Copyright term, film labeling, and film preservation legislation : hearings before the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, first session, on H.R. 989, H.R. 1248, and H.R. 1734 ... June 1 and July 13, 1995 (1996)

153 Let me ask Mr. Eves a question. At what point do you reach that threshold where you, in fact, have to in some degree undermined the character or the artistic value of a film by cutting 20 minutes or by cutting out too much of the film because you have to fit it on a TV screen? At what point is it true that the work that is being displayed is no longer the work that has been promoted that is causing people to want to go view it? Mr. Eves. Congressman, I wouldn't honestly know how to possibly answer that question, because I think in the eye of the person looking at it you will probably get a different version. There are certainly a lot of creative artists and directors who object to the panning and scanning of a film to fill up the television set. There are other people, customers of ours, who come into a video store when they see an original cut of a movie and return the tape telling them the tape must be defective because they had these big black bands on the top and the bottom of their picture. So it is an awful lot in the eye of the beholder, and I would not presume to know exactly at what point that happens. I guess that is going to be up to each individual to decide. Mr. Becerra. I think you just illustrated the problem for this particular issue. No one really knows what is sufficient or what is a sufficient compromise for us to go with. And if you all can't sit down, I don't think that you can expect us, who have less knowledge than you do about the industry and the product and the artistic value, to come up with something that anyone would be satisfied with. I think it is unfortunate because I know that you all tried very hard a couple of years back, and I am in a quandary. Mr. CONYERS. Will the gentleman yield briefly? Mr. Becerra. I will just finish the statement. Of course, I will yield to the ranking member. I wish you all could find a way. I think there must be some middle ground. I think that at some point the art has been disparaged or has been changed so much so that the artistic value or character has been altered; and the consumer, because of I think a truth in advertising or a customer's right to know, should understand that. But I also believe that it is difficult with the legislation in hand to define or give us the understanding of what an objection — what constitutes a proper objection on the part of a director. At what point does it reach the threshold where the director has the right to object because the character has been changed? And I think it becomes very difficult, and you are asking us to do something subjective which you all are having a difficult time doing yourselves. I yield to the ranking member. Mr. Co^fYERS. My admiration for my colleague from California leads me to know that frequently we make the decisions that experts who have far more knowledge than us — that is why we hold hearings. Mr. Becerra. That is why Grovemment is so disparaged. Mr. Berman. That is why we wanted the job. Mr. CONYERS. The witnesses come to us as experts and, guess what, we make the decisions. That doesn't mean it is right, but that is why the hearing is held.