Boxoffice-January.2000

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Response No. 437
UNIVERSAL
CINEMA SERVICES, INC.
Equipment Sales
Parts & Supplies
Equipment Installation
Xenon Bulbs
Turnkey FF&E Packages
Design Consultation
"Cinema Equipment Specialists"
1205 Corporate Drive East
Arlington, TX 76006 USA.
Tel: 817-633-2180
Toll Free: 888-600-6775
Fax:817-633-2190
E-mail: CustServ@goUCS.com
HILL NEWS
NEW LAW PASSED TO
PROTECT CHILD ACTORS
Last October, California governor Gray
Davis signed into law Screen Actors
Guild-sponsored legislation that protects
the earnings of child actors. The SB 1 1 62
regulation, which went into effect on
January 1, 2000, amends 1939's Coogan
Law. The original law was designed to
ensure that minors in Hollywood receive
a portion of their earnings when they
reach majority age. While the previous
statute did allow a court considering
approval of a minor's contract with a studio
to require that a portion of the child's
net earnings be placed in a trust account,
the law left nearly 95 percent of entertainment
industry minors unprotected since
very few contracts are reviewed in court.
The SB 1162 stipulates that every time a
minor works under an entertainment contact,
1 5 percent of the gross earnings must
be set aside until the child reaches majority
age.
LEGISLATION PROTECTS
DECEASED PERSONALITIES
FROM EXPLOITATION
Governor Davis also recently signed SB
209, legislation designed to protect the
unauthorized commercial use of
deceased personalities. Co-sponsored by
the Screen Actors Guild and Fred Astaire's
widow Robyn, the new law specifies that
commercial exploitation is not allowed,
even if it occurs in a body of work that has
been otherwise exempt, such as a film or
magazine. Other provisions enumerated
by the legislation include an extended
period of protection after the death of the
personality, increasing from 50 to 70
years, as well as a choice of law provision
that allows a living relative to recover
financial damages should the personality's
image be commercially exploited (as
defined by the statute) in the state of
California.
SAG FIGHTS PRODUCTION FLIGHT
Also recently receiving heavy support
from the Screen Actors Guild was a cam-
government
paign to pressure the federal
in enacting legislation that halts the
increasing number of U.S. film and television
productions from relocating to foreign
countries in order to benefit from tax
subsidies. The campaign aimed to generate
thousands of phone calls to increase
support for a letter, which was drafted by
eight member of Congress (six representing
California, one from Florida and one
from Illinois). The letter, addressed to U.S.
Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky,
asked her to present the issue at the round
of global trade talks in Seattle last
November. According to a recent report
released by SAG and the Directors Guild
of America, an estimated 60,000 full-time
positions have been lost in the last three
years because of the decline in domestic
film and television production.
MINORITY LEADER
Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) has
introduced legislation that provides a tax
incentive to media companies that sell
properties to minorities. McCain is working
to revive a minority tax-certificate program
that strives to expand cultural and
ethnic diversity among television, telephone
and cable company owners. Under
the proposed legislation, media enterprises
that are sold to historically underrepresented
buyers qualify for deferral of the
capital-gains tax. However, restrictions
would be imposed on the size of a qualifying
company and the resale of the business
by the purchaser. McCain's proposal
comes at a time when television networks
are under fire for the lack of minority representation
in programming.
SENATE PROPOSES
CULTURAL WATCHDOGS
Under the charge of Senator Sam
Brownback (R-Kan.), the Senate appears
ready to establish a Special Committee on
American Culture aimed at probing the
impact of Hollywood product on youth.
Brownback, who is expected to head the
new Committee, has established himself
as a fierce critic of the entertainment
industry, having suggested that
Hollywood is to blame for creating a society
embedded in violent behavior and
profane language. Among the committee's
goals are to collect data regarding the
impact of pop culture and to examine the
possible relationship between onscreen
portrayals of violence and crime as well
as depictions of sex and real-life sexual
activity among teenagers. Under terms of
the current proposal, the committee
would officially work until the end of this
year.
CREATIVE COALITION DISCUSSES
VIOLENCE AND THE MEDIA
The Creative Coalition, an entertainment
industry advocacy group headed by
actor William Baldwin, and Hollywood
trade paper "Variety" sponsored an event
last October entitled "Violence in
America: A Hollywood Production."
Intending to explore the relationship
between the media's depictions of violence
and real events, panel members
represented a diverse group of professionals,
including sociologist Amitai Etzioni,
director Michael Bay, syndicated columnist
Arianna Huffington, rapper Chuck D,
actor Stephen Collins and "Variety" editor-in-chief
Peter Bart, who moderated the
evening discussion. Focusing on the hotbutton
topic of recent school shootings,
members of the panel mentioned problems
associated with the current motion
picture rating system and primetime television
programming as having some
degree of influence on young minds.
However, several other factors, such as
gun ownership, irresponsible parenting
and drug use, were presented as more
likeiy reasons for the spate of violence
taking place in high schools across the
country.
Response No. 504
58 BOXOFFICE