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>> Our film was released on DVD in the spring of 2010.

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It appeared in a lot of the film festivals prior to that for the previous year;

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in nearly 100 festivals.

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And within 24 hours of its release on DVD, we found pirated copies online.

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And when I went online to investigate,

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we quickly discovered that it wasn't just one link.

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It was actually hundreds of links and within days

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those hundred links became thousands of links.

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We didn't go into the project blindly.

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We did our research; we talked to distributors.

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We talked to people specifically about a niche film like ours

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that targeted a certain audience.

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And so when we spent the amount of money we did,

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which was close to a quarter million dollars, $250,000,

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we thought, or we were given the impression that we would,

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you know, recoup at least that much.

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We weren't really looking to make a profit necessarily, but we didn't want to lose money.

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Piracy hurts our ability to make our investment back in our film,

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I think, because it diluted the legitimate market for sales.

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When you can find a pirated copy online with the click of a mouse,

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a streaming HD copy, why spend, you know, $3.99 to rent it when you can get it for free?

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So I think piracy had that impact.

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A lot of, you know, people, indie creators who aren't bankrolled by Hollywood

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can't afford to make these films if they're going to recoup their investment.

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As for me making another film, well, I don't know.

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We put, my co-director and myself, Megan Stiler, we put a lot of our time, 3 years;

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almost 3 years, into making this film and a lot of our personal,

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you know, resources and we're still kind of clawing our way out of debt.

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So that's, that's a disincentive right there.

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So piracy is diminishing the quality of content and the diversity of content.

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And it's kind of an insidious thing,

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because I don't think consumers necessarily,

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you know, it's not obvious to consumers

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but when you look for options, you know,

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it does diminish what, what's available to you.

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And that's, that's unfortunate.