Launch of film education pack

This is a very important step in tackling a huge problem for the Film, Video Games and Music Industries as well as other Intellectual Property based industries.

This is a global problem that will require a global solution. This solution will need to include a combination of education, enforcement and technology. Technology is currently part of the problem, but ultimately it will be the solution.

If we take a look at the scale of the problem we can see that Film Theft costs the UK film industry about £719million per year. When you look at this globally, this rises to around £10billion. If we include the impact to the video games and music industries the scale is vast. It is a huge loss of money that is vital to our economy.

The way we talk about film theft is really important. We have for too long used the term “piracy” which is itself almost glamorous. Pirates are romantic – think of Pirates of the Caribbean and Johnny Depp. We are talking here about stealing. About Theft. And theft of billions. Not so romantic! We need to use language which reflects the serious problem we are dealing with and we need our messages to be credible. This is essential if we want to make an impact.

The problem is nonetheless a complex one. This new education pack, which stimulates discussion, is a very constructive step in furthering understanding both of the problem and its scale. It is right to engage with young people and see how they view the issue. They perceive this as a victimless crime. It is essential for us to understand their perceptions if we are to change the mindset of the public about film theft.

The Film industry must ensure its messages are coherent. It could look like it wants it all ways. On the one hand the industry creates an insatiable appetite for the product. Huge marketing. Huge budgets. Huge deisire. Then we only make it available in limited form. The public want it. And they want to own it now. But they can’t. And then along comes another way of owning it. In their eyes it’s not illegal. Of course wrong but they don’t see it that way. In a street market, on the internet they download it. And so they have it. The film industry needs to look at this and see what can be done. I understand simultaneous release would have an impact on cinema exhibitors and understand why they don’t want this but we need to find a solution.

Film theft is closely linked to organised crime. I saw this as security Minister in Northern Ireland. These links are real and very serious.

The pack you are launching today is one of the most effective tools I have seen in relation to education.

One question I want to raise is whether this message can be aimed at much younger children as well. We teach our children at 5 years old that they cannot just take the sweets from the sweet shop. So perhaps we need also to be working at a much earlier stage with children. When we teach children how to use keyboards and how to access the internet – this is perhaps the moment to make them first realise access to information is not always free, show where it comes from and the value of it. If we reach children in schools early we may find it easier to reinforce these messages later on.

The analysis described today shows that it is easy to reach young people and alter their opinions about film theft.

The pack we are launching today will make a large contribution to this problem of IP theft. It is in the self interests of the film industry to engage with Government and enforcement agencies on this.

I have been genuinely impressed by this pack. It is evidenced based and it works.

Back to main