MPAA's Charles Rivkin, Hollywood Studios to Host GOP Fundraisers

MPAA chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin and Hollywood's major studios are hosting a fundraiser for Republican senators on Wednesday in Los Angeles at the home of Frank Luntz, the pollster and public opinion expert.

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nevada), and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are expected at the event, with tickets priced at $20,000 to be on the host committee, sources said. The event will raise money for the National Republican Senate Committee. Heller is the only one of the three up for reelection this year, and he is expected to face a significant challenge given that Nevada swung to the Democrats in 2016.

Rivkin was the U.S. ambassador to France under President Barack Obama, and served as assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs during Obama's second term under Secretary of State John Kerry.

The MPAA, though, has traditionally hosted fundraisers for both parties.

This event comes after the GOP passage of tax reform in December. Studios lobbied heavily for the legislation, as it dropped the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, and included other incentives beneficial to the film industry.

Walt Disney chairman and CEO Robert Iger and Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn hosted a fundraiser for a number of vulnerable Democratic senators in February. The MPAA and the studios were not co-hosts of that event.