How The MPAA Screws Over Indie Filmmakers

from the not-about-the-film-industry dept

One of the amusing things that we've seen in following groups like the MPAA and the RIAA over the years is every time they try to claim that they're really doing what they do to support the independent artists out there. Both organizations represent the big studios and the big labels. But, to make themselves sound more sympathetic, they love to claim that their real concerns are in protecting the "small guys" out there. We've seen it a lot in the film industry, where the big studios and the MPAA guys love to claim their "real concerns" are about indie filmmakers. Just a few months ago, when I appeared on a panel at a big Hollywood event for independent filmmakers, one of my co-panelists was from the MPAA, and he tossed out that line about how the big studios were fine, but he was really concerned about the indies.

Of course, that's hogwash. They represent the big studios and that's all they're concerned with. TorrentFreak points us to a perfect example of this in a short snippet of South Park's Matt Stone and Trey Parker talking about how the MPAA screwed them over when they were indie filmmakers when it came to ratings, but when they were working with a major studio, things were entirely different:

Filed Under: indie film
Companies: mpaa