Chris French here at Modern Midwest Entertainment! As I am currently working on production of a movie, I decided to take a look at the pubic awareness campaign held by the Motion Picture Association of America. Over the course of the last decade, with the advances in camera technology in cellphones and other devices, motion picture theft has become an increasing problem in Hollywood and all over the world. I took a closer look at the MPAA's website www.fightfilmtheft.org. The MPAA along with the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) have joined forces to tackle the problem of film thefts.
According to fightfilmtheft.org, a standard procedure is in place to stop someone who is suspected of trying to bootleg a film in the theatre. Theatre employees are to be on the lookout for anyone trying to film the movie. They then will call the police, they will stop the recording of the movie before the movie ends, file a police report and contact the MPAA within 24 hours to report the incident to them. Once done, the person who initially spotted the potential film theft can then request a 500 dollar reward from the MPAA.
The MPAA, along with it's website fightfilmtheft.org, also had a creative ad campaign designed by them and New York Mayor Michael Bloomburg. This ad campaign was created to stem the tide in New York City of illegal DVD copies of movies that were pirated from movie theaters. In the advertisements, clips of different movies are shown (as they would be in a bootlegged copy) with people's heads in the way, crying babies, theatre doors opening and closing. These humorous advertisements are meant to show the public that, while you may pay a lesser price for a bootlegged DVD, you're getting what you paid for, a DVD that is of poor quality, sound, picture and overall crap. The other message this ad campaign sends out is that pirating films is illegal!
I have personally seen what can happen when someone tries to pass off a pirated film as a legit version. I knew a man a few years ago that got beat up over a copy of a film he had pirated. The person that bought a copy from him was very unhappy when they tried to watch the film. When they went back to him and he wouldn't give them their money back, they beat him up and took his money. Film theft is NOT a good business to get into. Not only are you taking away the livelyhood of a good number of people in the industry, you run the risk of physical harm to yourself! My advise, leave the movie in the theatre where it belongs, and save yourself the beating!
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