The series was financed through sponsorship deals and released for free on the web and on P2P networks under a Creative Commons license (attribution, no derivative works).
Mitchell Reichgut, director of the series, says in an e-mail newsletter:Another question that keeps coming up in our IRC channel and in forums around the web, is our rumored connection to SONY.
We pay for The Scene ourselves and the idea that the show is some kind of anti-piracy propaganda is truly silly.The story centers on Drosan (Brian Sandro), a member of a fictitious scene group called CPX.
Drosan is forced by circumstances to sell the pre-release films to commercial unauthorized distributors in Asia.
It imitated the format of the original series and overtly criticised it for its possible connections with groups opposed to unauthorized copying (and Sony sponsorship in general), mocking its amateurish approach to depicting people who copy and distribute software without authorization using the exaggerated mannerisms of script kiddies.