Hollywood set to filter on-screen smoking - Los Angeles Times

I'm quoted in this LA Times story about the MPAA's new policy on smoking in the movies. I'm very glad the MPAA is amending its ratings and especially glad at the process behind this decision. In the past, the MPAA's criteria and procedures were haphazard and opaque. This time, they asked Harvard to do a study on smoking in the movies and adapted their ratings policy in response. I hope this is the beginning of another look at the way they evaluate other kinds of material, including "action" violence and "comic" sexuality.