Bloomberg Takes On Movie Piracy
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Mayor Bloomberg announced a three-pronged campaign yesterday to crack down on illegal movie pirating — a breach he says undermines the city’s booming film and television industry.
During an appearance with Whoopi Goldberg at City Hall yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said the city would find, sue, and shut down landlords who knowingly house people who sell pirated DVDs. That strategy, which has never been tried here, would use nuisance abatement laws.
Under the crackdown, the city also plans to push for state legislation to make it a crime to record copyrighted movies. The proposal calls for making a first offense a misdemeanor and a second a felony with a prison term of up to four years.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America, roughly 43% of pirated DVDs found in America and 20% of the pirated movies sold worldwide are traced back to New York.
The city has in the past 18 months created a tax credit program for the film and television industry to compete with what’s offered in other cities, including Toronto and Prague.
Filmmakers here are eligible for a 15% tax break — 5% from the city and another 10% from the state — if they film at least 75% of their film in the city.
Yesterday Mr. Bloomberg said the new tax breaks brought in $1.5 billion in new production last year. He said that while on a trip to California last month he met with two big Hollywood producers who said they wanted to move their full operations to New York.
The city estimates that the industry generates $5 billion in economic activity annually and employs roughly 100,000 people. Mr. Bloomberg said those who think movie piracy is a “victimless crime” should think again. It kills jobs, he said.