Jack Valenti Quotations

We want to tell American parents that they and they alone have total power to control every hour of television programming that comes into their home.

We're hard at work trying to make parents better understand that they have total control today over what individual programs they allow into their homes. We want to show a closer rapport between the TV ratings system and the movie ratings system.

The only group in America that deserves to scrutinize what we are doing ... are parents.

Sen. Stevens asked me if I would attend a work-forum on ratings systems, how they work and how they were developed. I told him I would be there.

I don't know any other business that tells you not to go in and buy their product.

Frankly I will confess to this panel that privately I take issue every now and then with the rating of a film, and I think the rating board might have erred. But if there are errors in the accuracy of a movie rating, it is a matter of a judgment call and not an exile in integrity,

To endure in a volatile, unpredictable arena populated by egos the size of small planets is not an inconsiderable achievement,

wipe the Karl Rove story off the front page.

When people make up invitation lists, they are in the top 10.

to tell us what kind of movies to make.

Yet one thing has not changed, ... A moviemaker's single indispensable asset -- as elementally essential now as it was in the Golden Years -- is the Story. And that means studio executives of this era must share the same DNA as industry pioneers in at least one particular -- the ability to find a narrative with heart and heat.

There are public servants, and there are public servants who are stars. Antonio is a star . . . . He is an enticing man.

The government cannot devise and enforce it's own ratings systems. For a variety of First Amendment reasons it just can't be done, ... Indeed, the FTC report clearly states there are serious First Amendment problems.

you begin to torment and torture the First Amendment.

This was about contributing Hollywood's creative imagination and their persuasion skills to help in this war effort so that one day Americans can lead normal lives again,

To have something happen that never before in our history have we ever borne witness to or imagined, that hits very deep in the entrails of this country.

The same percentage also report they do not want government to step in and fix this problem. From these facts about the public's revealed opinion, we present a common sense plan that will convey to American parents that they have, right now, all the weaponry they need to control all the TV programming that enters their home.

I visited the labs at Caltech, and theyre running an experiment called FAST where they can bring down a DVD-quality movie in 5 seconds. The director told me it could be operative in the market in 18 months. Well, my face blanched.

That's just wrong, ... Some people in marketing have stepped over the line from reasonable to unacceptable.

This is not a get-even book. There may be three or four people I vent a little spleen on, but it takes too much energy to be vengeful or hateful.

They are sprung from the same DNA , for God's sake. They are always onstage. They are always performing.

There was no mention of content, ... The White House and its representatives did not say anything about that because they knew that was not the subject that was up for either debate or suggestion. Content was off the table.

The VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston Strangler is to the woman alone.

They are one of the handsomest, most sought-after couples.

Serious efforts are underway to try to bring the domestic problems under control.

In the last several years, piracy has been the dominant issue that has consumed my life,

In the last 15 years, 70 to 77 percent of all parents with children under 13 find this ratings system very useful to fairly useful ... in helping parents make their own decisions.

It is called the First Amendment. ...Simple words marching in seried ranks. Compact, concise. To the point. Clear and pure. It's freedom's music.

If you buy a DVD you have a copy. If you want a backup copy you buy another one.

A public domain work is an orphan. No one is responsible for its life. But everyone exploits its use, until that time certain when it becomes soiled and haggard, barren of its previous virtues. How does the consumer benefit from the steady decline of a film's quality?

I found the most convincing part to be the working stiffs, the guys who have a modest home and kids who go to public schools. They make $75,000 to $100,000 a year. That's not much to live on. I don't have to tell you that.

If movies are causing moral decay, then crime ought to be going up, but crime is going down.

Foreign capital to build new cinemas will help modernize China's aging cinema infrastructure, attract Chinese consumers back into cinemas, and increase demand for U.S. films.

There isn't anything in the world that can't be made better.

No one today knows what is indecent.

If You Cannot Protect What You Own, You Don’t Own Anything!

The public's nerves are raw and edgy. You have to be discreet and understanding about the films you are showing.

To many Congressmen and Senators right now, there's a ceaseless antagonism toward Hollywood because politically, it is high-reward and low-risk. So when you can't do anything about poverty or the budget deficit, and you can't deal with Bosnia or the possibility of nuclear explosions in Russia, what do you do? You bash Hollywood and get on the front pages.

The only group in America that deserves to scrutinize what we are doing... are parents.

In a sometimes unreasonable business, Jack Valenti was a giant voice of reason. He was the greatest ambassador Hollywood has ever known and I will value his wisdom and friendship for all time.

What is fair use? Fair use is not a law. There's nothing in law.

I sleep each night a little better, a little more confidently, because Lyndon Johnson is my president. For I know he lives and thinks and works to make sure that for all America and indeed, the growing body of the free world, the morning shall always come.

There is no fair use to take something that doesn't belong to you. That's not fair use.

If what you own cannot be protected, you own nothing.

I don't care if you call it AO for Adults Only, or Chopped Liver or Father Goose. Your movie will still have the stigma of being in a category that's going to be inhabited by the very worst of pictures.

In a political struggle, never get personal - else the dagger digs too deep.

A huge parasite in the marketplace, feeding and fattening itself off of local television stations and copyright owners of copyrighted material. We do not like it because we think it wrong and unfair.

Every parent in America has the total power to control all television programming that is dispatched to their home today.

Washington and Hollywood spring from the same DNA.

Film-makers must decide what story to tell and how to tell it.

The VCR is to the American film producer, as the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone.

I am proud that the entertainment industry and the citizens of Los Angeles turned out in full force to support a long overdue national memorial to Dr. King.

You cannot win against an insurgency that springs from the population. There's never been an insurgency that doesn't prevail against a mighty power.

The digital world, the world of virtual reality ... is going to be part of the embrace of this great, new cooperative venture.