years he worked his legendary charm on both sides of the aisle. Glickman’s hiring came as Republicans were in a firefight with scores of Hollywood celebrities and executives, who raised money for Democratic candidates and were often scathing in their criticisms of President Bush.

Some Republicans believed Glickman might prove too partisan. Grover Norquist, a Republican operative and president of Americans for Tax Reform, called the former Agriculture secretary’s hiring “a studied insult.”

But Glickman’s efforts to reach out to all sides are easing the concerns of Norquist and other initial skeptics, who say Glickman is making clear that he is putting the MPAA’s agenda above politics.

“Dan’s from Kansas, the reddest of the red states, and these issues that he is pursuing are bipartisan issues ... concerning jobs, economic trade and protecting intellectual property,” said Erik V. Huey, a Washington lawyer who represents such clients as the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

As a veteran politician, Glickman also knows that money helps to heal rifts in Washington. Glickman is pushing the MPAA to beef up its political action committee, which contributed $90,000 to federal candidates in the 2004 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group.

Other media and entertainment associations give a lot more: Cable and broadcasting trade groups each contributed more than five times that amount.

“It’s a reality that we have to be actively engaged in the political process,” Glickman said. “I’ve already become a much more active contributor on the Republican side of the ledger than I ever used to be.”

As the nation’s former agriculture czar, Glickman often jokes that he moved “from soybeans to Spielberg.” But he’s always been a movie buff -- “The Godfather” and “Animal House” are two favorites. Son Jonathan is a producer of such films as “Rush Hour” and “Mr. 3000.”

The MPAA that Glickman inherited is a generation removed from the clubbier version Valenti took over when he was hired away from Lyndon Johnson’s White House in 1966. Then, it was run by a handful of studio moguls led by former MCA Inc. Chairman Lew R. Wasserman, the MPAA’s patriarch, who served as Valenti’s protector.

Glickman’s MPAA is made up of units of media conglomerates that have broad and sometimes conflicting agendas. Company portfolios include consumer electronics, theme parks, film, broadcasting, cable TV, the Internet and music.

“Each of the studios was a monarchy when I was head of the MPAA,” Valenti said. “Today studios are divisions of large corporations.”

One thing the companies agree on, however, is an urgent need to stem the theft of movies over the Internet or via bootleg DVDs. Film executives don’t want to see a repeat of what happened to their counterparts in music, who watched as piracy quickly ate away at profits.

“The biggest issue for the MPAA and the person who runs it is stealing movies -- and I say ‘stealing’ because I think piracy is too romantic a term,” said Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman Michael Lynton.

Last week Glickman stood outside the U.S. Supreme Court, serving as the industry’s voice as justices heard the appeal of a case that entertainment companies are pressing to have file-sharing services held liable when people use them to illegally download music and films.

Glickman also has been working his former colleagues on Capitol Hill. Spurred by MPAA’s lobbying, Congress is on the verge of passing a law that would make it a federal crime to use a camcorder or similar device in a movie theater to copy a film off the screen.

In addition, he is making overtures to the MPAA’s longtime adversaries in the consumer electronics industry. The two sides often are at odds over technological advances that hold the potential to make piracy easier.

Michael Petricone, vice president of technology policy for the Consumer Electronics Assn., is hopeful that Glickman can work with the technology industry in the same spirit in which he is trying to work with Republicans. Petricone noted that Glickman attended a recent CEA trade show -- something, he said, Valenti never did.

“I think there may be some reason for optimism,” Petricone said.

Glickman also is using his international contacts gained as Agriculture secretary to help Hollywood maneuver through global piracy and trade issues. He recently met with Mexican President Vicente Fox. This week, he’s in India discussing the threat that piracy poses to both Hollywood and Bollywood.

“The companies have asked me to be an effective voice on international policy -- not just Washington but also in Europe, China and Latin America,” Glickman said.

Said Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. President Alan F. Horn: “Dan’s experience and expertise as secretary of Agriculture, dealing with a global issue that manifested itself differently around the world, make him uniquely suited to deal with one of the biggest threats to the entertainment industry in its history -- the theft of our intellectual property in every corner of the world.”

Glickman’s style differs from that of the silver-tongued Valenti, who became something of a Hollywood celebrity himself by commandeering Washington news conferences, appearing frequently on talk shows and putting in an annual appearance at the Oscar telecast.

For Glickman, the more comfortable role is in the supporting cast, as long as the issues are at center stage.

“If he tries to be me, sure, that’d be a tough act to follow,” Valenti said.

“But I gave him one piece of advice: ‘Be yourself.’ That’s what he’s doing. And he’s gained the respect of the studio heads. I can certify to that.”