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Movie Pirates
Continued from page 3
Published: March 20, 2008Larger bootlegging operations, like the ones found in New York, California and, more pressingly, Asia, operate in rings to produce massive quantities of product. Several people will be responsible for securing the content, several others will be responsible for replicating the DVDs, several others will be responsible for packaging (which, with the help of professional printers, looks exactly like a store-bought DVD would) and the finished product will be sold to individual dealers.
In Texas — Houston, specifically — we're a little more laid-back with our piracy.
"Large-scale operations are not the kinds of things we are dealing with in Houston." says Lieutenant Otero of HPD. "One- or two-man operations are what we typically see here."
Even one- or two-man operations, however, can sell a significant number of pirated DVDs, and one place you're almost guaranteed to find these operations moving large quantities of illegal DVDs in Houston is flea markets.
Open-air flea markets, like Sunny Flea Market in north Houston, which routinely draws upwards of 30,000 people on a given weekend, are havens for movie pirates.
It's standard high-return Pirate Economics:
A ten-by-ten booth complete with one four-by-eight table rents for an average of $14 on Saturdays and $28 on Sundays. Add $3 to receive an electrical charge for the weekend (so you can power your TVs to play your pirated movies) and, if you're feeling really wild, add another $18 to secure a second table, and you're at a grand total of $63. Considering it costs 44 to 55 cents to produce a pirated DVD that will be sold for $5, Houston flea-market pirates can easily average $2,500 in sales per day. It should take all of about eight minutes to recoup expenditures.
Assuming a flea-market pirate only operates two days a week, a conservative estimate of $2,500 a day would equal $260,000 a year. (Kevin Casey, MPAA's regional director of antipiracy, who is stationed in Dallas and oversees Houston-area piracy, believes the annual total may be somewhere closer to double that amount.) That's for one small-scale piracy operation. Sunny Flea Market alone turned up no fewer than two movie pirates, and there are more than 20 registered flea markets in Houston. In light of those statistics, Houston is still a relative blip on the piracy radar, currently drawing a less than aggressive antipiracy effort than those found in other places, although we are officially on the radar.
"You have to be able to make a distinction between the operations that are going on in China, where they are distributing millions of pirated DVDs, as opposed to the local flea-market issue." says Lieutenant Otero. "They are much more concerned with passing legislation and trade embargos on the national scale, but [the MPAA is] now starting to focus on cities in the U.S. like Houston or Chicago or New York."
The MPAA, which is saddled with the tedious responsibility of deciding whether or not to prosecute individual movie pirates, is more concerned with destroying confiscated DVDs when dealing with lower-level piracy. The likelihood that a typical Houston bootlegger will serve jail time is slim, and prison time even slimmer.
Ideally, the MPAA, NATO and other motion-picture establishments would like to eliminate piracy and its components altogether. They understand, though, that at the heart of it, bootleggers are playing with house money, risking very little downside to pursue a potentially massive upside. This harsh reality fosters the only sincere belief that movie pirates and those attempting to stop them share: An end to piracy is not likely to happen.
Or as Chris puts it:
"Bootlegging has been around since day one. Let's think about, Al Capone and them was bootleggin' liquor, you understand me. The shit ain't gonna ever stop. Especially since it's 2008, they call it the Internet generation. Nah, it ain't gonna stop. It's just gonna get worse and worse."
No matter how you say it a thief is a thief is a thief. So we have a pirate, is nothing but an electronic thief. These are pretty low people. Shame on all of them the the people who enable them, their buyers.
A
Comment by A — March 20, 2008 @ 06:31AM
The maximum statutory penalty for violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 2319B(a)(1) (unauthorized recording of motion pictures in a motion picture exhibition facility, and aiding and abetting) is three years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater, a two year term of supervised release, and a $100 mandatory special assessment. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
I guess you have to ask yourself if the money is worth up to 3 years in federal prison because the feds have put 19 years in jail foras long as this for this crime
Comment by so young — March 20, 2008 @ 02:09PM
Hey Serrano, loved the article. It made me laugh, but more importantly, it was informative. I didn't realize the pirating business was that big. I enjoyed your portrayal of Becky and Chris as the pusher/addict, I think their attitudes pretty much encapsulates how most people who take advantage of the black market feel. "I don't really think about it, and nobody's getting hurt anyways."
However, the only problem I have with the article is that you make people who think pirating should be legal out to be inarticulate, ignorant, and unwilling to see the consequences of their actions.
I would enjoy a "part two" where you explore the other "pirating world" inhabited by people who don't buy illegal CDs, because it is illegal, but still understand the need, (Compare them to the people who never get high, but still think pot should be legal) and are realizing that writing their local congressman isn't getting them anywhere.
Hollywood, and specifically the cinema world, need to stop and think why bootlegging is so popular. Instead of spending all their effort trying to stop it, or make the punishment more harsh (A tactic which, by their own admission, is failing miserably) they need to evolve to fit the consumers' need, making bootlegging obsolete.
Going to the movies has always been the biggest rip-off EVER ( I don't care what they say about inflation and the price of the movie tickets in the seventies) Are they figuring up the obscenely priced popcorn, drinks, and candy? Are they considering the fact that I have to sit next to a STRANGER? Who inevitably is coughing, breathing heavily, or texting his friends? Don't forget twenty minutes of trailers, TV program commercials, and blatant product placement! What about the fact that the seats are uncomfortable, the floor is always sticky (with what I always hope is just spilled coke), and the row behind me is filled with screaming, laughing, throwing popcorn 15 year olds, who usually have at least one four year old with them? Then, to top it all off, the movie usually sucks. I always leave 25 dollars cheaper thinking, next time I'll wait until Netflix has it, or if the movie really sucked, I'll wonder how much Luke (my local bootlegger) would have charged me for my own DVD. Going to the movies is a terrible value for your money, leaving the industry ripe for piracy.
Once the technology is available, there is no back-tracking. The movie industry is NEVER going to be able to stamp out bootlegging and piracy. Then only deterrent that would ever work is crazy high prison sentences, and there is no way in America's climate, that we are going to let judges sentence kids to jail for decades for a "victimless crime".
The movie industry needs to wake up and realize that to survive, they need to evolve. Thanks to the digital age, watching movies IS NEVER GOING TO BE THE SAME. Instead of spending time and energy trying to convince the public that illegal downloading is bad, and detrimental to the economy, they need to focus on how to make their movies available to as many people as possible, and a good value, in as many venues as possible (not just a cinema) BEFORE people ever think "there must be a better way."
For example, on opening night, am I going to take a family of four to see Alvin & the Chipmunks Two to the price of 60 dollars? Hell no! Would I drive by the cinema on opening night and purchase the DVD to watch in my own home for 20 bucks, or download it on my computer for 10? You better believe I would! And when Luke stops me outside of the liquor store to ask me if I'm interested in seeing Alvin & the Chipmunks, I say no, BECAUSE I HAVE ALREADY PAID THE MOVIE INDUSTRY TO SEE IT ON MY OWN TERMS. Luke is unnecessary.
Anyway, thanks again, and I look forward to reading more of your work
Comment by Jillian — March 24, 2008 @ 11:55AM
Serrano, well written! Thieves are thieves...no two way about it.
Comment by Jay — March 31, 2008 @ 06:05AM