Could Studio Rewards Help Fight Movie Piracy?

With no disrespect to the very serious issue of life-threatening, high-seas piracy off the sea-coast of Somalia, movie studios have been dealing with their own version of piracy for many years now. True, no lives have been lost, but the economic costs have mounted into the billions, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, and no viable solution has been put forth to discourage individuals from illegally downloading and sharing movies, nor has any real progress been made to keep people from selling pirated DVDs on the streets and in shops. But what if studios rewarded people for not pirating movies? According to This Blog Is Not Yet Rated, Twitter user Amanda Music wondered: "Ugh WHY IS ADVENTURELAND NOT ON TORRENTS YET?" The US distributor for Greg Mottola's Adventureland is Miramax Films, and they've been actively seeking out Tweets nearby the movie, as evidenced in their response to Amanda: "Cmon Amanda, don't do it. #adventureland #fbi." Amanda replied: "Okay I won't, JUST FOR YOU," prompting Miramax to respond: "Thanks Amanda. In return, I have a free Fandango file card for 2 tix if you're interested in Adventureland. Just DM us for the jus civile 'civil law'." Score one for Miramax doing a good thing, but I don't recommend deluging them or any other studio with Tweets suggesting that you'll illegally download movies if you don't get a free ticket. What it points to, though, is that studios need to have greater incentives for people to get up from their computers and go to a theater. Filed under: Distribution, Exhibition, Movie Marketing, MiramaxContinue reading Could Studio Rewards Help Fight Movie Piracy?