'Game of Thrones' director David Petrarca isn't concerned with piracy

Shawn Knight

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How do you react to a question about piracy when the hit television program you direct is the most downloaded show of 2012? If you are David Petrarca and your show is Game of Thrones, you simply shrug your shoulders and say that illegal downloads don’t really matter much because your program thrives on cultural buzz.

The director went on to say that shows like his capitalize on the social commentary they generate. “That’s how they survive,” he told a group of panelists at the Perth Writer’s Festival this past weekend.

game thrones david petrarca game of thrones

To put things into perspective, Game of Thrones was downloaded on average roughly 3.9 million times per episode last year. The next closest show, How I Met Your Mother, was downloaded about a million times fewer per episode.

Petrarca pointed out the fact that HBO, the premium cable channel that airs Game of Thrones, has 26 million subscribers in the US and about 60 million worldwide. With those sort of numbers, there’s no shortage of money flowing in to allow the network to create high quality content despite some illegal downloads.

He also said that other hit shows like Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy and Mad Men are all doing well because, aside from having great writing and production, they can all be consumed whenever it is convenient for the viewer. The director further drove his point across by holding up his iPad and saying he could use it to watch television or even read a book while in bed.

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I certainly cannot speak for others but I always buy series that are worthy of my money. If they are not I do not buy them, although I will watch them for free.

Game of Thrones is a series I will buy on Blu-ray because I feel that it is worth owning, same with Band of Brothers, Breaking Bad, and a few other shows that are actually exceptional.
 
People honestly need to think with this kind of mentality. If your show is not getting enough views, the piracy should at least help spread the word really. It might actually draw more people in, to actually subscribe so they can watch it. Or download / stream it maybe, there's all sorts of ways to watch something.

If your show is just a terrible thing, does it really matter if people pirate it? It might actually draw in some viewers, who might otherwise ignore it. Or at least form a reason why a show, should possibly be cancelled. Those figures can help make or break shows, yet they all worry about the bottom line dollars they feel are lost.

So many old things lost in time also, that don't get reruns, boxed episodes or the like. Those can draw in more fans also, and likely inspire revivals if at all possible. There's so much that they can't understand, eventually that mentality will be out the door. They just get too cushy with their jobs, and feel that they help keep things flowing. When in fact they do just the opposite sometimes.
 
The music industry has the biggest reason for concerns in piracy, as the current trend in that industry is "digital storage" on one's own hard drive. Movies and games are much too large to feasibly store hundreds of movies, so piracy on this level is much more like an advertising tool.

Musicians probably have the biggest reason to complain, but then again...they didn't really help themselves by boycotting digital distribution when it was a young market (I.e. Metallica). You reap what you sow, I suppose...

-Ravik-
 
I certainly cannot speak for others but I always buy series that are worthy of my money. If they are not I do not buy them, although I will watch them for free.

Game of Thrones is a series I will buy on Blu-ray because I feel that it is worth owning, same with Band of Brothers, Breaking Bad, and a few other shows that are actually exceptional.

Yeah, everyone supposedly buys it if it's worth the money. I wish I could throw away my Dr. bill if I'm still feeling sick, but that's not how it works.

If they cared about piracy they'd find a way to sell it to people now without an HBO subscription. Buying the season later is great, but not everyone wants to wait another year before they see it.
 
I pirated the first season and then bought the books. I couldn't wait to see what happened next.
 
Nice to hear that not all of Hollywood is brain dead., and actually understands how the world works.

Personally Game of thrones are not my thing. I prefer Asian series and movies , but since I cant pay for them, because they apparently do not want my money... I have to pirate to watch ..

If I could pay for it, and it was actually sold where I live , I would pay for it , happily.
Do pay for Crunchy Roll but they have only limited stuff though. Still a good start for a legal way to watch what I want .
 
The Oatmeal covered why GoT is pirated so much. Many people love the show enough they would be happy to pay for every episode, they just don't want to have to be a cable subscriber with the HBO package to get it. They simply cannot get it legally in any other way.

See: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones
 
Well, if you can't stop all the piracy, why even bother? The new rules are just going to make it more difficult for the legal TV watchers to acquire their TV.

If you want to pirate you can just circumvent the internet company's restriction using an offshore proxy, so the new rules are completely ineffectual because a small portion of the people will find a way around them. So, no rules should be put in place at all.
 
The net saved CHUCK for seasons 3-5 and I bet Firefly could have been saved easily with the same mass canvassing of the corporations that provided commercial revenue to that time slot.. ( chuck). People who would never have a chance to watch either show are given that chance on the internet, which allows them to in turn support the product.
 
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