MPAA's Dan Glickman steps down
CEO of the Hollywood trade group is leaving to become president of Refugees International. Was he sunk by MPAA's lackluster antipiracy efforts?
Dan Glickman, the man who had a mixed record on antipiracy efforts as CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, has stepped down.
Glickman is leaving the MPAA, the trade group representing the six largest Hollywood film studios, to become president of Refugees International.
MPAA President and Chief Operating Officer Bob Pisano is taking over the CEO post on an interim basis. He's held his positions since 2005.
This move has been coming for a long time. The MPAA's public relations team has worked over time to tamp down all the rumors about the studios' dissatisfaction about Glickman.
In October, I met with studio execs, MPAA employees, Internet security officials, and lawyers. One of the complaints about Glickman, a former congressman and secretary of agriculture, was his stewardship of the MPAA's antipiracy efforts. Under Glickman, many believe the MPAA wasn't aggressive or effective enough. The word from sources was that Glickman was looking for a way out.
Some of those same sources were the ones who leaked the story that the MPAA had canned three leaders of the trade group's antipiracy operations, including the MPAA's general counsel.
I wrote back then that "the reshuffling at the highest levels of the MPAA's antipiracy efforts will undoubtedly be seen as a black eye for (Glickman)."
When I wrote that story, MPAA's representatives tried to downplay the rumors and convince me that Glickman would stay until the end of his contract. Three days after my story appeared, the MPAA announced that Glickman planned to leave in September when his contract ran out.