The 2009 American Film Market (AFM) offered multiple seminars on key industry issues and provided a forum where attendees could interact with prominent filmmakers and industry executives. On Monday, November 9, the DGA-programmed seminar Walking the Digital Plank: How to Out-Swashbuckle Online Pirates, explored the weapons of choice in the battle against online piracy.

AFM attendees gathered at Santa Monica's Le Merigot Hotel as DGA Independent Directors Committee, West member Jonathan Dayton (Little Miss Sunshine) moderated a discussion with a panel of experts that featured Warner Bros.' Technical Operations President Darcy Antonellis; computer security specialist/Digital Rights Management expert Brad Beutlich from the on-line anti-piracy company, DtecNet; online brand protection solution expert Andrew Horton from MarkMonitor; Vice President of the Content Protection Services group at Deluxe, Allan MacNeil; and Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA) board member and former chair of IFTA's Anti-Piracy Committee, Barbara Mudge. The panel discussed both high and low-tech solutions that not only attempt to block piracy but reduce its profitability.