S TATE FILM SUBSIDIES and TOBACCO

1. STATE FILM SUBSIDIES and TOBACCO State taxpayers bankroll the biggest recruiters of new teen smokers. What you can do about it. OnbeyondLLC presents to OSH Media Network, 12/17/09

2. Smoking in movies kills in real life. • Documented evidence that tobacco industry • has collaborated with Hollywood for decades. • Exposure to on-screen smoking accounts for • more than a million smokers 12-17 nationwide. • PG-13 films delivered two-thirds of tobacco • impressions to film audiences last year.

3. 41 states subsidize smoking on screen.

4. 41 states subsidize smoking on screen. • $830 million in taxpayer subsidies for smoking • films — 60% of all film subsidy grants. • $500 million for kid-rated movies with smoking. • More than half of states spend more on film • subsidies than on tobacco control ($830 million • vs. $719 million in 2009).

5. Make that money talk. • Taxpayers are important stakeholders in the film • industry, financing about 25% of production budgets. • MPAA has spent years creating a bidding war • among states, loosening rules, boosting subsidies. • Putting commonsense conditions on state subsidies • will leverage change in kid-rated tobacco content.

6. Ask yourself… • Would taxpayers give away hundreds of millions • of dollars to the tobacco industry to put cigarette • commercials back on TV? • Should taxpayers give away hundreds of millions • of dollars to the film industry to promote smoking in • movies that circulate for decades on TV, in theaters, • on DVD, the web…?

7. #1 |Make future kid films with smoking ineligible for subsidy. HOW IT WORKS Three-quarters of states already disqualify film productions for content reasons. Add one sentence disqualifying future youth-rated films with smoking. Like the proposed R-rating, creates a market disincentive for film producers to include smoking in films designed for the youth market.

8. #2 |Require applicants to certify no tobacco pay-offs. HOW IT WORKS State film commissions already require legally- binding affidavits from applicants. Add one that says there are no agreements related to tobacco. Gives the studio a powerful incentive to make sure the production and distribution chain is free of tobacco industry influence.

9. Start by asking simple questions… • Have coalition members write letters of concern • to the state film office and cc: higher officials. • Propose the two remedies and request details of • subsidiesdistributed so far. • Unsatisfactory responses should trigger letters to • diverse policy makers and the media.

10. Put the major studios on notice. • Credible, visible activity in a dozen or more states • will be reported back to the studios by the MPAA’s • local lobbyists. • Complicating or conditioning these valuable • subsidiesraises the “cost” of tobacco in kid-rated films. • Added to other pressures, low-cost activity on state • film subsidies can tip the film industry on tobacco.

11. Find out more about $1.4 billion in state film subsidies…and tobacco. Best place to start > smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/actnow/subsidies To talk with > Jono Polansky Stan Glantz OnbeyondLLC UCSF 415-453-9369 415-476-3893 jono@onbeyond.com glantz@medicine.ucsf.edu