Pirating for Distribution

[james.fandom]

So we all know that for an independent filmmaker, getting your movie into the public sphere can be a pretty daunting and sometimes unrewarding task. Generating word of mouth, so to speak, has been made easier with the use of social media, but that can only go so far. One route that takes it a little further is piracy.

The independent movie Ink [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1071804/] got a lot of exposure because it was pirated. It stormed through the torrent channels, and for a couple of days was one of the most pirated movies in the world [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ink_(2009_film)]. Buzz was generated and Netflix saw a spike in the number of orders on the day of piracy.

One way to look at it is the piracy didn't monetarily benefit the makers of Ink directly. But the exposure that was the result of the piracy did. Though could one illegal download equate to one less DVD sale?

Would you pirate your love and joy for exposure, and take the risk of finacially ruining yourselves? Can the any press is good press translate to any exposure is good exposure, considering that independent filmmakers can't usually take the hit in terms of lack of sales, seeing as they rely on that money so heavily?

 

[IndieBudget]

HMMM put your film up for torrent download.. put some text in the beginning and end of the movie telling hem to go to your website and donate or pay for an exclusive members only section on the site w/ special features or to a Createspace DVD w/ extra features, sell tshirts posters.. tell about your next project , ask for crowdfunding.. BE CREATIVE !

Ive got a movie out for 2 years. Cannibal Killer Clowns On Dope. It's sooo bad no one will upload it to torrents. Not worth me putting any additional effort into it. I am selling a few more copies on Amazon lately... don't know why but mebbe 20 copies last month






.

 

[Blade_Jones]

Did a search today to check, and sure enough, my new film is on torrent sites.

Not all torrent sites really have legit torrents. Some take keywords off sites like Amazon and add words to lure people to pay for membership to their site. So for example they might take "Airplane" and posts torrent links under titles like "Airplane FULL" or "Airplane FAST DOWNLOAD" or "[Torrent Download] Airplane" or "Airplane [Alternate Download]". There's actually a zillion of these so called mirror sites. Then once you PAY to join, then you discover that the torrents are fake. The main "real" torrent site that I worry about is ThePirateBay.org . There's others like Demonoid but they will actually remove torrents if you complain.

 

[chilipie]

Not all torrent sites really have legit torrents. Some take keywords off sites like Amazon and add words to lure people to pay for membership to their site. So for example they might take "Airplane" and posts torrent links under titles like "Airplane FULL" or "Airplane FAST DOWNLOAD" or "[Torrent Download] Airplane" or "Airplane [Alternate Download]". There's actually a zillion of these so called mirror sites. Then once you PAY to join, then you discover that the torrents are fake. The main "real" torrent site that I worry about is ThePirateBay.org . There's others like Demonoid but they will actually remove torrents if you complain.

That's a very good point. There are loads of sites that will pop up on Google with *your search term* + torrent, and then try and make you pay to get access to it. Just seeing a torrent listed on Google isn't evidence of anything really.

 

[Gonzo_Entertainment]

I investigated further, and it actually is there. Some links were fake, but I found a live one.

 

[Papertwinproductions]

I investigated further, and it actually is there. Some links were fake, but I found a live one.

Sorry to hear that.

Let's hope your film warrants a good enough turn-over, regardless.

 

[Gonzo_Entertainment]

Eh, it's a short, no commercial plans for it anyway. As soon as the festival run is over it wil be freely available on the net. Just a reminder of the world we live in where piracy has become so easy with no need to make a physical object.

 

[Papertwinproductions]

Eh, it's a short, no commercial plans for it anyway. As soon as the festival run is over it wil be freely available on the net. Just a reminder of the world we live in where piracy has become so easy with no need to make a physical object.

 

[Blade_Jones]

Some links were fake, but I found a live one.

You never know until you download and view it. How many seeders were sharing it?
One way to fight is with decoys. Another is to contact the ISP of anyone who continuously shares. I've done this before and the ISP sent letters to the seeder. Often times it's one person, perhaps some kid. Once you snuff out that one seeder that's all it takes.