"Perfect casting: Chris Dodd as lobbyist"....(MPAA Welcomes Dodd!)

[KoKo]

Perfect casting: Chris Dodd as lobbyist

By MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Central Casting has found the perfect guy to play a lobbyist for the Hollywood studios: former Senator Chris Dodd.

With his flashy smile, earnest salesmanship and solid Washington connections, Dodd would seem to be the perfect guy to head up what’s historically been one of Washington’s most powerful industry groups: The Motion Picture Association of America.

After a long search, the MPAA announced Tuesday that Dodd, who just stepped down after 36 years in Congress, would replace miscast former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman as its president and chief lobbyist. The camera-friendly Dodd was reportedly discovered by a talent scout, Lana Turner-style, while sipping a beverage at the counter of a local malt shop down on K Street.


Reuters

Former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd is moving from banking regulation to film promotion.

With Dodd, the MPAA has returned to the model perfected by its long-time president Jack Valenti, who was also a glib-speaking, silver-haired Democrat who knew how to make a deal.

In the olden days, the main job of the MPAA’s man in Washington was to prevent the politicians from killing the golden goose by censoring the sex and violence on the screen. To keep the government at bay, Valenti came up with a master stroke: He established an industry-wide ratings board, an achievement in self-regulatory self-promotion that remained unsurpassed until just recently, when the financial services industry outdid it by slapping its own arbitrary ratings on its own salacious products.

Nowadays, the studios have more to fear from piracy than from censorship, which means Dodd’s main job will be to cajole Washington into doing more to stop the theft of Hollywood’s intellectual property in a world that’s increasingly global and digital.

Good luck with that, Chris. Too bad Charlton Heston wasn’t available; he’s the last guy who had any success in turning back the tide.

--Rex Nutting

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/story/print?guid=F3418882-4444-11E0-ADFE-00212804637C

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Somehow seems fitting.

On more than one level.