WASHINGTON — Hollywood plans to show the nation's capital today that it's more than just a pretty face, with the help of some of its most recognizable ones.
In what amounts to a Hollywood 101 course, the Motion Picture Assn. of America trade group is holding a daylong primer on movie industry economics that will include cameos by two household names and current Oscar nominees: actor Will Smith and director Clint Eastwood.
Invited to the symposium "The Business of Show Business" are members of Congress, federal and state officials, think-tank scholars and the media, who will get an earful from directors and moguls about the industry's global economic muscle, how movies are made and its challenges in the digital age. RSVPs have been sent by some influential Washington players, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), who oversee such key policy areas as copyright law and foreign trade.
"We tell a lot of stories ... but we never really tell our story cohesively as an industry," Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer said. "This is going to be one of the few times we come to Washington and really explain our view of how critical our industry is, why it deserves the attention of the government, why it deserves the protection of the government."
Showing policy wonks what Hollywood is all about is part of the MPAA's goal of going beyond the movie screenings, celebrity congressional witnesses and star-studded campaign fundraisers to showcase how entertainment makes multibillion-dollar contributions to the economy and the nation's balance of trade. In doing so, the industry hopes to underscore that Washington needs to strengthen copyright protection and to crack down on global piracy.
"I think that there are some folks who are very understanding of how important the issues are, and I think there are others who are less so," said Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment. "It's our responsibility to impress upon them the scope of it."
With rapid technological changes posing opportunities and threats -- the MPAA estimates losses of $6 billion a year worldwide from counterfeit DVDs and other pirated content -- Hollywood decided to make the economic message the star.
