FC: Feds tell Hollywood to turn over movie marketing plans in probe

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

The Hollywood Reporter
April 26, 2000

FTC wants a sneak peek
Federal investigators reportedly pressing
studios for marketing plans on violent films

By David Finnigan and Brooks Boliek

   Federal investigators are asking the major studios to turn over media 
and marketing plans for certain movies to determine whether the 
entertainment industry is peddling violent fare to young audiences, sources 
familiar with the probe said.

   The move is part of the Federal Trade Commission's almost yearlong 
investigation into entertainment practices, which President Clinton ordered 
in the wake of the April 20, 1999, massacre at Columbine High School.

   Sources said stacks of boxes of evidence have been turned over to the 
FTC, which launched the informal investigation into how violent 
entertainment is marketed to the country's youth. The probe has prompted 
studios, music companies, video game makers, theater-chain owners and their 
respective trade associations to hire at least 30 separate law firms to 
advise them.

   FTC staffers are planning a late summer release of the report to 
President Clinton and Congress, though Washington sources said that release 
could be delayed until after the November presidential elections.

   The Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention donated at least $250,000 to its joint study with the FTC of 
entertainment marketing.

   One source familiar with the investigation said FTC investigators have 
raised questions about the relationship between studios and the MPAA's 
voluntary ratings board. Some question if the board is too willing to 
modify its ratings decisions about explicit fare under pressure from the 
studios, which fund the MPAA. Federal officials are also concerned about 
exhibitors' effectiveness in enforcing ratings restrictions at theaters.

   Another FTC question posed to studios' outside legal counsel focused on 
the advertising of R-rated movies on broadcast television, asking why more 
explicit fare is plugged on NBC's youth-driven sitcom "Friends" instead of 
ABC's older demographic-driven "20/20."

[...]

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