It’s a given that the major studios are scared to death of piracy. Who can blame them? I mean, just look at what file sharing did to the music business.
And with screeners going to to people on high quality DVD and Blu-Ray, a movie can get all over the place in a hurry.
So the news hits that Super 8 got leaked, and the copy in question had Howard Stern’s name on it.
As listeners of the show know, Stern routinely begs and pleas with the studios to give him screeners of current movies. He obviously can give a film great exposure on his show, and he’s promised the studios they would never leak or get bootlegged.
Still, as Deadline reports, the DVD that leaked had H Stern watermarked on it. (Screeners are personalized so you can trace where they leaked.)
Paramount’s still trying to figure out how it got out. Although no one on the Stern show is currently suspected, Mike Fleming writes, “This potentially hurts his show and its credibility with studios.” (Then again, a lot of people in mainstream Hollywood flee in terror from The Howard Stern Show, which just gives him more fuel for his fire against full of sh*t celebrities.)
And as any long time listener could have predicted, Howard turned this into comedy for his show. Stern read from the Deadline report and he promised, “This is gonna set me off on a rant like you’ve never heard before,” on Robin’s birthday no less. “My head’s gonna explode on the air.” Howard’s wanted screeners for a long time, “Why wouldn’t they trust me? I’m not gonna risky my career to bootleg a movie?”
Stern went on to say having his name on a DVD “annoys the sh*t out of me, cause when you’re watching it, your name’s across the middle of it.” According to Howard, when a screener comes in, only two people, Gary or Tracy, would ever have their hands on it, and Baba Booey’s instructed to send it right back to the studio. Stern also said he’s a big anti-piracy guy, and indeed, he’s gone on a rant about YouTube pirating the show.
The studio asked Gary if Howard left it at a vacation house, which is where they often have these kinds of problems, but Stern said, “I’m so paranoid about it, I watch it, I put it back in my bag, and I take it home. Nobody gets it, nobody can see it, forget it.”
Again, Paramount doesn’t suspect Stern or some chucklehead working for him, so whoever leaked it still remains at large.
