-- On 8 Jul 2002 at 11:25, Trei, Peter wrote:
Some forms of creation require little in the way of up-front investment. Others do. Consider movies. While some of the people involved get to do creative work that they love, many don't, and they all have to make a living somehow. Would the Key Grip, the Focus Puller, or the Greensmen be willing to do their work for the sheer creativity of it all? I don't think so. The principle shooting for the LOTR trilogy took over 18 months, in New Zealand. Do you think they did it (just) for love?
Art forms which require large prior investments need some form of remuneration beyond egoboo. Otherwise, they just won't happen.
Let us imagine that all efforts to enforce copyright on the internet were abandoned, and that everyone in the world has a fat pipe capable of downloading movies. First, most people who want to see lord of the rings want to see it a theatre. The scene in the mines of Moria, the backgrounder on the origin of the ring, the dark riders crossing the river, are all written for the big screen, and are worthless on a small screen. Secondly, most people who want to see lord of the rings do it as a pilgrimage, so they do it when it first comes out, and they take a date, or go with a bunch of friends. It is positively sacriligious to see it on a small screen, or to see it without making a special occasion of it. After all this is not just another Buffy episode. Thus fat pipes and an end to internet copyright would have had no significant effect on the profits from the Lord of the Rings. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG yChuaeD+SEzCvlFD0mqB+hzz5FRvjXKoB2jlE3YR 2zwEhi3Z8qxfMmJZNZxpa/U8dYGHfoDQgo1ChqYRO D