On May 8, 2018, California State Sen. Richard Pan, MD (District 6) introduced a resolution calling on the state's film industry to rate future movies with smoking "R."
California remains the world's leading producer of top-grossing movies with smoking. Since 2010, California has awarded more than $350 million in public production subsidies to more than 80 top-grossing movies with smoking shot in the state. Its nearest competitors are the United Kingdom (64 films), Georgia (48 films) and New York (46 films).
The six major film studios, which manage U.S. film ratings through their trade group, the Motion Picture Association of America, are all based in Southern California. Their movies deliver more than 80 percent of all onscreen tobacco exposures to domestic moviegoers of all ages.
Sen. Pan's Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR 143), now before the legislature, specifically asks the film industry to R-rate all future movies with smoking, except for those that exclusively depict actual people who smoked (as in documentaries and biographical dramas) or realistically represent the health consequences of tobacco use.
The resolution also encourages the state's Department of Public Health and Attorney General to accelerate efforts to track, "reduce and eliminate" smoking depictions in movies, on video, in computer games, and on social media and smartphone apps accessible to kids.
The resolution was developed with assistance from Breath California Sacramento Region, in consultation with other state health groups.
Are your state legislators on board? Ask them...
Key resources
Senate Concurrent Resolution 143 (Word version)
Breathe California fact sheet on SCR 143