Tonight's "60 Minutes" offered a ten-minute feature-length story on movie piracy.
I love movies, and it's unfortunate that piracy may contribute to the greenlighting of fewer quality films in Hollywood. And yet....is this the pressing issue of the day?
Interviewed director Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic", "Oceans 11") admitted that no one is crying for Hollywood on this issue...that many have the image of well-to-do celebrities and industry moguls speaking out against a practice that prevents them from making even more money.
That's how it sounds to me, too. The industry needs to learn how to manage the technology that allows this practice to occur, or else find a new business model. It's the same challenge faced by the music and recording industry today.
Soderbergh defends the crew and technicians who suffer lost income and jobs---everyone, that is, except the top celebrities and studio brass, who do very well in spite of piracy losses--but offers nothing more besides his lament.
I question the commitment of resources used to protect the wealth of these entertainers---in one segment six cops are shown making an arrest. Sure, movie pirates may also be diversified in their criminal activity: gambling, human trafficking, etc. Why doesn't "60 Minutes" do more stories on these?
Palm Springs Modernism Week
8 years ago
I watched that story on movie piracy and have to agree that, as crimes go, this one is rather benign and that the only people it hurts are those involved with the production of the film. Seems like if it were that big of an issue, the studios would step up to resolve it themselves rather than stick it to the taxpayers. Maybe they should read the writing on the wall and price their dvd's within reach of more people and maybe the problem would go away. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteGood point Tom. Well put. Soon, even DVD's will be obsolete in favor of Blu-Ray, and then who knows what. One needs to keep a museum-like collection of hardware in order to continue to enjoy a film collection.
ReplyDelete