FAMILY FARE FOLKS FIND WAYS TO CLEAN UP OFFENDING FILMS

BY RACHEL A. ROEMHILDT / Dec 25, 1998
Insight on the News

Hollywood isn't producing films families want, say critics of Tinseltown who are taking the matter into their own hands -- by editing sex and profanity from videos of well-known movies.

Don and Carol Biesinger, owners of Sunrise Video in American Fork, Utah, have been splicing out nudity and sex from copies of the Paramount film Titanic. For $5 apiece, the Biesingers happily edit tapes sent to them by families who want wholesome entertainment.

"We have actually had to hire a shipping clerk just to handle all the orders" says Carol. "The phone never stops ringing."

While Paramount has cried foul, the idea could catch on nationally as other video-store owners figure out ways to turn PG films into G-rated flicks. Sunrise Video will edit whatever the customer finds objectionable, except for profanity, which requires more sophisticated technology.

"Seven out of 10 individuals say they have a problem finding appropriate family entertainment," says Don Judd, vice president of production and acquisitions for Feature Films for Families, a Utah-based production and distribution company. While "dating demographics" -- moviegoers age 14 to 29 -- continues to drive the box office, the wholesome-entertainment trend is growing. Organizations such as the Dove Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Grand Rapids, Mich., are encouraging the movie industry to promote quality films deemed appropriate for family viewing.

"We have long been advocates of Hollywood editing their own films and producing them" says Dick Rolfe, president of Dove Foundation. The organization provides a list of movies it deems appropriate for family viewing without editing, listing the titles in its newsletter and on its Internet site.

Meanwhile, Principle Solutions offers a device called "TV Guardian: the Foul Language Filter," which mutes profanity in favor of closed caption substitutions of the offending phrases. The Rogers, Ark., company has sold more than 3,000 TV Guardians since March, according to the chief executive officer, Mike Seals.

Film companies do produce edited versions of their films for airline use. But Paramount has threatened legal action against the unauthorized editing by the Biesingers. "There is a great irony there because [movie producers] will allow a film to be edited for airline use or for television, but not for home use" says Judd.

The Biesingers say they will comply with Paramount if they are found in violation of the law. For such editing to be illegal, they claim, they would have to make a copy of the video, then edit and resell it; editing personal copies of the film is another matter, "the electronic equivalent of buying a book or magazine and tearing out several pages" says Charles Henry Grant, a Washington lawyer who specializes in entertainment and copyright law.

Studios cite "artistic integrity" as another reason to oppose editing, although others scoff at that notion. "It is not an issue of squelching the creative nature of the film; it is a matter of money" says Rolfe. "For $30 million, Paramount will let Titanic be edited" NBC bought the television fights to the film, which will be edited before it airs.