Torrent Ambivalence « Making the Movie

19Jan/080

Torrent Ambivalence

Filmmaker John August (The Nines) has been musing out loud about the pirating of his own movie:

The Nines was independently financed. And while the money came from various sources, it all streamed through me. I signed every check. I own the copyright through Confederated Products LLC, which in turn licenses the movie to distributors like Sony, Newmarket and Optimum.

So when I refer to The Nines as being “my movie,” I’m not just claiming artistic ownership as writer/director. It really is mine. So unlawful downloading has a much more direct effect on me for The Nines than it would for the other movies I’ve written, like Go or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

--johnaugust.com » More on the torrents

I've only ever torrented things that were represented as public domain. Still, I found it really cumbersome and unreliable, and I like to think of myself as pretty technologically adept. I would definitely welcome a legal way to download movies that made sure the filmmakers got the bulk of the profits.

I do have friends who regularly torrent. But it is my anecdotal experience that they use it to see TV shows they missed that are not yet available on DVD (and thus Netflix). These are also the same people who spend more on DVDs than I probably make in a year...

So is there something to calling a web distribution promotional? It is, but incidentally, and certainly it must depress sales in some quarters. (The question is whether there are more people who buy the fourth season of The Wire because they liked the torrent than don't but the fourth season because of the torrents. Ignore anyone claiming to have the hard facts on that slippery statistic.)

Anyway, the centerpiece of the DGA deal with the AMPTP seems to be download to own (EST, Electronic Sell-Thru) and streaming. John Wells seems bullish about it; but I've heard some other WGA-types are glass-half-empty. I'm cautiously optimisitc... but I'm worried that the AMPTP is going to pull another bait-and-switch with WGA so they can keep the pressure on SAG. Time will tell.