Bootlegging Ripping the Film

Bootlegging: Ripping the Film Industry One DVD at a Time 8

You or someone you know may have a pirated copy of a hot new movie, emblazoned on a blank DVD. Bootlegged movies are everywhere, available at swap meets, liquor stores, the backrooms of some mom-and-pop video stores and on the street corners of major cities across the globe. The business of copyright infringement is a booming one, evidenced by the estimated $6.1 billion loss incurred by movie studios last year, according to a study conducted by the Motion Picture Association of America. The study also revealed that college students account for as much as 44 percent of the piracy in this sophisticated wireless age. Dave Bruemmer, a 34-year-old computer science major, has amassed a collection of over 20 bootlegged DVDs. He enjoys the mystique of having top ten films without the hassles that accompany a trip to the cinema. “There’s sort of a perverse satisfaction in having something exclusive that others don’t,” Bruemmer said. “I can watch something others can’t — there’s something to that.” As Hollywood continues to churn out bigger and better blockbusters, there is an underground industry of bandits looking to have the films in the hands of consumers before their theatrical premieres. “The money in this business is so good that I never hesitated once,” said Ortiz, a 33-year-old bootlegger in a phone interview, using a pseudonym out of concern for legal repercussions. “I turned a $25,000 profit off Star Wars: Episode III.” The go-getter has gradually become a major player in the business since selling his first bootlegged film, the 1998 action movie Blade. Lured away from the legitimate commerce of video stores by the fast cash of bootlegging, he deals on a macro level, buying thousands of illegally copied motion pictures with a legion of underlings who venture out in the trenches to sell them. The movies come to him at a cost of 12 cents a piece and sell for around $10 once they hit the black market. “People like to show [the movies] off when they have friends and family over,” Ortiz said. “And who likes waiting in line at the movies, to pay ten or fifteen bucks to bump elbows with strangers and get ripped off at the concession stands? With me, they get the movie for ten bucks, the end.” Bruemmer, though he owns a lot of bootlegged films, knows the quality isn’t the best. “At best you have some kind of message that runs along a ticker at the bottom, at worst its real dark and grainy, you can see the boom microphones hanging from the rafter--sometimes they’re unwatchable.” In an industry where innovation is pivotal to stay ahead of the curve, the bootleggers have many tricks up their sleeves to acquire the copies of the films long before you are standing in line waiting for the next sold-out show. “There’s a big network of piracy groups all feeding off each other,” Ortiz said. Prime sources bootleggers have are industry insiders. Studios routinely release advance copies, known as screeners to members of the Motion Picture of Academy and Sciences. The screeners are circulated to bolster their film’s chances of award consideration or for promotion. “A lot of these [piracy] groups invite people in [to the business], people who get early releases, access to warehouses or [motion picture] Academy members. If a movie is gonna get Academy Award attention we have connects everywhere — and those are the best ones to get.” Once contacts are found, the films are then duplicated and returned in the blink of an eye. “The whole thing takes less than 24 hours, I throw them $200 to borrow it, then I rip the DVD which takes 30 to 40 minutes,” Ortiz said. In hopes of quelling the epidemic, the MPAA stopped issuing screeners altogether in 2003 but later resumed dispensing them with a new policy and contractual agreement. The FBI launched an investigation in January of 2004 based on a screener copy of a film that was circulating the Web with identifying earmarks. Subsequently, actor and Academy member Carmine Caridi was fingered as the source and expelled from the academy. Still, Ortiz and bootleggers have little trouble acquiring their goods. Another risky element to the business is timeliness, as the bootleg movies have the shelf life of french fries with a brief window from becoming “must-have” items to a shoddy throw-away version of the much higher-quality DVD released by the studios four to six months after the film’s theatrical release. “Without timing, you’re done in this market,” said Ortiz. CSUF Media Law Professor Genelle Belmas believes the movie business needs to adapt to the surging technology to stay competitive with the pirates. “The music industry is just now finding ways to use the online environment to its benefit rather than just being kicked around by it. The film industry has to follow suit,” she said. Of course, the most hazardous aspect shadowing this business is the hand of Johnny Law, as copyright infringement standards hold those in question to a high level of culpability, with punishments including incarceration, fines, and a Pandora’s box of lawsuits from the studios who produced the films originally. Though acknowledging its risks, Ortiz seemed cavalier about the inherent legal repercussions of his trade. “I know how this business works and the money’s too good to let that stop me.”

By Adam Levy

Daily Titan Head News Bootleggers use blank DVDs and screener copies of new releases to make cash. KIRSTEN ALTO / Daily Titan Buzz Editor AUG. 21, 2006

By Alicia David

For The Daily Titan

The theatre department will be hard at work this semester providing several productions to entertain everybody’s taste. The first of five plays to take place on campus is “The Sea Gull” directed by Svetlana Efremova and co-directed by Joseph Arnold. The play has various shows beginning Sept. 29 to Oct. 15, performed in the Young Theatre. The play was written by Anton Chekhov and explores dreams of fame and glory and the desire for love, art and freedom. The next production is “Seussical” directed by Patrick Pearson with musical direction by Mitchell Hanlon. The show will be performed from Oct. 13 to 29 in the Little Theatre. According to the department calendar listing, it is based on the works of Dr. Seuss and discusses the power of imagination as The Cat in the Hat leads audiences through Dr. Seuss’ magical world of characters and adventures. “Spring Storm” is the third production of the semester and will be performed Oct. 27 to Nov. 12. The play was written by Tennessee Williams and will be directed by James Taulli. “Williams is one of America’s most famous playwrights,” said Taulli via an e-mail interview. “He also wrote a “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. “The play is a steamy story primarily concerned with four young adults who feel trapped in a small provincial southern town in the late 1930s,” he said. The fourth performance is “The Fall Dance Theatre” coordinated by Gladys Kares and will be performed in the Little Theatre Nov. 10 to 19. According to the theatre department’s poster listing, the production is inspiring, eclectic and oftentimes riveting. Cal State Fullerton’s choreographers and dancers weave compelling stories, capture life’s frail, frantic and most precious moments and remind us why spending a brief time in the theatre sharing the joy of dance should be one of life’s mandatory experiences. The last play for the fall semester is “The Man Who Came to Dinner” directed by Eve Himmelheber. The comedic performance will be held in the Young Theatre and run from Nov. 17 to Dec. 10. Tickets for all shows can be purchased in advance at the CSUF performing arts center box office. Single tickets are also available for purchase online at www. tickets.com.

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