How Stealing can Help Filmmakers

         How can stealing benefit a filmmaker? Jamie King has proven that the Internet and free media can lead to all kinds of success. He made a documentary in 2006, Steal this Film, about online piracy and intellectual property. Instead of pursuing more traditional forms of distribution, King elected to post his film online to the public for free. At first though, we all think that there must be some sort of catch. Maybe the entire movie wasn't available online, and they were trying to drive DVD sales. There was no catch, though. King's entire movie was available via bitTorrent on sites like The Pirate Bay and MiniNova, with no charge. The two websites promoted his documentary, and his movie ended up getting over 4 million views. King and his friends made a website (www.stealthisfilm.com) and asked for kind donations of $1 from their viewers.  The response was well received for their documentary, so well that they decided to make a second part to the movie. Instead of asking for $1, they asked for $15 from each viewer. The film so far has gotten over 2 million views and made over $50,000.

           King used piracy and free online content to get people to watch his film. Online content is completely free and has no barriers to entry. The motivation behind this kind of distribution was to get as many people to watch the movie as possible, not to make money. This type of viral distribution quickly gained traction on the Internet.  King still managed to make money from in-kind donations from passionate fans. This is a new and innovative business model, and filmmakers on IndieGoGo can emulate King's tactics to spread awareness for their films. By using online content, more people have access to movies. The costs of distribution are going down. Streaming sites like YouTube, Hulu, or SnagFilms provide services to filmmakers to distribute their films out on the web. King's method of using bitTorrent and advertising it on The Pirate Bay, a bitTorrent site also has been effective.

         King has shown that piracy can be valuable for going viral. He did this with his passion project and made a substantial amount of money. You, too, can use this case study to gain awareness for your films and build your audiences. If you are a filmmaker who is more concerned about building awareness of your work and a fanbase than actually monetizing those films right away, piracy might be a great tool to do that.  It all depends on your goals as a filmmaker. By embracing piracy for a current project, you might also gain credibility and money for future projects.

Here are 3 actions you can take today:

• Share: Distribute your film on streaming sites like YouTube or Hulu
• Promote: Mobilize people by sending out e-mails and spreading your IndieGoGo Widget on blogs and websites
• Call-To-Action: Ask for in-kind donations at the end of your film

Check out Jamie King's presentation at Power to the Pixel here. You can also view his website and watch his movie at www.stealthisfilm.com.