How does Piracy affect Working Title and how have they tried to stop it?

Piracy is a crime that effects the production, distribution and exhibition of the film industry in the UK. With Hollywood investigators claim that Piracy has increased by 10% each year from the amount of revenue lost to illegal distribution. This is largely due to technological advances in internet speeds and broadbands, allowing for the faster distribution of files online, and increased confidence in computers and torrents en masse, and the fact that the quality of these torrents is improving so that the "consumer" obtains a better quality of the film. Approximately 77.75 Million counterfeit DVDs were sold in 2009, resulting in an effective monetary gain to criminals of £278 Million. This results in a huge loss to the Industry as a whole, £700 Million overall. This means smaller studios have less money to invest in future projects and produce further films, restricting creativity and overall reducing the choice of films that will be available to the consumer.

Companies such as Working Title have endeavoured to prevent piracy from effecting their profits. Working Title have also used the advancements in technology to produce higher definition films, creating a distinction between the legal and illegal copies, through blu-ray discs. Similarly, 3D films are produced, which aren't as readily available for the public to obtain, and create a unique viewing experience that isn't available through torrents, and blu-ray discs are encrypted with passcodes so they cannot be copied. Furthermore, Working Title distributed Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, in an encrypted safe, with a passcode to each individual safe, to combat piracy. They also create educational DVDs that inform people on the effects of Piracy to the filmmakers and the industry in an attempt to persuade and convince people, particularly the younger audiences who view Piracy as acceptable, to stop pirating films. Working Title also make their products available instantly online for rental, in a better quality than the alternative torrent download. It could be argued that piracy did allow for technological developments in film, as unique viewing experiences such as IMAX and 3D would not have been developed as much to combat piracy, benefitting the consumer. However, unless piracy is combatted more widely, it could lead to the decline of the film industry in the UK.