Dga Skips D.c. Hearing

The DGA abruptly turned down an invitation to testify before a House subcommittee investigating the dispute between the people who make movies and a company selling a DVD player that edits out sex, profanity and questionable language from films.

The decision by the DGA leaves the House Judiciary Committee's copyright subcommittee hearing today without an entertainment industry witness as the panel delves into the dispute between the directors and studios and Salt Lake City-based ClearPlay.

While the subcommittee is led by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the chairman of the full committee, F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., is taking a personal interest in the dispute, and both lawmakers are leaning on the movie industry and the company to end their dispute. Smith and Sensenbrenner are threatening to introduce legislation that would solve the problem if the parties cannot.

DGA officials decided to pull out after it became clear that the hearing wasn't going to focus on the bigger issues surrounding the dispute and that they would bear the brunt of lawmakers' criticisms as the studios also refused to testify. The DGA and the studios contend that the company is altering an artistic, copyrighted work without the permission of the rights holder or the movie's creators.

While Taylor Hackford, a director and producer whose credits include "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "When We Were Kings," was prepared to testify, the studios had not produced a witness for the panel.

"Based on the understanding that the focus of the hearing would be broad policy issues relating to copyright protection, the artistic rights of directors and the many companies looking to provide unauthorized edited versions of copyrighted films, the guild initially agreed to have a representative testify," the DGA said in a statement.

"Moreover, we were advised that among the other witnesses would be the copyright holders or representatives of the studios. After discussions this week with members of the committee and subcommittee staff, however, it became apparent that the hearing will concentrate, in large measure at least, on the current status of settlement discussions between one company, eight film studios and the directors guild.

"Additionally, we learned that the studios would not be testifying and that the committee had declined the offer of the MPAA to testify on the studios' behalf. These changes dramatically altered the hearing in which we were asked to participate."

The decision to pull out came after a prehearing meeting Tuesday, when Smith dismissed the DGA's criticisms and forcefully renewed his legislative threat, according to sources involved in the common prehearing talks.

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