Went to the movies last weekend and just saw the new anti-piracy trailer

[Widowmaker]

Hello, folks, I just took a trip to the local theater (saw Return of the King, excellent BTW) and I saw an interesting trailer regarding piracy and I thought I'd get out my soapbox and share my thoughts about it.

At the beginning, they trot out a few actors and directors saying how wrong piracy is and how it would shut down the movie business. Then, during the meaty portion of the trailer, regular working people like set designers, carpenters, makeup artists, etc., are trotted out to state that piracy will put them out of their jobs.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think that piracy is stealing and should be curtailed, but let's get real, folks. If they really wanted "truth in advertising," instead of the working people, the trailer should have gone like this:

ACTOR: "If piracy continues, I'll have to cancel that Ferrari that I have on order."

DIRECTOR: "If piracy continues, I won't be able to buy that $6,000 shower curtain or the $15,000 umbrella stand."

EXEC. PRODUCER: "If piracy continues, I won't be able to pay the note for the luxury yacht that I own."

I have all the sympathy in the world for the middle class people who work in movies whose livelihood will be endangered by piracy but it's hard to feel anything for those fat cat studio heads and their ilk, especially when they charge me $9.25 for a ticket. Do you guys really think that rich Hollywood's lifestyles would change one bit if the status quo stays? Can you see a day when Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Arnold Schwarzenegger, et. al., will have to trade in their $100,000 Benzes for Hyundais? I think not.

Oh, well, enough preaching, time to put away the soapbox until the next outrage occurs. :\

[Worf101]

I have some sympathy as well for the "ground troops" of the entertainment business who are hurt by pirating. Part of me says well, if you lower the price sufficiently to what the market thinks is right, you'll effectively end the economic advantages of piracy. I don't know how bad piracy is in movies but I don't think the average American prefers to see a bad pirated version of ROTK over the awesome spectacle of seeing it on the large screen. I don't think Hollywood has a problem.

The real industry in trouble is the music industry where they've kept the price of albums artificially high for decades and lowered the quality of the product to the point where people are voting with their feet and ripping and running. Why pay 14 dollars for the 1 or two songs you like when you can download them for free. I have no sympathy for the record company execs I hope they all go out of business, however the artists are getting hurt by this. But they were already getting ripped off by the record company's the company's just pissed that somebody else is ripping THEM off.

It's not an easy question...

Da Worfster

[woodman]

Hello, folks, I just took a trip to the local theater (saw Return of the King, excellent BTW) and I saw an interesting trailer regarding piracy and I thought I'd get out my soapbox and share my thoughts about it.

At the beginning, they trot out a few actors and directors saying how wrong piracy is and how it would shut down the movie business. Then, during the meaty portion of the trailer, regular working people like set designers, carpenters, makeup artists, etc., are trotted out to state that piracy will put them out of their jobs.

Now, don't get me wrong, I think that piracy is stealing and should be curtailed, but let's get real, folks. If they really wanted "truth in advertising," instead of the working people, the trailer should have gone like this:

ACTOR: "If piracy continues, I'll have to cancel that Ferrari that I have on order."

DIRECTOR: "If piracy continues, I won't be able to buy that $6,000 shower curtain or the $15,000 umbrella stand."

EXEC. PRODUCER: "If piracy continues, I won't be able to pay the note for the luxury yacht that I own."

I have all the sympathy in the world for the middle class people who work in movies whose livelihood will be endangered by piracy but it's hard to feel anything for those fat cat studio heads and their ilk, especially when they charge me $9.25 for a ticket. Do you guys really think that rich Hollywood's lifestyles would change one bit if the status quo stays? Can you see a day when Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Arnold Schwarzenegger, et. al., will have to trade in their $100,000 Benzes for Hyundais? I think not.

Oh, well, enough preaching, time to put away the soapbox until the next outrage occurs. :\

Your post only goes to show how prevalent and all-pervasive the "Peter Principle" really is! The stoopnagles in charge of the movie business are either too stupid or blind or misguided or something .... trying to combat piracy of their "product" by appealing to the consuming public in the various ways they've adopted goes beyond stupid - it's downright moronic! It's analogous to hunting lions with a fershlugginer water-pistol fer crissakes.

The movie industry does have a piracy problem - but there's only one way to solve it. That's to go after the professional pirates and put them out of business. If the laws aren't stringent enough (I really think they are), then get the laws changed. There's surely no shortage of lobbying money is there? Reducing the price of the product to take the money-motive out of the equation simply won't work, IMO. The professional pirates will ALWAYS find a way to make money with stolen product that they have no investment in - rest assured of that. There will always be consumers looking for "bargains" and "deals" that will buy bootleg, counterfeit ripoff products with no sense of conscience whatever for the possibility of adding to the unemployment rolls. If the industry lowered the price of movies on DVD down to $10, the pirates would merely lower their price to $5 ... they'd still be making a good margin!

The music industry is a different ballgame altogether, and really the subject for a separate thread from this one.

[Woochifer]

First off, your "truth in advertising" scenario is about as far off from the truth as the trailer that you're taking issue with. If you look at the acting profession as a whole, it's one of lowest paying occupations out there. This isn't just something I read in Entertainment Weekly, it's from actual income and wage data, which I work with almost every day.

For every Tom Cruise, there are hundreds of low paid and often unemployed actors and actresses. A friend of mine used to live downstairs from Joan Allen, who's now a pretty well known lead actress and paid pretty well. At that time, she was unemployed and had been for about a year. Her husband was one of the leads on a CBS TV series, yet all they could afford was a modest duplex rental. Your stereotyping of actors, producers, and directors is an overly "top down" oriented view of the industry. It would be the same as calling retail store clerks overpaid and saying that shoplifting only affects the CEOs that are making millions.

I know a few of the grunts who work in the entertainment industry, and except for people involved at the technical end, most of them would earn more doing the same type of work in other industries. Like it or not, piracy does disproportionately affect the workers who go project to project, paycheck to paycheck. No one's going to cut back Peter Jackson's directing fee because of piracy fears, nor Julia Roberts' fees, etc. Whenever layoffs are announced, it's not the people at the top who get jettisoned, it's always the support staff and the midlevel emplyees who bear the brunt during downturns.

[Widowmaker]

First off, your "truth in advertising" scenario is about as far off from the truth as the trailer that you're taking issue with. If you look at the acting profession as a whole, it's one of lowest paying occupations out there. This isn't just something I read in Entertainment Weekly, it's from actual income and wage data, which I work with almost every day.

For every Tom Cruise, there are hundreds of low paid and often unemployed actors and actresses. A friend of mine used to live downstairs from Joan Allen, who's now a pretty well known lead actress and paid pretty well. At that time, she was unemployed and had been for about a year. Her husband was one of the leads on a CBS TV series, yet all they could afford was a modest duplex rental. Your stereotyping of actors, producers, and directors is an overly "top down" oriented view of the industry. It would be the same as calling retail store clerks overpaid and saying that shoplifting only affects the CEOs that are making millions.

I know a few of the grunts who work in the entertainment industry, and except for people involved at the technical end, most of them would earn more doing the same type of work in other industries. Like it or not, piracy does disproportionately affect the workers who go project to project, paycheck to paycheck. No one's going to cut back Peter Jackson's directing fee because of piracy fears, nor Julia Roberts' fees, etc. Whenever layoffs are announced, it's not the people at the top who get jettisoned, it's always the support staff and the midlevel emplyees who bear the brunt during downturns.

You're right, not all the actors, producers, directors, etc., in Hollywood are millionaires and many who aren't are regular working people like the aforementioned set designers, carpeters, and the like. My problem is when I see these very wealthy Hollywood people like Harvey Weinstein, M. Night Shymalyn, Lars Ulrich, and other rail on about piracy. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against their message because piracy is DEAD WRONG. What I have a problem with is their motives. They are trying to protect their personal bottom lines and are not thinking one bit about the rank-and-file workers who are in the entertainment business. Do you think these peoples' lifestyles would change one bit if they may a few hundred thousand less than last year? Of course not, but they get alligator arms all of a sudden if you take even just a little from their slice of the cake.

[TinHere]

You're right, not all the actors, producers, directors, etc., in Hollywood are millionaires and many who aren't are regular working people like the aforementioned set designers, carpeters, and the like. My problem is when I see these very wealthy Hollywood people like Harvey Weinstein, M. Night Shymalyn, Lars Ulrich, and other rail on about piracy. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against their message because piracy is DEAD WRONG. What I have a problem with is their motives. They are trying to protect their personal bottom lines and are not thinking one bit about the rank-and-file workers who are in the entertainment business. Do you think these peoples' lifestyles would change one bit if they may a few hundred thousand less than last year? Of course not, but they get alligator arms all of a sudden if you take even just a little from their slice of the cake.

Maybe the big names are concerned about the "regular working people." Like you said, they are already financially secure.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Maybe the big names are concerned about the "regular working people." Like you said, they are already financially secure.

Tin,

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The big names are only interested in keeping their name big. If you see them doing these "public annoucements", either they are being directly effected, or the studio's that finance their work. I personally think the movie industry has come along way to satisfy the customer and help kill pirating in general. Now I think countries other than the US should do their part by being more aggressive about prosecuting pirates. China and most other Asia countries do VERY LITTLE about the pirating going on in their countries because it is a way to undercut the American movie industry.

In saying that, the record industry deserves exactly what it is getting. All of the abuse, underhandedness, short shrifting they have done to artists over the years is coming back to haunt them. Their unrelenting greed has cost them talent, talent loyalty, customers, and customer loyalty. So Warners, Capitol, Universal, Sony, BM, and any other I have not mentioned, either go to hell, or change your game plan. Your customers are sick of you, and so is your talent. Get this message and change your ways, or down you go. Your current attitude has its days numbered.

Off my soap box

[TinHere]

Tin,

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The big names are only interested in keeping their name big. If you see them doing these "public annoucements", either they are being directly effected, or the studio's that finance their work. I personally think the movie industry has come along way to satisfy the customer and help kill pirating in general. Now I think countries other than the US should do their part by being more aggressive about prosecuting pirates. China and most other Asia countries do VERY LITTLE about the pirating going on in their countries because it is a way to undercut the American movie industry.

In saying that, the record industry deserves exactly what it is getting. All of the abuse, underhandedness, short shrifting they have done to artists over the years is coming back to haunt them. Their unrelenting greed has cost them talent, talent loyalty, customers, and customer loyalty. So Warners, Capitol, Universal, Sony, BM, and any other I have not mentioned, either go to hell, or change your game plan. Your customers are sick of you, and so is your talent. Get this message and change your ways, or down you go. Your current attitude has its days numbered.

Off my soap box

Ok, maybe their not just looking out for the "regular workers". I can accept the premise that everything is greed driven including the feelings we get when doing a good deed. I think the only thing that would change if the "have's" and the "have not's" switched places would be the names of the people demanding more. The problem is getting someone who is in a position to, to make a change that is going to diminish their position and/or earnings.

The market decides the market. We just decide if we want to participate in it. Most of us "have some's" will always have to pick and choose how much we will spend on what. It's worth it or it isn't, and that's if we can afford it. Like audio equiptment, we can enjoy what we have or wish it were something "better". If we want better we have to be in a position to change it. If we had the "best" why would we?

[Norm Strong]

The real tragedy is that you had to sit there and listen to that pitch (which is what it was) in order to see the movie.

[F1]

Tin,

....... Now I think countries other than the US should do their part by being more aggressive about prosecuting pirates. China and most other Asia countries do VERY LITTLE about the pirating going on in their countries because it is a way to undercut the American movie industry.
.....


Well, nobody can stop piracy especially in Asia. Even the officers also buy pirated products. Sure there are ocassional raids but piracy grows again after those raids, just like our hair after haircut. It's simply economics thing. Nobody will ever spend one week of their salary for a single Original DVD. They will settle easily on cheap pirated DVD or even lousy quality VCD. FYI, a pirated DVD can be bought for less than USD 5 (I think even Americans are also tempted to buy) and those pirates still make money. Imagine how much money those records companies make if they don't distribute the profit properly to their artists and staff!! I'm not saying that I support piracy. It's just the price of original products is way too expensive for many people esp in Asia. Even if piracy stop, I don't think the sales of original products will go up significantly. Those records companies should probably consider the loss (if any) as charity for those lesser paid people around the world...
Enough for now.