How piracy kills NZ films

Stuff.co.nz has an opinion piece from New Zealand producer Tui Ruwhiu: How piracy kills NZ films.

It is a little bit of a "poor me" piece and is really just about how hard it is as a producer to make money from films.

If we do have to forego fees then the only opportunity for producers to be rewarded for their work is through a slice of the revenues generated by box office, television, DVD, Blu Ray, video on demand, in-flight entertainment and other existing revenue streams. But producers' chances here are meagre if not non-existent. Promotion and advertising costs, international sales agent and distributor fees, deferments, financing, equity recoupment, profit shares with investors, creatives, cast, and the myriad other entities and individuals who get bites of the backend must be paid first.

I was really interested to see his take on how piracy kills NZ films. But despite the title (a little misleading I now think), he doesn't offer any reasons. Just this short paragraph at the end.

For producers who choose a path where revenue streams from content sales are vital to pay for the film's production and distribution (and hopefully give them and their investors some kind of pay day), piracy snuffs out that light. It takes the money away from those who have earned it-often with blood, sweat and tears-and puts it in the pockets of those who have no claim whatsoever.

This suggests to me that Tui Ruwhiu doesn't have a clue about modern piracy. Nobody I know would pay anyone for a pirated movie, they just download them for free. (Unless he means ISPs?)

Again this is the film industry looking for someone to blame. Maybe if they (and the music industry) hadn't had their heads in the sand at the dawn of the digital age they wouldn't be in this position.