Recently we read an article that attempts to state that the public no longer cares about some areas when considering their moral and ethical behaviour.

The site ‘TorrentFreak’… a popular weblog that describes itself as “dedicated to bringing the latest news about bit torrent” posted a story with the headline – ‘70% of the Public Finds Piracy Socially Acceptable’.

The study, as mentioned in the blog post, was of Danish origin and did not include Australia. The research looked at morals and ethics in a number of countries including the USA and featured discussions on which laws were socially acceptable to break which, according to TorrentFreak, included piracy.

The TorrentFreak article argued that it is nearly impossible to change the public’s behaviour regarding piracy and came to the conclusion that, “despite the… anti-piracy campaigns of the last decade, the attitudes of the public don’t seem to have changed much”.

This social acceptance is not the case here in Australia according to ongoing research, specifically targeting film and TV piracy, run over the past 2 years by Sycamore Research on behalf of IPAF.

In comparing attitudes to piracy in 2008 and 2009, the Sycamore survey found:

• 72% of respondents said Film and TV piracy is stealing or theft – the same in both years

 • 60% said it’s a cheapskate and stingy thing to do – up 3% from 2008

• 35% said ‘Everybody does it so it’s no big deal’ – down 4% on 2008

• 71% said ‘It damages Australia’s film/TV industry’ – up 1% from 2008

When asked specifically about piracy behaviour relating directly to the internet the Sycamore survey found:

• 75% would stop their online piracy behaviour if their ISP said they were in breach of their T&Cs

• 77% would stop their online piracy behaviour if their ISP said they would terminate

 These statistics clearly illustrate the Australian public does not find piracy socially acceptable.

Currently the parameters of the piracy debate are blurred by those who argue about rapid technology, consumer needs, backward distributors and ancient irrelevant laws. In the end aren’t they simply justifying piracy as a non-moral decision that has no consequences? While, for some, it’s about the ability to get something quick and free instead of paying for it or respecting the rights of the owners.

Our society, like the internet, is user driven. The way we behave either in actual or cyber space informs how well our society functions.

Students who attended the ‘Real Thing’ event are more equipped to make informed decisions

Recent research* has shown that 69% of 18 to 24-year-olds today regularly participate in movie or TV piracy activities with little to no regard for the filmmakers who produce Australia’s screen content.

The research, conducted by Sycamore Research & Marketing, also found that 62% of 18 to 24-year-olds are happy to consider themselves a movie pirate.

Sycamore also conducted focus groups with school age students who similarly admitted to regularly pirating movies and said that it sometimes gave them the buzz of doing something illegal.

As these students grow into young adults their behaviour and sense of personal responsibility is being formed, and it’s this key area of personal choice that was explored at the “Nothing Beats the Real Thing! ” School Challenge held on Friday, 25th February at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast.

The School Challenge asks young people to think about the nature and consequences of their actions through a series of fun activities.  It also introduces the students to some of the people, jobs and work behind the scenes of real productions to learn more about the Australian movie and TV business.

19-year-old actress Lucy Fry, star of the new children’s television show “Lightning Point”, currently filming on the Gold Coast, told the students attending the Challenge that while she loves her work, she would be upset if her TV show was pirated: “I would feel cheated – not just for myself, but for all the people who put all of their energy in behind the scenes… lighting, props, makeup, cameras, production, locations… I could go on forever about all the different behind the scenes jobs.”

Senior Legal Studies & English Teacher at Upper Coomera State College Alyson Innis, who has been teaching the “Nothing Beats the Real Thing!” resource in her English and Legal Studies classes said, “Rapid changes in technology in today’s society has led to the increased acceptance of film piracy. Students generally have unlimited access to resources for film piracy in their daily lives. However, it is essential that students are provided with opportunities to realise how film piracy negatively impacts on the entertainment industry generally and ultimately themselves as consumers. Education on copyright and film piracy is essential for students to become responsible participants in the global community.”

We believe that young people have a good ability to make their own choices. We want them to look at the facts and to make their own decision. But we hope that it is an informed and honest decision, so that whether they choose to download illegally or not, they know what they are doing, they understand the implications, and they take responsibility for their actions.

The student event followed a gathering on 24th February of secondary school teachers meeting at Screen Queensland to consider the problem of movie and television piracy and how it is approached in schools. The event was introduced by Queensland filmmaker Cathy Overett, who is currently producing the film “Iron Sky” on the Gold Coast: “What I would ask this audience to remember is that it costs money for us to make these shows for their enjoyment, and we’d like to be able to earn a living doing so and to be able to repay our investors so we can make more shows for your viewing pleasure in the future. So, enjoy our films and programs, but please remember to pay for it when you can – tune in when it’s on TV, buy the DVD, go to the cinema, pay to download or for VOD. And thank you for watching.”

Secondary school teachers discussing how movie & TV piracy is approached in schools

*Sycamore Research Released August 2010

This week’s guest blog post is from Dungog Film Festival Director, Allanah Zitserman:

Stavros Kazantzidis and I founded the Dungog Film Festival (DFF) in 2007 with a vision to connect Australian audiences with Australian films. Four festivals later Dungog is the world’s biggest celebration of Australian films and the crowds are flocking.

With an eye on the future, DFF has developed and now launched two annual programs. Firstly, In The Raw a script development program that showcases Aussie screenwriters and is supported by Sydney Theatre and the Australian Writers Guild. This initiative has been running at DFF since 2008, and will now be held bi-monthly at the Sydney Theatre’s Richard Wherrett Studio in Walsh Bay. You can catch the first read for 2011 on Monday February 7 between 6-9pm. 

Which leads me to our next exciting program, where we turn our attention to the youth of our country with DFF’s Oovie Student Film Project, a totally unique initiative. Here’s how it works: students from around NSW pitched their ideas for a short film based on the theme Tell Us Your Local Secret. A selection of the best pitches and their respective schools are then mentored by industry professionals through the entire process of turning their ideas into films. The finished shorts then premiere on the big screen at 2011 DFF (26-29 May) and are exhibited via Oovie’s network. We will soon be announcing the selected pitches, but we have been overwhelmed with applications.

There’s been a surge of support from the industry for this initiative including Oovie, Australian Writers Guild, Australian Directors Guild, Audio Network and the cast of the Dungog-shot Tomorrow, When the War Began. Lead actor Lincoln Lewis is our official ambassador (keep an eye out for him spreading the word), and co-star Andy Ryan lent us a hand starring in the promo for the campaign.

What’s captured people’s attention is the experiential nature of the initiative. DFF hopes not only to inspire and educate youngsters, but to help them realise first-hand the hard work and determination behind the filmmaking process. It’s this experience that we believe can contribute to fighting piracy. The more young people understand what it takes to create content and how the business works, the more they will respect the craft.  My personal anecdotal evidence supports this: children of industry colleagues have told me that they are telling their friends piracy is wrong. I attribute that to these children having a real connection to Aussie filmmaking.

Our young people can be as connected to Aussie filmmaking as they are to sport. Every kid is learning and experiencing sport from the minute they start school. It doesn’t mean they all end up a Dougie Walters or Ian Thorpe but it does mean they understand the rules of the game; meaning they end up supporting, watching, interacting and loving sport. The same could be said with filmmaking. In the past there was a big difference between access to a soccer ball or tennis racquet compared to access to a camera or editing suite, but not today; filmmaking tools are becoming more and more accessible to young people. They can start experimenting and experiencing content creation from a young age and as with sport, they will understand the rules of the game and grow up as proud supporters of Aussie screen stories.   

That’s the philosophy behind our mission at Dungog and we are fully behind the missions of our friends at IPAF. We understand it’s a tricky thing to convey how destructive piracy truly is, particularly for a small industry such as ours, but organisations like IPAF are doing just that through their new Accidental Pirate campaign. We can all play our part in safeguarding our cultural identity by raising awareness and taking a stance together. By developing a real connection between Australian audiences and domestic screen industry we can educate people on the real dangers of piracy.

Hello from everyone here at the Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation and Happy New Year to you all!

The New Year has certainly started off with a spread of both tragic stories and good news in the media.

The unfolding events in Queensland with the tragic floods and loss of life have been so awful. And now Victoria and northern New South Wales have also been hit with rising water and destruction. IPAF would like to extend its condolences to everyone affected by the floods. Just announced today, the national Australian Film Distributors and Exhibitors have set aside January 30th as a day to raise money for the Queensland Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal and the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund. This is a great opportunity to help fellow Australians simply by going to the movies! If you can, take in some of the terrific films currently playing and contribute to a great cause at the same time.

The good news came as a number of Australian artists, including Jackie Weaver, were recognised and nominated for their work by both the Australian Film Institute and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globe Awards. Animal Kingdom, an Australian drama financed wholly by Australian investors and written and directed by David Michod, received 18 AFI nominations and won 10 including Best Film and Best Director. Jackie Weaver, who gave a wonderfully creepy performance as the matriarch in Animal Kingdom, received the first Golden Globe nomination of her career for Best Supporting Actress in a motion picture.

Here at IPAF we certainly hope the good news for the Australian film and TV community continues and that the end is in sight for the natural disasters and the suffering of so many Australians.

As we kick off another year of the Accidental Pirate blog we look forward to continuing the open debate and conversations we started last year regarding our belief that film and TV piracy – in any form – is simply not good or ethical behaviour. This year on this blog we will host and introduce you to many people from all areas of the film and TV community and we look forward to your comments, opinions and your feedback on taking an active position of personal responsibility on this subject.

Gail Grant, CEO of IPAF, is the author of our final blog for 2010. We’ll be back again early next year!

As I sat down to write the last blog post for the year, for inspiration, I had a look over all the posts and comments we’ve had in the 3 months or so since we began.  I also thought about what we hoped to achieve when we had the idea of starting a blog.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a blogger… or haven’t been before now.  Why?  No particular reason except I felt, personally, that I either couldn’t be as humorous or effectively ranting as some of the more interesting blogs I’ve seen & read.   So I just enjoyed reading and, in some cases, considering the different points of view from others.

It was in the context of the “Accidental Pirate” campaign that we realised a blog – and Twitter – offer the perfect opportunity to introduce individual members working in film & TV as well as engage Australians in discussion and debate on the issue of content theft – or piracy.    So here we are.  IPAF is about education and awareness.  What better way to meet people and learn about the real and very human aspirations within the Australian Film and TV industry than through people’s own words.

And, if I do say so myself, I think we’ve made a good start.  Looking at some of the highlights from the last few months we’ve introduced readers to people from all areas of this multi-faceted industry…

• Aspiring students
• Product development and promotions workers 
• Managing Directors and industry bodies
• Producers, directors,  writers, and reviewers

We’ve also invited and welcomed those with a very different perspective on the issue to join our blog and make their point of view.  I want to extend a very sincere thank you to Geordie Guy for writing his blog a few weeks ago.  I believe this issue needs broad discussion and an increased level of awareness from all view points. 

It is through this open debate and increased conversation that we believe we will reach a consensus on why film and TV piracy is just not the right thing to do.  I think Robert Lewis in his blog on December the 8^th said it best.  He said, “We are part of a society.  The way we behave sets the tone for that society.  It comes down to personal responsibility of deciding what’s right and wrong.  And you decide this by looking at the consequences of your actions and being honest about them.”

I’m taking a break over the next couple of weeks as are the people who help me so we won’t be blogging for a while.  We’ll be back in early January and we want to hear from more and more people about their attitudes, actions and opinions on this issue.  In the meantime, from me and all at IPAF, we wish everyone very happy, healthy and safe Holidays and all the very best for a truly Happy New Year!

Vox Pop of the Week:  Listen to what Dale Sinden 2UE, Film Reviewer, Producer, Distributor, has to say about film and TV  piracy in Australia.

We wanted to address the latest comments in regards to what is a fair price for a DVD and what is a reasonable profit for the distributor/rights owner.  For this post, we will only be talking DVDs in the blog, any comments regarding CDs we will leave.  Our guest blogger this week is Simon Bush, CEO of AVSDA (Australian Video Software Dealers Association).

Here are the facts

• Fact One: In Australia, over 90 per cent of DVDs sold are manufactured in Australia mainly through the big three replication factories of Technicolour, Sony DADC and Regency Media.  These businesses have substantially upgraded their production facilities to also be able to manufacture high definition Blu-ray DVDs. These facilities are large local employers and investors in capital. The whole supply chain of manufacturing, printing of covers, marketing, distribution, merchandising and sale of DVDs takes place in Australia. The majority of DVDs do not get imported from China.
• Fact Two:  Just talking movies, 6 out of 10 Hollywood movies make a loss and the number is even more challenging for local and independent productions.   For studio based businesses, it is up to the remaining 4 films to recoup losses and turn a profit – each studio hopes they will distribute a major blockbuster or two each year to cover the other costs and loss making films, especially to cover the continuation of their art house/independent based sides to the business.  For local and independent productions the main objective is, at the very least, to recoup investor’s outlay.  Unfortunately the global financial crisis, along with the growing global piracy issue, has forced the scaling back of many movie projects and the closure of some of the art house and independent backed film production companies. Movie and TV making is a high risk endeavour.  The appetite for that risk by investors has thus decreased.

In terms of DVD prices, many of you are curious as to what is a fair price? For a film costing millions to make, and creators years of their life as well as their own personal finances, is paying around $22 for a new release film through a local store too much? That’s a matter of opinion I guess but the creators,  the production team and the investors in the film do need – and should – get a fair return.

Today, within weeks or a few months that  DVD will be discounted to $15 and under whereas, in previous years, the shelf life of a new release film, at the full price, was closer to 4-6 months. Catalogue (older) DVDs are regularly sold for sub $10 dollars. This is simply competition and the global nature of distribution which is the reality and in the end benefits consumers.

So what then is a fair price and a fair profit and is $10 too much for you to pay for a film which costs a lot of money and people and time and hard work to make plus it carries a high investment risk? Ultimately that’s for the consumer to judge.  However, if you don’t wish to pay at any price, accessing or buying a pirated copy is not the answer; this is just taking someone else’s creative work and investment without paying.

Another fact is DVD sales in 2010 will likely show a decline of around 12 per cent which is a steep decline in one year.  Why?  Lots of factors no doubt – but with 53% of the population pirating this could and will impact on local jobs and manufacturing levels.  That is a fact.

If we give DVDs for free or make no profit then were pretty sure piracy may decrease but – a commercial fact is – few films will get made  because no one would want to invest in a film production that has no chance of making a return. Film making is a business like anything else and for that we don’t apologise.  The disappointing thing would be the loss of great Film and TV stories from Australia and around the world that add so much value and entertainment to our culture.

Thanks Simon!

What are your thoughts on the fair price for a DVD?

Today we received a comment from an individual named Robert Lewis in response to Geordie Guy’s guest blog post from Monday which we thought was worth sharing here:

Let me declare my self-interest. I am an independent contractor, a writer, who makes his living by selling my words. I am part of the team that produces the IPAF education resources. So there is my position – but it does not affect the responses I am about to give to Geordie Guy’s arguments supporting the unauthorised downloading of non-free materials – let’s call it piracy. I am writing as an individual, not part of the industry.

Geordie Guy stresses the ‘industry’ aspect in his/her response, referring only to ‘other folks’ who are opposed to piracy. But it is the ‘other folks’ who are the key to me – the writers, cinematographers, editors, directors, actors, technicians, caterers, carpenters, composers, musicians, drivers. etc. etc. etc. who are the human part of the industry. If their work is taken, they no longer work and create.

Geordie Guy doesn’t like anecdotal evidence – but it is real. Let me tell you about a friend who recently created, at her own expense, a documentary on UFOs in Melbourne. It took years. She was in hock to make it. It was broadcast, once, on TV, for which she was paid a small sum, nowhere near the cost of producing it. It received rave reviews. That same night she started to see it appearing on YouTube. Bang went the sales that she had hoped would follow, to allow her to recoup her costs, and make more independent docos. Bang went any more docos from her. And how does Geordie Guy characterise this? ”Downloading movies and TV shows in Australia without paying for them is not theft . . . when you download a copy of a TV show, the owner of the copyright can still sell copies.’ It just doesn’t work that way, Geordie Guy. Please, get real. If your actions are only a bit wrong, a small part of the chain, it’s still not OK to do it. If I write a book, and the book is copied and made available online without my authorisation, I still own and have copyright, but I have lost part of my income. It’s that simple.

Geordie Guy also justifies this theft by analogy with a car – you take a car, it’s theft, you have deprived the owner of the property. Downloading is different – the property still exists. A fairer analogy is buying a TV in a pub. The TV is cheap; you know it has been knocked off, so if you buy it you know you are part of the human chain that is depriving the owner of the property. YOU KNOW. And you choose to do it, or not. And that is the key point.

The emphasis of the educational materials being produced around piracy is to have young people think about the nature and consequences of their actions. Geordie Guy is in denial about this, trying to represent it as a non-moral decision that has no consequences. But it’s not. We are part of a society. The way we behave sets the tone of that society. The bottom line of Geordie Guy’s behaviour is ‘I want it and I’ll take it’, regardless of the consequences to society – it is a selfish rather than a civic response. It comes down to personal responsibility, of deciding what is right and wrong. And you decide this by looking at the consequences of your actions and being honest about them.

Geordie Guy blames the law, the industry, the ‘flaky evidence’, the distributors, the technology, the program timetablers, almost anyone and everyone except the user. Stripped of the justifications in the blog Geordie Guy’s bottom line is: I will not accept anything that makes it ‘less enjoyable’ for me.

We hope young people can create a better set of civic values than that. We want them to look at the facts and the arguments for and against, and to make their own decision. But we want that to be an informed and honest decision, so that whether they choose to download illegally or not, they know what they are doing, they understand the implications, and they take responsibility for their actions.

So we invited an active blogger and Twitterer @GeordieGuy http://www.geordieguy.com whose views somewhat conflict ours on the topic of content theft, to participate with a guest blog post. Here it is:

Around Australia and the rest of the world, various companies, trade groups, industry associations and other folks tell us that downloading movies and TV shows without paying for them is theft, and this theft does terrible damage to the industries that produce the art form. We’re told that unless it’s successfully stopped through increased education about this harm and increased legal pressure on people who understand the harm but don’t care, the people involved in the production of TV shows and movies may not find it viable to continue and we’ll miss out.

How much of this is true? We’re warned about so much impending doom these days that it’s easy to get tired of the constant warnings that if we don’t change our behaviour then something we enjoy will be gone forever.

Firstly downloading movies and TV shows in Australia without paying for them is not theft. In law, theft isn’t “getting something without paying for it”, it’s, “stopping someone from having something that belongs to them”. You can steal a car because if you drive someone else’s car away they don’t have their car anymore but when you download a copy of a TV show, the owner of the copyright can still sell copies. This doesn’t make it right, and the distributors could still sue you for it, but there needs to be perspective around some of the claims that are made.

So how much damage does this wrong-but-not-theft act do to the industry? The unfortunate reality is it’s hard or impossible to quantify. While it’s possible (even likely) that it does some damage, estimates around how much damage is done are anecdotal (e.g. a story about a movie studio cancelling production due to a lack of profitability caused by piracy) or based on some pretty crazy maths.  Anecdotes aren’t evidence, and the type of evidence that’s produced by adding up all the suspected instances of a TV show being downloaded without it being payed for and multiplying that by the RRP on iTunes produces a completely misleading picture.  How many of the people that download a movie would have paid for it and created profit for movie studios if they weren’t able to download it?  It’s likely; in fact international research shows it’s certainly the case overseas, that if at least some folks couldn’t get the movie for free, they’d have just gone without.

Despite how flaky the evidence is that piracy should be a big focus for the Australian TV and film industries, we are subjected to a range of difficulties that are designed to lock in existing ways of doing business and deny the reality that the digital age changes things. Region codes on DVDs ignore the global Internet marketplace and exist to let distributors play chicken – testing the success in one geography and pulling the pin for the others if the results are unfavourable.  Some of our favourite shows are only available via the network’s website or via one specific service, often in formats that don’t work on every computer or every device that own and want to enjoy the show on.  Industry groups have tried to sue our Internet service providers, claiming it’s their fault for letting us infringe copyright, costing them money to defend.  Internet users don’t win when the companies that provide them service have increased costs.

While piracy has some potential benefits like promoting TV shows and movies by removing the cost of people learning that they like something, it’s almost certain the end result of it is some unmeasurable harm being done to the industry.  I think that’s unfair, which is part of why I don’t pirate TV shows or movies (although it’s not at all the only reason).  What I think is even less fair, is how the industry treats its customers; using inflammatory words to make behaviours seem worse than society at large considers them, and trying to force us to consume content in old and/or restricted ways that the industry is most comfortable with but make it so much less enjoyable for us. Ends.

So, what are your comments and questions in relation to this. We’d love to hear from you here…

Vox Pop of the Week:  Listen to what Kat Risteska (actor, singer, dancer) has to say about film piracy in Australia.

If you’ve been following us on Twitter, you might have noticed that last week we invited a Sydney based blogger, who holds a conflicting opinion to ours on the topic of content theft, to write a guest blog post on this issue from their perspective. We will publish the guest blog here on Monday, so stay tuned!

Why are we doing this?

To recap, the aim of our Accidental Pirate campaign is to increase understanding, appreciation and respect for the Australian Film and TV industry. Additionally we want to raise respect for the industry’s product, the creativity behind it, the copyright that protects it, and that product’s overall value in our society.

We hope to provide an introduction to and an education about the people and businesses working in this area because we believe education and knowledge are pre-requisites to making an informed ethical choice.

A national research study conducted in 2009* identified a distinct segment of the population, whose behaviour and attitudes towards piracy were at odds. We found that 34% of Australians – or 1 in 3 – participate in acts of content theft regularly while saying they consider it to be wrong. The research showed us that their level of awareness of the issue – actions and consequences – was low.

We know all too well, there’s a certain level of apathy around the very issue of protection of film and TV content. Through publishing a guest blog from someone who clearly has their own point and opinion, we want to draw people’s attention to all the facts at hand and present both sides of the argument.

We are about education and awareness. We want everyone to discuss their thoughts on these questions….Why do people think its ok to take content without paying for it? …What are the facts and rationale behind their opinion? And, ultimately … Is it ethical behaviour?

We hope that, armed with the details of both sides of the discussion, people will have the facts to form their own opinion, and furthermore informed about the consequences of content theft (piracy), even change their views and behaviour.

*In September 2009 Sycamore Research and Newspoll were commissioned by IPAF to conduct quantitative and qualitative research on attitudes towards piracy in Australia. The national survey involved 1,372 respondents aged between 18 and 64. For more details please visit www.ipawareness.com.au

Vox Pop of the Week:  Listen to what Tango Conway, an aspiring filmmaker has to say about film piracy in Australia.

We first met Tango Conway as a student at the Dulwich School of Art and Design during the launch of the “Nothing Beats the Real Thing!” screen copyright resource. Tango told us then that she has always wanted to make films. This year she came one step closer to realising her dream when she met her hero, ‘Alice In Wonderland’ filmmaker Tim Burton. Tango’s skilful, fun and knowledgeable video entry to the Tim Burton exhibition at the ACMI in Melbourne, made everybody sit up and take notice of Tango’s obvious talents. It also was one of the winning entries! Check out her video entry below, tune into Tango’s passionate comments about respecting creative individuals, and read her guest blog post here:

TANGO: The Tim Burton exhibition in Melbourne’s ACMI was spectacular. It had so many Tim Burton works ranging through all forms of media. Seeing all of these amazing creations, set out so well, in one spot really took my breath away. What made my experience even more exciting was that I won the chance to meet the man himself. So seven other kids and myself spent about 45 minutes listening and taking in all of what Tim was saying to us. The amount of genuine creativity and passion he has for what he does is great and I really admire that about him. Being able to have an insight into someone as creative as Tim really earned my respect and admiration for a lot of other filmmakers out there. After meeting Tim and seeing and being led through the exhibition by Ron Magliozzi, I had about two months to prepare a tour of my own through the exhibit. I went back to Melbourne and led a tour of about ten people through the Tim Burton exhibition. I got to share my experience of meeting Tim and some of the things he said and how it related to the things they were seeing throughout the exhibition. It was a whole lot of fun and something that I don’t think I will ever forget.

Thanks Tango!