On Mon, 2008-02-11 at 23:37 +1100, Ben Finney wrote:
Alex Hudson home@alexhudson.com writes:
For example, even the cheapest independent film is realistically going to cost ~$100k.
I don't know why you set the lower bound so high. I've seen many entertaining films made for $1000 or even $200.
I set out the basis of the costs in a previous e-mail.
Look, I've seen street performers do very entertaining things in the street for change, from poetry to plays. That's not a serious alternative to theatre, though.
In the absence of copyright, if the film creator doesn't want people to have copies, they shouldn't distribute it. I don't see how that would stop films being made at all. Perhaps people wouldn't put $100000 into a film; but films would still be made, and still be entertaining and even worth watching.
If people aren't willing to put $100k into a film, what you're saying effectively is that film as an art form is dead, because that doesn't pay for two person-years, let alone the equipment and all the other costs.
No commercial films would be made, and some significant proportion of the amateur film-makers wouldn't be working either because many of them are doing it as amateurs as their way into the industry.
Don't mistake this as me saying that copyright is required; I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that in order to create film, people have to have an income somehow which allows them to work on the film. It's as simple as that.
Cheers,
Alex.
Just because a person puts an enormous amount of money into building a pyramid doesn't mean they have any right to see any of that money return to them. People will decide what it's worth to them to have it built in the first place, or to maintain it once it's built.
I'm not saying that anyone has a right to be able to do this kind of thing profitably, but there is a balance here: if it's not possible to do something viably for a living, then few people if any will do it.
I deny your implication that copyright is the only way to allow creative endeavours to make a living. It's up to the creator to figure out a way to make money from their labour. They just don't have any right to impinge on others' freedom while they do so.