Just for the record, this is not written in order to get a handout, but to challenge our audience.

So much of filmmaking and distribution is speculation. As we watch the ebb and flow of sales and compare them to our other movies we have seen some interesting trends. Bringing up Bobby appears to be targeted for piracy a lot more than some of our other films that have sold more copies. I was searching video sharing sites to see how wide spread the piracy was and it turned out that Between the Walls (our last film) was barely showing up while Bobby was all over the place. We’re not exactly sure why this has happened, but we have some ideas.

Bringing up Bobby is aimed at a younger audience – an audience that generally uses the Internet to get what they want.

I have had many discussions with friends and church goers about piracy and a growing number of people find nothing wrong with piracy, especially in gospel materials. Several people have even justified their actions by saying it is incorrect to “make money” from the gospel. Others do not see anything wrong with video recording off of television and retaining a copy of the film as their own.

First of all, the Apostle Paul addresses the fact that those in ministry should be sustained by those who benefit from it (see especially 1 Corinthians 9, though the whole book makes for good context). Paul did note that he did not want to be a financial burden on some churches, hence the popular argument that even he made tents to sustain his ministry so as not to be a burden. However, Paul used that fact as a matter of telling the people how immature they were in their faith – that they could be so easily discouraged. He is nothing but clear throughout his writings in stating that he relied on the generosity of those around him.

Second, there is no biblical argument that allows people to steal for any reason. Downloading a video off of the Internet truly is the same thing as stealing a copy off of a store shelf. Not only does piracy hurt the distribution company, but it also hurts the artists AND the merchant who sells those goods. At the present time there are no legal ways to download Bringing up Bobby or Between the Walls. If you are downloading the film, you are breaking mans law and God’s law.

I write all of this not merely out of monetary necessity, but also as a cry for help. Because the film is being illegally downloaded, it is not selling in stores. Since it is not selling in stores, the stores may soon threaten to stop carrying the project. If this film and others like it do not sell in stores, more and more filmmakers will look at those sales and conclude that only prairie dramas and end times films are desirable to Christian audiences. Distributors will say that Christian comedies are not financially viable and our market will only get more and more homogenous.

We have some interesting discussion tools on our podcast site at www.glowingnose.com about these issues. One is the podcast about piracy and another is about the necessity of paying for church needs. We encourage you to listen to these podcasts and start a discussion in your local church and on our sites.

What do you think about piracy? What can you do to encourage legal transactions? How can you encourage those in your local church to see piracy as a real issue? Is downloading a movie a sin? Is it a sin to download a song to see if you like it before you buy it? We want to hear from you!

Thanks again for your support of original, creative, and challenging Christian films!