In recent years, the number of film and television studios has increased significantly. The traditional base of studios in California has been supplemented with new facilities throughout the United States and Canada to accommodate the ever increasing demand for productions of screen-based and new media projects.

Along with these new facilities often comes the need for a facilities manager to be responsible for all aspects of property management, including safety and security of the tenants and premises. To help ensure this undertaking, many of the facilities are implementing an automated key management system to secure building keys and track access activity.

A managed key control system in a studio campus is similar in use and purpose to one installed at a college campus or a resort community. Keys are secured in a tamper-proof cabinet when not in use and only authorized users can access keys for which they have been pre-programmed to use. All access activity is automatically recorded and in the event that a key goes missing or stored equipment is damaged or missing, the reports provide the details as to who accessed the particular key and when.

Because of the variety of work booked, personnel and time frames can vary greatly. New users, temporary production contractors and full-time tenants can be quickly and easily added as authorized users and facility management can track their key usage from a web browser. Convenience is further enhanced with a desk-top device that connects to the computer and allows management to add or delete keys or read location information from an existing key without having to walk back and forth to a particular key cabinet. In large production facilities with 20 or more buildings and hundreds of keys secured in multiple key cabinets, this added functionality helps to increase productivity workflow as well as overall operational security.

Key management systems are not magic but they certainly help keep the magic happening safely and securely at film and television studios.