You regulars know who I'm talking about. For those who do not, I'll only refer to him as MPP because I don't want this article to get him into even MORE trouble. The studio making this film in an uproar, threatening to sue for posting up stuff that is sent to him. I'm no lawyer, and I don't condone piracy or theft, but it seems to me that MPP is just being a good journalist!
I wanted to inform everybody about this because we need to support good contributions to CBM so they can keep prospering and give us fans a voice, and a say in the comic book movie industry. CBM is one of the last news sites out there that doesn't punk out to the big studios, controlling what THEY want us to see WHEN then want us to see it. I don't think I'm just speaking for myself when I say GET REAL! This is the Internet!
If you've been a loyal reader on CBM as long as I have, you know how it works. This site is run and operated by us, comic movie fans. One of us gets a legitimate tip or exclusive (say, a Green Lantern picture just for arguments sake), and we can post it on CBM to share with our fellow readers. Soon many other movie and comic book sites pick it up and report about it, crediting CBM and the contributor who posted it. Lots of people come to this site, and sometimes we get credit and we get noticed. But then the studio gets wind of it, they don't like it and they contact CBM and tell them to take it down. Then CBM takes it down--as they should if it's copyrighted. Now, I understand that the studio needs to do damage control if they have a leaker in their midst, but in today's information age, once an image, or scoop, or bit of news hits the net, every fan has it on their hard drive. To attack a single individual or even a single website is just slimey and unfair.
In this whole scenario you notice that a few of the big movie sites out there never reported about this big scoop. Why? Because they are the ones controlled by the studios. The ones who have sold out for perks like interviews, press junkets and set visits. These shill sites may even already have the exact same tidbits, pictures or video that was leaked, but they are waiting until the studio gives the word to release it. They are told to ignore CBM and MPP or lose their preferential treatment. It ruins the meaning of an "exclusive" when everything is released at the same time, but that is what the studio wants: complete control. It's ENTERTAINMENT NEWS! Why so serious??
You know who these sites are without me naming them. Lots of us visit them too. I'm sure they would love to post all the leaked stuff that shows up here, but the studios keep them under their thumb. A lot of them trash CBM for being a tabloid rag and call our beloved site "unprofessional" because CBM lets all users contribute, and mainly because CBM isn't L.A.-based. Still, CBM contributors produce good stuff and we should all be proud of what we do here. We've had our share of scoops, exclusives and generally get them without any help from the studios. Sure there are contributors who can't spell for shit, and 13-year-olds that produce nothing but juvenile Spider-Man reboot fan casts, and the occasional ASSHOLE TROLL that posts complete bullshit, but that is part of CBM's charm and we fans keep the site straight and happening. And whether our critics want to admit it or not, we DO have a lot of regulars who have built names for themselves as legitimate reporters, interviewers, and scoopers.
Which leads me back to the dilemma of our friend MPP. He's just another guy like lots of us, reporting on his love of comic book movies. Yet the studio is now giving CBM grief and unjustly targeting MPP, trying to squash him simply because he's gotten a few scoops. It began when he contacted the studio to see if he could get an early set visit on a certain shoot in New Orleans. He was promised that he could. Except that after he got down there, they decided that they didn't like some of the stuff he had already posted on CBM, and they rudely told him to go buzz off. Well, as any decent reporter would do already being there, he didn't just sit down and cry about it, he was able to get plenty of news and info on his own from just hanging around. NOTHING illegal was done, and everything that was shared with him was from the studio's OWN people. Of course after he posted some of it, the studio was PISSED with him. And since he contributes to CBM, they sure as shit are pissed with the site too. Despite this, MPP has developed his connections and expanded his circle of sources and has garnered even more interesting info about their projects, which he shares with us on CBM. Only ONE studio has a stick up their ass about it. This studio, which will remain unnamed, now seems to have a fricking task force dedicated to watching CBM and whenever ANYTHING from MPP gets posted they immediately get it removed. Again, WHY SO SERIOUS?
So, what can we do about this? I know what I'm gonna do:
1) Support CBM. They are doing us a great service and giving us a voice.
2) Support the fans. WE MADE the comic movie industry popular.
3) Support the journalist who give us the news we want to read about. And that means ANYBODY who is not afraid of the studios. The studios get all the support they need from my $17 3D movie tickets. The HELL if I'm gonna give them any more than that!