Dodd talks about new job in movies

Hartford, Conn. (WTNH) - Former Senator Chris Dodd has been hired to head up the Motion Picture Association of America . It's a job that comes with a seven figure salary.

Dodd has been in demand for speaking engagements that pay big bucks. A Washington speaker's bureau has him booked to speak in Singapore next week to the financial industry about the financial overhaul he helped write here in the U.S. with Congressman Barney Frank, but it's the movie gig that will be his main job.

Dodd received an appreciation award today from the Council on Developmental Disabilities for his work on the issue in Congress over thirty-six years, but the rewards for his new job are what everyone is talking about. He officially starts his new $1.2 million a year job on March 17th and seems very enthusiastic about his new employer.

"Two-and-a-half million people in our country work in this industry. It's the only American business that has a positive balance of trade in every country in the world. It's a product that most of the world wants to see," he said.

Even though the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America is known as the film industry's top lobbyist, Dodd says he will not be lobbying his Senate colleagues in any way.

"It's against the law and I supported the law, so it's very clear. Threes a twenty-four month 'cooling off period' and I intend to, as someone who supported that legislation, and I intend to live by, not only the letter of it, but the spirit of it," Dodd explained.

But Dodd already seems to be lobbying on behalf of the film industry here in Connecticut. He says Governor Dan Mallow should look very carefully before changing the current Connecticut film industry tax breaks because that could scare the business away.

"You want to measure those things as you make these decisions about what we're willing to cut back on and what we may lose in the process," he said.

Dodd says he's very enthused about his new career path.

"The issues excited me, the people, I was impressed with and I thought it would be an exciting new chapter and different path to go down," he said.

The biggest issue, he says, is $25 billion in piracy around the world from the film industry each year.