| Jerome Bixby's "The Man From Earth" sees ranking on IMDb MOVIEmeter go from #11,235 to #6 in two weeks. The independent film is now ranked as the 14th best Sci-Fi film ever.
Producer Thanks Internet Pirates For Sharing His Film
While the conundrum facing the film industry over Internet piracy heats up, one producer of an independent low-budget film has taken matters into his own hands...
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Richard Riehle as Dr. Will Guber in The Man From Earth
The day after the DVD release (11/13/07) of his film Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth, producer Eric D. Wilkinson took the groundbreaking step to directly address peer-to-peer file sharing constituents. On the blog rlslog.net he thanked the "pirates" for downloading his film. He also requested that they spread the word, buy the DVD and donate money for their viewing to the film at www.manfromearth.com. While Wilkinson, a home entertainment business veteran and Southern New Jersey native, hardly condones illegal downloading, he realized that the genie was already out of the bottle. Wilkinson figured it was better to embrace the phenomenon than try to fight it. "Am I upset... surprisingly no", Wilkinson commented to www.rlslog.net. "Thanks to everyone who has downloaded this torrent and watched the film, our awareness level is through the roof. For that I say, 'Thank You!'" His posting has since spread to numerous blogs and websites and has inspired hundreds of responses from around the globe.
The film became available on peer-to-peer file sharing sites in the week before it was released on DVD. Reaction and enthusiasm for the film was fantastic. Between November 5th and 7th the www.manfromearth.com website saw traffic increase by over 3,000%. On the Internet Movie Database, the film's MovieMeter ranking - which gauges awareness of a title by measuring traffic to its IMDb entry - rose from #11,235 on October 28th to #144 on November 4th, peaking at #6 by November 11th. It is currently ranked as the 14th best Science-Fiction film ever.
Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth DVD is available through retailers and online. For more information about the film and its creators please visit www.manfromearth.com.
About Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth:
On a cold night in a remote cabin, Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith of CSI: Miami, Fight Club) gathers his most trusted colleagues for an extraordinary announcement: He is an immortal who has migrated through 140 centuries of evolution and must now move on. Is Oldman truly Cro-Magnon or simply insane? Now one man will force these scientists and scholars to confront their own notions of history, religion and humanity, all leading to a final revelation that may shatter their world forever.
The Man From Earth is a provocative final work by Jerome Bixby (Fantastic Voyage, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Star Trek), renowned as one of the greatest science-fiction authors of all time. After 30 years he completed writing the film on his deathbed with his son Emerson Bixby. The Man From Earth is executive produced by Mark Pellington (The Mothman Prophecies, Arlington Road) and directed and produced by Richard Schenkman (The Pompatus Of Love). The film co-stars John Billingsley (Star Trek: Enterprise), William Katt (Carrie, The Greatest American Hero), Ellen Crawford (ER), Richard Riehle (Office Space), and Tony Todd (Candyman, Final Destination, Platoon).
Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth received two awards at the Rhode Island International Film Festival in August: First place for Best Feature and Grand Prize for Best Screenplay. The film was also an Official Selection at San Diego Comic-Con International Film Festival in July.
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2007 by AlternativeApproaches.com
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