Sometimes the fiercest enemies figure out a way to become friends.
Which explains why Cinedigm, according to the Los Angeles Times, is turning to BitTorrent – the service many in the industry equate with online piracy – to help promote the independent film Arthur Newman, starring Emily Blunt and Colin Firth. In an unprecedented deal, BitTorrent will offer to its users the first seven minutes of Dante Ariola’s drama-comedy. Why on Earth would they do such a thing? Oh, maybe it’s because BitTorrent boasts 170 million users, and if Hollywood can figure out a way to turn them into paying customers, this will be a major step.
This isn't technology against content creators. It's an example of technology and content creators working together to figure out how we can help both of our businesses grow."
In theory, yes. And if BitTorrent is to be believed, this is the latest movement in an ongoing process to legitimize the company’s software and shed the label of “pariah” that has plagued BitTorrent since its earliest days … when users used the system to pirate movies and television shows. “Our job is to move files as fast as we can,” says Matt Mason, VP of Marketing for the software company. And if they can benefit an indie film in the process, all the better.
Arthur Newman, meanwhile, has been banging around the film festival circuit for a while, debuting at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival before gearing up for an April 26 limited release. In the film, based on Becky Johnston’s screenplay, Firth is cast as a man who fakes his own death and assumes a new identity, only to fall for a woman (Blunt) who’s also trying to leave demons in her past.
