By: Christian Keller
Eleventh in the series. When I was 19 years old and just out of high school, I read about Gloria Trevi, the controversial “Mexican Madonna.” This would be the beginning of an epic 10-year journey for me to get the film on the big screen. Being Swiss, I had never... Read more
By: Gale Anne Hurd This article originally appeared in USA Today. FCC set-top box proposal will make zombies of your favorite TV shows. Back in December of 2013, I attended Variety’s Content Protection Summit and delivered what turned out to be a pretty prophetic statement: “There’s a mistaken belief by many of my... Read more
By: Doug Maddox
Ninth in the series. I produced The Bill Collector with actor Danny Trejo from Machete and Undaunted starring Allen Williamson from Abduction with Taylor Lautner. The Bill Collector had great success with its theatrical worldwide release. After some time, I got a call from the FBI stating that the film... Read more
On March 15th CreativeFuture and the Creative Rights Caucus hosted an event on Capitol Hill called “Meet the Producers.” The event explored what it really means to be a producer, focusing attention on the process of how movies and television shows actually get made – and how piracy jeopardizes the livelihoods... Read more
Photo by Ethan Kramer
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
Photos Courtesy of Film McQueen
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
Photo by Marjorie Salvaterra
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
Photo by Jasmin Merdan
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
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