WASHINGTON — Jack Valenti, the silver-tongued lobbyist who served for nearly four decades as Hollywood's voice in Washington, announced Thursday that he would be succeeded by former Agriculture secretary and congressman Dan Glickman as head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America.
In his new role as the MPAA's president and chief executive, Glickman, 59, gets one of Washington's plum lobbying posts, estimated to pay nearly $1.5 million a year. But the position also has become one of the Capitol's most rapidly changing.
Unlike the MPAA of old, which was made up of Hollywood film factories that were run by autocratic moguls, the organization Glickman inherits consists of media conglomerates engaged in divergent businesses that include movies, television, the Internet, theme parks and publishing. Often, these companies have conflicting interests and agendas in Washington.
The MPAA's seven member companies also face growing technological and economic hurdles -- primarily the proliferation of bootleg movies that can be transmitted worldwide over the Internet and soaring production costs that have driven filmmaking to foreign turf.
Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the Congressional Entertainment Caucus, said Glickman, a Kansas native, brought "fresh prairie pragmatism to an industry that is being challenged, more than ever before, by the issues of domestic and international piracy, runaway production and advancement of new technology."
In an interview, Valenti said Glickman's extensive experience negotiating trade deals as President Clinton's Agriculture secretary was a major consideration in the selection, given the MPAA's push for international laws governing digital piracy and trade policies. Specifically, Valenti cited Glickman's efforts in helping farmers get their products into China.
He also cited Glickman's knowledge of Washington's ways, based on two decades in Congress, where he sat on the House Judiciary Committee.
A self-described moderate Democrat, Glickman, in a news conference with Valenti at Washington's Hay-Adams Hotel, dismissed the importance of party affiliation and insisted that the MPAA would take a bipartisan approach to pursuing the movie industry's goals in Washington.
"My style is to be a diplomat, not a bomb thrower," Glickman said. "You'd be a fool to think that you could be effective in this job if you are a partisan."
Glickman's hiring followed an exhaustive, often frustrating search.
