A Plea for No Piracy
I originally wrote this as a rebuttal at the end of a long thread, but I think it deserves its own discussion.
This film's movie meter has skyrocketed due to its sudden popularity and apparent availability on the internet, albeit to those with a more sophisticated internet know-how. Although I understand the appeal for pirated movies (they're free, right?), a film like this, with a budget of just a few million dollars (tiny by Hollywood standards), will not be made if it's inevitable that it will end up free on the internet before it gets a chance to make a return on its investment. People willing to pony up the money to fund a film, which is already a risky investment, will disappear if they know it runs a great risk of being de-valued: i.e., if they know the uphill battle of selling enough tickets and screening rights to not just break even but make a profit will go up in smoke.
It's also hard for the consumer to differentiate between a movie that runs with few or no commercials on basic cable, or paying a flat fee for Netflix no matter how many movies they see with it, and with downloading without paying anything. But downloading compensates no one, whereas the other two options have the subscription fees or cable rates chipping in for it. Also, the actors who work on these films will get less. Not just the stars: I have one line in this movie, Trainwreck. No one recognizes me on the street, and I have to keep day jobs between acting gigs. But if no one makes money on a movie, it won't be made, or I will make less, or nothing at all for my acting. So this logically leads to crappier product and crappier acting (who would bother focusing seriously on an acting career if you're never paid for it?), less interesting movies with something to say and you can forget about independent films.
A band whose music is illegally downloaded can still be paid to play its music for pay through touring, live shows and merchandising, but a movie makes money only on the movie itself. The world works as it does, and I know 100% of anything is unattainable, much less 100% no theft. But if you are reading this, you are probably a movie lover. Not paying for a movie when it costs money to make it endangers independent film at large, as they are the hardest hit because of their slight profit margins.
That said, I think producers should also be extremely careful of whom they lend their viewing copies to. With all due respect to the people behind the film (and I do respect them), I think that if there hadn't been such a long wait between finishing the film and distributing it there wouldn't have been so much time for this to happen. I only hope the distributors take this as a warning, that demand for this movie is high and if they want to recoup their losses, release it NOW. Obviously, there's an audience for it!!!!!