This piece first appeared in The Hill on March 15, 2016. I’ve had the great privilege of working in the film and television business for nearly four decades. I count myself among the fortunate few who have been able to oversee the production of movies and TV shows beloved by millions. To... Read more
Sixth in the series. I cut my teeth in the film business in the mid-80s, before the internet or even piracy was even a thing. Piracy back then was the guy on the street corner selling bootleg copies or the guy sitting in the back of the theater recording the... Read more
By: Wayne Kramer
Fifth in the series. The day my most recent film, Pawn Shop Chronicles debuted on Video-On-Demand (which was on the same date as its theatrical release), the film was recorded in a perfect HD quality copy from one of its VOD rentals and illegally uploaded to the web. By the... Read more
By: Jane Clark and Bob Tourtellotte
Fourth in the series. We are independent filmmakers who thought we knew about piracy and its full impact until, of course, we didn’t. We had raised money, made movies on a budget, screened at festivals, marketed online, and purposefully released our films in the new world of electronic sales. With... Read more
By: Allison Burnett
Third in the series. These days, when only a tiny fraction of indie films are released theatrically, a small film’s primary hope of financial recoupment is through Pay Per View. My film’s producers and I were filled with optimism when the date of our film’s release arrived. Imagine, then, our... Read more
At last night’s Academy Awards®, Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out won the Oscar® for best animated feature. Director Pete Docter accepted the award on behalf of the Inside Out team and proceeded to deliver what was – at least for us – the best acceptance speech of the evening: “Anyone out there who’s... Read more
Recently, Donuts, a domain registrar that manages new top-level domains such as .movie and .theater, forged a voluntary agreement with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in which the MPAA – under very specific conditions – can act as a “Trusted Notifier” and alert Donuts when a site using one... Read more
By: Valerie McCaffrey
Second in the series. I thought that being part of a film that could reach out across borders both in America and Armenia and could make people laugh would be a perfect venue for the film audience both here in the US and the world. Lost and Found in Armenia was... Read more
By: Lisa Hammer
First in the series. I have been an artist my whole life. I spent thousands of hours and dollars studying film-making, music, and acting. I have been creating my own work since the 80s and for many, many years I was able to make a good living as a filmmaker/musician.... Read more
The path to becoming a filmmaker is a long and arduous journey. For student filmmakers still trying to hone their craft in film school, long nights at a keyboard as the computer screen lights up another cup of coffee are an all too familiar scene. But seeing it through to the... Read more