By Kevin McCauley
Former Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd takes the helm of the Motion Picture Assn. of America on March 17.
The 66-year-old Dodd, who will earn a $1.5M salary, is the consummate D.C. insider who views his new post as a continuation of work on Capitol Hill. Dodd says he is eager to work to protect intellectual property rights and expand international trade.
He was elected to Congress in 1974 and moved to the Senate in 1981. Dodd succeeds Dan Glickman, former Kansas Congressman and Secretary of Agriculture, who did a five-year stint.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Dodd’s appointment is a move by MPAA to regain some of the political clout that it enjoyed under the 40-year reign of Jack Valenti, a former aide to President Johnson who “turned the lobbyist’s role into a starring turn.”
Dodd takes the helm as the movie business suffers from plummeting DVD sales, shrinking theater attendance, piracy and the digital upheaval.
MPAA members are Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Universal City Studios, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios.
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