Information AboutMpaa |
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The Motion Picture Association of America ('''MPAA'''), originally called the '''Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association of America''', is a ( The Walt Disney Company ), Sony Pictures , Paramount Pictures ( Viacom —which bought DreamWorks in February 2006), 20th Century Fox ( News Corporation ), Universal Studios ( NBC Universal ), and Warner Bros. ( Time Warner ). The organization produces the well-known voluntary Film Rating System . POLITICAL ACTIVITIES Besides assigning its aforementioned film ratings, the MPAA Lobbies on behalf of its members on a variety of issues including Copyright and Free Speech . It promotes Digital Rights Management technologies. The MPAA, along with its equivalent in the recording industry, the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA), has taken strong steps to reduce the number of file-sharing sites online where copyrighted films are available for download. In April and May 2005, signs appeared on the homepages of LokiTorrent and EliteTorrents (two large BitTorrent trackers), stating that they had been closed down because of encouraging the illegal distribution of copyrighted material defined as the distribution of copyrighted works without permission of the copyright holder. LEADERSHIP In 1922, the Movie Studio bosses hired Will H. Hays to be the first president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association of America. A former U.S. Postmaster General and election campaign manager for U.S. President Warren G. Harding , Hays was responsible for the creation of the Production Code in 1930. Enforcement of the Code was lax until the major studios agreed—under threat of religious groups to push for stronger state and federal censorship—that all films released on or after July 1 1934 would adhere to the Code or face a fine. In 1934, Joseph I. Breen (1888–1965) took over as head of the Production Code Administration (PCA) and served until retiring in 1945 when Eric Johnston took over and the name was changed to the Motion Picture Association of America. In November 1947, Johnston was part of a closed-door meeting with forty-seven Motion Picture executives at New York City 's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel . As a result, on November 25 1947 , Johnston issued the Waldorf Statement , a two-page Press Release that marked the beginning of the Hollywood Blacklist . Johnston remained in office as head of the MPAA until his death in 1963. Ralph Hetzel acted as interim head until 1966. From 1966 to 2004, Jack Valenti served as the president of the group, becoming nearly synonymous with the organization thanks to his long service and high profile. On September 1 2004 , he retired, and was succeeded by Dan Glickman , a former Agriculture Secretary during the Clinton Administration . Kori Bernards is the MPAA's vice president of corporate communications and the lead spokesperson in the current battle with the BitTorrent technology invented by Bram Cohen . CONTROVERSIES Rating system See Also: Motion Picture Association of America film rating system |
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