The most devastating problem - creatively and financially - that the film industry faces right now is...well, piracy, mainly, amounting to millions (or even billions) of lost profits every single year. But the second biggest problem that Tinseltown is having to contend with in the modern age are leaks. Quentin Tarantino almost called off the production of his latest film, revisionist Western The Hateful Eight, after the closely-guarded screenplay somehow made its way onto the internet, where it was read by eager fans all over the world before the cameras even got chance to start rolling. The BBC have been struggling to keep a lid on the myriad surprises lined up for the new series of Doctor Who, too, thanks to the shooting scripts for the first five episodes also leaking to the internet. Then you have the pirated copies of movies that end up online before they're even in cinemas, thanks to assembly edits or rough cuts being taken from an in-studio DVD and plopped onto torrent sites. Where do all these leaks come from? Well, more often than not, it's some wrong 'un that's somehow involved in the industry themselves - either a production assistant wanting fellow fans to see a movie before release date, or a clumsy intern who leaves an agent's copy of a script lying around in a public place, just waiting to be snatched. Not only do these leaks affect production and possible box office returns, but they have an even more devastating effect on audiences: SPOILERS. Learning stuff about a film before you're supposed to? That's, like, the definition of a spoiler. And, as we know from countless fan, critic and creator tirades, spoilers are the worst things in the world. And you might learn to avoid them in the usual places, but what about when they come out of nowhere? When they pop up where you least expect it? Well, here are nine examples of the strangest places spoilers can come from.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
