Everyone,

Good afternoon, I hope this message finds you all well and either enjoying your holiday weekend or recovering nicely from it. I wanted to talk about an issue that has been circulating around the April Showers camp, as I’m sure it does for just about everyone involved with film these days, and that is the issue of piracy. It used to be, though over seas this is still largely the case, that piracy used to take on the form of bootleg DVDs complete with Xeroxed box art and poorly labeled or handwritten discs sold out of a briefcase or fold up table on the street. With the advent of the Internet and increasing bandwidth piracy has gone virtual, with countless individuals turning to torrent sites and others to get a first and free look at what is coming down the pike.

To be perfectly clear, piracy in any form is bad, however, it’s somewhat unavoidable and foolish to think one can stop it. Now, I’m not going to sit here and preach about why you shouldn’t pirate movies, or any media for that matter, for we all know why we shouldn’t, which is largely why many do it. Being told “no” has always been a strong motivator for saying “yes” and now that it’s become so prevalent I doubt people even view it as bad anymore. So what is a filmmaker or artist to do?

Those who curl up in a ball and scream for mommy over their film being pirated are only inviting further harm to come of them for once you make your product ultra taboo you only increase the “value” of breaking the rules. Furthermore, like I said earlier, you can’t really stop it. Now, some artists have gotten around this by offering their work for free to their fans and everyone on the net in exchange for a “donation” or a pay what you think it’s worth philosophy. This approach has been successful for some and not so successful for others, though you could argue that if you put out good work the donations would reflect that. Others have used their free media as a method for gaining exposure and furthering ancillary sales such as t-shirts, books, CDs etc. Having your film or CD enjoyed for free by a larger audience can cost you some monetary value sure, however, if you gain “fans” your future work is more likely to find a broader audience. There are other means in which an artist can make pirating work to their advantage but there is still a strong argument that it potentially devalues the property as well. Regardless of which side of the fence you choose to sit on about the only thing that we can agree on is that we will never agree.

I’ve stated many times, both privately and publicly, that in the not so distant future, media be it film, music or otherwise, is going to be free. In many ways it already is for one only has to look to Hulu or YouTube to see the writing on the wall. Now, Hulu can offer content for “free” by embedding ads into said content much in the same way television has done for years. Through embedded ads a filmmaker or producer earns income for every ad that is viewed. While not a windfall of money it does add up over time and can be very lucrative provided you have quality content that is interesting to a wide variety of viewers. YouTube is quickly following in Hulu’s footsteps, as are other services around the net.

Aside from “free” content with embedded ads the rise of iTunes and Amazon VOD have also helped bridge the gaps between piracy and legitimacy. The benefits of going through an iTunes or Amazon like service are: first, it’s legal, second it can be or is cheap, and lastly it’s controlled. A lot of bootleg downloads are hard to source and may be corrupt or contain a virus that by simply downloading and playing the media can infect your computer or system. In order to be affiliated with the top content providers (think studios and record labels) companies like Apple and Amazon must adhere to strict guidelines and formats to ensure customer satisfaction and playback, though some of these guidelines come with copy protection and sharing limits, though these seem to be going away. There is a certain peace of mind afforded by these services that when priced right do curb ones’ need to pirate and/or break the law. Personally, I’d rather spend a dollar or two and have the product I’ve downloaded simply work than futz with a so-called “free” file that is either corrupt, bogus, slow loading etc. But that’s just me. 

There are those out there that can’t bare the idea of playing into the system or giving money to the proverbial “man” and to those folks I say do your thing for no one can convince you otherwise. However, please consider this, on a 99-cent download or $2.99 online video rental little is going to the “man” because the “man” still has to pay for the creators of the content and in many cases for the service that helped bring in the content etc. That small amount of money is being split a number of different ways and though it may appear as if you just gave iTunes a dollar of your hard earned money you really haven’t. The same holds true for Amazon and any other service providing music or movies digitally via the net.

So what does this have to do with April Showers? For starters I know there are a number of sites claiming to have the film available for a free download. I know this because I have downloaded my own film in order to see how it all works and I can tell you three things about my experience.

First, I had to click around and investigate an awful lot before I got a file of the film that was truly legit and worked. Now, I’m sure there are nine year olds out there far more savvy with this than I but needless to say it was not an instantaneous process or easy by any means.

Second, the quality of my particular file was horrid and I wasn’t the only one to notice for there were numerous comments speaking to the film’s lower resolution, muted colors, bad compression and weak sound etc. One only has to watch the DVD or download the film from iTunes to know this is not normal.

Third, I couldn’t enjoy the film on anything but my computer for I had to download a variety of plugins and/or programs just to play the thing.

Again, I am not a pirating wizard nor will I repeat this exercise or give you tips on how to do it. What I can tell you is that after all the effort I put out in order for it to be “free” in comparison to what I actually received didn’t justify not spending a dollar or two to acquire it legally. It just didn’t do it for me.

Now, I understand that there are those of you who are fine with poor quality torrents and or bootlegs because you simply want to get a feel for the broad strokes of a CD or film and move on.  I also know that there are those of you who use these methods to find content you wouldn’t otherwise have known about and upon viewing do purchase the DVD or download legally because you want the real thing. And then there are those who simply just want it all, usually before anyone else has it, just so they can say they’ve seen it first. What ever your reasoning or method I get it and while I don’t agree or see the same value in it I know I can’t really stop it.

The one benefit I saw through doing this little exercise was the number of people that have seemingly seen April Showers through these other means. The fact that the film was on several top downloaded lists was kind of awesome despite how troubling that statement is going to come off to some of my investors and fellow filmmakers. April Showers continues to find an audience and it’s an audience that is growing and hopefully will see new fans purchasing the DVD or downloading the film legally after viewing it illegally.

Since I cannot police the net nor simply say stop and have you all agree may I ask a few questions of you before you make your decision whether or not to download April Showers for free. You can do what ever you want I simply want to see if I can offer an alternative.

1.    If you are thinking about viewing the film for free via bit torrent or other file sharing service are you doing so because of budgetary or monetary concerns? For example the $12.99 list price of the DVD and/or $9.99 download or $2.99 rental is too expensive.2.    If you answered yes to question one then what is a fair price for April Showers on DVD, iTunes (download or rental), Amazon etc.

3.    You don’t spend money on things you can’t check out for free first.

4.    You live in an area outside of our current distribution.

5.    You can’t stand to see Hollywood people get rich anymore and you’re sticking it to the “man.” 

Now, I’m not saying I can ultimately change the situation we find ourselves in but I want to try. If that means lowering the price on a certain aspect of the film or doing a special promotion I want to look into it so that I can ensure you’re able to see the film without having to turn to questionable means and or doing harm to your computer.

At the end of the day obviously, I want as many people to see the film and get what ever they want/can out of it because that is the intent. I also would like to pay back the good men and women who made it possible for us to make this wonderful film you all like so much. I do believe one good deed deserves another, but understand that in tough economic times one has to be flexible.

I’ll climb down from my soapbox now and let you all enjoy your week. Just a reminder, and this will somewhat play into questions one and two, beginning this Tuesday (July 7) Amazon VOD will be offering April Showers as a digital rental for 99 cents as part of their summer independent film series. I’m still unsure of whether or not this summer series will have an effect on the DVD and or download purchase price but will let you know as soon as I find out. So, if you still haven’t seen April Showers and have 99 cents to spare then Amazon VOD is the way to go. You can also view the file via your Xbox 360, TiVo, Roku, Panasonic Viera Cast TV and more.  

Well that’s all for now. Thanks for listening. Until next time, take care and stay tuned…

Keywords: To Steal or Not To Steal…With Some Questions, Anti Piracy, Film Piracy, Bittorrent, April Showers, DVD Piracy, Free Movie, iTunes, Amazon, MPAA, 

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