Squidsquatch. A new interview (almost) every day. A single question. The subject one day becomes interviewer the next.

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Stephen Dedman: How serious a menace is video piracy, in the form of internet downloads, to the movie industry? Is it damaging the viability of cinemas, or is it just a scapegoat for other influences (distributors taking nearly all of the revenue; home theatres with movies legitimately going to DVD or Pay-TV within months or even simultaneously; movies being judged to be not worth the price of the cinema ticket, etc.). What do you foresee the industry trying to do to deal with this problem – and how much longer is the farce of DVD region-coding (even on movies older than I am) likely to last?

Robin Pen: DVD region-coding was originally to control the importing of a title on DVD where cinema release of that film was potentially affected by it. But, it got caught up in the political process of world market deals and it all went pear shaped. Now it’s just a mess that slow processes may clean up eventually while those canny enough to buy a non-region player can quite ignore.

Video piracy does mean loss of revenue, but the loss is not nearly as big as they cry about. Why? Because a good proportion of those buying pirate goods were likely not to purchase that product if only available by legitimate but more expensive means. And, the number of people who download or purchase a Bali rip-off who would’ve spent money to see it legit, if that was the only recourse, are still fewer than those making up the growing numbers of cinema goers and DVD buyers. Sure, it is reasonable to accept that in this culture someone would not be willing to spend money to check a TV show out for the first time and thus will download it to see what their friends or the advertisements are on about. But more often than not, if they felt it is worthy of a second and third viewing they will purchase it to re-experience it with notably superior visual and sound quality and in more comfortable surroundings. The industry is making more money, not less. Big commercial cinema is doing fine and is more profitable than ever when put in conjunction with merchandising and DVD sales.

But where downloading hurts the most is in free-to-air and pay-TV markets. People cannot wait for the next episode of a series download the lot and watch it on their home computers. It’s one of the reasons a show capable of a cult following, usually a science fiction themed program, will all too often end up playing the second half of its first season close to midnight (however, it does have more to do with once you have a loyal market for Buffy or Battlestar Galactica then your ratings will not waver too much regardless of when you put it on). So now the TV networks won’t pay as much as they would have in the past for a hot new series as they can still make good revenue on sport or lazy after work repeats of The Simpsons. But that’s okay as the production companies are still making better profits as DVD sales have generously replaced that lost revenue (and it’s not mush of a loss, if any). And there is argument that the enthusiasm to purchase DVDs of a series was generated by the downloading of episodes. The market is changing but the same money is there and this has been an evolving process throughout all entertainment technologies. It’s always been about adapting to changing markets.

It is true however that Chinese pirate DVDs and downloading have had an influence on rental markets, but from what I hear the rental industry more looks at the longtime nature of the business and operate accordingly. Besides, the pirate market is less of a problem now than in the past and not because of those mandatory anti-piracy spots which are paid for by those like individual DVD rental/retail and cinema businesses who are not pirating. Of interest, there was a notable increase in rental after the Bali bombings as more people changed where they take their holidays. But also the novelty of cheap pirate DVDs is waning steadily as more and more people are finding the poor quality (shaky hand-held in a cinema of bobbing heads or discs with excessive drop out or the packaging is so dodgy that putting it on display in the DVD collection makes one look cheap and tacky) and the frequency of dirty tricks (mislabeling excess discs knowing the purchaser will be in another country before discovering it has some other movie on it) is making those with decent incomes feel spending the money for quality and surety is worth it. It is the same with how the VHS market resulted in more people going to the cinemas cause it worked effectively as a promotion for the cinematic and group sharing experience.

Yes, a new movie has a shorter life span in the fast lane but that has more to do with more product than ever fighting for pole positions. Plus, when in the past people who enjoyed a film in the cinema enough to rent it are now buying it instead. Thus video rental has slipped but is replaced by DVD retail in much the same way that repeat viewing in the cinema (seeing Star Wars over and over) was replaced by people renting or buying a VHS tape. Business is not losing money but seeing it come from different departments. If none of this was the case you would not be seeing the wider range of product in cinemas and on retail shelves made with more expensive production values.

The industry’s push on piracy and downloads is because marketing feels more money is out there to be made, but what losses can be estimated from illegitimate business hasn’t set the industry back any. No one in Hollywood need go without their Lamborghini. But outside of Hollywood, piracy has hurt smaller markets and even destroyed the hopes of film makers. It’s one of the reasons there isn’t a flourishing Turkish film industry. But the desire for world movies is growing and giving hope to more and more film industries in struggling countries. And though festivals and foreign language television networks and the greater demand for DVD variety are a major reason for their growth, the internet culture with downloading and Youtube are also an integral part for the awareness of potential new markets. Bollywood, anime and other Asian cinema may not be as successful as they are today without first being a part of a subculture that could only access this product by illegitimate means.

Robin Pen’s career path as a screenwriter was cut short by being too good, too young (Actual True Story ^[TM]). He subsequently turned his love of movies into one of the most distinctive voices in cinema criticism. Robin is both a hopeless fan of genre cinema, a man who can appreciate blundering, graceless films provided they have a bit of spirit, and a trenchant critic of lazy, cynical filmmaking. His recent criticism has been marked by the appearance of Hampton and Francher, two characters who represent each side of Robin’s viewing personality, and often takes the form of Robin listening in as his two friends argue the toss about a movie. Many of Robin’s earlier essays and reviews have been collected in the cult book The Secret Life of Rubber-Suit Monsters.