We are taught never to bite the hand that feeds us. Generally speaking that's pretty good advise, but what if that same hand is slowly starving you, or giving you food that's spoiled? Now what if we have to pay hard cash for this kind of service? Would you ever consider that a healthy economic model? As a film fan living in Belgium, this is pretty much how I feel, and it pains me to see that every attempt to improve this situation is killed from within the industry itself.

Fellow Twitcher Peter Martin launched a rant toward theater owners for allowing people to ruin the theater experience for others so easily. While I whole-heartedly support his opinion, I was even more shocked to hear that not only theater owners were opposing the initiative to get new films quicker to the people, but a list of reputable directors had the nerve to shoot down this initiative in the most mind-boggling way possible.

Previously attempts by Soderbergh (Bubble) were vigilantly countered and a lot of fuzz surrounded Disney's relatively short theater run window for Alice in Wonderland. Theater owners really don't like the idea of films getting spread to the masses shortly after their initial release, which, if you put yourself in their place, is actually quite normal. For years the theater business has enjoyed the luxury of offering films exclusively to the public for a short period of time, and it will no doubt hurt their business when people can freely decide whether to watch a film in cinemas or in the comfort of their own living room.

But this is the Western world you know, we are supposed to live in a consumer society where the consumer's demands impact the supply, and the voice of the consumer is quite clear on this subject. We want our films quicker, in our own home, when we are ready for them. The consumer is not here to artificially uphold an entire industry we don't really want or need (as a collective group). That's not to say that people don't like going to the theater anymore, but if the business is just too costly to run for the group of people that wants it, there really is no room for that business anymore. That's indeed harsh, but an economic reality that lives in just about every industry today.

There are two things in particular that struck me as completely surreal when reading through the letter. The first is that the people who wrote the letter describe the current distribution model as successful, the second is that they describe the system as "working well for the movie industry". In both statements there's an utter lack of respect for the people going out to buy and watch the movies they produce. The past 15 years have shown us that consumers are not happy with the distribution model of the movie industry, leading to illegal downloads, mass importing and a general lack of confidence in the powers that be.

The internet changed the game, not only because it gave way to illegal downloads, but because it took control away from the distribution of information. From the moment a Japanese production company puts a trailer online, audiences everywhere around the world are sparked to see this film. To some degree the movie industry realized this potential as they slightly improved their marketing strategies (yay, more and better ways to influence us to buy their products), but when it comes to actual distribution of the goods, they've remained mostly unmoving, hoping that their old model would stand all the heat.

As a film fan, I can only hope the current model crumbles quicker than a sand castle struck by a tsunami. While the whole world is buzzing about the newest releases, a lot of people are denied the joy of joining in on the conversation. Huge films like Black Swan are only released in Belgium during the Oscar weekend, for others (Ghost In The Shell 2) I had to wait more than 2 years before they made a theater appearance (note that it was already available on DVD in other parts of the world by that time), other films never appeared at all, not even on DVD. For someone willing to pay for watching a film, the industry is particularly uncaring to provide that most basic service to me.

I know distribution of goods is more complex than consumers see it, but over a period of 15 years time not much has changed for us. What's worse, there aren't even that many initiatives from the industry to change their distribution model. Some parts of the world have it better than others (America has VOD services with a pretty decent database of titles) but there still isn't much of a comprehensive distribution system that comes close to the illegal circuit. To cite a recent example: 13 Assassins is out on DVD in Japan, it's available on VOD for those who have access to it, but in Belgium you still need to wait more than 2 months for it to appear in cinemas. At least, the way the schedule stands now, which is hardly a guarantee for a "small" film like 13 Assassins. And if things turn really sour, it will receive a single-week release in a selection of cities that take longer to reach than it takes to watch the actual film. Is this really supposed to motivate me to wait for a local release?

In essence, film distribution isn't any more difficult than putting your film online and offering it to the world, streamed or downloadable, gradually opening up to new markets when subtitles (or god forbid, dubs) are added. The whole world is your customer as long as they can reach your site. This is of course an ideal customer model where we can see a film as soon as it is uploaded, no doubt there are countless reasons why this would not work as well as described here (outside of the fact that they might earn less - a good time to lower the wages of some actors no doubt) and no doubt it is incredibly naive, but it would surprise me that these problems are actual show-stoppers for an industry as big and wealthy as the movie industry.

See, I as a consumer don't understand why I can't get access to the films I want to see, or even want to buy. Marketing everywhere is getting us high on a buzz, then forces us to wait, sometimes indefinitely. This model worked in a time when only the biggest movie geeks were well-informed about upcoming releases, but with information available everywhere for everyone, this model is just too outdated and restrictive. By now I've had my fill of buying 50 dollar Japanese imports and watching them with a printed translation of the dialogs (Tenshi no Tamago - still no official English-subbed version for an animation landmark film from 1985), how insane must one be to continue such practices only to see the films he cares to see?

The worst thing about the letter though is that it reflects the inability of such a huge industry to acknowledge the actual problems it is facing. People have been yelling for a better, more correct and consumer-centered distribution model for the past 15 years, how is it possible to completely neglect (and even bluntly contradict) this and to state that the current model works "fine". Especially when almost every other official press release is targeted at declining sales and the effect of illegal downloads on our precious hobby.

While the premium VOD model itself doesn't really appeal to me (30 dollars, 60 days after a film is released in theaters, really??) it sounds like an important step in the good direction. The model itself will probably fail because it is incredibly overpriced for a relatively weak service, but it might spark some new life in finding better and fairer distribution systems, restoring some faith in the minds of those who pay for their 300 million ventures about some Smurfs in the jungle.

Then again, maybe I should just consider myself lucky that I know enough English to import my films from Hong Kong or Japan directly, otherwise I probably wouldn't even be an avid film fan. And maybe I should just believe those who tell me to "find another hobby" if I don't agree with the supply. One thing I know for sure though, if everyone out there with a grudge against the distribution model would turn against the film industry, they'd be in a lot more trouble than they are now.