ALMOST HOLLYWOOD...THEY’LL KILL FOR A CHANCE...

While debate rages in America over the level of violence in entertainment programming, Hollywood continues to spew out a steady stream of graphic movies to the world, many that end up on video in foreign countries.

For months Hollywood has been under siege by the White House, the Justice Department and segments of the public to clean up its act, forcing TV networks to tone down the content of shows and movie studios to boost production of family films.

Yet, for the past week in sun-drenched Santa Monica, hundreds of international buyers are trekking to the Loews Hotel for this year’s American Film Market, on the hunt for product to fill their theaters, video outlets and air waves in their respective nations.

The sellers at the market are not the major studios but by and large small, low-end independent product suppliers, who are hawking such action/erotic titles as “Teenage Catgirls in Heat,� a wacky comedy from the people at Troma, Inc., Crown International’s “Housewife From Hell,� “Skinner,� an exploitative “Silence of the Lambs� wanna-be directed by Ivan Nagy of Heidi Fleiss fame.

Look down any hallway at the Loews, enter any guest suite, survey any display at the AFM--and the chances are good you’ll see movie posters and slick brochures depicting actors brandishing guns. Show a seductive woman gripping a gun and you have the ultimate sales pitch.

Bob Kronovet pops a videocassette into the VCR and invites a guest to watch the trailers from a trio of low-budget films his company has produced. It doesn’t take long for the action to commence.

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Fists fly. Guns fire. People fall down dead. A partially-nude woman gets sliced up the belly by a madman named Jack. Two lifeless women sit side by side, their blood-smeared necks slit from ear to ear.

“I don’t believe any of these films are violent just for violence’s sake,� Kronovet explains--perhaps a little tongue-in-cheek--over the sounds of women screaming and guns blazing in “Deadly Eyes,� “L.A. Task Force� and “Blind Vengeance.�

Kronovet is president of Gun for Hire Films, a small production company that is selling its product to foreign buyers at AFM.

“At Gun for Hire Films, we have a moral in our stories. The moral is very simple. The good guy wins, the bad guy loses hard,� he says in an interview at which he hands a guest a complimentary key chain with a dangling miniature revolver.

To be sure, there are companies like Capella International, Miramax or Ciby 2000 that offer quality films with A-list actors and directors at the AFM, but most buyers come to find gunplay and sex. For discerning buyers, they can purchase such higher-quality films as “Nell� with Jodie Foster from PolyGram Film International, Jack Nicholson in “The Crossing Guard� from Miramax and “Two Bits� with Al Pacino and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio from Capella.

In addition, there are nine films for sale that were well-received at the Sundance Film Festival.

But whether it’s the promise of an action film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, which Imperial Entertainment is pre-selling months before the untitled film is even shot, buyers know they aren’t necessarily coming to AFM to purchase art-house pictures.

Those film companies that have artsy dramas and comedies for sale, find that they just don’t sell like hard action movies or erotic thrillers.

“Dogs Bark Blue,� a family drama about two boys trying to work through the death of their father, proved to be a tough sell, according to Scott Wiseman, executive vice president of Falcon Arts & Entertainment. On the other hand, he has had success with “Hard Evidence,� which he describes as “a ‘Lethal Weapon’ kind of action film--car chases, explosions, gunshots.�

Wiseman said foreign buyers rarely want to know about the plots of his movies.

“I had some buyers from Brazil who came in and said they wanted erotic pictures with a story line, “ Wiseman recalled with a laugh. “I looked at them and said, ‘Yeah, one or the other, which one do you want? I got them both.’ �

Knowing that censorship varies from country to country, some sellers shoot several versions of their films.

“Improper Conduct,� a story of sexual harassment in the workplace from Everest Entertainment, was filmed in three versions: G-rated for American television, an R-rated version for late-night cable, and an even stronger version for video outlets.

“Japan would like a lot of sex but not violence and sex combined,� said Jag Mundhra, president of Everest. “But many European markets want stronger films.�

Buyers from Eastern Europe, where communist governments once prevented gratuitous violence or erotic entertainment, now want both, AFM vendors say.

“We distribute to Eastern Europe and they do not want films that are cut,� said Arthur Schweitzer, president of Cinevest Entertainment Group. “They’ll take gratuitous violence. . . . On the other side, we deal with Islamic republics and these countries, whether they be Malaysia or Pakistan or other countries, have strict censorship of gratuitous violence.�

Ginka Andreeva, president of Multi Video Centre in Sofia, Bulgaria, said action and science fiction films are particularly popular in her country, and added that there is no restriction on violent content in films shown there.

“People like to see them,� she said of action films. “Personally, I prefer melodrama.�

Not every country wants shoot-em-ups. Arni Samuelsson, a theater-owner from Reykjavik, said moviegoers in his native Iceland want to see the level of violence in films toned down.

“They are asking us if possibly we would not bring them this type of film anymore,� he said.

Sometimes it isn’t the violence itself that attracts foreign buyers, filmmakers say, it’s any action on the screen.

“It could be a chase film, there doesn’t have to be violence and death,� said Shauna Shapiro Jackson, executive vice president of Showcase Entertainment.

“The foreign buyers like stunts,� Jackson said. “It’s not necessarily how many people get killed in the movie. I tend to not pick up films that are too bloody because that film does tend to be a censorship problem.�

Cinequanon Pictures International is featuring “Skinner,� from Nagy, the ex-boyfriend of alleged Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss who single-handledy scandalized Columbia Pictures last summer. Nagy even tossed a cocktail party the other night at Tatou in Beverly Hills, bringing along “Carlotta,� who an aide to Nagy said was once one of Heidi’s girls.

Asked the premise of “Skinner,� the aide replied: “Basically, it’s about a serial killer who, after murdering his victims--all of whom are women--he skins them and wears the skin as a trophy. It’s a very dark version of ‘Silence of the Lambs’ with a Nagy twist to it. He made the film to exorcise the demons from his relationship with Heidi.�

The dilemma for some sellers at AFM is how do you compete with companies that are offering films filled with sex and violence?

One company that faced that dilemma was Live Entertainment, which has the foreign rights to a small-budget film called “The Beans of Egypt, Maine.� The movie stars Martha Plimpton, Rutger Hauer and Kelly Lynch and is based on the critically praised novel of the same name.

While the film will be released domestically under that title by I.R.S. Media, Live Entertainment has been marketing the film at AFM under the racier title “Forbidden Choices.�

That has producer Rosilyn Heller upset.

“It sounds like an exploitation movie, practically,� Heller said. “We said (to Live), ‘We’ve got such a unique title, why change it to something that is so totally forgettable?�’

A spokeswoman for Live Entertainment said “Forbidden Choices� is only a working title.

“We feel the picture is a commercial picture,� she said. “Our goal is to market it in the best way possible. For this market, we decided this was the strongest way to market this picture. No final decision has been made on the release name of the title. This is simply how we are selling it.�