Hillary Clinton's announcement this morning that she supports same-sex marriage, timed the week before oral arguments in two landmark cases on gay rights, help create a sense of certainty over where the country is headed. In my latest column in the print version of Variety, i write about how this bandwagon effect has helped marginalize the opposition. But has it made them free speech victims?

The complete column is here.

Socially conservative Sen. Rob Portman’s dramatic announcement on Thursday evening that he supports same-sex marriage --- a switch motivated by learning, two years ago, that his son is gay --- is once again proof of what is working in favor of the LGBT movement: Timing and tone.

The timing is really fortunate, coming less than two weeks before the Supreme Court will take up the constitutionality of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage, and the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits the federal benefits to gay couples. While Portman’s announcement in and of itself may not immediately sway others in his party, it only adds to the perception and perhaps even demographic reality of inevitability. “There is no question where this country is headed on marriage equality and it is headed there fast,” Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said today on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” Marriage equality activists are by no means assured that the Supreme Court will decide in their favor, or even decide at all.

The partisan composition of the court has not changed since the Prop 8 suit was filed, almost four years ago, but public opinion has. This is where organizations like Freedom to Marry, the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the Human Rights Campaign and other groups have been so successful, illuminating this shift in the spectrum of amicus briefs filed in the cases and in the publicity leading up to the arguments. If there’s worry among the justices in getting ahead of history, the message is that there’s safety in knowing where it is headed.

According to a spokesman for HRC, Portman’s announcement was not coordinated with their group, or any other that he knew of. The upcoming oral arguments were part of his decision to announce his new position. "I thought it was the right time to let folks know where I stand so there's no confusion, so I would be clear about it,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash. Nevertheless, what’s not getting talked about as much as his switch is that he’s not keen on the idea of judicial intervention, and argues that it should be left to the states. “An expansive court ruling would run the risk of deepening divisions rather than resolving them,” he wrote in an op-ed today in the Columbus Post Dispatch. In fact, the most powerful argument that supporters of Prop 8 probably have before the court is that it is merely the will of the people.

The court cases, and the public campaigns around them, as well as a cultural shift toward “Modern Family” and “The New Normal,” undoubtedly have helped blur the partisan boundaries around marriage equality. That may be the dividend of the legal battle, no matter how the court decides. Portman’s op-ed stirred criticism in social media, where commentators have chided him for switching sides only when it got personal, but he wasn’t speaking to that audience, but to the “family values” social conservatives like himself. “Ultimately, it came down to the Bible’s overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God,” he wrote, framing it on the same religious terms that those who want to keep marriage between  a man and a woman. He may not have changed minds, be he’s helped give new dimension to the debate.

 

 

This is an off-year for elections, but the pace of candidates coming through Los Angeles for cash hasn't ever really stopped.

Candidates just elected in November already have been in town to raise for their reelections.

There's also one race that is more immediate: The special election to fill John Kerry's Senate seat in Massachusetts. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the front-runner for the seat, is leaving nothing to chance in the April 30 special election. He's scheduled for a March 24 event at the home of Alan and Cindy Horn that will feature Carole King. Tickets to the event start at $2,600 per person, and it already has drawn a long list of co-hosts including J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg and Lyn and Norman Lear.
Markey has extensive ties to the entertainment business, having served as a leading member of the House Commerce Committee's subcommittee on telecommunications.

There's also a big event lined up for Newark Mayor Cory Booker, running for the Senate in New Jersey, with a $5,000 per person event planned for April 25 at the home of Jerry Weintraub and Susan Ekins. More than a month away, the long list of hosts is a testament to Booker's star power, with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg signed up along with Bob Iger, Michael Lynton, Bruce Willis, Steve Bing and a who's who of Warner Bros. leaders past and present: Barry Meyer, Kevin Tsujihara, Bruce Rosenblum, Jeff Robinov and Terry Semel.

Meanwhile, with an eye on 2014, other Senate candidates are raising in the next few weeks, including Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), raising at an event on Friday at the home of Nancy Stephens and Rick Rosenthal; and Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), with a March 27 event at the home of San and Leah Fischer. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), elected last year, is headlining a breakfast at the home of Tom and Ellen Hoberman on March 28, but no donation is required.

The hundreds of millions of dollars that flowed to stations in last year’s elections included a hefty chunk from groups with generic names, but Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) pressed the FCC on Tuesday on why the agency couldn’t force such political advertisers to feature the names of their funders.

While efforts to pass legislation that would mandate extensive disclosure of names  in campaign finance, Nelson suggested that existing law could give the FCC the power to force such a reveal when ad spots air on TV. The flood of ads coming from outside groups last year often identified funders only by generic names like Americans for Prosperity and American Crossroads.

Nelson said that such patriotic-sounding names were an attempt to “hide” the funders, and was a violation of a congressionally mandated FCC rule that ads “fully and fairly disclose the true identity” of the sponsors.

Nelson’s made the comments at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing of all five FCC commissioners. Chairman Julius Genachowski told Nelson, “It is something we should look at” but also noted last year that the agency implemented rules requiring that stations post information online disclosing a campaign’s ad buys.

Commissioner Robert McDowell said there was a an issue as to whether it should be the FCC or the Federal Election Commission that mandates such disclosure.

After the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision in 2010, attempts at reform of campaign finance have largely stalled out in Congress, while some lawmakers have expressed frustration at the ever-increasing flow of money in politics.

The wide-ranging hearing on Tuesday touched on plans for the FCC to hold incentive auctions, by which broadcasters could put their spectrum up for bid for wireless use. The auction is planned for next year, although broadcasters caution that the FCC is carrying out the complicated process too quickly.

Nevertheless, all five commissioners expressed a desire Tuesday to move forward, and Senate Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said that “acting expeditiously is important” so that funds can be raised to create a new broadband emergency response network.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) raised the frustrations of constituents regarding sports blackout rules, but Genachowski noted that a particular issue is when major sporting events are pulled in the midst of retransmission-consent negotiations.

Although cable operators have urged the agency to take some action to prevent such blackouts, the FCC has declined to pursue rules that would dictate whether programming can be withheld during retrans negotiations. On Tuesday, however, Genachowski said that “it may be time to update” those provisions.

With lawmakers focusing in part on the role of video games following the Newtown, Conn., school shootings in December, the video game business is launching a new public service campaign focused on the industry's existing ratings system as well as parental controls.

While the motion picture and broadcast business announced a PSA effort several weeks ago, the video game industry has been singled out by lawmakers, in part because of the interactivity of the play. President Obama has called for a $10 million study of the impact of video games on youth, along with a more general probe of the impact of viewing violent "media images."

The Entertainment Software Assn., representing video game publishers, said that the PSA campaign would appear on video game platforms and they would encourage broadcast outlets to run the spots on local channels. They also will provide the spots to news and fan discussion sites, distribute to retailers for in-store and online channels and work with lawmakers to extend the ratings to the "broader games ecosystem of smart phones, tablets, and online social games."

In the weeks following the Newtown tragedy, the ESA has defended the industry and pointed to research showing no causal link between virtual play and violent behavior. But the reports that Adam Lanza, the shooter in the Sandy Hook massacre, was an avid player of video games, have been cited by some lawmakers who are proposing state-level action.

In its announcement of the PSAs on Monday, the ESA included statements from two lawmakers, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. "I commend the industry for raising awareness of the tools available to parents that can help them make informed decisions about the games their children play," Thune said.

Vice President Joseph Biden's office also appeared to endorse the effort, as it send out a tweet pointing followers to an explanation of the industry's PSA campaign.

Michael Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, said that the "campaign will connect with consumers in an immediate and sustained way in addition to the traditional mechanisms over TV outlets." He noted that the Federal Trade Commission, in its latest report on entertainment ratings system, found that the video game business had the strongest self-regulatory code. The ratings are overseen by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which was established in 1994.

The industry has been lobbying Capitol Hill, cautioning that the focus should be on other solutions to gun violence and that the videogame business should not shoulder the blame. In the wake of the Newtown shootings, the National Rifle Assn. pointed to videogames as a symptom of the violent culture.

Nevertheless, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, called the PSA campaigns "not sufficient to protect our children from dangerous exposure to violent content.

Rockefeller has been a frequent critic of violence in the media, and has also called for a study of the impact of videogame and media violence, to be conducted by the National Academy of Sciences.

"In today's world where kids can play games across a variety of devices often without parental supervision, it is unrealistic to assume that overworked and stressed parents can prevent their kids from viewing inappropriate content. I believe that the only real solution is for the entertainment and software industries to reduce the often obscene levels of violence in the products they sell."

Howard Fineman reports that actress Ashley Judd is ready to announce that she will run for Senate, in hopes of unseating Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from his seat in Kentucky next year.

Fineman writes, "Reached for comment by email Saturday, Judd offered a not-quite-ironclad denial to The Huffington Post. 'I am not sure who is saying this stuff, but it is not I! I’d prefer as a fan of your journalism that you stay accurate and credible. We told everyone who called us yesterday these stories are fabrications.'

"But she declined to specify which 'stories,' did not say what wasn't 'accurate,' and did not respond when asked directly whether she had, in fact, decided to run or chosen a time to declare her intentions.

"'I know she knows she has to declare soon,' said one source, a highly placed elected official who declined to be identified because he was discussing private plans."

Republicans are already producing web videos taking aim at Judd's perceived liabilities: Her support of President Obama (not an asset in a red state), her environmentalism (albeit mountain top removal mining is drawing an increasing number of opponents) and her recent residency in Tennessee. The toughest one may be Hollywood, i.e. a liberal elite celebrity out of touch with the common folk. But McConnell is not hugely popular, and Al Franken proved in Minnesota that a progressive celebrity could win (by a hair) by staying clear of the national and entertainment media and focusing almost exclusively on retail campaigning, town-by-town.

 

Director Brett Ratner will receive the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's new Ally award at its upcoming New York ceremony, after being ousted as the producers of last year's Oscarcast after he made an anti-gay slur.

The selection of Ratner to receive the honor already is triggering some protest in social media, that the organization that condemned the director for his remarks is now a participant in his rehabilitation. GLAAD cited Ratner's work in creating a celebrity-filled "Coming Out for Equality" PSA campaign that will launch just before the Supreme Court hears the Prop 8 case later this month. Comcast is contributing $1.5 million in airtime on its Xfinity cable systems for the campaign, which will be launched at the GLAAD award ceremony on March 16.

During a Q&A session following the screening of his movie "Tower Heist," Ratner answered a question about rehearsals by saying, "rehearsal is for fags." He later apologized for the slur and resigned from the Oscar telecast.

GLAAD president Herndon Graddick said in a statement, "From high school jocks to faith leaders, those who follow Brett's lead are admired and heralded, while anti-LGBT bullies are increasingly ridiculed and marginalized."

 

 

DC Comics is sidelining its plans for Orson Scott Card’s Man of Steel story in an upcoming “Superman” anthology, after the artist backed out of the assignment when a furor was raised over Card’s history of anti-gay marriage rhetoric. Card himself has said nothing since then, other than to post to his official website an article, written by Matthew Sanders of Deseret News, supporting Card’s right to express his beliefs.

So are those opposed to same-sex marriage --- on religious beliefs --- now under threat of losing work or losing their jobs? Throughout the legal case to overturn Prop 8, supporters of California’s gay marriage ban have argued that they are under threat of religious discrimination and even intimidation, to the point where they opposed an early effort to televise a federal trial. In the entertainment industry, very few figures have publicly expressed opposition to same-sex marriage (Pat Boone is one of the few exceptions), and even celebrities who eat at establishments owned by anti-gay moguls come under fire.

Yet in Salon, the writer of a recent book, "Superman: The Unauthorized Biography," doesn’t see this as a stifling of free speech, but a pushback against an author who is actively campaigning against gay marriage, as a board member of the National Organization for Marriage.

Glen Weldon tells the site, "Well, in this particular case — Superman represents compassion. He’s an icon of fairness. The fact that a guy who has dedicated himself to hate and discrimation would be handed the keys to the character just shows that DC Comics doesn’t understand who the character is for. There was a period when the "Superman" radio show dropped out the whole 'truth, justice, and the American way' thing and he became a fighter for racial tolerance. It was an arc called "Operation Intolerance."

He adds, "Superman exists to be about fairness. People will say this is a witch hunt, this is censorship. But it’s the marketplace of ideas. Card gets the chance to say what he wants, and we get a chance to say, not this."

Last night at the Hollywood Roosevelt, as Jimmy Kimmel tied traffic in knots with an outdoor staging of his show, and hipsters streamed into the clubbier aspects of the hotel, several dozen well-suited political figures and others mingled with cocktails by the pool. Among them were former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

The event was a kickoff for the Bipartisan Policy Center's "national conversation on the state of American unity," an effort to bridge the political divide via a forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley today. The event, which starts at 10 a.m. PT, is being webcast on the org's website, and viewers can submit questions and vote in a poll. The venue is perhaps fitting, as some of the politicos who gathered at the Hollywood Roosevelt were nostalgic for the relative cooperation of the Reagan years.

Dan Glickman, the former MPAA chairman and senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, is one of the leaders behind the effort.

Returns are very slowly trickling in, but Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel appear to be heading to a runoff.

With just over 20% of the precincts reporting, Garcetti had 34% of the vote to Greuel with 29%. Councilwoman Jan Perry is in third place at 18%. The latest results here.

That's on par with polling, and in the way that entertainment industry figures have split their loyalties between the tw candidates.

Even with much vote remaining to be counted, Garcetti and Greuel appeared before supporters just after 11 p.m. --- in time for the local newscasts --- and not only looked ahead to the May 21 runoff but to garnering endorsements from the rest of the field.

"Although we may not always agree, after 42 debates I know what your priorities are," Greuel said of her fellow candidates, also noting that she would be the first woman mayor of the city.

Garcetti praised Jan Perry, Kevin James and Emanuel Pleitez, and vowed to bring back "the creativity and genius that is Los Angeles."

James, who has been a registered Republican and who positioned himself as the outsider who could shake up City Hall bureaucracy, trailed far behind. An entertainment attorney and radio talk host, his candidacy didn't catch the same fire that Richard Riordan enjoyed in 1993 when he won a spot in the runoff against Mike Woo, and eventually won election.

With low turnout and low enthusiasm, expect Garcetti and Greuel to draw on entertainment industry figures to help inject a dose of energy into their races. Undoubtedly, they will continue to draw on Hollywood for dollars, along with independent committees supporting their candidacies. Steve Tisch recently contributed $25,000 to an org supporting Garcetti, while Peg Yorkin gave $10,000 and Cindy Horn gave $15,000 to an org backing Greuel.

On Los Angeles' westside, Mike Bonin appeared to be one of the few candidates from today's elections to win a seat outright. He led his opponents with more than 60% of the vote. He would succeed his boss, City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who is retiring.

 

Today is election day in Los Angeles, and the mayor's race this year has been tinged with talk of runaway production, tax incentives, SuperPACs and celebrity endorsements. Yesterday, the campaign of Councilman Eric Garcetti boasted that Jane Fonda was tweeting her support.

Here's a HuffPost Live chat I participated in on Monday evening, with James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times, Gene Maddaus of LA Weekly, Huffington Post's Anna Almendrala and host Jacob Soboroff.

Actually, White House spokesman Jay Carney didn't take the bait when asked what he thought of Dennis Rodman's trip to North Korea and his meeting with Kim Jong Un, and whether the celebrity encounter undermined any official talks.

Carney said at today's press briefing that "instead of spending money on celebrity sporting events to entertain the elites of that country, the North Korean regime should focus on the well-being of its own people who have been starved, imprisoned, and denied their human rights.

"We have urged the North Korean leadership to heed President Obama’s call to choose the path of peace and come into compliance with its international obligations.  North Korea’s actions, however, directly violate United Nations Security Council resolutions and threaten international peace and security."

Asked again what Obama thought of the Rodman visit, Carney added, "I don't have a readout specific to the President to give to you.  I think that what I just said makes clear that North Korea ought to be focusing on its own citizens and opportunities to improve their lives.  And the United States has channels of communications directly with the DPRK and those are the channels we choose to employ."

 

Asked which entertainment execs among President Obama’s top supporters have been interested in an ambassadorship, a prominent industry political consultant quipped, “Everyone.”

While the answer was an admitted exaggeration, there’s no denying that, considering this is Obama’s final term, those within the extensive community of donors, activists and bundlers who have been involved in his campaign through two election cycles, and who are looking for a foreign posting, see this as a last chance.

Four years ago, Obama tapped two entertainment industry figures, music exec Nicole Avant and former Jim Henson Co. CEO Charles Rivkin, to serve as ambassadors to the Bahamas and France, respectively . This time around, many more people are in the mix. The problem is that of about 150 names interested across the country, the president has only about 30 spots to fill.

The rest of the positions are in nations that traditionally go to career diplomats. Those in Los Angeles said to be under consideration include John Emerson, president of private client services at Capitol Group and former chairman of the Los Angeles Music Center; Ken Solomon, CEO of the Tennis Channel; and Colleen Bell, a soap opera producer and philanthropist. All were top bundlers for Obama and helped raise more than $1 million each . Emerson and Solomon co-chaired the re-election campaign’s Southern California finance team. All three declined to comment or did not return inquiries for comment.

While Emerson has been mentioned for a post in Germany, and Solomon in Australia, as of last week, few decisions had been made , leaving much of the entertainment donor community guessing as to what happens next and who goes where. “Nobody really knows,” says one top Los Angeles fundraiser, nothing that just three or four White House officials were holding the cards. A few months ago, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, also a top bundler, was reported to be a leading contender for Great Britain, but since then has taken her name out of the running, and Vogue has issued statements saying she is happy where she’s at.

For those accustomed to quick answers , the process can be excruciatingly long and unpredictable. To express interest and not be too brazen about it requires a delicate dance . It’s considered bad form to actually approach the president ; instead, the process is to go through fundraising channels and other connections. A story still circulates about a Los Angeles fundraiser for John McCain who, during the 2008 campaign, told the candidate of his desire to be an ambassador. The frontal assault showed a lack of necessary skills .

“What that says is you are not looking to serve the president, but to serve yourself,” says another prominent fundraiser.Those able to work through proper channels are asked for a roster of countries they feel would be a good fit for them , but nothing is certain until Obama approves the list, and potential nominees must survive a vetting process . In the domino-like process of placement, a hoped-for country may very well not be the one offered. It can be like a game of Risk, but with Senate confirmation required.

The speculation over who gets what also is tinged with talk of who raised the most, even though a greater advantage is having a personal relationship with the president.

While there is an undeniable cachet to serving as an ambassador — TV Guide founder Walter Annenberg was forever known by the title after he served in Great Britain under President Nixon — the job is not without drawbacks. The salary, less than $200,000, is hefty in middle-class terms, but not so great given that many under consideration have high net worth, and will have to foot the bill to make up the difference in hosting embassy events.

Moreover, showbiz figures often have a challenge ahead of them to convince staffs and local politicos that they are skilled in diplomacy. When Ronald Reagan tapped actor John Gavin to serve as ambassador to Mexico, one of that country’s officials sniped to Time magazine, “Maybe we should have sent Cantinflas to Washington.” When Rivkin was appointed ambassador to France in 2009, much of the focus was on his experience as the head of the Henson Co. and later WildBrain Media, the maker of “Yo Gabba Gabba!” despite the fact he had served on Obama’s homeland security committee and his father had been a diplomat under two presidents. A White House reporter even asked then-spokesman Robert Gibbs whether Rivkin knew French. (He does.) In fact, a State Dept. inspector-general’s report from last year called Rivkin “a dynamic and visionary non-career ambassador,” expanding social media use and reaching out to ethnic minority communities in Paris.

Nevertheless, career diplomats have in the past urged Obama to keep political appointments to a minimum, characterizing such postings as part of a bygone era of patronage that doesn’t send a good message about government, and worse, can create an embarrassment if the choice is not a good fit.  There’s also a degree of jealousy over the prospect of a major donor or bundler getting a choice country, where political tensions are minimal, while careerists are posted in the world’s hot spots.

On the other hand, the Council of American Ambassadors, an association of non-career diplomats, points to the strengths political appointees have that careerists do not : They know the president, which can offer a more candid line of communications to the White House; and they are more likely to think outside the box in approaching their duties. Avant often focused on “soft power” initiatives, like enhanced relations with local law enforcement, and had the connections to bring in Magic Johnson as a motivational speaker.

Still, skepticism among media and career diplomats toward political appointees has been so rampant for so long that there’s a 60-year-old Irving Berlin musical about it. “Call Me Madam ” starred Ethel Merman as a coarse socialite tapped by Harry Truman to serve as ambassador to a European country, only to be met with resistance from the charge d’affaires at the American embassy. In the musical, the socialite wins the country over with her charms, just as Perle Mesta, on whom the story was based, did in real life after Truman assigned her to Luxembourg. In 2010, more than 60 years since her posting in their country, the Luxembourg embassy in D.C. hosted an evening of the music from “Call Me Madam” in her honor.

That’s the kind of legacy biz execs can relate to.

 

An overwhelming majority of Americans thinks that the depiction of violence in movies and videogames contributes some or a lot to real-life violence in society.

That is one of the conclusions of the recent CBS News/Vanity Fair poll. The survey found that 45% think media violence contributes "a lot" to violence, with 35% saying "some." Just 12% said "not much" and 8% said "not at all."

The poll suggests that the National Rifle Assn. has had at least some success in blaming violent culture, particularly videogames, in the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, while pushing back against gun control measures. Asked which measure would make them feel most safe, 31% having a gun in the home would, while 30% said an alarm system. Just one-third said that stricter gun laws would make them feel more safe, and 45% said it would make no difference.

Nevertheless, just over half said that they would be "less comfortable" by the idea of arming teachers --- an idea advanced by some in the NRA. The org also got low marks when it came to its national spokesman. More than half did not know who Wayne LaPierre is.

 

The future of the fight against piracy, according to industry leaders, may very well lie not in legislation but voluntary agreement between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. MPAA chairman Chris Dodd says that there have been talks, but he declines to get into specifics.

Last week, there was a meeting between a top executive from Google, which often is a frequent target in Hollywood, and show biz executives and other creative types. It was by no means an official negotiation, but the latest event from the Foreign Policy Roundtable, the industry org that brings in speakers for forums on international issues.

Robert Boorstin, the director of public policy for Google, spoke about international censorship, using Internet technology to identify hot spots for hate crimes and other unrest, as well as the increasingly vexing problem of cybersecurity. There was also piracy, as Google has come under fire for not doing enough to curb infringing sites in its search results. The presence of Howard Berman, the former congressman who was a champion of anti-piracy issues before being defeated for another term last year, was a guarantee that it would come up in a Q&A. The session was off the record, however, but suffice it to say the net result isn't a sudden full meeting of the minds on copyright.

Among those present at the Studio City home of Jeff Wachtel, co-president of USA Network, were director Wes Craven, producer Dante de Lorento, FX's Nicole Clemens, radio host Matt Miller, producer Ruth Vitale, Sony Intl.'s Andy Kaplan and political and government affairs consultant Andy Spahn, as well as the executive director of the roundtable, Donna Bojarsky.

 

Ashley Judd is in Washington as she mulls a run for Senate, meeting with party operatives and lawmakers but also delivering a speech today at a George Washington University student forum.

Politico reports that the speech she gave, followed by a Q&A, was uneven.

James Hohmann writes that she talked about getting involved in poverty relief at the urging of Bono, "ignored what she herself jokingly referred to as the 'elephant in the room' during a 90-minute appearance full of moments that cast doubt on her ability to wage a serious statewide campaign."

Her complete speech, via C SPAN, is here.

MPAA chairman Chris Dodd received a compensation package of $2.4 million in 2011, the year he joined the motion picture trade association and became Hollywood’s chief lobbyist.

Dodd’s compensation package included base pay of $2.2 million, incentives of $100,000 and aboit $60,000 in other benefits, according to the org’s tax filing with the IRS. He joined the MPAA on March 17, 2011, succeeding interim CEO Robert Pisano, whose compensation package totalled $1.35 million. As 501(c) tax exempt org, the MPAA’s tax filings are made public.

The filing was first reported by the website TorrentFreak.

The bulk of the MPAA’s revenue comes from studio member dues, and total revenue climbed to $60.8 million, from $49.6 million. But expenses also increased to $61 million, from $49.6 million a year earlier, leaving the MPAA with a $246,879 loss.

The MPAA spent a total of $4.7 million on lobbying during 2011, when it was urging Congress to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act, a measure that was eventually sidelined after an unprecedented protest led by Internet firms. It also spent $4.2 million on investigations, as one of the org’s missions is combating piracy.

The org also gave out a number of grants, including $50,000 to the Democratic Attorney Generals Assn., $13,000 to the American Film Institute, $31,000 to the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation, $150,000 to the Democratic Governors Assn., $10,000 to the Family Online Safety Institute, $75,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee, $150,000 to the Republican Governors Assn. and $100,000 to Americans for Tax Reform. The latter is the org run by anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist.

One of the more unusual grants went to Let Freedom Ring, which received $10,000 from the MPAA. The org promotes “constitutional government, economic freedom and traditional values,” and while its membership is perhaps well to the right of center-left Hollywood, both sides tried to engage the Tea Party grassroots in the debate. In blog posts and other messages on its website, Let Freedom Ring urged its members in late 2011 to support SOPA and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act.

The MPAA is operating on a smaller budget than it did five years ago, when revenue totalled more than $92 million. The org went through a series of cutbacks the next year under CEO Dan Glickman. His salary in 2009 was $1.4 million.

Reacting to criticism that her appearance via remote at Sunday's Oscars was contrived, First Lady Michelle Obama told "Today" that such barbs are "just part of the culture."

"That’s just the nature of life. I mean, we live in a time when there are bloggers and tweeters and 24-hour news and everyone has a voice in this town square, and it’s a big one" Obama said in an interview taped on Thursday. "That means at any point at a given time, somebody’s not going to like what you do. That’s just the nature of things."

"It’s a part of the culture," she added. "It’s not really about me, I just happen to be in the public eye and along with everybody else in the public eye, you’re subject to conversation, opinion and all that sort of stuff. There’s nothing new about that."

Obama was the first First Lady to present the best picture Oscar. First Lady Laura Bush gave a taped message to the ceremony in 2002, but she did not actually participate in the announcing of the winners.

Michelle Obama also defended her appearance on the ceremony --- as well as other pop culture moves like a dance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" -- to pool reporters traveling with her as she promoted her "Let's Move" initiative.

"My bangs set off a national conversation," she said, adding, "It doesn't have anything to do with me. Anyone in this position has a huge spotlight and in modern day media the spotlight just gets more intense. I don't attribute this to me or Barack. The culture has just shifted."

 

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This year's Los Angeles mayor's race is already drawing an unusual level of engagement from entertainment, and one reason is the independent committees that have been set up to raise unlimited amounts from donors and get around citywide contribution limits.

After union and show biz supporters of Wendy Greuel set up Working Californians in January to support her candidacy, with Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen chipping in $50,000 each, backs of Eric Garcetti set up their own org, Lots of People Who Support Eric Garcetti for Mayor. In the past few days Michael Ovitz and Jimmy Kimmel have each given $10,000, according to records from the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. Also giving $10,000 was entrepreneur Elon Musk. Walking Entropy, one of the production entities behind "The Closer," on which Garcetti has appeared, gave $25,000.

The pro-Garcetti group is run by Courage Campaign founder Rick Jacobs and Mary Jane Stevenson, a key organizer for the Obama campaign. Jacobs said that the Courage Campaign is run separately from the pro-Garcetti group, and that although it has been critical of the flow of money in politics, he did not want to see a situation where the Garcetti camp would "unilaterally disarm" while Greuel's side benefited from five- and seven- figure contributions.

Meanwhile, Working Californians has collected recent contributions from Relativity Media, $25,000; director Brett Ratner, $10,000; Cindy Horn, $15,000; and Gary Winnick, $10,000.

The Walt Disney Co., Viacom and CBS Corp. are among the hundreds of companies that signed on to an amicus brief opposing the Defense of Marriage Act, which will come before the Supreme Court along with the Proposition 8 case in late March.

Also signing the brief were Wasserman Media Group, Electronic Arts, Google, Facebook, Twitter and the Jim Henson Co.

A central argument is that denial of same-sex marriage benefits at the federal level puts an undue burden on companies, because of the conflicting web of laws from state to state.

“It puts us, as employers, to unnecessary cost and administrative complexity, and regardless of our business or professional judgment forces us to treat one class of our lawfully married employees differently than another, when our success depends upon the welfare and morale of all employees,” the brief reads.

Spokesmen for Disney and CBS had no comment, and a spokesman for Viacom had no immediate comment.

A group of companies also filed an amicus brief opposing Proposition 8, but no media comglomerates were among them. The 100 or so companies that did sign included Google, Facebook, Verizon, Cablevision and the Jim Henson Co.

The brief characterizes California’s ban on same-sex marriage as an hindrance to recruitment as well as affecting morale. “No matter how welcoming the corporate culture, it cannot overcome the societal stigma institutionalized by Proposition 8 and similar laws,” the brief against Prop 8 states. “That stigma dehumanizes; it deprives gay men and lesbians of the solidity of married family life that heterosexuals take for granted and makes it more difficult for gay men and lesbians to perform at the highest level in the workplace. Such laws also make it difficult to recruit, hire, and retain some of the top employees who choose not to live in states where they are relegated to second-class-citizen status and prefer instead other states (or countries)—where amici may not have offices or open positions—where their fundamental right to marry is recognized.”

As unusual as the participation of the companies in a civil rights case is, corporate America has generally been ahead of the curve compared to federal and state government entities when it comes to recognition of same-sex couples. It was unclear why the same media companies didn’t sign on to the Prop 8 briefs. They generally refrained from lending their names or financial support during the campaign against Proposition 8 in 2008.

The companies' Prop 8 amicus brief is here.

The companies' DOMA brief is here.

Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement as the Obama administration filed an amicus brief in Hollingsworth vs. Perry, otherwise known as the Prop 8 case that will come before the Supreme Court for oral argument on March 26.

Holder said in a statement, "In our filing today in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the government seeks to vindicate the defining constitutional ideal of equal treatment under the law.  Throughout history, we have seen the unjust consequences of decisions and policies rooted in discrimination. The issues before the Supreme Court in this case and the Defense of Marriage Act case are not just important to the tens of thousands Americans who are being denied equal benefits and rights under our laws, but to our Nation as a whole."

The administration argues that laws that discriminate against gays and lesbians should be subject to "heightened scrutiny" by the court, meaning that there should be a "significant and proper purpose" in advancing such measures. The brief says that the "use of a voter initiative to promote democratic self governance cannot save a law like Proposition 8 that would otherwise violate equal protection. The point of heightened scrutiny is to protect disfavored minority groups from unjustified targeting in the democratic process."

The brief takes on the arguments for Prop 8, like promoting child rearing and that it is the will of the people.

"California's extension of all of the substantice rights and responsilibities of marriage to gay and lesbian domestic partners particularly undermines the justifications for Proposition 8. It indicates that Proposition 8's withholding of the designation of marriage is not based on an interest in promoting responsible procreation and child-rearing --- petitioners' central claimed justification for the initiative --- but instead on impermissible prejudice. ... Prejudice may not, however, be the basis for differential treatment under the law."

The complete brief is here.

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement, "President Obama and the Solicitor General have taken another historic step forward consistent with the great civil rights battles of our nation’s history. The President has turned the inspirational words of his second inaugural address into concrete action by urging our nation's highest court to put an end to discrimination against loving, committed gay and lesbian couples and their families."

The administration's decision to file a brief alters President Obama's previously supported position on same-sex marriage, which is that be backed gay nuptials but that it was a matter that should be left to the states. By filing a brief that says that state bans on same-sex marriage should be subject to "heightened scrutiny," the administration is saying that such laws cannot stand because of the equal protection clause of the constitution. What's striking about the brief is that it is so straight-forward, at a relatively short 40 pages.

Update: Richard Socarides, writing in the New Yorker, says that Obama's position is essentially a broad support for same-sex marriage rights, as the rationale in the brief would essentially render unconstitutional bans on same-sex marriage across the country.

He writes that "the Administration goes on to say that any legislative classifications based upon sexual orientation—like laws that limit marriage to heterosexuals—in order to be justified constitutionally, should be subject to a standard of review known as 'heightened scrutiny.' The implications of this argument are extremely broad.

"Under heightened scrutiny, laws that hinge on sexual orientation are only constitutional if they are needed to advance a compelling or important government interest. Uniformly, in the gay-marriage cases, the only justifications put forth by opponents of marriage equality are those based on tradition, custom, or prejudice. Because those reasons are not 'compelling,' the gay-marriage bans cannot survive the test. The government has advanced a similar argument in the Defense of Marriage Act cases—which involve not the right to marry but the federal recognition of otherwise valid marriages—but never in a pure marriage case."

Updated

Clint Eastwood has added his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court signed by more than 100 conservatives and Republicans backing same-sex marriage.

Breitbart News first reported that Eastwood had signed the brief, to be filed today. The brief is asking the Supreme Court to uphold lower court decisions that ruled that California's Proposition 8 is constitutional. Earlier in the week, there were reports that dozens of prominent Republicans and strategists would sign it, including Meg Whitman, who had previously supported Proposition 8. Others signing the brief include Paul Wolfowitz, Romney for President campaign manager Beth Myers and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

A spokesman for the American Foundation for Equal Rights confirmed that Eastwood had signed the brief.

Eastwood has already publicly declared his support for same-sex marriage, when he was asked about it during the publicity tour for his 2011 movie "J. Edgar." The screenwriter of that film, Dustin Lance Black, is on the board of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the organization that is bringing the legal challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage.

A group of 200 companies, including Apple and the Walt Disney Co., signed a brief asking the high court to overturn much of the Defense of Marriage Act, which restricts federal benefits to same-sex couples and requires that only a marriage between a man and a woman be recognized. More than 100 businesses in California also were to sign a brief in opposition to Prop 8. A central argument is that the maze of marriage laws in different states places additional burdens on companies as they determine such things as tax withholding and offering of health benefits.

Today is the deadline for amicus briefs opposing Prop 8. A big question is whether the White House will weigh in on the case. It already has announced that is will not defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

The court will hear oral arguments on the Prop 8 case on March 26, and on the DOMA case on March 27.

Update: The Obama administration will file a brief urging the overturning of Proposition 8, NBC News reports. This is big news, as it represents a shift in Obama's position in support of same-sex marriage but that the states should be left to decide.

Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign put out this statement: "We applaud President Obama for standing-up for millions of Californians who simply want to marry the person they love. The two Supreme Court cases this summer will be a watershed moment for equality and President Obama has put his Administration squarely on the right side of history. Last November,  voters from Maine to Washington stood up for equality. Now it's time for the Supreme Court to catch up with the American public. Discrimination and hatred have no place in a country founded on the principles of liberty, justice and equality."

Second update: Also signing the conservatives' brief, which is led by former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, are two former FCC chairmen, Kevin Martin and Michael Powell. Martin is significant because the perception during his tenure was that he was a social conservative, as he pressed forward with measures to curb broadcast indecency, and he once even was rumored to be eyeing a run for governor of North Carolina. Powell's father, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, already came out in support of same-sex marriage. The younger Powell serves as the head of the National Cable and Telecommunications Assn.

One more note: Eastwood's entry in the court brief lists him not just as filmmaker, but as the former mayor of Carmel, Calif.

An excerpt from the brief: "Same-sex couples, just like couples composed of a man and a woman,
benefit from the security and bilateral loyalty conferred by civil marriage. There is no reason to believe that the salutary effects of civil marriage arise to any lesser degree when two women or two men lawfully marry each other than when a man and a woman marry."

With increased scrutiny of violence in movies and TV shows following the tragedy in Newtown, Conn., entertainment companies unveiled a public service campaign designed to remind parents of viewing options, ratings system and content blocking technology.

The announcement of the campaign --- which will include broadcast and cable advertising, redesigned websites and social media --- comes amid pressure on the industry to address violent content, even as previous government efforts to regulate media mayhem have not survived First Amendment scrutiny in the courts.

But as has happened in past national tragedies involving gun violence, media conglomerates face criticism from D.C. figures who wield the bully pulpit, as well as parental groups who place pressure on advertisers.

The initiative, announced on Wednesday, is sponsored by the MPAA, the National Assn. of Broadcasters, the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn., the National Assn. of Theater Owners, the American Cable Assn., along with DirecTV and Verizon FiOS.

The campaign includes broadcast and cable advertising, which will remind parents where to find and how to use TV and film ratings systems, and how to use blocking technology. The advertising includes video spots previously created by the Ad Council, as well as other spots created by trade associations and broadcast and cable outlets. Movie theaters across the country also will run ad spots informing parents of the film rating system.

In addition, www.The TV Boss.org, a website that provides information on movie and TV ratings, parental control technology and "media literacy" has recently been redesigned, and the www.FilmRatings.com site has been relaunched. The coalition of trade associations also said that messages will appear in social media and other digital platforms.

Also announced was a public service campaign on mental health, including "creating a style guide to help educate journalists, television and film producers, directors and writers on mental health terminology." Broadcasters, the Associated Press, the Entertainment Industries Council and other orgs are involved in the campaign.

"The public service advertising and collateral materials featured throughout the campaign will help consumers better understand the TV and film rating systems, remind them to 'be the boss' of their TVs, encourage them to consume media together as families, and help children understand the media they consume," the orgs said in a statement.

Interestingly, the initiative does not include any trade associations for videogame companies. In January, when Vice President Joseph Biden met with representatives from entertainment, MPAA chairman Chris Dodd requested that the meeting with TV and movie trade association chiefs and other officials be separate from that of those from the videogame industry, noting the interactive nature of gaming.

As such, when President Obama unveiled his plans to reduce gun violence, he called for a Centers for Disease Control study of the impact of videogame violence on children, as well as the impact of more general "media images" on those who watch it.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said that she sees "no need to request further information" from the CIA on the assistance it gave to the makers of "Zero Dark Thirty," and denied that the Senate Intelligence Committee inquiry was an investigation of the film itself.

Screenwriter Mark Boal has been particularly critical of the Senate inquiry, saying that it raises questions of free speech and whether it will put a "chill" on future projects if movies are put under the microscope on how their creators gathered facts. He also said that he may be subpoenaed to testify.

Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with  Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), have been critical of the movie's portrayal of torture as inaccurate. But Feinstein said that the committee "has not made any contact with the filmmakers, did not request documents from any individual associated with the film, and have not conducted any investigation into the film whatsover.

"We have simnply asked questions of the intelligence community pertinent to our oversight responsibities," she said.

The announcement of the end of the inquiry comes just after "Zero Dark Thirty" lost out to "Argo" in the Oscar race for best picture. Quentin Tarantino won the original screenplay award for "Django Unchained" over Boal for "Zero Dark Thirty." The director of the movie, Kathryn Bigelow, was shut out of a nomination. But "Zero Dark Thirty" has been a box office success, generating a worldwide gross of just over $91 million.

Her complete statement is below:

Michelle Obama was the first First Lady to present an Oscar. Daniel Day-Lewis was the first actor to win an Academy Award for playing a president. And this was the first awards season where so many of the contenders seemed to be competing for the endorsement of major political figures, best picture winner "Argo" landing the tacit approval of former president Jimmy Carter.

Nevertheless, the Oscarcast, hosted by Seth MacFarlane, was largely free of the brazenly partisan acceptance speech, snarky political jabs and polarizing moments. Instead, you got a few jokes about Jews, Nazis and nuns, interspersed with a Tony award-like night of tributes to movie musicals and standards of old. Not even the documentary category could elicit a politically charged winner, as Academy voters bypassed "The Invisible War" and "How to Survive a Plague," two impactful entries, for "Searching for Sugarman."

Day-Lewis largely bypassed much speechifying about Abraham Lincoln and instead devoted part of his remarks to a joke about Meryl Streep. The most likely moment of controversy would have been had Mark Boal won for the "Zero Dark Thirty" screenplay, as he would have been expected to say something about the hazing his project has taken on Capitol Hill, but Quentin Tarantino won that award. Outside, there were protesters, but it was over the recent closure of visual effects shop Rhythm and Hues, not some worldly issue.

This was a very political year, not just in the movies but in the Oscar campaigns, as studios sought out political figures for screenings and other events, turning the tables on a D.C. crowd that more often depends on them for endorsements. But when the first lady appeared on screen as a co-presenter with Jack Nicholson, her words were to cheer the movies, an inspirational to young people and "vital" to society. It was all feel good, certainly pleasing to Hollywood and, other than unusual and even surreal nature of it all, very non controversial.
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One of the biggest surprises of this year's Oscarcast was the first-ever appearance of a First Lady to present an award, as Michelle Obama announced "Argo" the winner from the White House.

Obama, wearing a Naeem Khan dress, had appeared at a dinner for the National Governors Assn. meeting taking place this week. She presented the award from the Diplomatic Room, fitting given the subject matter of "Argo."

Kristina Schake, the first lady's communications director to the First Lady, said in a statement, "The Academy Awards approached the First Lady about being a part of the ceremony. As a movie lover, she was honored to present the award and celebrate the artists who inspire us all - especially our young people - with their passion, skill and imagination."

The White House also tweeted out a photo via official photographer Pete Souza.

The First Lady's appearance was unusual, although Ronald Reagan gave a taped statement to the Oscars in 1981 and Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the gathering in 1941.

What would have been awkward is if "Zero Dark Thirty" won best picture, as the cooperation that the White House gave to the filmmakers came under fire from congressional Republicans, a prelude to further controversy over its depiction of torture.

Instead, the first lady delivered a statement about the power of movies to "lift our spirits and broaden our minds and transport us to people we have never imagined."

She called the work of filmmakers "vitally important work" and added, "Every day, through engagement in the arts, our children learn to open their imagination, to dream just a little bigger. And to strive every day to reach those dreams."

The first lady hosted a screening and Q and A with the makers of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" two weeks ago, and President Obama hosted a screening of "Lincoln" in November. But they also have a strong connection to "Argo" via executive producer George Clooney, a longtime supporter who hosted a fundraiser for Obama last May that helped raise almost $15 million.

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"Argo" heads into the Oscars on Sunday as the favorite for best picture, having swept the major pre-Oscar kudos and with 1 to 2 Vegas odds. ("Lincoln" follows with 9 to 6 odds). Columnists like Maureen Dowdand Andrew O'Herir in the past week have taken the film to task for its dramatic liberties, arguably greater than those taken in "Lincoln" and "Zero Dark Thirty" but not as consequential given the historical context and the suspenseful narrative. Others are calling out the movie for its portrayal of Iranians as "irrational, bloodthirsty nut bars."

Janet Janjigian, president of DC Media Group LA and former head of corporate communications at MGM, sends along a piece she wrote around the time of the film's release defending the movie's portrayal of the atmosphere of Tehran at the time. She lived in Tehran in the first half of 1978, when her husband worked at the Embassy. She attests to the feeling of fear and paranoia in the year before the hostages were first held captive.

She writes, "'Argo' realistically documents the hostile, anti-Western, anti-American, (most especially targeting American women) movement gaining noticeable momentum in the streets by mid-1978. It was growing rapidly and palpable, especially in Tehran, where hundreds of Iranian women in the streets began covering up from head to toe in black chadors. More and more, I was followed during the day, luckily somehow always leading them on a trail back to the Embassy. Walking down the street, men and young boys would spit on me, angrily screaming and pushing me into the "jube"- the open water system running between the sidewalk and the streets, forcing me into overly congested, impossible traffic that makes a crowded LA freeway look empty."

CNN's Miguel Marquez, the Los Angeles Times' Bettina Boxall, NBC4's Mekahlo Medina, former Los Angeles Times Assistant Travel Editor Jane Engle and the Long Beach Press Telegram's Phillip Zonkel will be the panelists at Out in the Newsroom, a look at workplace issues gay and lesbian journalists face today. I'll be moderating the event, which will be held on Saturday, March 2 at 11 a.m. at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood.

The Los Angeles Press Club and the Los Angeles chapter of the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Assn. Are co-sponsors.
While panelists will discuss the evolution being out in the newsroom --- and whether it is an issue or non-issue --- they also will talk about covering gay and lesbian issues as public opinion shifts in a relatively quick period of time.

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The pro-same sex marriage ad launched this week makes a point of the bipartisan support for same-sex nuptials, with Laura Bush, Dick Cheney and Colin Powell shown talking about giving loving couples equal rights.

But Bush is objecting to her inclusion in the spot. Her spokeswoman told CNN, "Mrs. Bush did not approve of her inclusion in this advertisement nor is she associated in any way with the group that made the ad. When she became aware of the advertisement Tuesday night, we requested that the group remove her from it."

A spokesman for the org the made the ad, the Respect for Marriage Coalition, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While there would probably be a strong fair-use argument in the use of the clip of Bush, her statement suggests that she's irked by the idea of false endorsement not of same-sex marriage, but of the Respect for Marriage Coalition. It brings to mind the use of clips of news personalities in campaign commercials. Journalists have had a tough time getting their names and images removed from those spots.

Meanwhile, the attorneys challenging Prop 8 filed their brief today with the Supreme Court, in advance of oral arguments scheduled on March 26.

An excerpt: "Proponents accuse Plaintiffs (repeatedly) of “re-defining marriage.” But it is pro-onents who have imagined (not from any of this Court’s decisions)a cramped definition of marriage as a utilitarian incentive devised by and put into service by the State—society’s way of channeling heterosexual potential parents into 'responsible pro-creation.' In their 65-page brief about marriage in California, Proponents do not even mention the word 'love.' They seem to have no understanding of the privacy, liberty, and associational values that under-lie this Court’s recognition of marriage as a fundamental, personal right."

Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to Marry are leading the orgs launching a new ad campaign featuring clips of Laura Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and President Obama expressing support, in their own ways, of same-sex marriage.

The ads will run on cable news outlets CNN and MSNBC, as well as on Sunday talk shows. Full page print ads appeared today in the New York Times. The cost of the campaign is reportedly $1 million.

The issue isn't facing a ballot measure any time soon, but the Supreme Court will hear arguments at the end of March in a series of cases challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage and the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. Illinois is considering a gay marriage bill, which has passed the state Senate and is being debated in the House. A same-sex marriage bill is about to be introduced in Minnesota, with word that a GOP lawmaker is preparing to co-sponsor the legislation after previously voting to place a measure on the state ballot to ban it. That measure, a constitutional amendment, was defeated in November.

The ad from the Respect for Marriage Coalition is below.

 

Michael Moore will host a discussion tonight at the Academy Theater with all of the nominees for best documentary, but attention undoubtedly will be paid to the ordeal that Palestinian filmmaker Emad Burnat faced last night at LAX.

Moore says that the co-director of "5 Broken Cameras" was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who even threatened to send him on the next plane back to Amman.

When Burnat finally showed up at a dinner for Oscar nominees, Moore writes, "he told us that this sort of treatment is something he is used to 'on a daily basis under Occupation.' He gave an eloquent and moving impromptu speech, in his usual soft-spoken voice, to his fellow nominees. He said this was his 6th trip with his film to the U.S. this year and that this was the first time he was detained. He said they wanted to see some 'official document' that he was an actual nominee. I said, 'Doesn't Immigration have Google?'"

Candidates for Los Angeles mayor are luring stars and moguls for money, but seeking the votes of the Hollywood rank-and-file with the promise to lure more production back to the city.

But even as the contenders talk up the issue of runaway production, there are doubts about just how much can be done at the city level to keep a movie or TV show in L.A.

Councilman Eric Garcetti is proposing a "film czar" to guide producers through red tape as well as a plan to waive city fees for TV pilots that shoot in the city. City controller Wendy Greuel is calling for further streamlining the permit process and pointing to her work on the California Film Commission. Radio talk host and entertainment lawyer Kevin James is promoting a "Los Angeles Production benefit," in which indpendent film producers can access a city database of crew members who are available to work at an "adjusted rate." Councilwoman Jan Perry has proposed ongoing surveying of other cities, like New York and New Orleans, as a kind of barometer to see what they are doing to lure production away.

Yet while producers welcome any effort to streamline the process -- on the idea that time is money -- some question whether it actually is the breaking point in whether a production stays in the city. "The city isn't in a position where it could offer major incentives that would make a major difference in the cost of production," said Kevin Klowden, managing economist and director of the California Center at the Milken Institute. He doesn't dismiss what the city can do at the bureaucratic level, like offering police and fire services at discounted rates on business taxes and fees, and doing what it can to speed the permit process through FilmLA. But they do not create as much of a lure as state incentives, and the real issues in the state incentives are that we don't offer enough of them," he said.

There's also the more vexing problems of labor costs and neighborhood cooperation, he noted.

"In the end, a lot of [bureaucreatic efforts] has been tried, and it it may help, but he longterm reputation for the city comes down to how quickly can things get done," he said.

The candidates have made a point of supporting and expanding the state's production incentive, recently extended for another two years yet capped at an annual $100 million, a sum that is quickly snapped up.

While runaway production may not be foremost on the minds of many donors, even within entertainment, it has popped up in mayoral debates, like a forum sponsored by KABC-TV and the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs on Monday. Producers of lower-budgeted productions and TV movies are especially vocal about the cost of permits and of paying for city police and fire personnel to supervise on set. "It is a lot of money for a small project," said producer Michael McGuire, who pointed to an $800 permit he recently paid to shoot an independent film not on public property, but at a private home in Encino. "I don't see why they can't waive that."

The issue took on renewed importance last year, when FilmLA reported that less than half of primetime dramas were being shot in Los Angeles, while drama pilot production fell. Overall, Film LA reported that pilots show in Los Angeles amounted to just 29% of the total, far and away the most being comedies that are don't carry the same economic punch as one-hour shows.

On Feb. 26, the City Council will weigh Garcetti's proposal to waive fees for TV productions filmed in the city, as well as fees for the first year of a pilot that is picked up for series. In a report last month, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana estimated that the impact on the city's general fund would be a mimimum of $231,000 and an unknown larger amount for the first year of production. He added that the waiver of fees would conflict with a city policy requiring "full cost recovery" for all fees charged by the city.

"Given the nominal amount city fees represent of overall production costs, it is unlikely that this waiver in and of itself would be the determining factor for filming on location in the city versus another location," he wrote.

Rather, he said that the central issues that pilot producers use in choosing where to film are the availabiity of incentives and production infrastructure.

Conan O'Brien will be the headliner at this year's White House Correspondents Assn. dinner, scheduled for April 27.

Fox News' Ed Henry, the president of the WHCA, made the announcement this morning on Twitter.

O'Brien last appeared at the dinner as the featured comedian in 1995, when Bill Clinton was president.

Recent headliners include Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Myers and Jay Leno.

 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has launched a pre-emptive strike on potential Democratic challengers to his 2014 reelection, including Ashley Judd.

Judd is mulling a bid for the Senate, and her celebrity status already has made her the focus of Republican attack ads. American Crossroads, the SuperPAC launched by Karl Rove and others, last month introduced a web video collection of some of Judd's foibles, including declaring that Tennessee, and not Kentucky, is her home state.

McConnell's spot also repeats Judd talking up Tennessee, including a moment when she announced the state's roll call for Obama during last summer's Democratic National Convention, and another when she calls San Francisco her "American city home." The ad's premise is that Obama is fielding a list of contenders to challenge McConnell, who doesn't even appear in the web video.

Update: Judd has "done everything a serious candidate would do," Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) tells the New York Times. She may be a Hollywood liberal, but the Times' Trip Gabriel interviewed residents of Ashland, Ky. who seem open to the idea.

Fox News correspondent Ed Henry, president of the White House Correspondents Assn., lodged a complaint on behalf of the org over the weekend for the lack of access given to them as President Obama hit the links in Florida, including a round with Tiger Woods.

Henry tells Politico that "this is a fight for more access, period." He expressed frustration that Obama was not made available even for a photo op.The press corps has complained about access to other events, as well as meetings that Obama had that were not placed on the official schedule. That included a meeting with donors the Friday before the inauguration, and a meeting with young Hollywood celebrities and other creative types last year when he was in Los Angeles.

Obama did seem to try a "make good": A 10-minute session with the press pool on the way back from Florida on Monday evening. But that conversation was "off the record." So it's unlikely that a pretty distant relationship between Obama and the press corps will suddenly get all warm and fuzzy.

Meanwhile, as Obama was golfing, Vice Presdent Joseph Biden was skiing in Snowmass, Colo., and taking a break for photo ops for anyone who was around. Photo via Tim Johnson of Johnson Production Group.

David Axelrod, former senior adviser to President Obama and senior strategist to his campaign, is joining NBC News and MSNBC as senior political analyst.

Axelrod will appear frequently across both networks, according to NBC News. Robert Gibbs, former White House press secretary and adviser to the campaign, joined MSNBC and NBC News last week as a commentator. Other commentators at the news orgs include Steve Schmidt, Michael Steele and Ed Rendell.

Axelrod was recently named director of the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics, and a distinguished senior fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy.

In honor of tonight's season finale of "Downton Abbey," Will Raabe, producer on "The Chris Matthews Show," created this video mashup, to be shown on today's show.

Speaking to the National Press Club today, MPAA chairman Chris Dodd talked up the industry's innovation and impact as the trade association continues to reorient strategy after last year's defeat of major anti-piracy legislation.

As he has before, Dodd struck a more conciliatory tone toward Silicon Valley, and signalled that a host of new streaming options and other technologicial innovations could ease the rift that saw Hollywood on one side in support of the Stop Online Piracy Act and Silicon Valley against it. He said a new "golden age" was being ushered in with new options for content, including on Netflix, Hulu and others. The message was that the industry is offering content online, and not exacerbating piracy by failing to offer the option.

"We can and must have an Internet that works for everyone, and we can and must have protection for the creative industry's genius that intellectual property represents," he said, according to prepared remarks, adding that "for the more than two million Americans whose jobs depend on the motion picture and television industry 'free and open' cannot synonmous with 'working for free.'"

He added that "we must together innovate through these challenges. Fortunately, Silicon Valley and Hollywood are making some progress on this front."

His full speech is here.

 

The aftermath of the Newtown tragedy has seen some orgs insisting that research shows an irrefutable link between media and real-life violence, while the entertainment industry is pretty much saying just the opposite.

So what is it? Common Sense Media, the parents org, unveiled a study today that is designed to show why additional research is needed. Anyone who has followed this knows that, going back six decades, major incidents of violence have from time to time been followed by calls for scientific study. Back in the 1960s, Sen. Thomas Dodd (D-Conn.), the father of current MPAA chairman Chris Dodd, led a commission on juvenile delinquency that held numerous hearings and studies on TV violence, with the end result being pretty much inconclusive.

Yet Common Sense Media surveys the research that has been done and concludes that even though the record is ripe, it is inadequate.

"The presence of violent images in advertising seen by children has barely been studied, comprehensive research on TV violence is nearly two decades old, video game research hasn't kept pace with current modes of gaming or tracked the content most consumed by youth, and studies of online exposure are nearly nonexistent," its report says.

Among other things, they are calling for "longitudinal studies that include the most current media, especially the ultra-violent first-person shooter games, and the latest movies and television shows." Longitudinal studies are those that examine a group over a period of a long time, like from age 8 to 18, which is probably why such research is so costly.

Common Sense Media's study that even a small finding can have a significant consequences. The U.S. Surgeon General in 2001 found that "taken together, findings to date suggest that media violence has a relatively small impact on violence," but "research to date justifies sustained efforts to curb the adverse effects of media violence on youth."

Nevertheless, advocates for measures to limit videogame violence say that the industry will always be able to argue that there is no causal relationship, as not all children who play violent video games, watch violent cartoons or see violent movies become violent. An aide to California state Sen. Leland Yee, who authored the state's violent videogame law, points out that tobacco companies have said the same thing among smoking, as not all smokers get lung cancer. That's why Common Sense Media suggests that "it is probably moe accurate and useful to think about media violence as a 'risk factor' rather than a 'cause' of violence --- one variable among many that increases the risk of violent behavior among some children."

The complete Common Sense Media report is here.

The LA Weekly's Gene Maddaus is out with a story today that includes a list of holders of concealed weapon permits, as issued by Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.

Maddaus writes about the connection between concealed weapon permit holders and those who have given gifts to Baca, including producer Arnold Kopelson and actor James Darren.

Only 341 were granted permits as of May of last year, which is actually a small number relative to the size of the county population. While the list is populated by reverse deputies and judges, it also includes director Richard Donner and producer Jerry Weintraub, whose permits have been reported before. Donner appeared on the National Rifle Assn.'s comprehensive list of celebrities with "anti-gun policies." The names on the NRA list, however, include gun owners, like Bob Barker, who favor Second Amendment rights yet see the need to limit assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

In the two months since the Newtown, Conn., shootings, more than a dozen bills have been introduced at the state level to address violence in the media, with most of the proposals focused on videogames, but once again doubts have been raised that some of the more restrictive measures would ever survive a constitutional challenge.

Proposed legislation includes bills in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts to study videogames and the causes of violence; a New York bill to bar the sale of violent videogames to minors; and a Connecticut bill to impose a 10% tax on M-rated videogames.

Yet even as parents orgs, lawmakers and President Obama have singled out the videogame industry, along with the National Rifle Assn., the industry is prepared to challenge any restrictions enacted on First Amendment grounds, given the rather broad Supreme Court majority opinion in 2011 that struck down a California law barring the sale of violent videogames to minors.

With that decision in mind, some lawmakers are crafting legislation that they hope will somehow survive judicial scrutiny.

In Connecticut, Rep. Debralee Hovey, a Republican whose district includes Newtown, last week introduced the bill that taxes the M-rated games, a proposal she says is modeled after other types of "sin" taxes.

A sin tax on M-rated videogames "will cause people to think about what they are actually purchasing," she told NBC News.

Her bill would funnel the tax money to the state's Dept. of Mental Health and Addiction Services, which would develop public service announcements and other informational materials "to educate families on the warning signs of videogame addiction and antisocial behavior." Shooter Adam Lanza was said to be an avid player of videogames, including the hit title "Call of Duty," in some initial media reports after the Newtown tragedy, but those details were never officially confirmed.

Her legislation seemingly tries to overcome the problem of the government deeming what's too violent and what isn't by placing such distinctions in the hands of the industry's self-regulating Entertainment Software Rating Board, which is a guide for retailers and parents. A similar piece of legislation was proposed in Missouri, with a 1% tax on games rated Teen, Mature and Adults Only and the proceeds going to mental health programs and law enforcement.

Such proposals would nevertheless have trouble surviving a court challenge: Previous efforts to essentially "outsource" the decision about what is taxed and what isn't have been found to be constitutionally suspect, said David Horowitz, executive director of the Media Coalition, which represents videogame retailers, booksellers, record and movie producers in free speech challenges. "The government is giving the job of deciding who should be taxed to a nongovernmental agency," he said. "They basically can't outsource those decision."

He added that the more the legislation focuses on one type of media and one type of viewpoint, the more it will be viewed as "particularly suspect" to free speech concerns.

The prospect of a court challenge doesn't always stop lawmakers from enacting legislation, particularly after past mass shootings. But in the wake of the Supreme Court videogame decision, there seems to be more mindfulness that options are limited.

Steve Hogan, the mayor of Aurora, Colo., the site of a mass shooting at a multiplex last summer, suggested banning the sale of violent videogames or imposing some kind of tax, but he backed off the idea after the city attorney said that such measures would likely not survive constitutional challenges.

Adam J. Keigwin, chief of staff to California state Sen. Leland Yee, a Democrat who authored the state's 2005 videogame law, said that they did not tie their legislation to the ESRB ratings because "previous rulings that the government can't rely upon a private entity's ratings in deciding how to regulate." Moreover, he said, they had concerns that the rating system itself was "inherently flawed," with games rated "inappropriately," so "we tried to create our own definition."

Since then, however, Yee has not sought to recraft his legislation, mindful of the reality of the court 7-2 decision, and has focused instead on public service announcements for parents and other educational measures.

Although Keigwin said that they were very confident of the scientific correlation between videogame violence and real-life aggression, Justice Antonin Scalia actually mocked some of the research that had been done in his majority decision.

Most likely to get passed are proposals that seek to resolve the conflicting claims about the effect of media violence. Some of the state proposals to study the effects of videogame violence bear similarities to ideas advanced by President Obama, who proposed a $10 million Centers for Disease Control study yet stopped short of taking further action to regulate media violence. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, also has proposed a study, to be conducted by the National Academy of Sciences.

The videogame industry has defended its ratings system and has pointed to research showing no link between virtual and real-life violence, but "we certainly view it that more information and better information is always beneficial," Horowitz said.

The concern, he said, is that impartiality be maintained; some of the legislation being proposed "seems to point to a conclusion prior to the research being conducted." He said that the Media Coalition sent a letter to Massachusetts lawmakers expressing concerns about a proposal to create commission that will study videogame violence because the plan also calls for also examining "policy options."

The constitutional limitations on lawmakers, though, do not extend to the bully pulpit. In New Jersey, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, a Republican, last month introduced a measure aimed at media profiteering from violence. Her bill "urges all responsible television and film celebrities, together with all entertainment and media corporations, to publicly pledge to refrain from appearing in, promoting or profiting from entertainment products that depict the violent use of handguns, semi-automatic weapons, or 'assault weapon' style rifles."

The measure is a resolution -- so it's voluntary, not required.

Wireimage photo: "Call of Duty 2"

First Lady Michelle Obama hosted cast and crew of "Beasts of the Southern Wild" at the White House today, giving the Oscar contender her endorsement and hosting the type of awards-season event that is commonplace for any kudo hopeful: A Q&A.

Director Benh Zeitlin and actors Dwight Henry and Quvenzhane Wallis sat below a portrait of Abraham Lincoln in the State Dining Room as Rachel Goslins, executive director of the President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities, queried them on the making of the movie and its message. The event was tied to Black History Month, with an audience of middle and high school students, but speaking before the Q&A, Obama noted that "this is high season for film."

She said that "it's rare these days to find a movie that can so completely and utterly captivate such a broad audience, and that was one of the things that struck me about this movie. It managed to be beautiful, joyful and devastatingly honest." The first lady said she first saw the movie last summer "with a large group of our friends and family."

She also went in to the "Beasts" backstory, how Zeitlin developed the movie "without a huge budget," how Henry, a bakery owner, "never acted a day in his life" before taking the role of Wink, and how Wallis is "the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Academy Award."

The complete video is below.

 

Viewership of President Obama's State of the Union Address fell to its lowest level in 13 years, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Some 33.5 million viewers watched, down from the 37.8 million who watched in 2012. Obama drew 52.4 million to his first address to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24, 2009.

Variety's ratings guru Rick Kissell reports that the most recent State of the Union to draw a smaller audience than Tuesday night was the eighth and final one issued by President Clinton, with 31.48 million.

NBC topped the ratings for most viewers, with 6.47 million, while Fox News Channel, with 3.68 million, edging out CNN, with 3.64 million, among the news networks. MSNBC was not too far behind with 3.03 million. The data is from 9:15-10:15 p.m. ET.

For all of primetime, Fox News averaged 3.82 million to 3.36 million for CNN and 2.39 million for MSNBC. CNN led in adults 25-54.

Why the drop in Obama's ratings? The audience actually has been declining since his first address, but second-term presidents generally experience a falloff, Kissell says.

Eric Garcetti's campaign unveiled this new web video in which Will Ferrell endorses his candidacy --- and it is, to little surprised, laced with humor. The video actually debuted at Garcetti's fundraiser last week at the Henry Fonda Theater.

This moment of Sen. Marco Rubio's response to President Obama's State of the Union address was awkward, out of place and authentic. At least we know he's not lip syncing.

 

President Obama's State of the Union address started as a robust call for a more activist federal government, a warning of overconcern about the deficit at the expense of economic growth and a push for all sorts of issues like gay rights and immigration reform that have in the past been defined as liberal.

But the speech's second half was its emotional part, as he drew standing ovations when he introduced the 102-year-old voter who waited six hours in line at the ballot box and recited all of the cities that have been the sites of horrific mass gun shootings. The challenge was for Republicans who have so long opposed his agenda to not step up, stand up and clap. House Speaker John Boehner did clap as Obama urged Congress to bring gun legislation to the floor --- "they deserve a vote" --- but much was made of the fact that he didn't stand for the centenarian voter.

As ambitious as the State of the Union speech was, the divisions in Congress cast doubt that much of what Obama proposed will actually come to a vote, and despite the emotion as Obama talked gun control, the odds still point to an uphill battle for an assault weapons ban and maybe even the expanded background checks and restrictions on magazine clips. All the more sobering is that, just as Obama was starting to talk about gun violence, the news was coming in that the body of Christopher Jordan Dorner may have been found in a burned out cabin in Big Bear, an end of a tense standoff throughout the day that included a gunfight and the death of one police officer. The news networks did not do a split screen --- some of the local L.A. stations kept with the Dorner coverage --- but the State of the Union didn't really need a reminder of the sensational juxtaposition.

I can't help but think that Obama isn't so much laying the groundwork for getting much of his legislation passed in this Congress, but creating enough of a popular movement for a future one, even after he is out of office.

Photo: Tony Bennett, a guest of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, tweeted a photo tonight of him meeting with Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly. Bennett quoted Obama's call for a vote on gun legislation. Also getting plenty of attention, after the speech, on the floor of Congress: Ted Nugent.

Obama's full speech is below:

 

"WarGames" inspires bursts of nostalgia, a kind of time capsule to the very early days of personal computing, when hacking was still viewed as the stuff of geek pranks. The movie, in which a teenager gets into a U.S. military supercomputer, thinks it is a videogame and nearly starts World War III, came at the height of the Reagan-era cold war, when Hollywood was positing a Soviet invasion in films like "Red Dawn" and a nuclear holocaust in movies like "Testament" and "The Day After." In contrast to the cold war of the 1950s, when public service movies actually believed that the keys to survival were bomb shelters and to "duck and cover," the fears of the early 80s were of annihilation, enough to trigger a large-scale movement for a nuclear freeze.

Bob Kazel, a Chicago writer and longtime friend who writes for Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, recently interviewed the director of WarGames, John Badham, to talk not just about the making of the movie but how it was prescient. There is the obvious fear about continued nuclear proliferation, this time to rogue actors or in a terrorist attack. But Badham identifies the whole idea of cyber warfare.

Badham says, "A lot of what 'WarGames' is talking about is technology taking over on us, and even though we may have good intentions and are trying to do our best, it could bulldoze us.

"Of course we see evidence of this all the time. Larry Lasker and Walter Parkes, the screenwriters, and I, started talking back in those early days about the possibilities of cyber war, and what could happen if what was then innocent hacking became really serious stuff. Of course, that’s what we’re watching now. I don’t think we were prescient. I just think we were letting our imagines say, 'Where could this go to?'"

He adds, "Our government’s going in and messing with Iran’s system. The Chinese government is coming in and tapping the New York Times’ addresses. It is sort of spooky. We’re in that age. Information is just flying everywhere, with nobody able to control it the way they’d like to control it."

As Kazel and Badham point out, what made "WarGames" different from other at-the-brink projects of the era is that it set out to be first and foremost entertaining, not to send a message.

Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen have each donated $50,000 to Working Californians, the independent committee set up last month to support Wendy Greuel's mayoral bid.

City ethics commission records show that the contribution was reported on Feb. 7. The trio endorsed her campaign in 2011, and have helped her raise money, but more recently they have backed the independent expenditure committee that can accept unlimited contributions. Spielberg and Katzenberg's political adviser, Andy Spahn, has sent letters to others in the industry, according to the Hollywood Reporter, asking for contributions to the independent org.

Among those who have recently stepped up with checks are Fox's Jim Gianopulos, who contributed $15,000; writer Susan Harris, who contributed $7,500; RealD CEO Michael Lewis, $7,500; and producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, who each contributed $12,500. Stanlet Gold, Judd Apatow and Norman Lear made contributions last month. Working Californians is also getting money from union sources, most recently Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1277 PAC, which contributed $10,000.

Greuel worked in government relations for Dreamworks from 1997 to 2002.

Update: Greuel unveiled another ad today, reports LA Observed. Also, records filed with the FCC show that her campaign has purchased $316,320 worth of broadcast airtime on local Los Angeles stations during the next week, including spots that will run during tonight's State of the Union address. Garcetti's campaign has purchased $212,210 over the next week, according to the most recent contracts filed with the agency, and he also will have spots run during the president's address.

 

 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has invited longtime friend Tony Bennett to the State of the Union tonight, a celebrity counterpoint to Ted Nugent, who will be attending as a guest of a Texas congressman.

Bennett last week appealed to lawmakers to pass gun control legislation in a press conference on Capitol Hill. The event was co-sponsored by Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Nugent is a gun rights advocate who created a stir last year for comments he made at an National Rifle Assn. convention, which led to the Secret Service paying him a visit. Nugent is a guest of Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas).

Meanwhile, Michael Keegan, the president of People for the American Way, has sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, asking him to disinvite Nugent.

Keegan writes, "The First Amendment protects Ted Nugent’s rights to say offensive things, but that right does not extend to making threats of violence against public officials. And it certainly does not give Nugent a 'right' to be granted a privileged position of honor as a guest of the House of Representatives at the President’s State of the Union address."

Update: Nancy Pelosi tells HuffPost Hill: "If a liberal had ever invited somebody who had made the statements Ted Nugent made -- cutting off all our heads, and he'd be dead or in jail if the president was reelected -- if any liberal or progressive invited someone who made those kinds of comments to the State of the Union, can you just imagine? When President Bush was--can you just imagine?"

Keegan's complete letter is below:

CNN has announced that Jake Tapper's afternoon show, set to debut in March, has a name, "The Lead with Jake Tapper." They also unveiled a video promo for the program.

 

 

Tapper talked to Variety about his new show on Monday, as well as about his most recent "Jake Tapper Reports" on Army Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha. The story is after the jump.