I recently came across this tweet from Duncan Jones, the director of the little movie that could, ‘Moon’:

“Dear BitTorrent users… I’m so glad Moon is popular with you; 40,000 active seeds can’t be wrong! One thing. Could you buy the DVD too?”

Movie piracy is no longer a hot topic; It’s been around long enough to cool down a bit. However, that hasn’t stopped it from causing a lot of trouble for the film industry. Dodgy DVDs and, increasingly, illegal downloads cost the film industry huge amounts of revenue each year. A 2005 report by the Motion Picture Association (all major studios) estimated that studios lost $6.1 billion a year and that the industry as a whole (theaters, cable TV, etc. included) lost $18.2 billion. At the time it was estimated that of that $18.2 billion, $7.1 was due to Internet piracy. I think there are few people who would disagree with the suggestion that that figure has increased. This loss of revenue will obviously cause serious financial problems for the studios and is certainly contributing to their current downfall.

However, the film industry is not without influence and is responding to this threat with tough legal measures and also raising awareness of the consequences of piracy. Recently, the founders of the hugely popular illegal downloading website Pirate Bay were found guilty of copyright infringement and are aiming for a one-year milestone. In Australia, the film industry has accused one of the country’s largest Internet service providers of encouraging pirates, its biggest users, to upgrade their packages and turn a blind eye to their downloadable content.

On the other, friendlier side of the equation, Trust for Internet Piracy Awareness in the UK has changed its campaign from aggressive and accusatory ‘Piracy is theft’ ads to a more gracious note of thanks for supporting the film industry. British by not converting to illegal downloading.

It can be assumed that piracy, particularly Internet piracy, is on the rise. Even if it isn’t, it’s a big enough problem right now that something needs to be done about it. Piracy needs to be stopped, or at least controlled to prevent it from completely undermining the film industry (something some people may totally agree with, but the studios (i.e. those with the money and power to effect change) they emphatically do not). The question is, why has Internet movie piracy become so popular?

Obviously, the prospect of getting a free product is incentive enough for some. Others see it as the beginning of the end of capitalist materialism and a bright new future for the arts. These reasons do not explain, I think, the large number of otherwise “respectable” people who engage in this practice. The anonymity of sitting behind a computer and a host of other people doing so are certainly factors that encourage hacking. I think the most significant thing is the increase in technology that has allowed it to become so simple. Obviously, vastly increased internet speeds make it easier to pirate movies, but so does freely available and easy-to-use peer2peer software like BitTorrent.

Behind all of this, I feel there is a growing disconnect with cinema as more entertainment finds itself in front of the computer (YouTube games, networking sites, etc.). Fewer people need to leave their computer to be entertained or shop or pay bills, so why should they leave their computer to watch a new movie? Dissatisfied with Hollywood; Bad movies and the ever-increasing cost of watching them, both at the cinema (up to £15, when it was £5 in my youth) and on DVD (and the even more expensive BluRay) can also encourage people to download movies illegally. . . Dominic Wells argues that people use downloaded movies as proof of brand equity; that is, people will go to the cinema to see another film by the same director or take a DVD of a film they have downloaded. Certainly, this is a much more cost-effective way for the consumer to find the movie they want to own or pay to experience at the theater. A look at the blockbuster movies of the summer shows that it wasn’t the big, star-driven marketing movies that did well and created a buzz, but smaller movies like ‘The Hangover’ and ‘District 9.’ Some studies of the music industry (which has also been hit hard by online piracy) argue that pirated tracks encourage people to buy the song legally. However, some will see this as wishful thinking, arguing that people will never pay again when they don’t need to.

One final major factor fueling piracy everywhere except the United States is the delay in release dates that the rest of the world experiences both in theaters and on DVD. Movies are often available online before they’re released in the United States, but once they’re shown in a theater, they’re definitely online. A lot of buzz on the internet around a movie released in the US not coming to Britain for another two months will encourage people to download it and be able to join in on that discussion. Most experts, like Julien McArdle, who directed a documentary on the topic of piracy, agree that this is one of the most significant changes that could happen. McArdle made his film on a budget of about 700 Canadian dollars and distributes it for free on the Internet. Slyck.com has done an excellent interview with him.

With so many reasons to pirate movies (first and foremost will always be that it’s free), it’s no wonder so many people are doing it. The internet has become such a powerful tool and platform and because it is open and free to all, the pirate community has been able to steal a leg up on the film industry. However, studios and distribution companies are developing new models that allow them to enter this market. Until now, companies like Apple have led the way, selling downloadable movies through its existing iTunes store. Other companies are providing similar services and are being adopted by studios; Universal Pictures UK chairman Eddie Cunningham, when the UK website Wippit started offering permanent downloads in 2006, said: “I think what you’re seeing here is the start of a revolution in terms of how we can distribute digitally and I hope that You’ll see a lot more news like this in the coming months.” The Internet has also been embraced as a distribution tool by the independent film community. Downloading a movie is cheap and easy and avoids the need to burn a DVD and send it. It allows easy access to a global audience, making marketing and audience interaction a very seamless online affair that can be very effective for independent film.

However, there is general agreement that not enough has yet been done for the legitimate movie download model. So many different people have so many different ideas about your future. The basic division between them is whether it tries to provide free movies or not. Some tout the Spotify model where you can stream but not download songs for free and accept ads every five songs or so. How this would translate to movies is not yet known – it works for short films on sites where the ad plays before the movie, but an ad might not generate enough revenue for a feature film and no one wants their movie interrupted. Dominic Wells argues that movies streamed over the internet but purchased legally will revolutionize the industry. The hypothetical case study he gives is that of the Bollywood gem trying to find an audience in the United States. There are very few places, he argues, where the audience population (mainly Indian) is dense enough that it makes financial sense for a theater to show the film. However, spread across the country, there are enough audience members to generate a significant profit. By being able to search an online movie database and find this Bollywood gem and then download it at home for a small fee, this niche audience finds the movie they are looking for and the movie finds its American audience.

However, this type of model will be based on superior technology and online infrastructure than we have at the moment. Sky and other cable providers are starting to roll out the home’s mainframe/TV complete with Internet, standard TV channels and on-demand programming, but it’s not a reality yet. Once this is in place and download speeds have increased further, DVDs will be obsolete and everyone will just download what they want to watch. Simultaneous release, both internationally and between theatrical and home viewing (ie DVD or legal download) is a must for this to start happening and according to Matt Mason, author of ‘The Pirates Dilemma’ says that that can’t happen “until DVD/Blu Ray is truly dead and buried.” He goes on to say that “we will see studios use file-sharing sites more to promote movies, and content deals between studios and torrent sites are already happening.”

This model, for my money, is the one most likely to prevail. What will be interesting to see is how content is managed on the Internet. Which content providers (such as iTunes) are gaining ascendancy, and how will they select which movies to make available to their subscribers? Studio films, of course, will have no problem being found, but independent films will probably remain a bit more hidden. I imagine there will be content providers dedicated to smaller, independent films and word of mouth will be used on the internet to promote them. Theatrical release will be less common for independent movies, but people will still be willing to go and pay for the cinematic experience of the bigger, more effects-heavy studio productions. The cinema will become a much more home-like experience. Piracy will fade away because it will be simpler and easier, as well as less guilty, to view the latest releases through the legitimate system.