UK Screen And FACT Lead The Fight On Film Piracy

With film piracy becoming an increasing concern throughout the industry, UK Screen (formerly UK Post & Services) is teaming up with FACT (the Federation Against Copyright Theft) to roll out a standard industry security questionnaire to all facilities in its membership. The questionnaire will help establish a range of robust benchmarks at facilities covering security design, procedures and staff vetting, as well as to cut out some of the current duplication whereby facilities become FACT accredited but then also have to complete further questionnaires for each major US studio.
"The idea is for this to become part of the FACT accreditation process which would mean that facilities would only have to be audited once rather than by each individual studio," said UK Screen CEO, Gaynor Davenport. "This will save a considerable amount of management time and further enhance the value of FACT accreditation."
A steering committee under the co-chairs of Julian Day (DGP) and Ruth Parkinson (Disney) and featuring representatives from BVA, FACT, MPA, UK Film Council and UK Screen first established there was sufficient appetite in the industry for such a move and has since worked to create a base level for accreditation. These measures include both physical and staff security and protection of digital material and assets.
John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Film Council welcomed the initiative and said: "This is a sensible and welcome step forward and shows the industry is united in the fight against piracy."
"Through working in partnership this project has successfully delivered significant value for all parties in the form of consistency in the security of Distributors Assets, improved efficiencies for UK Screen Member and validation as to the value of FACT's Accreditation Scheme," commented Ruth Parkinson, Disney.
"Content security is of utmost importance to the major studios," commented Julian Day. "As the industry moves towards the widespread adoption of digital workflows, this is a particularly good time to set in stone secure customs and practises that will serve it well in the future. With all the major studios getting behind this initiative, as well as FACT, and UK Screen it means all those concerned are united in protecting the future of our business."
Kieron Sharp, FACT Director General, added: "FACT’s Accreditation Scheme has already been widely accepted across the post-production sector and we are delighted to link up with UK Screen to make the scheme the industry standard. Combined with FACT’s enforcement activities, this should help to ensure that we have a strong and vibrant UK post-production industry."
(DS)