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'Midnight Son' vs. Pirates

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We all know that pirating is bad. It's illegal, and it's just not nice - especially when it is an indie film, made for love, not profit. But what happens when a director confronts his pirates?

Matt Compton knows. The producer of Midnight Son discovered that his labor-of-love film had hit torrent sites nearly a month before its release date. He estimates that since its appearance on the torrent circuit, it has been illegally downloaded 20,000 times. But Compton didn't file lawsuits. He didn't even throw a fit. He confronted his "attackers," by posting a personal note to the torrent sites, explaining how this hurt him and his crew. Naturally there was some backlash (after all, if you are stealing movies, you have to be at least a little douchey). But he also got a surprising amount of support. Some people made donations to the production. One guy even emailed Matt his receipt after he purchased a legal copy of Midnight Son. Did it make up for the money lost to illegal downloads? Probably not. But it does show there is some hope for the human race. 

Read Matt's entire interview at Filmmaker Magazine.

1 Comments

imasmf's picture
imasmf on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - 2:14pm
I of course would never admit to downloading it for free but I will say I've seen it and it's a beautiful movie! One that I plan to add to my collection as soon as finances allow. Would like to mention though the losses may not be as much as you think. Of those 20,000 people who downloaded your movie probably 10,000 would not have heard of your movie without the torrent sites. So they aren't lost sales, and if any of them buy it they will actually be a gained sale. Now the other 10,000 would include people like me who had been waiting in anticipation since first hearing of Midnight Son. we jumped at the chance to see it. Hopefully they will be as impressed as I that they'll want to buy it for their collection like I do. Also realize some of these pirates don't have discretionary income. Myself, I'm so far in debt I'll never get out. I don't make it payday to payday. I haven't been to a movie theater in probably 15 years and it's a rare occasion I can add a movie to my dvd collection. When I do guarantee it's going to be the best of the best. I'm not going to spend my meager money on crap. The pirates allow me to see and judge what I will buy when I can buy it. My collection may be small, maybe 40 or 50 dvds but they're all wonderful pieces of art! I'm proud to add Midnight Son to that collection when I'm able. In the meantime I spread the word to my horror friends who I think will appreciate it and leave reviews where I can as kind of a payment, hoping it will bring you some sales you might not have gotten otherwise Your approach to the situation was cool and is appreciated. I hope I was able to do something of the same here from the other point of view

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