Piracy in the U.K.: Harming More Than Those on Top

The Guardian's article, "Movie piracy: threat to the future of films intensifies," discusses the ramifications of piracy in the film industry, particularly with independent films. When people pirate films (which 30 percent of the U.K. population does, according to Ipsos), they reduce the profits of the films; however, this does not harm the income of the big executives, as most people think. The minimal profits of indie films means buyers are less likely to take risks on such films. This not only means less support to independent film makers but also means production companies will put out more sequels and films that follow the same format, thus creating a more boring or repetitive film industry, and this also applies to television shows. The other large, negative effect of piracy is on the people in the credits at the end of a production, such as makeup artists and costume designers. Also, the websites people download/stream from as well as the producers of counterfeit DVDs are making profits, which can be traced to organized crime rings.

"Distributors are not able to take the risks they used to. What this means to the consumer is not that some producers don't get rich, it means the product doesn't get made," [head of the Independent Film and Television Alliance Jean Prewitt says.]

"One may think an individual act of piracy doesn't matter, but if that becomes a way of life then the value of intellectual property becomes eroded, shows like Downton Abbey won't get made," [executive producer of Downton Abbey Gareth Neame says.]

"The audiovisual industry supports hundreds of thousands of people's livelihoods and if the industry has trouble supporting itself, it's going to put people out of work," [managing director of eOne Films UK Alex Hamilton] says.

This article proposes ramifications of piracy that I had not considered previously, namely the ideas that independent films will go un-produced and the risks posed to more "bottom of the totem pole" positions. Considering how repetitive productions have been getting recently, we are in need of indies now more than ever; just look at how successful 12 Years a Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street were. Also, the film industry is enormous, so when it starts cutting jobs, that effect can be felt across the nation. However, the industry itself can take action against piracy, more than just sending out letters, as the article proposed. Downton Abbey, for example, premiered in the U.K. in September but doesn't premiere in the U.S. until January. American fans who don't care about pirating have been keeping up-to-date on the episodes and probably won't re-watch them in January. So not only is pirating of the show rampant in the U.S. but also the ratings will be lower when it is legally released because many watchers will have seen it already. And this phenomenon is not unique to this show; it occurs when any production (even in the music industry) is released at different times to different nations. This is not to excuse piracy, but it is a side of it the article neglected to discuss.

Source:
Lodderhose, D. (2014, July 17). Movie piracy: threat to the future of films intensifies | Film | The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jul/17/digital-piracy-film-online-counterfeit-dvds