The Inter-Society: News

Introducing Inter-Society 2010 Ken Mason Award Recipient Gary Weaver

My first recollection of seeing a movie was CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER starring Guy Madison which opened July 11, 1953. What made this movie unique . . . it was presented in 35mm 3D using over/under technology. Little did anyone know that 52 years later I would be responsible for the distribution of the first digital 3D release in movie history . . . CHICKEN LITTLE. How could that ever happen?

When I turned 18 it was time to get my first job. Graduating from Huntington Beach High School in 1964 the best and only place to work was Disneyland. So off I went and began a career at The Happiest Place On Earth. It didn’t take long to realize that this was a great job. My first day was orientation where you learn about the history of the company. The very next day I’m having lunch in the employee cafeteria and who should walk in . . . Walt Disney. He sat at a table next to me eating red jello and visiting with three cast members. A memory to this day vividly etched in my mind.

While working at Disneyland as a casual employee (summers, Christmas and Spring break) I attended Cal-State Long Beach and received a BA in Mathematics. Working toward a teaching credential, I got a letter from Uncle Sam with the words every guy wants to hear . . . Greetings. In 1970 I was drafted into the Army. After two years in the military, I knew this wasn’t the career for me.

Returning to Disneyland in May 1972, I have been employed by The Walt Disney Company for 38 years. What a great career it has been. Starting in Payroll, moving to Accounting, the Magic Kingdom Club and then into Marketing as Manager of Administration in 1975. The Manager of Group Sales at that time was Dick Cook. I believe that every employee has those defining moments in their career when somebody takes notice of what you do. That first moment for me came with the dedication of Space Mountain at Disneyland on Memorial Day weekend in 1977. I was selected as one of two people to host the Mercury 7 astronauts. In case you don’t remember who they were in alphabetical order: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Sheperd and Deke Slayton. Quite an honor to say the least.

After the Manager position in Marketing, I moved into Employee Relations handling Wage and Salary Administration. In 1981 I was moved back into Marketing as the head of the division. The major milestone was the remodeling of Fantasyland and the elimination of the ticket books for those who can remember back that far.

In 1984 was again moved and this time to head of Employee Relations at the Park. This was a turbulent time in the company’s history as we had to fend off an unwanted take over. Weathering that takeover attempt we became a stronger company which was now headed up by Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. In 1987 I was called up to Frank Wells office to interview for the Corporate Employee Benefits position at the Studio. The next day I was offered the position and my studio career was launched. In 1990, I was responsible for implementing the Company’s flexible benefits program to 35,000 covered employees. We are a lot bigger now.

In 1994 came my biggest break, when Dick Cook asked me to join Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Today, as Senior Vice President of Administraton for Walt Disney Studios Moition Pictures Domestic Distribution, I look back proudly on those past 16 years. During that period I have had the pleasure of being involved in a number of new technologies and quality enhancements.

Here is our commitment to Quality, Quality, Quality. Even today we still check every 50^th or 100^th reel of our 35mm films. We also check one of our replicated digital hard drives on every server to ensure proper playback. With the support of Pixar we have implemented a projectionist trading card set emphasizing perfect projection. A set of cards is included with every print and every hard drive. Our open checks now include the checkers watching the first show on opening day to ensure perfect presentation. If it isn’t perfect then we move quickly to remedy the problem. We have initiated a Projectionist Reward Program for theatres that do an early QC of our 3D movies. Projectionists must complete the QC before 10:00 am the day before opening and notify us that it is complete and the reward is a projectionist t-shirt for every projectionist at the theatre. We still do theatre alignments where we send out technicians to check theatres before certain titles. Every hard drive includes a framing chart to assist the projectionist with proper framing, color, focus, proper phase if 3D and audio checks.

Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company have a long history of technology changes for the industry. I have had the pleasure of working on some of those but the defining moment for me was working on CHICKEN LITTLE. Returning from ShoWest in March 2005, we were committed to showing CHICKEN LITTLE in 3D. Nobody had ever done digital 3D. In fact the last 35mm over/under 3D was with Jim Cameron and Disney for GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS in 2003, which I had the pleasure of working on with Jim. With six months to do the release of CHICKEN LITTLE we had a lot of work to do. Industrial Light and Magic working with our Feature Animation department created the right eye. Dolby partnered with Disney on the project and supported it with capital and their servers. Real D provided the 3D systems and worked with us on creating the very unique Chicken Little 3D glasses. You remember them, the ones with the green frames.

With two weeks to go we still had a lot of work to go. We created the Chicken Coop consisting of Dolby, Real D, Universal Cinema Services and Disney staff. Working nearly around the clock to deploy digital projectors, servers, 3D systems, install silver screens, train projectionists and ship glasses for 84 screens and 80 sites. The goal was to have all screens working perfectly on opening day and we were able to accomplish that task. The trades even talked about the Chicken Coop and what it accomplished. Today we look at our industry and 3D is a game changer. What came first. . .the chicken or the egg? In the case of 3D it was the chicken . . . CHICKEN LITTLE in fact.

I’m honored to be receiving this years Ken Mason award. A number of great industry leaders have won this award and I’m humbled to be in that company. While Studios continue to benefit from DVD’s we continue to get challenged by home entertainment systems. People still want to come to the movie theatre for the experience. We need to continue to be the best we can be. While Disney is dedicated to providing the very best experience through all of our programs the experience inside the theatre cannot be taken for granted. Everyone one of us are fortunate to work in the greatest industry I know. We can’t ever take our guests for granted. Quality is the responsibility of every one of us.

Introducing Inter-Society 2009 Ken Mason Award Recipent Mark Christiansen

Before I was 5 years old, my dad was a drive-in theatre manager for Syufy Theatres. I lived under the screen at the 49’er Drive In in Sacramento, then spent a couple of years living on top of the snack bar at the Moffett Drive In (now the Century 16) in Mountain View, CA. Literallly, that’s where my family lived: The manager’s apartment was IN the drive-in.

There is not a better place for a kid to grow up than a drive in theatre. We had a playground, there were acres of mounded blacktop to ride bikes on, and new kids showed up to play every night. I had a chance to learn the basics of film projection when other kids were climbing trees and building forts. We even had a car speaker in our living room.

My dad went on to become a film buyer, first at Syufy, then at a local circuit in Monterey, CA, then at Moyer Theatres in Portland, OR. We didn’t live on a theatre property again, but, during my teen years, I did summer work cutting weeds and fixing speakers at some of Moyer’s drive ins. I helped install sound fold (basically folded burlap) at the Tanasbourne Tri-plex when it was constructed in the mid seventies. So, ‘The Biz” was in my blood as far back as I can remember.

I received a BS in Finance from the University of Oregon in 1980. I fully intended to enter the finance industry as a stock broker or banker. Then, like today, jobs in the finance area were very scarce. My dad kept after me to send resumes to the studios. The rest is history. I got a call from Columbia Pictures and was offered a job as a student booker in the Denver office, where I started in the business in July, 1980. I moved from Denver to Dallas for a sales job. The branch manager was Jack Foley (President, Focus Distribution) and the division manager was John Lundin (Head Film Buyer, Cinemark). In 1986 I moved to Des Moines to manage my first branch. Columbia closed the Des Moines office later that year and I was moved to Chicago. I took a liking to computers and taught myself quite a bit about spreadsheets, databases, and programming languages between releasing pictures

In 1987, MGM/UA offered me a Division Manager position. I made the switch and ended up spending 8 years with MGM/UA, later moving to Los Angeles as Western Division Manager, then SVP Operations. In 1995, I got a call from Jim Tharp, former Head Film Buyer for General Cinema, who had recently been named Head of Distribution at DreamWorks (DW did not have titles). He was assembling a distribution group and asked me to join him and Don Harris, former Head Film Buyer at AMC. We all started at Dreamworks within a week of each other and have been a solid team ever since.

Paramount acquired DreamWorks Studios and I moved with the deal. I have been Executive Vice President, Operations, for Paramount Pictures Domestic Theatrical Distribution since January, 2006. My responsibilities include digital cinema, anti-piracy, gross analysis, accounts receivable, print control, screenings, international versioning, and administration.

I first attended an Inter Society meeting in 1994 when I moved from sales to operations. The hot topic then was Extended Length Reels. Although ELRs never caught on, I was happy to be part of an organization whose function is to help improve the manufacture, distribution and exhibition of motion pictures.

While at DreamWorks, we became the first major studio to support the cyan dye track initiative. The movie was Woody Allen’s “Anything Else”, and the analog tracks were to be rendered in cyan. In a “hold your breath” moment, the lab was confused and printed all the tracks, including Dolby Digital and SDDS, in cyan. Fortunately, the digital tracks played back fine, and the physical prints are visually striking with all that cyan on them! The work converting to the cyan dye track was a seminal project of the Inter-Society. It renewed my interest and I subsequently increased my activity within the organization.

DreamWorks was also one of the first studios to commit to satellite distribution of its digital titles. The Inter-Society has been actively involved in vetting d-cinema issues, including satellite distribution, through its ISDCF subcommittee.

Paramount has been at the forefront of the effort to promote the conversion to digital projection in theatres. We recently presented a direct-to-exhibition payment agreement which is unique in the industry. Having worked very closely with exhibition throughout my career, launching digital cinema and making it available to each and every theatre owner remains a high priority for me.

I am a member of the DCI MRC (Management Representative Committee) and a past chairman, and a founding member of the joint MPAA/NATO Movie Theft Task Force.

Dan Taylor Awarded Inter-Society’s Highest Honor at ShoWest

The year was 1983. Seated around a small conference table at Bally’s were representatives of five trade organizations and four corporations. They had gathered to discuss how their collective efforts might improve cinema presentation. Seated at the head of the table was the new president: Dan Taylor, representing Kintek. Next to him sat Ken Mason, VP of Kodak, who had founded the organization, then known as the Inter-Society for the Enhancement of Theatrical Presentation. The second officer was Ken’s son, John Mason, also representing Kodak. During John’s tenure as President, he presented the first annual Ken Mason Award to his father, whose health was failing. Mr. Mason passed away several years hence, but he would be delighted to know that one of his hand-picked few, Dan Taylor, is the 2008 recipient of the award named for him.

Today, the Inter-Society boasts a membership roster of 56 trade organizations, corporate and individual members, and adds a few more every year. The group owes a great deal to Dan Taylor. Dan had the foresight to realize that the group was static and that it would continue to languish as just an elaborate “Koffee Klatch” if studios, exhibitors, vendors, and all the industry’s trade organizations didn’t drive it forward. He set out to spearhead that drive, signing members from all facets of the industry, both during his tenure as President, as Chairman, and as a Past President. Dan began his movie career as a projectionist for Sack Theatres in Boston while working on a degree at Emerson College. In 1973, he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications. Shortly thereafter, he began a 14-year relationship with Kintek, manufacturer of audio components and theatre systems for cinemas. After expanding the business to a 40% market share, he was promoted to National Sales Manager and, in 1982, to VP of Sales and Marketing.

In 1993, he was recruited to join Sony as Vice President, Business Development - SDDS®, while the Sony Dynamic Digital Sound® product was still in development. The division was officially renamed Sony Cinema Products Corporation (SCPC) the following year, and the SDDS system was launched in theatres in June of 1994.

In 1994, Dan was primarily responsible for a $20 million agreement with AMC Theatres to install playback units in over 2500 AMC screens across North America, Japan, and Portugal, as well as those that were to be installed in all AMC screens built worldwide over the next few years. Dan's efforts positioned SDDS in the top 200 grossing theatres.

In 1999, he was promoted to Vice President, Industry Relations for Sony Cinema Products Corporation, responsible for licensing the SDDS format for all motion pictures. In this role, Dan was successful in developing relationships with studio distribution, operations, production, and the studio’s creative executives. By working with filmmakers like producer Jerry Bruckheimer as well as directors Michael Bay and Steven Soderbergh, his efforts resulted in the increased use of the premium 8-track format, unique to SDDS.

In addition to being honored with the Ken Mason Award, Dan was awarded the ICTA’s Allen Award following his stint as President. He is the only person to preside over both the Inter-Society and the International Cinema Technology Association and receive both top awards as well.

With so many years of experience as well as a solid reputation throughout the motion picture industry, Dan Taylor turned his efforts to improving the presentation quality in movie theatres by forming his own company, Dan Taylor Marketing. Recognizing the unprecedented challenges facing exhibition, Dan focused this company on marketing the finest in presentation technologies to motion picture exhibitors.

Most recently, Klipsch Audio Technologies recruited Dan to join their Professional Cinema Division, bringing his marketing and sales vision to their growing market share in cinema loudspeakers.

On March 11, at the opening breakfast of ShoWest 2008, former Inter-Society President Dan Taylor will be presented with this year’s Ken Mason Award: the organization’s highest honor. The following day, he will likely fight for a seat in the large room that now hosts up to 100 members gathering for the ShoWest meeting of the once-tiny Inter-Society. Dan’s tireless recruiting efforts have surely been fruitful.

John Pytlak 1948 - 2007

It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of our former President, John Pytlak. John was afflicted with terminal intestinal cancer. He is survived by his wife, Betsy, two daughters, and a grandson. He spent his entire career with the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, NY. The Inter-Society and our industry has lost a great leader and, more importantly, a genuine and wonderful friend. John warmed our lives with his friendliness and helpful spirit. He is and shall be painfully missed.

John Pytlak Honored At ShoWest

John Pytlak has enjoyed 37 years with Kodak, beginning his career with the company in 1970 as a photographic engineer. Since the beginning of his career, his heart has been in theatrical presentation: to provide the finest movie magic possible—and to endear himself to every projectionist and booth operator who has ever been the beneficiary of both his knowledge and warmth. Although John has long been a regular writer for film and motion picture publications and a primary contributor to projection and other cinema websites, his grassroots approach belies the accolades he has received in his luminous career.

In 2001, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a Technical Achievement Award to John for his work in developing the Laboratory Aim Density System. His work in developing Particle Transfer Roller (PTR) film cleaning was recognized by the EPA with the 2003 Stratospheric Ozone Protection award for Kodak.

John joined the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers in 1970, and has been active in local and national SMPTE activities. In addition to his serving on the local Rochester SMPTE Board of Managers, he has served on the SMPTE Theatrical Projection Technology Committee since 1979, including eight years as Chairman. He was named a Fellow of the SMPTE in 1983, at the age of 34. John has presented multiple technical papers and tutorials at SMPTE meetings. John is also a member of the British Kinematograph and Television Society (BKSTS), and has served on the NATO “Blue Ribbon” Technical Advisory group.

John Pytlak has been an active participant and presenter at ShoWest since 1980. He was mentored in his Kodak career and Inter-Society involvement by Ken Mason himself. At Ken’s urging, John conducted an extensive study of film and projector damage. He presented “The Whys and Wherefores of Film Damage” at ShoWest in 1980, leading to improvements in film handling and equipment design.

At ShoWest 1983, Ken Mason and John Pytlak presented the Theatre Quality Evaluation Program, where SMPTE engineers would subjectively evaluate theatre presentation quality and provide confidential feedback to theatres nationwide to help improve presentation quality. Major elements of this revolutionary program were later incorporated into the Lucasfilm Theatre Alignment Program (TAP), the Kodak Management by Observation projection training program (MBO) and the Kodak ScreenCheck program.

Inter-Society Executive Director Terri Westhafer recalls her interactions with John Pytlak: “During my 18 years with Kodak, I cannot remember ever posing a technical question to John that he could not answer. The depth of his knowledge, ranging from the most intricate properties of film to its end use in projection booths, is boundless. As always, he wanted to make sure each and every projectionist received his undivided attention and benefited from the information he was so generous in providing. He would spend days researching whatever the issue was and let me know the background and how something came to be. I surely owe him a debt of gratitude for my own training! When I was traveling at a crazy pace with the Kodak MBO booth training sessions and didn’t have time to wait for detailed responses, I could always count on John to give me the correct and succinct answers immediately, even when I called him at home. He is one of our industry’s outstanding resources as well as my dear friend and one of the most genuine and affable people I’ve ever known.”

John helped organize the first side-by-side presentation of film and digital projection at ShoWest, sponsored by the Inter-Society. In March 1999, John was on stage at Ballys for each of the three standing room only presentations, describing key elements and differences in film and digital presentation during the demonstrations.

John actively served on the Inter-Society sponsored Cyan Dye Track Committee. His numerous contacts and postings on Internet User Groups dealing with projection and exhibition helped answer questions and gain acceptance for the conversion to red LED sound readers allowing the successful use of the environmentally desirable cyan dye soundtracks, greatly reducing the use of wash water and harmful chemicals in print film processing.

Active in Inter-Society activities and projects since 1979, John was elected Secretary-Treasurer in 2000, and President in 2002. His tenure saw Inter-Society membership grow substantially, and the beginning of the new and challenging era of Digital Cinema. The Inter-Society has taken a leading role in bringing together all facets of the cinema industry in exploring and developing the promise of Digital Cinema, while improving the quality of film presentation.

John and his wife Betsy live in Penfield, New York, near Rochester. They enjoy visiting their daughters in Boston and Buffalo, and just became first time grandparents.

Walt Ordway Honored with 2006 Ken Mason Award

Walt Ordway, Chief Technology Officer of DCI, has been named the recipient of the Ken Mason Award given annually by the Inter-Society for meritorious service to both the organization itself and also to the business of the motion picture industry. Ken Mason, then a VP with the Eastman Kodak Company, founded the Inter-Society in 1978 to provide a forum for fostering interactive dialogue and joint projects among distribution, exhibition and trade organizations.

The award, named for Mr. Mason, was presented to Walt by Inter-Society President Ted Costas at the opening breakfast for the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas, March 14, 2006, at Bally’s Hotel.

After earning his BS in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University in Boston and his MS at Penn State, Walt took his new degrees and his new wife, Joanne, and got behind the wheel of his new Corvette to seek fame and fortune in sunny southern California. He began his career in the Aerospace Division of Hughes Aircraft in Culver City, CA, in 1967. He moved to the Satellite segment of Hughes in 1991 and, shortly thereafter, began investigating the viability of an application known as Electronic Cinema.

“Electronic Cinema” sparked the imaginations of several purveyors of hardware and content as well. But Hughes asked Walt to delve deeper into the fledgling technology and examine its potential for the movie industry. Walt immersed himself in his company’s mandate and named his business unit the Hughes Digital Cinema Program. Of note is the fact that, once the program gained momentum and the attendant press recognition, “Electronic Cinema” became “Digital Cinema,” the name it bears to this day.

So Walt, now the “Father of Digital Cinema,” studiously examined the potential business and technical applications of this intriguing paradigm and determined that Digital Cinema was not ready for widespread motion picture industry adoption, and closed the Hughes program in 1995.

During the following year, Walt became the Director of Engineering for Hughes DirecTV International and launched satellite television companies in Japan and Central and South America. At the end of 1997, he decided to accept an early retirement package from Hughes.

In 2000, the SMPTE formed the DC-28 committees to create standards documents for various aspects of Digital Cinema. Walt was approached to chair DC-28.4, which would create the Security Requirements Document. In 2002, Disney, Fox, MGM, Warners, Sony, Paramount, and Universal formed NewCo, which would become Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), with a technical objective of creating specifications that could be used to construct a common format for Digital Cinema content and systems. The consortium asked Walt to accept the CTO position and he hired Howard Lukk to work with him on the specifications. Walt and Howard created what is known as “The DCI Spec” by acquiring input from virtually all areas of the motion picture industry.

One of the high points of DCI was the creation of the 8-minute movie used for all of DCI’s testing, known at the “StEM (Standard Evaluation Material),” a joint effort of DCI, and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), orchestrated by Walt and Curtis Clark, ASC. The DCI Specification matured over two and a half years and simmered over very intense scrutiny and processes. It was finally approved by all the sponsoring studios in July, 2005, and was published on the DCI website.

Walt retired once again in October, 2005, following the cessation of day-to-day operations of DCI, having left his mark indelibly on our industry. His new “career” includes travel planning for his wife Joanne as she ventures across the United States, cheering tirelessly for her Los Angeles Dodgers.

We owe Walt a great deal of respect and gratitude. He is a most worthy recipient of the 2006 Ken Mason Award.

John Mason receives 2005 Ken Mason Award

The Inter-Society’s 2005 Ken Mason Award recipient holds a unique position: He is Ken's son, John Mason. John has spent more than twenty years with Kodak. After a number of years in sales management and chairing the company’s Marketing Education Center in Rochester, he currently functions as Director of Kodak’s Student Film Program. He is a former President of both the Inter-Society and the SMPTE, presently functioning as President of the SMPTE Foundation.

John is the Industry Vice President of the University Film and Video Foundation (UFVF) and has served on the Boards of Directors of the International Documentary Association (IDA), the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, and CINE. He is a member of the Dean's Advisory Board at UCLA and maintains a long-standing associate membership in the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).

Bob Gibbons, Kodak’s Marketing Communications Director and longtime professional colleague of both Ken and John Mason, shared some of his thoughts: “John inherited many of his father's best qualities -- a love of the industry, the respect of customers, and an unflappable personality where he would rather laugh about something than stew about it. He comes from a time when people trusted their instincts and their judgment, a time when experience counted more than process, when Kodak built a brand that was highly respected in the marketplace. The fact that our brand endures today is testimony to people like John. You are honoring a good man. His dad -- among many, many others -- would be very proud.”

In addition to his numerous achievements, John began his “show business” career teaching college level film school classes. He has carried that genuine involvement in facilitating the learning experience for students. He received his PhD in Speech Communications and Film from Ohio State University after college graduation. He joined Kodak after several years of teaching so that he could expand his interests into the mainstream business. Inter-Society Executive Director Terri Westhafer worked closely with John during her 16 years with Kodak. “John is one of those rare individuals who is uncompromisingly solid and loyal,” she said; “He is very devoted to education and I recently had the pleasure to work with him again at an ITEA seminar where John organized a Kodak-sponsored film student program. He is a man of strong conviction who refuses to be swayed by corporate agenda du jour. He has been one of the Inter-Society’s hardest working and most dedicated Past Presidents. I am so pleased that the Inter-Society Board of Directors selected him for this honor unanimously.” Ironically, it was John Mason who spearheaded the formation of the Ken Mason Award during his Inter-Society presidency. The citation was approved by the membership and his father journeyed from his retirement home in Florida to be the first recipient twelve years ago. (NOTE: Ken Mason, who retired as a VP of Kodak, was the founder of the Inter-Society in 1978. He passed away three years ago.) At the time of its inception, the group consisted of five charter member trade organizations, Kodak and Dolby. Today, the Inter-Society numbers 45 corporate, trade organizations and individual members and continues to flourish.

Mary Ann Anderson Receives 2004 Ken Mason Award

NATO Executive Director and Vice President Mary Ann Anderson is the 2004 recipient of the Inter-Society’s Ken Mason Award. Named for the founder of the Inter-Society, this is the 11th year the award has been presented, intended to honor an individual whose career has been devoted to exceptional service, both within the Inter-Society and in providing cinema excellence.

Mary Ann’s background information and career highlights follow.

When Mary Ann Grasso was hired by the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) in 1988, she became the organization’s first new executive director in more than three decades. In 1996 she was promoted to Vice President.

Born in New York and raised in California, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor’s degree in art history from the University of Oregon in 1973 and earned a Masters degree in library science from the University of Oregon in 1974.

Upon receipt of her Masters, she began an 11 year stint as director of the Warner Research Collection, a specialized production service designed to assist writers, directors, producers, scenic artists and designers with background research.
In 1985, she joined the CBS television network as manager of its docudrama department, a post she maintained until joining NATO as executive director three years later.

Ms. Anderson serves on the Motion Picture Pioneers Board of Directors and is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a member of the Academy’s foreign language film committee, a member of the American Society of Association Executives and is on the Board of Directors of the Inter-Society.

She has been a voting judge for the Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards and other competitions.

She was awarded Dolby Labs’ STACE Award in 2002 and honored in 1999 by Tripod Captioned Films for her work in promoting access to hearing-impaired audiences.

In February of 2004, she married J. Wayne Anderson, President of R/C Theatres. She now heads up the new Washington D.C. headquarters for NATO and resides in Maryland.

Mary Ann is the embodiment of that rare person who always goes the “extra mile” to facilitate positive change. She is a trusted friend to both exhibitors and other trade organizations and a tremendous asset to our business.

NATO Moves Against Movie Theft

The theft of the creative and intellectual property of our industry has reached epidemic proportions. When NATO officers John Fithian and MaryAnn Anderson spend countless hours and resources to help enact legislation making the recording and dissemination of a motion picture a crime...When the MPA releases a chart with the sobering percentages of such larceny around the world, shown below...When Canadian theatres invoke fraud and trespass legislation in attempts to halt this illicit capture of images from theatre screens...When a major studio considers piracy so rampant and invasive that it assigns theft a “market share”...all of us in the movie industry must react—decisively.
During discussions among the Inter-Society’s corporate and trade organization members at our last several meetings, piracy—especially the type known as “camcording” where images are stolen right from a theatre screen while the perpetrator is seated in the auditorium—has become so prevalent that it threatens our very livelihood. At our most recent meeting in January, NATO President John Fithian provided the group with an in-depth report on his organization’s proactive efforts against piracy. MPTAC, MPAA, and several studio members lauded NATO’s progress and explained their own approaches to this lawless and burgeoning problem. This Inter-Society newsletter features several articles detailing some of our members’ valiant efforts to fight this war on multiple fronts.

NATO Prez Speaks Out
John Fithian, President of the National Association of Theatre Owners, explains the organization’s efforts in combating piracy: The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and our members have taken an aggressive course of action to combat movie piracy. Our activities have involved efforts to
1. improve the legal structure governing piracy;
2. encourage prosecutions of movie pirates;
3. prevent piracy (“camcording”) inside movie theatres;
4. educate patrons about the negative effects of piracy; and
5. coordinate with cinema association leaders overseas.

Improving the Legal Structure
In partnership with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), NATO has lobbied at federal and state levels for additional laws to prevent piracy, and for stiffer penalties for those convicted of piracy. Most important, NATO state and regional units have lobbied successfully for state laws making the use of a recording device inside a movie theatre a crime. More than twenty states now have these laws on the books, and many more states are considering proposals in this year’s session. At the same time, national NATO is lobbying for federal legislation to attack piracy in several ways, including camcording. Legislation has passed the U.S. Senate, and will be considered in the House of Representatives soon. Beyond domestic policy, NATO works with the office of the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Congress to encourage other countries to enact and enforce laws to combat movie piracy around the world. The U.S. Government, in its bi-lateral and multi-lateral trade relations, encourages and requires other countries to adopt these policies. NATO supports those efforts.

Encouraging Prosecutions
NATO members operate in more than 40 countries around the world. In many of those territories, our members work to encourage the prosecution of movie pirates. Working with other affected industries, our members seek enforcement of anti-piracy laws by local law enforcement officials, and through the judicial systems. Here in the U.S., our NATO state and regional units have begun to work with local law enforcement to encourage prosecution of pirates on American soil.

Preventing Camcording
NATO and the MPAA have produced training materials for theatre employees to learn how to identify, and thwart pirates who attempt to record movies inside theatres. The associations work together to track pirated movies back to theatres where the copy originated, and to use that information to identify the pirates. NATO and the MPAA have created a theatre employee reward program whereby employees can earn up to $500 when they identify, intercept, and report camcorder piracy to law enforcement.

Educating Patrons
NATO members in the U.S. and abroad have undertaken a publicity campaign to educate movie patrons about the dangers of movie piracy and to alert those patrons that movie piracy is illegal. The campaign has included public service trailers, posters, box office clings and other materials.

International Coordination
NATO has worked to create a coalition of cinema association leaders from around the world to improve coordination on efforts to combat movie piracy. Working with such groups as the Union Internationale des Cinemas (UNIC) in Europe and the Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada (MPTAC), the movie theatre industry is uniting in our efforts to combat the scourge of piracy