$500 BOUNTY SET FOR MOVIE PIRATES.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

The movie industry, eager to thwart a $3.5 billion annual loss to video pirates, promised Monday a bounty of up to $500 to any employee who catches someone in theaters recording a movie.

Motion Picture Association of America and the National Association of Theater Owners are jointly sponsoring the anti-piracy program to help combat the growing epidemic of people using their camcorders to copy films directly from theater screens.

``Within hours after a film is illegally camcorded from a theater screen, a digital copy of the pirated film is already percolating around the Internet,'' said John G. Malcolm, senior vice president and director of the MPAA's worldwide anti-piracy program. ``In a matter of days, organized crime syndicates in Russia, Malaysia and elsewhere have turned those films into optical discs that are being sold illegally on street corners around the world.''

Theater employees who catch someone in the act, notify police and thwart the recording can receive up to $500.

``Theater employees are increasingly vigilant about individuals who surreptitiously set up camcorders in their theaters,'' said NATO President John Fithian. ``This program will give every theater worker added incentive to take action against pirates and help protect our industry from this scourge.''

Loews Cineplex Entertainment was already offering its employees $100 if one of them caught someone recording a movie inside one of its theaters. Those employees now do more aisle checks and, for example, keep an eye on people who might be wearing overcoats far too big for the season. Loews also no longer even allows employees to sit through an initial running of a film, used to make sure the negative isn't damaged. Only a supervisor or a single technician is allowed to do so.

Last week, the MPAA took its fight against movie piracy to college campuses, to educate students and parents about illegal movie downloading and its negative effects on the film industry. Anti-piracy ads have begun appearing in daily newspapers and magazines nationwide as well as in more than 100 college newspapers. In the coming months, anti-piracy messages will begin appearing in movie theaters.

MPAA President and CEO Jack Valenti said he hoped the campaign will stem the illegal downloading but said the MPAA is keeping open the option of taking legal action against violators. Part of the urgency lies in the rapidly-rising speeds of file-trafficking networks.

``Last week, we began a ramped-up public information and education campaign to inform the American public about the dangers of theft of copyrighted movies,'' Valenti said. ``This announcement (Monday) is confirmation that we are determined to protect those creative works. We are grateful that our exhibition partners are joined in this effort.''

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com