[ philmblog ]

two years work downloaded in six minutes

…a very good point made by producer Rik Visser. Since the US DVD release of THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO, the film is now officially an illegal download. To date, the film has been downloaded 22,876 - and that’s not including the hundreds of pay-fileshare websites and other torrent servers the film is available on (*update - a week later we’re now over over 200,000 downloads!). We knew it was going to happen. As soon as any DVD is released it’s easily ‘ripped’ and uploaded to the internet within hours. Why do people do it? I have no idea. It’s a pretty odd hobby.

I’m not going to write the blog we’ve read hundreds of times… “downloading movies is bad”, “it destroys the industry”, “piracy funds terrorism” and all that - yes, we know it’s illegal and it shouldn’t be done but the point is it really can’t be prevented. There are (quite logical) rumors that even studios release early versions of their films (which are always deemed “leaks”) in order to publicize and create word of mouth for the release. Controversial stuff but, in the case of X-Men Origins (if that was leaked by the studio) and it’s pre-FX version, it didn’t hurt the theatrical release.

For our film, however, it is hurting us financially. THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO was independently financed and for those investors they expect a return on their money. We’ve been lucky for a low-budget British indie flick to have a limited theatrical release in the US (followed by the DVD) and we’ve also sold the film to various countries in the middle east and Europe but we haven’t recouped the budget yet. I also don’t think the average joe downloader understands what independent film is (and if they do they should already realise the damage!) I’m not suggesting for a second that there is an argument in downloading studio vs indy films but from my point of view for every download my own wallet (and the wallets and purses of the rest of the production cast, crew and investors) is damaged. The film, afterall, was based on a profit share. If nobody is buying it, nobody is getting paid a penny. It’s that simple.

The power of downloading film should be addressed. If every person who has downloaded the film illegally donated just £2 to the production we’d be well on our way to recouping the budget and - as the downloads continue - there could have been some profit there  (some movies have been downloaded close to a million times!) Suddenly trying to harness the power of downloading movies, as opposed to just trying to stop it from happening, seems like a worthy cause.

But it is there that lies the problem. How do you make “illegal” downloads lucrative for the filmmakers? Since THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO has appeared online for free - and has been popular - I’ve been kicking myself because I came up with various ideas to try and make it lucrative - but hindsight is a beautiful thing. Because it’s everywhere now with no way of stopping it, we have probably missed the boat.

Bizarrely, there are some positives from my point of view. I was actually quite surprised how many people knew about the movie and downloaded it. After all, we are a little indie film which has only had a small release in the US. How do the tens of thousands of people know it exists? Apart from the website, a few Pullman fan sites and the trailer on YouTube there hasn’t been much publicity. Since the downloading frenzy has begun, loads of reviews have appears, message boards have lit up and our IMDb page has gone up 10,393% in popularity. This sudden burst of interest has meant our relatively unknown film has been thrown into the spotlight and is now no. 75 on IMDb’s top 100 films (we’re above Wall:E!) and - on one website - we’re in the top 50 of the most downloaded things at the moment. If the success of a film is mainly word of mouth, we’ve certainly got it now.

I’ve even started receiving personal emails from people who have watched the film and have taken the time to tell me how much they enjoyed it. One woman said “it was one of the most moving films I’ve ever seen” - another said “this movie is so sad, it puts Romeo and Juliet to shame”. Great stuff to read… I wonder whether they bought the DVD or downloaded the movie? One blogger who admitted to downloading the film said that the film was so good that they’ve gone and bought the DVD. Now isn’t that an interesting turn of events? I’m sure it won’t apply to everyone but, for the minority who do buy, would they have known about the film without downloading it?

THE BUTTERFLY TATTOO was always a platform for everyone involved. It was a great showcase for me but especially for the actors - it was both Jessica Blake and Duncan Stuart’s first major film roles. With distributors - especially in the UK - not wanting to take a chance with a film full of “unknowns” and a general release highly unlikely for an independent suddenly the film has reached an massive audience, albeit an illegal one. I’ve always said to the nervous theatrical distributors that the film definitely has an audience - the surge in popularity is a testament to that fact.

So where does that leave us? Will the popularity hurt anymore theatrical or distribution prospects or can this seen as proof that the public want to see it and like it? You’ll know if the film appears in a cinema or on a DVD shelf near you soon, outside of the US.

I must stress that I’m not condoning illegal downloads - If you’re reading this and you’ve still not seen the film I obviously strongly recommend that you go and buy the DVD . The point of my ramblings are to highlight that if we choose to ignore the downloading, it can hurt us even more - especially when it comes to independent filmmaking. The producers and investors (quiet rightly) aren’t happy with the financial situation and - to a degree - I’m not. The film is obviously best seen in the cinema or at worst on DVD. We can ‘what if’ until the cows come home but maybe if we had a little foresight and thought outside of the box a little sooner, maybe we could have tried to harness this massive “illegal” audience and made everyone some money.

…and if you have downloaded it and your reading this you should be feeling really bad - especially if you enjoyed the film. All contributions to rectify your conscience are accepted!