Warner Bros., Right After Announcing Record Profits, Pleads Poverty In Asking People To Support 'Grassroots' Campaign For E-PARASITE Act
from the that's-chutzpah dept
It appears that the big Hollywood studios/MPAA have absolutely no shame. Thankfully, employees at some of those companies recognize just how ridiculous their employers look and have been passing along some details. On Wednesday, Warner Bros. announced third quarter profits (not revenue) of $822 million, representing a 57% increase on last year. Revenues were $7.07 billion, 11% higher than last year. The company sent out an email to employees talking about how it was "another record" quarter for the company. Then, very soon after that email went out, another email went out, telling employees about how difficult life was at Warner Bros. these days due to the scourge of "content theft," and urging people to support the astroturfing group CreativeAmerica.In July, we informed you about the creation of and Warner Bros.’ involvement with Creative America, a grassroots coalition uniting the entertainment community and others against one of the biggest threats we face as an industry: content theft. Thank you to those of you who have already joined and supported Creative America. This is an important first step, but there’s still more we can do.I dunno. WB, if you've just made $822 million in profits alone, perhaps you could donate some of that to residuals? Ha Ha, who am I kidding? Movie studios never pay residuals. Remember, this is Warner Bros. And part of the reason it was so profitable this quarter was the latest Harry Potter movie. But last year, we got to analyze the accounting on an earlier Harry Potter movie, showing how Warner Bros. played with the numbers to take a movie that brought in $938 million and still let Warner Bros. claim a $167 million "loss," through highly questionable accounting, designed almost entirely to avoid paying royalties. The trick, of course, is to set up each movie as its own "corporation" that has to pay the parent studio "fees" for certain "services." You keep ratcheting up those fees, and the studio makes a ton, but the "company" that is the movie can always claim a loss to avoid paying royalties.
Thieves in the U.S. and abroad continue to make millions of dollars off our work, talents and creativity. For instance, “The Big Bang Theory” is one of the most popular targets of digital content thieves, with more than 600,000 illegal digital downloads thus far in 2011. Meanwhile, “The Hangover Part II” was illegally downloaded some 700,000 times in the first five months since its theatrical release.
Content theft doesn’t just affect a single show or film or even studio. It affects residual benefits, pension funds and health plans as well as jobs that our industry supports—whether directly or in ancillary markets and businesses. Therefore, it’s in all of our interests to stand behind Creative America.
Honestly, if you know anything about the numbers, you'd know that Warner Bros. is a much larger threat to residuals and other things like health plans and jobs, than any file sharing by some kids who'd never pay to see the movie anyway. SOPA/E-PARASITE isn't going to help people in the business get paid. Execs, sure. But not everyone else. Not by a long shot.
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Filed Under: astroturf, creative america, grassroots, hollywood, protect ip, studios
Companies: warner bros.
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An Important Notice
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Never thought I'd see a company actually try that though. Impressive.
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Now Mr Adams, sue life for copyright infringement. And WB with it for double the profits on your lost sales.
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We need to discuss your moniker. I believe it may cause confusion to the customers of my brand of nonsense and may very well not only violate hithertoo the mark I have made for myself, but may also cause the simultaneous combustion of countless morons hurrying off to their moronic undertakings. As such, I request that you relinquish this moniker at the point of a gun from my friends at ICE. It is clear that you are attempting to use this mark from a computer in the fabled lands of "Offshore" and hiding behind your anonymous third party status or something.
Therefore, I now own not only your name, but also you personally. Please send me five dollars and a pumpkin spiced latte from my local Starbucks. If you cannot comply with this, you are ordered to shoot yourself in the head.
Your friend,
Dark Helmet
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well...okay I guess. I never really had much of a personality anyway. Maybe you can develop it more.
And I don't have any money. Will you accept my expired gift certificate to arbys? It's a family heirloom...
P.S.: oh, and where should I e-mail you the latte?
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I wonder what would happen if studios and labels were made responsible for what actors and musicians do if they would be happy or what they would claim against it.
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In fact, the studios are in a far better position to police the actions of movie stars than the justice system is because they interact with them directly. Some studios may claim that's it's too difficult or impossible for them to monitor every action of their employees, but is that really an excuse? Figure it out. You want to have big names in your movies, but when they misbehave - it's all their fault, is that right?
Is it too much to ask that the movie studios and publishers take responsibility for the actions they fund, and some say even induce?
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Re: then they are just as responsible
ergo ....
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These guys in charge have proven to the people they can no longer function as a working government.Blaming each other is now a stale excuse.Revolution is in the air.You had better listen and not try to take our freedom away or you might not like the answer the public gives you.Remember there are wacko violent people out there and they are getting more angry every day.
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Warner Brothers turn around about the financial solvency
Warner Brothers boasted a profit of 822 billion US Dollars to then claim they are poor reminds me of how other companies prove their loyalties are to few people, some investors - rarely to their employees and their country of origin or any country. They also rarely respect and find ways not to keep employees or employees of business who dare to dissent and express credible facts that exposes hypocrisy and corruption. Businesses are proving to be like a sword - in a way they provide great services and products but also behave as parasites. People can Google my name: Sam's Club 6625+Max Rafael Waller. I have worked for Walmart Stores Inc and I ended being frustrated with the deeds of Rob Walton and other people in the world like him.
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This is regular accountability practices. Nothing to see here, now move along.
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Warner Bros. doesn't have the first idea of what accountability is.
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David Praus doesn't receive royalties from Return of the Jedi, yet it was the 38th highest grossing movie in the U.S. of All-Time. How do they point fingers with a straight face?
http://filmunlim.com/index.php?o=3111
http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross
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Judge William Adams beats daughter for using the internet
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Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/02/justice/texas-video-beating/index.html
How many children took a beating for sharing?
Those children should not fallow the example of Jesus and share anything it is lying, cheating and stealing according to a US Judge LoL
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A US judge beating his daughter because she fileshared.
It may not be Warner Bros responsibility alone, but every children being beaten right now because of copyright crazy laws Warner have a part in it, every musician that is losing his job at the local bars because they can't afford to pay ASCAP/BMI Warner is in part responsible, every mother being jailed or bankrupt because of filesharing Warner is in part responsible, they may not be directly responsible for it, but they are one of the principal forces behind those ridiculous laws proposed and approved, it is not just Disney you know.
To be fare if it was not for filesharing that Judge probably would have found another thing to beat his daughter, but that is the nature of abuse it only needs excuses any excuse and who suffers are the defenceless, those who pay for the abuses are the little people, companies don't have to worry about what their laws do, working musicians, actors do, the people who live on the less than 30K a year are the ones who will have to live with those laws and that man there just show to everyone what it is like in real life to see what happens, when abusive people get the excuses they need to beat others, he is no different from Righthaven extorting people, or anybody in a position of authority jailing a mother or students because they dared to share something.
I just can't put it in words, that guy there is how I see copyright, an abusive father who puts his entire family through hell just to uphold his crazy vision of right and wrong.
That is the kind of thing that SOPA/PROTECT IP/E-PARASITES will enable, it takes out all safeguards and expose others to this kind of thing.
Aside from that on a minor note, I hope not many children get spanked because they share anything. Although some defenders of abusive laws like copyright may disagree I will bookmark this one link and show it to them every chance I get.
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2 points:
1: Corporal punishment is legal, and popularly accepted in Texas.
2: As a spanked kid myself, that was little more than a slap on the wrist.
Well, that and the fact that, having set up a camera in her living room, I think she was setting her dad up for CPS.
And since it took her 7 years to get any attention for this, CPS must have laughed at her.
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Legal or not, doesn't make it right. She wasn't just spanked on her butt, she was smacked on her legs and thighs, which is beyond modern acceptable corporal punishment. People don't even beat their dogs like that without getting in trouble.
Yes, I got beat too. Still doesn't make it right what happened to either of us.
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If not why use it to educate anyone?
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Sometimes it does.
When my sister was attacked in her home by someone who turned out to be a serial rapist and murderer, and she was able to get to her gun, that violence saved her life.
So yes, sometimes violence is exactly the solution that's needed.
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Nice to see your mania has gotten near the true problem: MONEY.
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Re: Nice to see your mania has gotten near the true problem: MONEY.
"Only sick music makes money today."
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Re: Nice to see your mania has gotten near the true problem: MONEY.
/killmeplease
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Re: Nice to see your mania has gotten near the true problem: MONEY.
So what? At least in Mike's case, its a grammatically acceptable way to put emphasis on certain words.
So...are you now so out of ideas that the only way you can criticize Mike is through grammar? I bet even you must get sick of constantly repeating yourself over and over again.
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So if they want to reverse this trend why don't Google and Apple etc start buying the content companies like WB? It's the same strategy that the cable co's are employing.
Vertical integration is a fantastic way to accumulate wealth and power.
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Warner Brothers movies suck mightily!
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How?
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Re: How?
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WTF
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Broadcast TV (free) was pivotal in increasing people's interest in watching hollywood's product; again it was 'free' to consumers.
Those two little 'free' items, probably have more to do with the profits of media companies than anything else.
Why is media on the internet so much different?
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