Download Devastation?

Cannes Film Festival Launch of New Book provides the answers to online film distribution. The Internet and mobile platforms are not a threat to the film industry but represent a huge opportunity to reach new markets and audiences - provided film companies understand how to set up digital deals. The claim has been made by a lawyer who is launching a new book at the 60th Cannes Film Festival which explains the plethora of legal issues relating to Internet and mobile film distribution. 

The book, entitled Film and Television Distribution & The Internet – A Legal Guide For The Media Industry is endorsed by the UK Film Council and is written by Andrew Sparrow, a new media lawyer and founder of London based Lecote Solicitors which concentrates on new media law.

Mr Sparrow explained;‘The Internet will revolutionise the film industry. It is a super –distribution channel and one only has to look at websites like YouTube to see how film content is being delivered direct to online audiences. However, whether you are setting up deals with Internet Service Providers or mobile phone operators or making your content available direct to users over the Internet, there are significant legal issues to understand.’ ‘These issues include intellectual property rights exploitation and licensing, contract formation, data protection, online marketing of film and a host of other laws which apply to Internet film distribution. The new book is written for the film industry and explains all the laws a film company must abide by if it wishes to offer its catalogue over networks.’ Mr Sparrow explained how the advent of new platforms including the Internet and mobile phones represent a huge opportunity for the film industry. ‘The Internet makes possible highly targeted content. Developments like social networking websites have shown that people like all sorts of content but enough of them like it to make it commercially viable over the Internet. If you can identify your audience and know their preferences you can target your catalogue with an incredible degree of accuracy. There are new audiences for film out there. The Internet does not spell an end to the film industry as currently configured. It can be a medium for creating new markets.’ ‘It’s about impulse purchase. The consumer can download a film, perhaps an older film no longer available on DVD. They might do this using their mobile phone or PC but actually watch the film on their Television. It is an incredibly exciting time for the film business.’ 
Peter Buckingham, Head of Distribution and Exhibition at the UK Film Council which has endorsed the new book said; ‘The minefield of rights clearances, new rights definitions and global distribution possibilities comes with a price. And that price is knowledge. This book is both an examination of the legal issues and a hand book in actually launching a film or TV programme into the new digital world. It could not be more timely.’    
Mr Sparrow has chosen this year’s Cannes Film Festival to launch his new book because he believes the international film industry recognises that digital distribution is real and is happening now. He concluded;‘Even last year many film companies thought that the impact of the Internet was some years away. However, a lot has happened in the last 12 months. Broadband penetration in the home has increased and compression technologies have improved. Laptops are becoming primarily media centres on which one can watch movies. The opportunities for the film industry exist right now.’ ‘It’s not an issue you can kick into the future.’ 

Copies of the book were available for order in the British Pavilion during the Festival or can be ordered online at www.gowerpub.com.
Mr Sparrow is also delivering a seminar on the issues covered in the book on Wednesday 23 May at 4.00pm in the UK Film Council Pavilion. He can be contacted during the Festival on 07870 164686 or by email at andrewsparrow@lecote.com ENDS Note To Editor:Photograph attached shows lawyer and author Andrew Sparrow of Lecote Solicitors with his new book Film and Television Distribution & The Internet – A Legal Guide For The Media Industry on the red carpet at Cannes. Mr Sparrow is author of 6 books on Internet commercial law published in the UK, USA and China. In 2004 he was acknowledged in a national poll supported by the UK Government Department of Trade & Industry ( DTI) as one of 100 individuals in the UK who had contributed most to the development of the Internet in the previous 10 years.