Producer Thanks Pirates For Stealing His Film
Written by Ernesto on November 13, 2007Eric Wilkinson, the producer of the independent film “The Man from Earth”, wrote an email to RLSlog in which he thanks them for the free promotion they gave him. “In the future, I will not complain about file sharing” he wrote, “when I make my next picture, I just may upload the movie on the net myself!”
All the attention for his film was boosted by a positive review on RLSlog, a weblog that reviews some of the new releases on BitTorrent. It turns out that a lot of people who downloaded the movie off BitTorrent liked the movie, as they started to write positive reviews on Amazon, IMDB and other websites.
Wilkinson was pleasantly surprised by all the attention. He explained in his email to RLSlog that the people who illegally downloaded his film actually helped to promote it.
He writes: “Our independent movie had next to no advertising budget and very little going for it until somebody ripped one of the DVD screeners and put the movie online for all to download. Most of the feedback from everyone who has downloaded “The Man From Earth” has been overwhelmingly positive. People like our movie and are talking about it, all thanks to piracy on the net!”
To illustrate this, on IMDB the film received close to 700 votes with an average rating of 8.2 which makes it one of the most popular movies of the last 2 weeks.
Wilkinson continues to praise the pirates and adds: “What you guys have done here is nothing short of amazing. In the future, I will not complain about file sharing. YOU HAVE HELPED PUT THIS LITTLE MOVIE ON THE MAP!!!! When I make my next picture, I just may upload the movie on the net myself!”
This example once again illustrates what a powerful promotion tool filesharing networks are, especially for independent productions with a small budget.
Previously: Mininova Enters List of 50 Most Popular Sites on the Internet
Next: Leading BitTorrent Admins Discuss The Future of BitTorrent
84 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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I’ve read several positive reviews of the film now. Think I will download it and check it out.
woah man thats a shock now i want to thank him he has class i may buy the movie just to thank him for his wonderfull response
He really ought to complain anyway… to get the free press from the controversy.
@26
He wouldn’t get any press at all if he actually complained like the rest of the producers. That is, if he didn’t complain after he praised the piracy. That would just make him look crazy.
I notice that the producer himself did not you the word steal. Perhaps he has enough of a clue to realize that stealing is something else. More so than the person who wrote the headline on this story.
after his response and me enjoying the movie will buy the dvd as low budget as it was it was awesome
we want to support this guy
cant wait for his next movie
And how much money is the poor schmuk made so far?
Awesome bit of news!
Although great news, it’s still not stealing.
If i downloaded it, and he didn’t know about it. Is he missing anything?
It’s not stealing. If i break into someones house and copy thier entire music collection and i don’t tell them. They don’t know anything better, that’s not stealing unless i take something.
It would be great, if more pirates can help the author monetize.
i have to see his movie then :>
I will BUY this film today.
saw the movie. didnt know what it was about downloaded it anyway. it was a great movie!
I just finished watching ‘The Man from Earth’ and I must say, it is a very refreshing movie.
It has earned a place in my DVD collection. As soon as I see it for sale, I will buy this movie. I am also making a paypal donation.
Best movie I’ve seen in a long time! Thank you for such an excellent film!
Nice to see the indie’s breaking though the monopolies! Glad to be of assistance! I’ll be sure to write up a review on my journal and donate what I can if it turns out as good as the trailers. :)
My question to all who have seen it: is it worth going to the cinema for?
this guy has the right attitude! POWER TO THIS MAN! MAN!
example of a real thing I did, I downloaded the movie “300″ saw it was ubber cool, and went to the theatre to watch it again=money for the makers and positive reviews on any site
ANOTHER SATISFIED CLIENT! I realyl think the only chance for an ind. movie to make any kind of buzz is to use the p2p as an ace card…
Awesome! Nice to hear story’s like this. h33t = RIAA.
I watched it via BT and I’ve gotta say, that movie was amazing. I actually went online and bought 3 copies, because I know of some friends who this movie is perfect for. Had it not been for BT, I’d never have found this movie.
Looks like a good movie. Should be a good watch.
YES! That’s what file sharing is for, sharing with the community and friends. Not Stealing!
If I see a movie I download that I like, I’ll recommend my friends to go watch it in the cinema or I’ll go watch it again in the cinema, and when the DVD is out, I’ll go buy the DVD to keep in my collection. I’ll also give it a good review on the internet.
For those who download and don’t go buy the DVD, we’ll have to forgive them because not everyone can afford everything they want!
For those who download and convert to DVDs to sell, to make a profit! Those real pirates out there… then that is STEALING! And sometimes the profit from pirating DVDs goes to organised crime such as terrorism, human trafficking, and planning larger scams!
Do not buy pirated DVDs, you indirectly sponsor organised crime!
The law should put a blind eye on downloads as it really indirectly push the market. But should hit hard on those who make a profit out of it.
Pirated DVDs = Guilty! Stealing!
BT Downloads = Not Guilty! Forgive!
I would have most likely never heard of this flick if not for the torrent, and most likely wouldn’t be going to see it (like I will now) if it comes to my local cinema. Over the next few years you will see more and more artists realize they don’t need Hollywood middle-men to move their product, all they need are fans and the limitless distribution potential of the internet.
Old media is dead.
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