This morning, taking advantage of another day at home, I worked my way through the pile of Daily Variety (the film industry’s trade rag) that had accumulated on my desk over the past few weeks. And, in particular, I was struck by the ever increasing number of film-industry-driven inane digital media bills, lawsuits and corporate initiatives that seem to have sprouted up recently.

As an industry member myself, I find it all a bit embarrassing. Isn’t there even one senior studio exec who remembers how ill-conceived this whole anti-tech song and dance was 20 years back, when the VCR was first introduced? At the time, MPAA prez Valenti testified to congress referring to the new technology as “the Boston Strangler of the American film industry,” apparently slightly underestimating video sales & rentals eventual role as a significantly larger revenue stream to the movie biz than theatrical distribution (video currently represents a whopping $16.9 billion market vs. box office receipts’ still quite healthy $8.4 billion). Undaunted by facts or history, Valenti’s doing it again, now painting digital technology as, I suppose, the “Washington Sniper of the American film industry.” Worse, he still seems to be receiving equally unanimous film industry support.

Of course, when I’m wearing my tech hat, chairing the newly formed Paradigm Blue foundation, I’ll be working hard to piss in Valenti’s eye, lobbying for more level-headed digital rights bills based on a better understanding of the underlying technologies and their likely consequences. But I’m a bit worried as to how whole-heartedly I’ll be able to throw myself into that task. Valenti and the MPAA have significant power over the other half of my professional life, providing the all-important G/PG/PG13/R movie ratings for Cyan’s films. And, similarly, I don’t want to piss off any studios to the point where they’ll be less likely to distribute something that Cyan produces.

Quite a dilemma, and one with rather significant impact on my professional life. For the first time, the whole Batman / Bruce Wayne secret identity plan is starting to make a whole lot of sense.