[Dataloss] Does a data loss of one count if she is famous? It just isn't for "Ordinary People" anymore.

[rwise29210 at gmail.com]

      Thieves take laptop with Smith photos

      April 20, 2007 

      By Alan J. Keays Herald Staff 
     
      The head of Edgewood Studios in Rutland is looking for the return of a stolen laptop containing some valuable information, including unreleased images of Anna Nicole Smith, the star of his most recent film.

      "There are photographs in there that are not to be released," Giancola said Thursday afternoon in a phone interview from the offices of his Rutland-based movie production studio. "There is stuff that we have that is just not cleared for release."

      Police said burglars early Thursday broke into Edgewood Studios, at Howe Center, a large complex of offices and businesses just outside Rutland's downtown. Several other businesses in the complex were also burglarized.

      Police have made no arrest. Although the thieves did not steal all that much from his studio, the laptop contained a great deal of "proprietary material," including future movie scripts, plot lines, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, Giancola said.

      The laptop also contained unreleased photos of Smith, who before her death of a drug overdose in February played a starring a role in the studio's soon-to-be-released movie, "Illegal Aliens."

      "We're trying to find the laptop because it has material that has proprietary information to Edgewood Studios," Giancola said. "We're really hoping to get that laptop back because of the copyrighted material that was on it."

      "Illegal Aliens" is set to be released on DVD next month. The movie, filmed in September 2005 in Rutland, has generated international interest following the media attention that accompanied Smith's death.

      "What we're most concerned about is 'Illegal Aliens' kind of stuff, and that movie is not being released until May 1," Giancola said. "There's another movie called 'Zombie Town' and that movie's not going to be released probably until Halloween and there's material from that on (the laptop) and we don't want that out there, either."

      Surveillance video suggested the burglars did not target the laptop for theft because of its connection to Smith.

      Instead, Giancola said, it appeared the burglars were on a "drunken rampage," smashing the front door and two inside doors at the studio.

      Giancola said the value of the stolen items and the cost of repairing damage would amount to a couple of thousand dollars. However, he said, a dollar amount cannot be placed on the value of the "proprietary material" that was on the stolen laptop, including the Smith photos.

      "The intellectual property is way more valuable than any of the physical equipment we have," Giancola said.

      Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays at rutlandherald.com.

     


Rodney Wise

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