Peter S. Beagle needs our help.

I was reading Neil Gaiman's online journal today, skimming back through some entries, and came across a notice about Peter S. Beagle getting screwed by his publisher and the manufacturer of The Last Unicorn DVD.

You can find out more about what's going on here. While I don't agree with the outraged tone of that letter, or some of the claims they're making (such as whether PSB should be compensated for Peter Jackson's work just because PSB made an animated movie based on the same books) - I agree with what they're outraged about. The gist of it is: the author and screenwriter of a movie is getting absolutely no compensation for his work from the company producing it on DVD.

I buy books, movies, cd's, and go to see in-theater movies, because I believe in supporting the people who spend months or years of their lives creating something that entertains me. To say I'm a bibliophile and a media slave would be putting it lightly - almost all my spare cash gets dumped into my book and media collection. I'm also a firm believer of spreading the addiction joy - if I like a book, movie, or cd, I'll buy it for other people and give it to them if I think they might also like it. Hell, I buy stuff I utterly loathe if I think someone else might like it. (*cough* Like this.)

I was so excited when The Last Unicorn was released on DVD. It had been a VHS movie long ago, and out of print for almost 20 years. Getting my hands on a copy, or even a copy of a copy, wasn't easy the first time I did it, and I paid through the nose for my battered, second-hand VHS copy. The DVD came out, and I rushed out and bought it, and pimped it to all my friends, most of whom also went out and bought it.

To find out that absolutely none of that money went back to the author, who is also the screenplay writer, has me in a frothing, rabid fury. I didn't buy the DVD to own a copy of the movie - I bought it because it's the only way I have to support the person who wrote it and the people who animated it, and the other bigazillion people who had anything to do with creating it or getting it back on the market. If I simply wanted a copy of the movie, well, the moment it was released on DVD, it was probably available for download somewhere.

I do download an awful lot, but at least 96% of what I download is a) something I already own but wanted in a different format (ie, have it on tape, wanted it on mp3), b) something I end up buying, c) something the studio has taunted me with for over two years and not released in a format I can spend money on. I highly approve of official sites that let me preview music or movies before I buy them, and am much more likely to purchase said media from a site that allows me that option. There is occasionally something I download that I choose not to buy, but it isn't something I keep or pass on to others. I guess you could say I'm an ethical pirate, but I don't consider myself a pirate at all, because if I download something and like it, I go out and buy it. If I don't like it, I delete it - and if I'd gone and purchased the hardcopy and didn't like it, I'd return it and get store credit with which to buy something else. I could just pirate, and save myself a fat wad of cash every year, but that wouldn't support the people who make my entertainment possible. "Piracy takes bread out of the artists' mouths!" is the RIAA's rallying cry, to which I've always been able to shrug and say, "Yeah, well I do my bit."

Now I find out that my bit isn't going where I thought it was, the person responsible for one of the best modern fables out there is seeing none of it because the production company isn't paying him. That makes me very, very bitter. Had I known that before I bought the DVD, I would not have purchased it. Now all I can hope is that there's a big freaking breach of contract lawsuit and the company pays up, and my money goes where I intended it to go in the first place.

Please note that I'm not saying people should go jump on the wagon and rally money for a lawyer for this case - there isn't enough information, and there are plenty of lawyers out there who would love to take this case on contingency if it's a breach of contract case. I wanted to make people aware of the misrouting of funds from the DVD so they are better informed if they choose to purchase it, and to make others aware that there's now a better way to buy the books if you want to ensure the money goes to the author. The other very nice thing about Beagle's new publisher is that they claim here that none of their titles will ever go out of print. That alone would be enough to make me order from them. The money going directly to the author I'm trying to support is, however, the main reason.

I am so very rabidly angry about this. I can't do much, I wish I could do more.
-Peregrine