>> Our film was released on DVD in the spring of 2010.
It appeared in a lot of the film festivals prior to that for the previous year;
in nearly 100 festivals.
And within 24 hours of its release on DVD, we found pirated copies online.
And when I went online to investigate,
we quickly discovered that it wasn't just one link.
It was actually hundreds of links and within days
those hundred links became thousands of links.
We didn't go into the project blindly.
We did our research; we talked to distributors.
We talked to people specifically about a niche film like ours
that targeted a certain audience.
And so when we spent the amount of money we did,
which was close to a quarter million dollars, $250,000,
we thought, or we were given the impression that we would,
you know, recoup at least that much.
We weren't really looking to make a profit necessarily, but we didn't want to lose money.
Piracy hurts our ability to make our investment back in our film,
I think, because it diluted the legitimate market for sales.
When you can find a pirated copy online with the click of a mouse,
a streaming HD copy, why spend, you know, $3.99 to rent it when you can get it for free?
So I think piracy had that impact.
A lot of, you know, people, indie creators who aren't bankrolled by Hollywood
can't afford to make these films if they're going to recoup their investment.
As for me making another film, well, I don't know.
We put, my co-director and myself, Megan Stiler, we put a lot of our time, 3 years;
almost 3 years, into making this film and a lot of our personal,
you know, resources and we're still kind of clawing our way out of debt.
So that's, that's a disincentive right there.
So piracy is diminishing the quality of content and the diversity of content.
And it's kind of an insidious thing,
because I don't think consumers necessarily,
you know, it's not obvious to consumers
but when you look for options, you know,
it does diminish what, what's available to you.
And that's, that's unfortunate.