A PICTURE-PERFECT YEAR GLICKMAN REFLECTS ON FILLING VALENTI'S BOOTS AT MPAA.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Dan Glickman is about as big a movie fan as there is.

The president and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, who marked his first year on the job last month, has just seen the action- thriller ``Flightplan'' and proclaimed star Jodie Foster ``amazing'' and also recommends taking in ``A History of Violence.''

Loving movies helps when you head the lobbying organization that represents the interests of Hollywood's major studios. It also helps to know your way around Washington, D.C., which Glickman does after spending 18 years in Congress and six years in President Clinton's Cabinet.

``The people out here have been extremely friendly and welcoming, the companies I work for have been extremely accommodating,'' a relaxed Glickman said during a lunchtime interview Thursday in Studio City. ``The issues are difficult and rather complicated, particularly the technology issues, but I think it's been a pretty good year, I have to tell you.''

The fight against movie piracy has been at the forefront of Glickman's tenure so far with the MPAA working with law enforcement agencies and governments worldwide on cracking down on the sale and manufacturing of illegal DVDs as well as peer-to-peer Internet downloading.

``Worldwide, we've had significant success in some countries, some of these raids have actually been quite effective,'' Glickman said. ``We clearly haven't wiped out piracy but I think that the raids have made a difference, particularly going after the hard-core criminals who facilitate criminal activity on the Internet or on physical discs, you have to go after them. A lot of them are involved with organized crime. These are big profit items.''

In addition to legal crackdowns and police raids, the MPAA has intensified its attempts to educate the public about the consequences of piracy. It is estimated that Internet piracy takes an annual bite of about $3.5 billion out of movie industry revenues, not counting the impact from street vendor sales.

The high point for Glickman in his first year was July's U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the MGM vs. Grokster case that was largely seen as a victory for movie and music copyright holders over file-sharing software publishers.

``After Grokster, the court clearly created an opportunity for us to enforce our rights in an additional way so we're working with all the delivery folks who deliver content to get them to be more engaged in the fight against piracy,'' Glickman said. ``It's in both our mutual interest to work together on this.''

It was just over a year ago that Glickman, 61, officially took over the MPAA post from the only other man who had ever held it: Jack Valenti.

``Jack's been very helpful to me and he's an amazing man but he's pretty much left me alone. We'll talk to him and we'll all ask him advice periodically but he keeps a strong separation between what he thinks I ought to be doing.

But he feels comfortable in rejecting or accepting Valenti's advice.

``Clearly I'm not the guy with the white hair wearing cowboy boots; I'm a different guy,'' Glickman said. ``But, look, I want his help and advice a little bit.''

Glickman is clearly doing things his own way. Last week, he appointed Robert Pisano as the MPAA's president and chief operating officer to be based in Los Angeles while Glickman remains headquartered in Washington, D.C.

``Bob has a lot of history in the operations of this business so in terms of managing operations, I think it's going to be very useful to have him,'' Glickman said. ``He will provide a West Coast presence, oversee operations, and help manage the international operations, which is an area that has not had as active management in recent years.''

Pisano, most recently the controversial top executive for the Screen Actors Guild and a former studio executive, will assume his position Monday.

``While the rapid evolution of technology has presented a vast new spectrum of opportunities for members of the MPAA, it has presented a corresponding array of challenges,'' Pisano said upon his appointment last week. ``I feel privileged to join Dan in addressing those challenges and in helping him keep the special voice of the association strong and clear.''

In addition to Washington and Los Angeles, the MPAA has offices in Brussels, Sao Paulo and Singapore. While Glickman has spent a great deal of time during his first year traveling the world on behalf of the MPAA, he has also tried to make numerous trips out west.

On Thursday, he met with Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook in the morning before spending the afternoon with film students at USC and having dinner with studio executives at night.

``The heart of the business is here so I spend a lot of time here just to meet people,'' he said. ``But I also have to keep my contacts up on Capitol Hill with the White House and Congress and everything else.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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(color) DAN GLICKMAN