Prominent entertainers like Susan Sarandon, Barbara Streisand, and Martin Sheen have, through their public support of progressive causes and democratic candidates and their opposition to the war in Iraq, re-enforced the popular perception that Hollywood is a left-wing town. But is Hollywood truly out-of-step with the new Bush America? Or, is the film community more conservative than many believe?

Have recent events -- including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s election and the polarizing debates about “patriotism” and the war in Iraq -- tipped the balanced, and created a more favorable climate for a political transformation in Hollywood. Are ideologues like writer/director John Milius (Red Dawn, Conan, Apocalypse Now) finding a new, receptive audience for their views and leading the way for a movement of young conservatives in Hollywood?

While gays in Hollywood have found it increasingly possible to come-out, many young Hollywood conservatives -- without Schwarzenegger’s power -- remain closeted, fearful that political affiliation, like sexual orientation, is the new scarlet letter, enough to damage or destroy a career. But is there truly a conservative “blacklist,” as they claim, or is this merely a convenient myth.

Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood, a one-hour documentary, peers behind the silver screen and examines the political truth about conservatives in Tinseltown. The film presents lively and insightful portraits of Hollywood's most prominent and outspoken conservatives and, through revealing verite scenes, documents the organized activities of Hollywood’s revitalized Right.

As a credentialed member of the news media covering Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California gubernatorial campaign, director/producer Jesse Moss had ring-side access to one of the most extraordinary political events in recent history. Moss documented the campaign from its earliest stages through election night. Structurally, the film’s far-reaching inquiries are framed against the narrative arc of the Schwarzenegger campaign, an event that sent seismic tremors through Hollywood and reconfigured the American political landscape.

Importantly, the film also focuses on the activities of the newly formed Hollywood Congress of Republicans, a group composed primarily of young people who share conservatives values and are breaking into the industry, and Act One, a Hollywood-based Christian screenwriting course founded by a former nun.

Through probing scenes and insightful conversations, the film looks forward, into the future, to determine whether Hollywood’s emerging conservative class will influence the types of movies and television shows produced in Hollywood in the years ahead, and, through selective archival footage, looks back at the controversial legacy of conservatives in the film community.

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