Feds back PGA effort to police credits

The Producers Guild of America, in a move to that may help bolster its authority over producer credits, has received backing from the federal government in the latest twist in a decade-long push by the PGA to police the dissemination of producer credits. The Department of Justice announced Friday that it will not challenge the PGA's proposed use of a voluntary certification system for film producers. "Based on the representations made by the Guild, the department said that the proposed voluntary certification system is unlikely to reduce competition among producers or film studios for producer services and could provide clarity to the film industry and the public," the department said. Responding to concerns from Paramount Pictures, the PGA had requested a "business review letter" from the Dept. of Justice to indicate that there's a "de minimus" potential antitrust liability if Paramount agrees to the guild's certification process and the creation of a new "Producers mark" -- a designation signifying that the listed producers have been OK'd by the PGA as having actually performed producing duties (Daily Variety, June 3). "Because so many persons are credited as producers for many reasons, some having little to do with the critical functions of a producer, even well-informed consumers can watch a sequence of producing credits without discerning which persons actually performed the majority of the work," said David Quinto, attorney for the PGA, in the request. "The use of the PGA's certification mark would bring much-needed clarity to this area." The Department of Justice's response came in a business review letter to Quinto from Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the antitrust division. "The Producers Guild's certification program may benefit the film industry and the public by providing a way to discern who performed the full range of producer functions on a film," Pozen said. "The Guild's certification program may make it easier to identify some of the key executives in bringing a film to theaters." The feds said that it determined that the PGA's proposal is not likely to harm competition in the provision of producer services. "Participation in the certification program is voluntary for both producers and movie studios, and the certification program does not restrain in any way the ability of studios to hire producers without "p.g.a" certification or of producers without certification to work in the film industry," it added. The PGA had contended in Quinto's request that since it isn't a union, it has no collective bargaining power over studios and distributors who assign producing credits and asserted that such credits are frequently bartered for considerations such as involvement of a major star or financing. It cited the 11 people who received some form of producer credit on "The King's Speech" and said some had "no creative involvement whatever in the film." The PGA promised last October that the new "producers mark" -- a lower case p.g.a. -- would start appearing next year. At that point, it had assembled the backing of 140 producers including J.J. Abrams, George Clooney, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Clint Eastwood, David Heyman, Ron Howard, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Graham King, Frank Marshall, Neil Moritz, Scott Rudin, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and Steven Spielberg. The PGA has made proliferation of undeserved producer credits its signature issue since the 1998 Oscar ceremony, in which five producers were credited for "Shakespeare in Love." The org held its first credit arbitrations in 2001, promulgated a Code of Credits in 2004 and gained traction in 2005 when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced that the PGA's credit determination process would be the one it uses on best picture nominations. Quinto's letter noted that the PGA has also become the go-to org for credit determination for the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., along with the British Academy of Film and Television Awards. It also noted that anyone contractually awarded a "produced by" or "producer" credt can apply for the PGA certification, which triggers a process of two or three arbitrators (with at least two "produced by" credits) determining the specific weight to the producer functions. The PGA, which has 4,500 members, has been pressing studios for the past seven years for official recognition of its PGA's Code of Credits, which spells out the qualifications for those eligible to receive the "produced by" credit for features and executive producer credit for TV. The code attaches specific weight to the producer functions: 35% for development, 20% for pre-production, 20% for production and 25% for post-production and marketing. The PGA code also includes job descriptions, guidelines and rules intended to help resolve credit disputes and protect the integrity of the "produced by" credit in features and exec producer credit in TV. It requires that a person must have had substantial involvement in a majority of those functions to qualify. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com