What do you see as the biggest issues facing your successor?
It is the problem of how you go about protecting your valuable creative works, because if you can't protect what you own, you don't own anything. But there are other issues. We are a global enterprise, and we have issues all over the world. Not just piracy issues, but access issues -- all sorts of tax and discriminatory issues -- and so we have to deal with that. It's a global business. But I think the main thing is to make sure that the American movie can move freely and unrestricted and protected around the world. That's the key.
Over the course of the history of moviemaking, we've had a couple of really epoch-making shifts. From silent films to talking movies, from black-and-white to colour. In some senses, the computer technology that is now being used has changed things, but perhaps not to that extent. Do you see any technologically driven shifts of that nature happening in the future?
We'll always have technology enhancements. The next big thing will be digital cinema. That will be in the theatres in the next couple of years, so that will be a big enhancement. There will be high-definition. So all that technical stuff will come on the marketplace and will make the viewing of a picture a lot more enjoyable and a lot more revelatory. But the point is that the essentials of it don't change. Are you telling a story that is so entertaining and captivating that people will feel enthralled?
Over the years, there have also been significant shifts in what might be piracy or what may not be piracy tools -- the VCR maybe being the first one. The quote of yours that people always bring up is the Boston Strangler quote (Valenti testified to Congress in 1982 that the VCR was to the American people "as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone").
Well, but keep in mind that they don't quote what else I said. I said there would be massive piracy as a result of the VCR. And guess what, there was.
We lose three and a half billion dollars a year. The VCR is also a great enhancement of the movies. I was never opposed to the VCR, mainly. Among other things, one of our own companies was in partnership with a Japanese company to make these things. So there's no way I'm going to be against the VCR.
Talkback
I grew up in West Haven ,Ct and there was a Jack Valenti who lived there. I have always wanted to know if this was the the same Jack Valenti who worked with the Motion Picture Assoc of America. In one of the articles, I noted that he was born Sept 5, 1921. He had one sister who was my age; we were born in 1929. They were a very nice family and this is just curiosity on my part. I would appreciate an e-mail back. Thank you. Sincerely, Germaine Grady