An Open Letter To The Movie Studios
Dec. 22nd, 2011 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandraerinDear Hollywood,
I don't claim to see every movie that you put out, but I see my share. The ones I really like, I see twice. We're talking first-run theaters here, too. When I like a movie, I buy it when it comes out on video.
I'm not telling you this so that you'll feel like you owe me something. I just want you to understand how I see our relationship.
I'm your customer, and more than that, I'm your fan.
But oddly, you seem hard-pressed to see me as either.
You would rather treat me as a criminal or at best an irresponsible child. You think I cannot be trusted with modern technology, with freedom, with an unfettered connection to the world. You seem to think that if left to my own devices I would rob you blind, burn your studios to the ground, and urinate on the ashes. And because you're so afraid of me, you're pushing a bill that's in front of congress right now that's going to take away my rights, damage my financial interests, and strangle innovation in one of the most important sectors of the 21st century economy.
I have two questions for you, Hollywood.
First question: when I was in college, I downloaded a movie. It was Mystery Men. (Mea culpa, Universal Pictures.) I'd missed my chance to see it in theaters and it wasn't yet out on home video. I did buy it when it came out, on VHS and then again on DVD a few years later.
So how much did that cost you folks? Show your work. I want to see your balance sheets before I downloaded the movie and after.
Now, question number two: how much is it going to cost you if I don't go see a single movie in 2012? Not G.I. Joe, not The Dark Knight Rises, not The Hobbit, not The Avengers... that last one would definitely be a multiple for me.
Really, this is all one question: what has more impact on your bottom line, my choice to download a movie or not, or my choice to go see your movies in theaters or not? In your mind the two things seem to be inextricably linked, but I can assure you they're not.
Here is what is inextricably linked: your support of the SOPA bill and my decision to stop going to the theaters and stop buying DVDs. If this bill passes, you and I are finished. I have been looking forward to The Avengers for years and wishing for a movie of its scope and caliber for decades but I am telling you that I will quit cold turkey.
The towering irony here is that if I downloaded a single new movie you would happily see me fined thousands of dollars for the harm you imagine it does to you, but me personally sitting out your entire 2012 slate isn't going to cause so much a blip to your bottom line. It's meaningless. But I'm going to be encouraging others to do the same. I'm going to be opening people's eyes to the fact that you don't see your customers as customers, fans, supporters, patrons of your creative endeavors... ideally, we're just assets to be raided, and when we're keeping our money in our own pockets that means we're probably stealing.
Hollywood, right now you're probably thinking, "Big deal, another internet protest. Main Street America's not going to know or care."
Hollywood, take a look at some of your big tent-pole movies for next year.
The Hobbit - Geek movie.
The Avengers - Geek movie.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation - Geek movie.
The Dark Knight Rises - Geek movie.
These are big-budget movies that are only being made because the expected pay-off is even bigger. Why are movies about toy soldiers, superheroes, and fantasy books so profitable right now? Because of us. Because the internet, the thing you're so afraid is going to sneak into your house at night and kill you while you sleep, has allowed geeky people to get together, to share interests, to connect to each other, and to create buzz on a scale that's never before been possible.
Geeks made these movies possible. The internet made these movies possible. How big of a dent to your bottom line do you think a pissed-off internet full of a geeks could make? Do you want to find out?
Some people are already pledging to stay away from the theaters over Christmas weekend, but maybe the effect will be small enough you can blame it on the economy. I don't imagine a lot of people will be jumping at the chance to join me in my personal pledge right away... we have been waiting for some of these movies for a long time. But you know, if the bill passes then I think as the year goes on more and more people are going to find themselves realizing that you don't really trust them, that you don't really like them, and will find other uses for their money.
And here's the part where it gets scary for you. Right now I feel like I need to see The Avengers. I need to find out how the Dark Knight trilogy ends.
Do you know what's going to happen when those movies come and go and I don't see them?
When month after month passes and I don't go to the theater, don't see any new movies?
Hollywood, right now I don't know how to quit you. But if you keep pushing me, I'm afraid I'll learn to. If you get this bill passed, you're going to teach me how to live without you.
Your Fan,
Alexandra Erin.
I don't claim to see every movie that you put out, but I see my share. The ones I really like, I see twice. We're talking first-run theaters here, too. When I like a movie, I buy it when it comes out on video.
I'm not telling you this so that you'll feel like you owe me something. I just want you to understand how I see our relationship.
I'm your customer, and more than that, I'm your fan.
But oddly, you seem hard-pressed to see me as either.
You would rather treat me as a criminal or at best an irresponsible child. You think I cannot be trusted with modern technology, with freedom, with an unfettered connection to the world. You seem to think that if left to my own devices I would rob you blind, burn your studios to the ground, and urinate on the ashes. And because you're so afraid of me, you're pushing a bill that's in front of congress right now that's going to take away my rights, damage my financial interests, and strangle innovation in one of the most important sectors of the 21st century economy.
I have two questions for you, Hollywood.
First question: when I was in college, I downloaded a movie. It was Mystery Men. (Mea culpa, Universal Pictures.) I'd missed my chance to see it in theaters and it wasn't yet out on home video. I did buy it when it came out, on VHS and then again on DVD a few years later.
So how much did that cost you folks? Show your work. I want to see your balance sheets before I downloaded the movie and after.
Now, question number two: how much is it going to cost you if I don't go see a single movie in 2012? Not G.I. Joe, not The Dark Knight Rises, not The Hobbit, not The Avengers... that last one would definitely be a multiple for me.
Really, this is all one question: what has more impact on your bottom line, my choice to download a movie or not, or my choice to go see your movies in theaters or not? In your mind the two things seem to be inextricably linked, but I can assure you they're not.
Here is what is inextricably linked: your support of the SOPA bill and my decision to stop going to the theaters and stop buying DVDs. If this bill passes, you and I are finished. I have been looking forward to The Avengers for years and wishing for a movie of its scope and caliber for decades but I am telling you that I will quit cold turkey.
The towering irony here is that if I downloaded a single new movie you would happily see me fined thousands of dollars for the harm you imagine it does to you, but me personally sitting out your entire 2012 slate isn't going to cause so much a blip to your bottom line. It's meaningless. But I'm going to be encouraging others to do the same. I'm going to be opening people's eyes to the fact that you don't see your customers as customers, fans, supporters, patrons of your creative endeavors... ideally, we're just assets to be raided, and when we're keeping our money in our own pockets that means we're probably stealing.
Hollywood, right now you're probably thinking, "Big deal, another internet protest. Main Street America's not going to know or care."
Hollywood, take a look at some of your big tent-pole movies for next year.
The Hobbit - Geek movie.
The Avengers - Geek movie.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation - Geek movie.
The Dark Knight Rises - Geek movie.
These are big-budget movies that are only being made because the expected pay-off is even bigger. Why are movies about toy soldiers, superheroes, and fantasy books so profitable right now? Because of us. Because the internet, the thing you're so afraid is going to sneak into your house at night and kill you while you sleep, has allowed geeky people to get together, to share interests, to connect to each other, and to create buzz on a scale that's never before been possible.
Geeks made these movies possible. The internet made these movies possible. How big of a dent to your bottom line do you think a pissed-off internet full of a geeks could make? Do you want to find out?
Some people are already pledging to stay away from the theaters over Christmas weekend, but maybe the effect will be small enough you can blame it on the economy. I don't imagine a lot of people will be jumping at the chance to join me in my personal pledge right away... we have been waiting for some of these movies for a long time. But you know, if the bill passes then I think as the year goes on more and more people are going to find themselves realizing that you don't really trust them, that you don't really like them, and will find other uses for their money.
And here's the part where it gets scary for you. Right now I feel like I need to see The Avengers. I need to find out how the Dark Knight trilogy ends.
Do you know what's going to happen when those movies come and go and I don't see them?
When month after month passes and I don't go to the theater, don't see any new movies?
Hollywood, right now I don't know how to quit you. But if you keep pushing me, I'm afraid I'll learn to. If you get this bill passed, you're going to teach me how to live without you.
Your Fan,
Alexandra Erin.