Monday, November 14, 2005
Million Dollar Crybabies
I'm in between classes right now, reading the New York Times when I came across an interesting article:
How to Sell a Movie (or Fail) in Four Hours
It's a pretty curt (some might say "pessimistic") look at the movie business these days, something I will always be fascinated by because I love movies. While I can't offer much comment on his figures, I must chastise author Adam Leipzig for propulgating the "camcorder pirate" story as a major source of lost revenue for the "poor" studio executives. The major studios and the MPAA love to hold up this anonymous villain as the anathema to their multi-billion dollar enterprise and while he does exist, his impact is minimal.
I can't deny that movie piracy exists for I have personally viewed dozens of pirated copies of motion pictures over the years (no, I don't keep any copies so don't ask for one). Most of them were downloaded from the Internet and of these I would say less than 1% of them were surreptiously filmed by a camcorder in a theater. No, most of them were obviously real copies of the film taken by a dishonest link in the gigantic movie-distribution network. At least a quarter of them had Chinese subtitles, clearly indicating an international operation.
What about the obviously videotaped copies circulating the world? They're out there and easy to find. So why doesn't anyone do anything about it? Just go down to Chinatown and you'll see people selling illegal copies of movies and CDs right on the street. There's illegal copies of other stuff being sold in the stores too, it's just a little less obvious. There's a goddamn police precinct on Elizabeth Street so it's not like the cops have to look very hard or walk very far.
Why doesn't anyone do anything? I think it's because no one really cares about entertainment piracy. It's an excuse to increase prices and increase "security" but in the end the studios know it can't be stopped. From a business standpoint, selling tickets to customers in gigantic theaters is quickly becoming a waste of time. All they want to do is sell a product, not an experience. They want consumers to hand over $19.99 and they want to give you a small piece of plastic made for three or four bucks in Mexico. I hope it never comes down to that because I simply love going to the movies. Don't get me wrong, I love DVDs too (it's the collector in me) but the idea that the theatrical phase might someday be omitted makes me sad.
How to Sell a Movie (or Fail) in Four Hours
It's a pretty curt (some might say "pessimistic") look at the movie business these days, something I will always be fascinated by because I love movies. While I can't offer much comment on his figures, I must chastise author Adam Leipzig for propulgating the "camcorder pirate" story as a major source of lost revenue for the "poor" studio executives. The major studios and the MPAA love to hold up this anonymous villain as the anathema to their multi-billion dollar enterprise and while he does exist, his impact is minimal.
I can't deny that movie piracy exists for I have personally viewed dozens of pirated copies of motion pictures over the years (no, I don't keep any copies so don't ask for one). Most of them were downloaded from the Internet and of these I would say less than 1% of them were surreptiously filmed by a camcorder in a theater. No, most of them were obviously real copies of the film taken by a dishonest link in the gigantic movie-distribution network. At least a quarter of them had Chinese subtitles, clearly indicating an international operation.
What about the obviously videotaped copies circulating the world? They're out there and easy to find. So why doesn't anyone do anything about it? Just go down to Chinatown and you'll see people selling illegal copies of movies and CDs right on the street. There's illegal copies of other stuff being sold in the stores too, it's just a little less obvious. There's a goddamn police precinct on Elizabeth Street so it's not like the cops have to look very hard or walk very far.
Why doesn't anyone do anything? I think it's because no one really cares about entertainment piracy. It's an excuse to increase prices and increase "security" but in the end the studios know it can't be stopped. From a business standpoint, selling tickets to customers in gigantic theaters is quickly becoming a waste of time. All they want to do is sell a product, not an experience. They want consumers to hand over $19.99 and they want to give you a small piece of plastic made for three or four bucks in Mexico. I hope it never comes down to that because I simply love going to the movies. Don't get me wrong, I love DVDs too (it's the collector in me) but the idea that the theatrical phase might someday be omitted makes me sad.
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