Scream Queen Devanny Pinn talks internet piracy

Often they are very low budgets and while I am always paid a very fair rate, it’s not a very comfortable living unless you are doing many films per month.

Yes, surprise there is not big Hollywood money coming in.

So often I would get what is called ‘points’ as well as a salary for doing the movie.

Points are percentages of the films profit.

However, 40+ movies later and I was getting very little or nothing at all.

I thought that couldn’t be right, so I decided to start producing my own movies thinking there would be a better quality of life if the film was my own.

What I ended up learning is that there are so many other levels to having your money taken from you. It is a fight at every step.

Distribution companies and others responsible with taking your movie and getting it to the public often prey on smaller filmmakers and know that you do not have the ability to fight them when they do not pay.

It is a long, exhausting labor of love with very little return.

I think many people feel that everyone in this business is greedy and rolling in cash. While those people DO exist, the majority are quietly trying to make ends meat.

I was very surprised to find that. Most people have second and even third jobs.

So when torrenting came into play it was yet another blow.

For me personally:

Everyone of the films I have made has been torrented

My first film with a little bit of a budget to it “Dead Sea” has been torrented 3 different times now.

The first time it was torrented, it was in the Top 10 most downloaded films of the month.

I could not do a thing…just sit there and watch the movie I spent years trying to get an opportunity to make be downloaded for free 100s of 1000s of times.

It happened with my others as well. I fought so hard to get my tiny art projects on major platforms such as Redbox, Walmart etc. That is something that doesnt happen for many small movies.

Illegal downloads caused them to not get distributed in most foreign countries, we lost our bluray release opportunity and some of them, we actually OWE money on! Have not made a single dime after all our work.

Even worse, we were given an opportunity to have more of our films distributed to major stores and even be funded so we could continue to make movies…

But when the sales reports showed that everyone downloaded it for free instead of buying it, those chances to continue to work no longer were offered.

If companies cannot make money on your product, they do not order more.

That is the root of our problem here.

So many people are saying online “Why are there so many remakes?!”

Well..I can answer that for you.

Torrenting.

Remakes and comic book movies are “Safe”.

That means that even after being torrented, sales reports show that people are still PAYING in some way to see those films or tv shows.

Whether its on VOD, Dvd etc, those are subjects people are passionate enough about to spend money on. SImple as that… and that’s why we have so many of them now.

The viewers have complete control these days! If you want more of something all you have to do is buy it. Even if its just a single dollar at redbox. That one dollar that you spend will tell someone calling the shots that there should be more of this.

JL: It’s also why we get bombarded with copycat films for years. Paranormal activity was a huge hit, now all we see in theaters in ghosts and demons. Little to nothing else. The same happened with “torture porn” post Saw. Once something is such a huge hit, they see it as an opportunity to exploit and drive into the ground. I blame torrenting for subpar films like Devil’s Due, Occulus, and Ouija.

DP: You are completely correct. Hollywood is not used to not making mega dollars. So when VOD happened they just denied it for awhile…until their viewership diminished.