By Chris Ortman

Be sure to catch this article by Michael Cieply in today’s New York Times on CreativeFuture’s efforts to build a vibrant digital future that better serves audiences, artists, and all who create for a living.

CreativeFuture is a broad-based creative community coalition that seeks cooperation and common cause with everyone who takes a responsible position on the value of creativity and the need to take the profit out of piracy. The New York Times piece reads:

In a surprise move, Ms. Vitale, who built her executive reputation on hip films like “Hustle & Flow” and “The Virgin Suicides,” last month was named executive director of CreativeFuture, a coalition of movie and television producers, unions and companies that are bound by a common determination to get a grip, finally, on Hollywood’s digital future…Its new strategy generally eschews legislation, pursues voluntary agreements with legitimate companies that may be complicit with film piracy, and is looking for help from young consumers.

The story also details the challenges associated with financing films in an environment where for-profit pirate sites are making those films available for free.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ms. Vitale attributed the falloff to piracy-driven problems that have made it more difficult to finance an independent film by selling rights to foreign territories, where viewers flock to poorly controlled pirate sites, bypassing conventional outlets and the revenue they once provided to finance films. “Spain used to account for 8 percent of your budget,” she said. “Now, it’s zero.”

In a separate interview, Jean Prewitt, chief executive of the Independent Film and Television Alliance, said Italy was rapidly following Spain into the “no sale” column. “It’s not about lost profit. It’s about the ability to finance a picture in the first place,” Ms. Prewitt said.
Read full NYT article.