DGA President Michael Apted began by noting Chairman Conyers’ many accomplishments. The second most senior member of the House of Representatives, Chairman Conyers is one of the most active, long-standing supporters of issues that are important to DGA members, including intellectual property, copyright protection and creative rights. He has authored or supported most of the major intellectual property protection legislation that has passed Congress in recent years, including the PRO-IP ACT. His support was instrumental in the DGA’s successful efforts to enact a federal tax incentive to help combat runaway production. For his strong support of DGA issues, the Chairman received the DGA Honor in 2008.

Apted noted that this was the first Leadership Council meeting since the new Administration was sworn in last month and added: “It’s a brand new day in Washington and we’d love to hear your thoughts on what that means for us here at the DGA.”

The Leadership Council members asked the Chairman about many of the most pressing issues in Washington, including open access on the Internet, copyright protection, Washington’s view of Hollywood and the economic stimulus package, which had earlier in the week been stripped of an MPAA provision that would have allowed the entertainment industry to make use of accelerated depreciation to help spur production. While Section 181, the federal tax incentive provision the DGA first secured in 2004 and then expanded in 2008 to help combat runaway production was not affected and remains intact, many of those in attendance expressed concern that some federal legislators do not really understand the economic pressures on the entertainment industry today. Chairman Conyers was sympathetic and shared his thoughts on how to address this problem.

Regarding the Internet and the issue of protecting legal content, Chairman Conyers noted that part of the problem is that “in a large part of our culture, people assume you can just download anything you want.” He expressed his longstanding commitment to protecting intellectual property and the need to balance interests while also cutting down on digital theft and added, “There are problems and legitimate challenges on all sides of this, but I come here ready to engage with you and take your recommendations of what we ought to do.”

Chairman Conyers was first elected to Congress in 1964. This was his second visit to the DGA. It was the 57th such meeting hosted by the DGA PAC Leadership Council.