By Christopher K House
A slap in the face of independent film makers everywhere hits home.
The above photo was taken by this writer at the 14 hour Captain America marathon during the final film "Civil War" the highly anticipated newest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A fantastic piece of eye candy now tarnished with a bad digital copy online and it was done before my eyes. I had attended this marathon at a local theater, one of the largest in the area and one of my favorite theaters, until now.
Of course, I did my due diligence and notified the employees as I should have, a couple of times in fact. I even gave the exact seat the land lubbing pirate was seated in (F12) as we were in the fabulous assigned seating. Surely the workers would enforce the laws and guidelines and remove this nefarious criminal? Nope. No one ever even bothered to check in on her or look in her direction. Not once. She would have gotten away with it if I hadn't been behind her.
Eventually, I took it upon myself to chastise the young girl, wrapped up in a blanket and resting on a pillow that it was wrong and she should cease her actions. After a while, she did but it wasn't easy. I needed to "ruin" her recording by talking loudly into it. Something I hesitated as to not annoy my fellow film goers but, after I did it was met with "thank yous" and sighs of relief. My experience and those around me had been tarnished, the glow of the cell phone had distracted us but, most importantly the fact she was pirating the film in front of us was a slap in the face, being a screenwriter and in film making myself, I know the pain it causes independent film makers.
I pose a question, film lovers. How can this happen to a big film such as Civil War and the employees entrusted by the studio and film makers to show it? Why was she able to do this recording and no one say a peep?
As of this writing, efforts to contact the theatre chain have only been met with a "we're sorry" on Twitter. I will post any updates if they come in.
UPDATE: I was contacted by the theater chain's advertising manager and, after chatting with him he assured me that steps would be taken to prevent this action in the future. Honestly, 14 plus hour marathon's are long and not everyone has the patience to stay off FaceBook or texting. The gentleman was very gracious and also genuinely concerned about the incident. Theaters are constantly fighting this piracy battle behind our backs in ways we don't see. I feel on my part letting them know what happened will help them establish better steps to combat this menace to film makers. Piracy can also be fought by us, the film lovers who try and escape in the world onscreen. If you see something, say something. Let an employee know what is going on and follow up that steps are taken to remove the infringing pirate. I chose not to name the theater or chain in this article because I wanted the focus to be about film piracy in general, not an attack on a particular theater because this happens everywhere.
Of course, I did my due diligence and notified the employees as I should have, a couple of times in fact. I even gave the exact seat the land lubbing pirate was seated in (F12) as we were in the fabulous assigned seating. Surely the workers would enforce the laws and guidelines and remove this nefarious criminal? Nope. No one ever even bothered to check in on her or look in her direction. Not once. She would have gotten away with it if I hadn't been behind her.
Eventually, I took it upon myself to chastise the young girl, wrapped up in a blanket and resting on a pillow that it was wrong and she should cease her actions. After a while, she did but it wasn't easy. I needed to "ruin" her recording by talking loudly into it. Something I hesitated as to not annoy my fellow film goers but, after I did it was met with "thank yous" and sighs of relief. My experience and those around me had been tarnished, the glow of the cell phone had distracted us but, most importantly the fact she was pirating the film in front of us was a slap in the face, being a screenwriter and in film making myself, I know the pain it causes independent film makers.
I pose a question, film lovers. How can this happen to a big film such as Civil War and the employees entrusted by the studio and film makers to show it? Why was she able to do this recording and no one say a peep?
As of this writing, efforts to contact the theatre chain have only been met with a "we're sorry" on Twitter. I will post any updates if they come in.
UPDATE: I was contacted by the theater chain's advertising manager and, after chatting with him he assured me that steps would be taken to prevent this action in the future. Honestly, 14 plus hour marathon's are long and not everyone has the patience to stay off FaceBook or texting. The gentleman was very gracious and also genuinely concerned about the incident. Theaters are constantly fighting this piracy battle behind our backs in ways we don't see. I feel on my part letting them know what happened will help them establish better steps to combat this menace to film makers. Piracy can also be fought by us, the film lovers who try and escape in the world onscreen. If you see something, say something. Let an employee know what is going on and follow up that steps are taken to remove the infringing pirate. I chose not to name the theater or chain in this article because I wanted the focus to be about film piracy in general, not an attack on a particular theater because this happens everywhere.
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