How 1960s Film Pirates Sold Movies Before the FBI Came Knocking

[hunter]

2. Transferring 35mm prints to more accessible "home theater" 16mm format was hard core.

Feature length 16mm prints were not cheap, neither was the equipment required to make a good quality transfer.

Today about three minutes of the least expensive 16mm film (expired stock or never-the-same-color-twice stock) costs about $40. Then it costs another $40 to develop it. That would be $2400 for a 90 minute feature film, and only if you could find someone willing to touch copyrighted material.

It wasn't any less expensive then, and you usually had to "know a guy" who'd make a run after hours, etc...

A guy like Roddy McDowall had the money and connections, and maybe studio hounchos who'd appease him with "illegal" 16mm copies for his collection.

Exporting to South Africa was probably an inside job too, at a level far above the mail room clerks. There were plenty of racist assholes in Hollywood who disagreed with the export ban and probably took money under the table to send films that way.

Today's pirates have it easy.