Introduction

In retrospect, it is easy to identify digital technology and the disruptive nature of the Internet as two key factors shaping the broader screen landscape over the last decade or so. Debates about ‘piracy’, the role of intellectual property (IP) and the impact of digital technology on the screen industries have recognised the importance of the shift to digital (Balio 2013; Iordanova and Cunningham 2012; Ulin 2014). This chapter examines the role played by digitisation and its wider ramifications in both the strategic thinking and operational practice of the UKFC for the UK film industry's patterns of production, distribution and exhibition.

This chapter explores the extent to which strategic thinking regarding the impact of digital technology informed the direction and role taken by the UKFC in engaging with what, in retrospect, were industry-changing processes. Was the organisation too slow to identify the transformative impact that digitisation would have on all areas of the film industry? To what extent were its interventions concerning production and distribution and exhibition successful in achieving what they initially set out to deliver? Did the UKFC, during its lifetime, enable the UK film industry to fully address both the challenges and opportunities that the transformation to a digital environment posed?

We initially examine the UKFC's strategic engagement with digital from 2000 to 2003. The chapter then examines and evaluates one of the Council's key interventions that directly addressed digital change, the development and implementation of the Digital Screen Network (DSN), before finally we account for the strategic shifts in the organisation's thinking around digital over its lifetime.