FanEdit.Org got a DMCA warning from the MPAA last week, forcing it to remove links to fan edits (feature films that had been re-edited by fans to suit their personal tastes). The move prompted press coverage, and even some bizarre fan outcry from a blog that covers Hollywood trade unions—its beef was that the MPAA went after edits like these but won”t allow actors to do the same (wha???).
Boon23, the administrator of FanEdit.Org, is fairly happy about the turn of events, all things considered. While bummed about having all links to fan edits removed, he reports on his site that it has gotten far more visitors now in the wake of coverage from mainstream media:
One week ago, hardly anyone on this planet knew about the existence of FanEdits! Even less about this little website! BUT with the MPAA coming in and trying to keep us from doing what we love to do this has drastically changed.
Over the last few days the news of this shutdown attempt went all over the globe and was read by hundreds of thousands of people. These people learned that our community produces FanEdits of a very high technical standard with passion, dedication and with no other motive than a great love of movies!
Yes, there are guys and girls out there that spend their free time without financial motivation in creating different and in quite a few cases, superior versions to those released by the studios.
FanEdit.org has had a huge number of visitors lately. What they saw was a chance… a chance to see a certain movie exactly the way they wanted to see it. Maybe even a completely new version or companion that compliments the original movie!
Welcome, new FanEdit audience.
We are here and will not go away. We will continue to work on movies because we know sometimes that the creativity of one out-matches that of many.
They have declared our hobby illegal. But does that make a faneditor a criminal? Judge for yourself. Are you entitled to watch an alternate free version when you have already bought the original one?
Of course, one other thing must be mentioned: bootleggers. Bootleggers are most responsible for the MPAA stepping in. It was brought to our attention that in Asia, Adywan’s STAR WARS REVISITED is pressed in high numbers and sold on black markets around the world as an official version. THIS is what endangers our art-form; Greed! Piracy! Thievery!
The Fanedit.org community has always reported every fanedit we found for sale to the authorities and we ask you to do the same. Selling and buying FanEdits is an absolute No-No and endangers everyone involved: the seller, the buyer and the faneditor.
I wrote about Fan Edits—and FanEdit.Org in particular—ages ago, and even then, I noted that while some of the edits linked to on the site sounded tasty, they weren’t worth taking the bait, for fear of being attacked by studio lawyers. Sounds like perhaps I was right to be so cautious.
Boon23 has it right. If there’s any good to come from this, it’s that folks like me were made aware of such an incredibly cool online community for the first time.