Local Cinemas Keeping Afloat In Spite Of Bootlegging

The movie industry is fighting a battle far more complicated than it ever thought it would have to face from bootlegging. Estimates for New York claim that movie bootlegging costs over $900 million annually and causes the loss of some 23,000 jobs. Combined with other forms of piracy, New York can face up to an estimated $3 billion loss in revenue annually.

The industry faces some true hurdles in stopping bootlegging, in part because it can be done so easily; simply sneaking a camera into a movie theater. This means that a theater only receives income from one ticket but many people can see the bootlegged movie (called a cam) for a small fee paid to the counterfeiters. With camera sizes reducing in size, stopping camcording is more difficult than ever and simply banning large bags from theaters is hardly effective. Night vision technology has been employed by some theaters in an attempt to catch bootleggers in the act of recording a film. Other times theater employees may themselves be the pirates, using the projectionist booth to record the movie as it plays. The unobstructed central view from the booth can be a huge benefit to the recording, perhaps translating into higher fees for the act.

Other means—more common these days—of bootlegging include rips and screeners, which typically create better quality reproductions. The ripping of DVDs is the use of software to extract a copy from officially licensed media-a rip. This is a quick means of reproducing a movie and the quality tends to be high. When studios and production companies release advance copies of a movie which ends up being copied, this is called a screener (SCR). These often end up on the internet as DVDSCRs, typically before the scheduled release date, sometimes provoking studios to change or even withdraw a movie prior to release. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has attempted to stop this practice and limit piracy by implementing a strict policy which legally binds recipients to secrecy by contract. A leaked movie costt on offender $150,000 in 2004.

Aside from monetary concerns, the creators behind a film often express that their creativity is being diminished by bootleggers. A lessened concern for quality and a disregard for the original vision often is a tip-off that a movie one is viewing is a bootleg. Another way to determine if an item is a bootleg is if it has not even been released in theaters yet.

Motivations to bootleg movies are more than just financially centered. Some movie studios place what is called a moratorium on certain (or all) releases (e.g., Disney) which limits the time the title is released. This is often an attempt to increase sales in a short period of time by increasing demand and superficially reducing the supply. In these cases the studio creates a certain amount of people that, not being able to obtain the film legally, look to bootleggers for copies.Titles which are out of print or have never been released also are likely to draw the attention of bootleggers.

Residents of New Hampshire are asked to contact 1-800-NO COPYS (1-800-662-6797) if they observe acts of bootlegging.

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