CHICAGO — The undercover movie cops entered the theater through separate doors, hoping to catch a pirate in the act.
Move seats often. Check night-vision scopes. Spot the offender.
These are just some of the rules Gene Harris and Gary Kissinger live by, in their cat-and-mouse game to find those who record, sell and buy movies illegally.
Yet as the two walked into a matinee on a recent Friday, suspects, it seemed, would be in short supply. The duo had entered a showing of “Martian Child,” the new PG-rated John Cusack comedy, and the average age of those in attendance was probably around 11.
The kids carried candy, snacks and soda to their seats, while the Motion Picture Association of America investigators patrolled the aisles, pointing out spots in the center- back section where a “cammer,” as they’re called in the industry, would most likely set up to illegally film the screen. As the lights dimmed in the theater, the men took out their night-vision scope and began to work in earnest.
The pirating of films accounted for $6.1 billion in lost ticket and DVD revenue in 2005, according to the most recent MPAA figures. Since then, the problem is believed to have grown, as more people acquire high-speed home Internet and cheaper/faster DVD burners. There are also the leaps in the technology of video cameras, which have become smaller, digital and often embedded into other devices, such as Harris’ cell phone.
It’s a fast-changing world for Harris and Kissinger too, who must keep up with that technology to best be able to spot anyone filming within a theater. There was a time when creating a decent pirated-theater copy required a tripod, a camera the size of a suitcase and a host of editing equipment. All pirates need now is a small camera, a computer and a theater armrest.
The Chicago area doesn’t have anywhere near the problem of people illegally recording and selling films that New York and countries such as China and Russia do, but it definitely exists here. Kissinger says movies are filmed illegally at theaters all over the area. Harris points to Chicago’s West Side and the southwest suburbs as hot spots for selling the items, although a major bust in Evanston, Ill., last week shows that pirated DVDs get sold everywhere, to say nothing of online downloading.
Such diversity extends to the cammers themselves, who vary in age, color and income bracket. Harris says he has caught – police actually make the arrests – everyone from old men to female teens, including a Polish national he believes was working as part of an organized crime ring.
