As with all media, any attempt to ignore the fast approaching world of legal film downloading is seen as 'swimming against the tide'. Piracy is a major concern of all film distributors, with Hollywood investigators claiming a 10 per cent increase each year in revenue lost to illegal distribution. In the UK the Film Council's report Film Theft in the UK (2004) claimed that only Austria and Germany have a higher degree of DVD piracy.
The industry's recommendations include a strategy for responding to internet distribution opportunities, and for working with other media and communications industries. Ultimately the report sought to remind the public that small production companies are actually hurt more by piracy than multinational conglomerates, as they cannot bear the impact with already acquired capital. Another aspect of technological change that the Film Council is concerned with is digital filming and projection. The Digital Screen Network project is the Film Council's attempt to provide cinemas with digital projection facilities, and it is hoped (but by no means guaranteed) that more small-scale independent films will get seen this way.
At the other end of the 'food chain', digital technology has made life a lot better for low budget film makers and distributor-In the case of short films, it is now possible for these to reach a potentially wide audience via a range of hosts, from the UK Film Council to The UK Media Desk, BBC Film Network and Big Film Shorts, Film London's Pulse and a host of short film festivals, all of whom have online submission.
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