SORRY. APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

FUTURE LEADERS IN DISTRIBUTION

November 2018- March 2019

THE FUTURE OF UK FILM DISTRIBUTION

 

 

 

FUTURE LEADERS IN DISTRIBUTION is a leadership training programme for women, those who identify as women across the spectrum: transgender, non-cisgender and non-binary, with 7+ years of film distribution experience and who have the ambition to run / own a distribution business or operate at a higher executive level.

In response to the 2015 film workforce survey findings – only 20% of CEOs and directors in UK film distribution are female, compared to 47% of the workforce, we are launching our 3rd round of FUTURE LEADERS IN DISTRIBUTION female leadership programme, supported by ScreenSkills using National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI as part of the Future Film Skills programme.

Leadership exists at all levels in organisations and businesses. In order to operate as effective leaders we need to feel comfortable in our own skins and to speak with confidence in our own authentic style. Leadership also involves understanding our skills and believing in our business so we can inspire and lead others. This is the only continued professional development programme designed to address the lack of women at the top of the UK distribution sector.

The course is designed to fit into a full-time work schedule and will comprise of 13 sessions across 4 months involving workshops, group sessions, solo sessions, panels, peer networking, tailored mentoring, business coaching and a regional business trip for each individual participant.

how it works



FUTURE LEADERS IN DISTRIBUTION endeavours to arm and inspire 8-10 participants in their career goals, and entrepreneurial ambitions, in order that the next film workforce census figures, on female management in film distribution, climb beyond 30%.

 

COURSE LEADER



Mia Bays

Mia Bays is an Oscar-winning, twice BAFTA nominated, producer on documentary and fiction, and founder of Missing In Action Films. She has worked on over 50 features in various capacities, as a distributor, producer, writer (most recent credits are LETTERS FROM BAGHDAD, voiced by Tilda Swinton, released by Verve in 2017), and has held such roles as Creative Producer on the Microwave micro-budget scheme 2007-14 (LILTING, SHIFTY, ILL MANORS, STRAWBERRY FIELDS, etc). She is passionate about raising the volume of the female voice across the film value chain. She began her career in the film industry in distribution, in the early ’90s, working for Romaine Hart, a successful female distributor and exhibitor – and her first role model.

 

Mission Statement

We are thrilled and excited to build on the work to find the future leaders in UK distribution from the UK female film talent pool.  We will be cutting edge with our data and best practice and we will be looking at other business sectors for inspiration and experience, which is an exciting element of this programme. It balances hard business with personal development to ultimately, we hope, address greater diversity in leadership roles.

A more balanced leadership picture in the UK distribution sector can also arguably help the sector economically.  The female cinema-going audience is now in the majority in the US and UK but our film industry does not reflect this.  This programme will focus on the individuals who will drive forward change so that the distribution sector is armed for the future by representing the audience more closely.

COLLABORATORS

 

Averil Leimon

Averil Leimon is an executive coach, a leadership psychologist, an author and a media commentator. She is a founder of leadership consultancy White Water Group, and the force behind White Water Women. Through her work in big business, we will have access to female leaders from other sectors to build our work shadowing program and bespoke coaching for each participant, benefiting from her work at the cutting edge of female entrepreneur training.

 

Caroline Goyder

Caroline Goyder is a leading voice coach and keynote speaker. She has worked at Central School of Speech and Drama as a voice coach since 2001 and has over 15 years’ experience providing voice and gravitas training to people of all ages, including celebrities, teachers, broadcasters and the corporate sector.

 

John Letham

John is founder and director of Considered Thinking Ltd. He uniquely combines relevant and comprehensive experience in the screen industries, together with being a qualified executive coach, life coach and action learning facilitator. He established Considered Thinking in 2014, to focus on providing executive coaching, mentoring, facilitating, training and business process review services, primarily within the screen, creative and tech industries.

 

Previous Mentors 2016-2017

We were thrilled to have the support of high level industry mentors such as Julia Short, distribution expert, Kezia Williams (eOne), Sue Bruce Smith (FilmFour), Robert Walak (Focus Features International), and Anna Godas (Dogwoof), to name but a few.

 

KEY PARTNERS

Over three years ago WME and Endeavor Content launched Empower, an internal program to support diversity and inclusion at all levels at within the company. This includes integration into the hiring and development process; mentorship program; regular events and panel discussions; and working with external educational and media partners to create employment opportunities and diversity pipelines. Since its launch we have extended Empower to 33 Endeavor offices around the world.

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO

Maggie Monteith at Pinpoint Lucy Barclay at Target Media, and Alison Thompson at Cornerstone

Current Cohort

AVALON LYNDON

Avalon joined MUBI as Director of Theatrical Marketing in Sept 2018, leading on marketing for the streaming service’s theatrical releases. She came to MUBI from the theatrical marketing team at Curzon Artificial Eye, where she managed campaigns for award-winning titles. Prior to moving into distribution, Avalon held a variety of marketing and communications positions at organisations including Film London, the BFI’s Creative Europe Desk and BAFTA.

JO TAYLOR

Since 2008 Jo has worked in the film industry in various role with experience across a variety of cinema, film and arts marketing disciplines. She’s worked with organisations including Altitude, BFI, BIFA, eOne, Modern Films, Fox Searchlight, Thunderbird Releasing, Curzon Artificial Eye, Curzon Cinemas & Curzon Home Cinema, National Theatre Live, Tate and iFeatures.

JESSICA SHAW

Jessica began her career in DVD and Blu-ray, firstly in technical operations and then onto project management/releasing. Her background also includes key roles in digital home entertainment distribution. Notably working at eOne and Technicolor. She has recently joined Curzon as the new General Manager for Curzon On Demand.

SAMANTHA HAYCOCK

Samantha Haycock is Head of Brand at 20th Century Fox, delivering award-winning and innovative campaigns on such films & franchises as The Greatest Showman, Deadpool and Star Wars. She previously headed up their library and TV marketing divisions. Prior to Fox, she was at Universal Pictures for 6 years, becoming Head of UK Film Acquisitions and founding the cult film label, indiVision.

YASMIN DOE

Yasmin Doe is an award-winning creative services executive with 20 years’ experience in the entertainment industry. Her career in the film industry started with Paramount Home Ent and moved from a junior coordinator through to being head of the International Creative Department. Yasmin joined Twentieth Century Fox in 2006 and has been with them ever since, in her role as Head of Creative Services.

SOPHIE WONG

Sophie has worked in Music, TV and Film for over 16 years at Universal Music Publishing, MTV, Sony Pics, and Icon Film Distribution as Head of TV and Digital Sales. Whilst at Icon, Sophie was instrumental in setting up and launching ‘FrightFest Presents’ along with Frightfest, a curated Horror label. Sophie has recently launched Central City Media, an all rights film distributor to handle independent films in finding a route to market through direct licensing and channels.

IMRUN  ISLAM

Imrun is a Senior Manager in content distribution, acquisition and negotiation – specialising in Film and TV content distribution for all VOD rights, and Account Management for digital platforms. Imrun moved into sales, learning about content distribution at Content Media. After a few years at Disney Media Distribution, negotiating and managing key TVOD/EST distribution deals, Imrun now manages the Transactional and SVOD business for the UK and Ireland for Studiocanal.

TARA BARNETT

Currently Sales Manager at Twentieth Century Fox, Tara covers Theatrical Sales across a wide variety of clients in Exhibition. Tara previously worked in the Sales team at Momentum Pictures, and since joining the film industry in 2008 has worked on over 230 films, spanning arthouse breakout hits (BIRDMAN, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL), larger blockbusters (THE WOMAN IN BLACK, GONE GIRL) and record-breaking successes (THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, THE KING’S SPEECH).

ILONA CHESHIRE

Ilona has worked in film distribution, exhibition and publicity, for over 20 years for companies such as Artificial Eye, Momentum and Pathé. She managed the publicity team for the NFT/BFI Southbank for over a decade, and worked on The Wolf of Wall Street and the HBO series Vinyl.

Ilona provided music supervision and unit publicity for the forthcoming Joanna Hogg film, The Souvenir.

LAURA DOS SANTOS

Prior to joining BFI Distribution as an Acquisitions Manager in 2018, Laura had spent over 5 years at Curzon Artificial Eye as an Acquisitions & Business Affairs Executive then promoted Manager, working on a wide array of titles. Prior to this, Laura worked in film financing in Paris, co-distributing and co-producing films with independent companies such as Wild Bunch, Le Pacte and Mars Distribution, and before this as an Assistant Product Manager for Paramount.

MARION COMENGRE

Starting as an AD and producing short form content, Marion worked as a production manager for several years before joining the distribution force STUDIOCANAL UK, working across acquisitions and development/production. Now a Production Executive, overseeing the UK production slate, she has worked, amongst others, on See-Saw’s Macbeth, Warp’s ’71 and Yardie, BabyCow’s Alpha Papa as well as Heyday’s The Secret Garden.

CAROLINE LERSTEN

Caroline is a Marketing Manager and UK Brand Team Lead at Walt Disney Studios, where she oversees the campaigns for all Disney and Lucasfilm titles in the UK. Over the past few years she worked on films ranging from Beauty & the Beast to Zootropolis, and was appointed UK marketing lead for Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. Prior to making the move into film campaigns she worked in brand management at P&G.

application & deadline



Applications for the third Future Leaders Programme is CLOSED.

 

 



Download

Schedule

Download

Guidelines