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 Courtesy of Martha De Laurentiis
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
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 udra11
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: 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
Photo by smutnypan
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
Photo by Kav777
A funny thing happens when you ask people to do the right thing. Sometimes, they do. At CreativeFuture, we keep calling attention to the (almost always) unintentional role that advertising from major companies plays in supporting the theft of our creative works. Piracy is a for-profit, black market business that... Read more
Photo by Dreamstime
‘The Hateful Eight’ producer Richard Gladstein weighs in on Google’s Fair Use defense. By Richard Gladstein “Fair Use” is an important exemption and distinction to copyright law. It permits non-copyright owners to engage in analysis, criticism, and parody of copyrighted material. It also grants permission to artists to build upon... Read more