What Filmmakers Can Learn From Pirates

I attended a panel entitled ‘What Filmmakers Can Learn From Pirates’ led by Brit Doc’s Jess Search as part of Sheffield’s international documentary festival yesterday and, as a supporter of sharing, was pleased to discover that it wasn’t met with opposition and developed as a fair and open discussion of the benefits of piracy to the industry. As expected, the dialogue mainly focused on methods of film marketing and distribution and how filmmakers can monetize the online audience, with Jamie King – of Steal This Film notoriety – detailing his free service Vodo and explaining how dealing with The Pirate Bay allowed him to gain a huge audience for his work without the need to interact with any large distributors. There was also some interesting input regarding civil liberties and surveillance societies from MEP Amelia Andersdotter of the Swedish Pirate Party and leader of the newly established Pirate Party UK, Andrew Robinson.

Personally I support piracy and see it as a means of marketing for filmmakers, especially those of the independent variety. I can see why people have trouble getting their head around the issue and sometimes see it as theft, but I believe that if they were exposed to the realities of piracy instead of the media hype stirred up by the record companies, then the majority of them would see things differently. Needless to say, I am now a full member of the Pirate Party UK and you should be too…if you’re from the UK, and old enough to join, and can captain a ship.