Digital piracy often gets a bad rap. Maybe it’s the memory of the old “no one would steal a car” pre-roll ads that were common in movie theaters. Or maybe it’s the word “piracy.” But recent research suggests that illegally uploading, downloading, and swapping movies doesn’t necessarily stifle revenue for certain movies. One study found that illegally sharing a movie can actually boost box office takings by spreading word of mouth. And for moviegoers who can’t (financially or geographically) get to indie or arthouse cinemas, piracy may prove to be essential, or at least a necessary evil. As Andy Chatterley, CEO of research firm Muso, told WIRED earlier this year, “The problem with piracy is that people just want to consume content. They’re not doing it for the sake of piracy, they’re being driven by other marketing that encourages legal consumption.”
Small Films Red Room These illegal circles often find an audience. Lucas Tavares, 23, lives in a small town in Brazil and is an avid follower of film-related coverage on social media platforms such as X and Letterboxd. Red Room He first came to the film’s attention over a year ago, when it premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic. A few weeks later, he was able to find a copy online. “Where I live, it’s very hard to see smaller or independent films, especially unless they’re American blockbusters, so I tend to rely on torrents,” he says.
For Henry Meeks, a 29-year-old teacher in Philadelphia, torrents and online pirate channels have become a necessity during the COVID-19 lockdown. With cinemas closed and film production all but halted, many film fans have had the opportunity to dig up old, hard-to-find movies. “The good thing about piracy is there’s tons of movies out there that are no longer in distribution,” Meeks says. “There’s no Blu-ray, so it’s a really good archival outlet. Things that you can’t find anywhere, even if you wanted to buy them, live on these sites.”
Meeks said, Red RoomMeeks downloaded the movie and immediately shared it with his friends on Plex, a free streaming media service that allows users to assemble and share private media collections. This curation is what distinguishes a private server like Plex from larger terrestrial streaming services that have algorithmic recommendation systems. “Netflix and Amazon Prime have tons of movies to watch,” Meeks says, “but they’re not really curated by humans.”
Plante seems to have mixed feelings about his film’s online success. He accepts that his film was leaked, but says spreading word of mouth like this “was not a strategy.” He said the film’s French-Canadian distributor Red Rooms It will be available on Canadian video-on-demand services shortly after its theatrical release. “I told him, the day after it’s on iTunes in Canada, it’s going to be on PirateBay,” he says, referring to the popular BitTorrent client.
Of course, not everyone can or will download an MP4 or AVI file of the relatively obscure French-Canadian cyberthriller. Director Plante is confident that will help the film, which hits U.S. cinemas on Sept. 6, gain a niche, cult following. Smaller films like this tend to have longer runs, making the international film festival tour, then getting bigger screenings in cinemas and even making it to home video. Greyweb peer-to-peer file-sharing websites are just one place people can find the film.
Still, Plant thinks it’s no surprise that a film about the dark side of the internet would find an audience among people who wade through those same waters. “It’s a very online, very nerdy film,” he says. “Of course people will torrent it.”