Boxoffice® Pro - August 2013

WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE MPAA, NATO HAS
PRESERVED A VOLUNTARY RATING SYSTEM AND AVOIDED
GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP
The voluntary movie rating system is sponsored by the Motion
Picture Association of America (MPAA) and NATO to provide parents
with advance information on films, enabling them to make their own
judgments about which movies their children should see. NATO provides
members with brochures, five different styles of posters, placards,
“We ID” stickers, and an instructional DVD to educate employees on
the rating system in the United States. June is Ratings Awareness Month,
and NATO notifies its members to restock materials and train their
staff. NATO also asks that each member company designate a Ratings
Compliance Officer to serve as the point person for all rating system
issues. NATO also participates in the appeals process when movie studios
are dissatisfied with the rating assigned by the ratings board, and we were
very active in the recent overhaul of rules governing the rating system.
NATO and our members make these efforts because it is the right
thing to do for America’s parents. Equally important, the voluntary
system serves to prevent the government from censoring our content and
regulating our business activities.
The industry’s support of the rating system is more important than
ever now as the conversation of violence in the movies has arisen following
the recent tragic events in Newtown, Conn. NATO has worked directly
with Vice President Biden and members of Congress to ensure that
the voluntary movie rating system would not fall prey to any misguided
legislative considerations of violence in the country. NATO’s members
agreed to play new PSAs regarding the rating system to draw the attention
of parents to the reasons each rating is given. NATO also benefitted
from the release of the most recent mystery shopper survey, conducted by
the Federal Trade Commission prior to the tragedy at Newtown but released
thereafter. The report showed even stronger ratings enforcement by
America’s theater owners than had been the case in earlier years. Though
the legislative debate is not yet complete, the odds are that the voluntary
rating system will be preserved.
ALSO IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE MPAA, NATO HAS
EFFECTIVELY REDUCED THE INCIDENCE OF MOVIE THEFT
One of NATO’s top priorities is fighting movie theft (piracy). According
to a study commissioned by the MPAA, movie theft takes hundreds of
millions of dollars a year from U.S. cinema ticket sales and costs the film
industry billions worldwide. NATO’s Movie Theft Task Force, comprised
of security experts from exhibition and distribution companies, meets biannually
to discuss best practices and innovations to improve our collective
fight against movie theft. Increased coordination among theaters, studios,
film labs, and law enforcement is one of our highest priorities. As acts of
movie theft migrate into international territories, working with our Latin
American, European, and Asian counterparts has become crucial.
All domestic NATO exhibitor companies receive a weekly “North
American Camcord Source Report” alerting them to domestic hotspots
and a quarterly report on movie theft trends and data. And NATO works
with the MPAA to offer the Take Action! program that rewards theater
employees for stopping movie theft. Since 2004, the program has awarded
more than $238,000 to more than 550 eligible employees.
Our efforts to combat movie theft are working, as the incidence of
camcorder theft in the United States had been cut by half. Every day that
a good-quality, stolen movie doesn’t make it to the Internet is a day of
preserved sales for cinema operators.
Though there are many, many other NATO initiatives that advance
the cause of the NATO members who operate in all 50 states and in 65
countries around the world, these five initiatives have been crucial.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT NATO, PLEASE
CONTACT OUR DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP, DAVID BINET,
AT DB@NATODC.COM.
AUGUST 2013 BoxOffice ® Pro The Business of Movies 13