EM MEDIA'S BOARD
Chair
Lisa Opie – Director of Branded Business at Twofour
Lisa Opie is currently Director of Branded Business at multi-award winning international media group, Twofour. Until recently she was Managing Director of Content at Channel Five, responsible for the creative and editorial strategy for Five’s family of channels. She re-launched Five Life as Fiver, acquired Neighbours and delivered Five’s online video on demand service Demand Five.
Previously Lisa was Managing Director of Flextech Television (now Virgin TV). Lisa oversaw all aspects of the business from advertising sales through to programming, marketing and operations and managed Flextech’s interests in UKTV. During her time at Flextech Living TV won Broadcast Channel of the year and Flextech’s sales team; IDS won Campaign Sales Team of the Year and Media Week Sales Team of the Year.
Lisa also worked at the short lived satellite TV company BSB, presented and produced radio programmes for BBC Radio Wales. She began her career in the theatre.
Lisa is a Fellow of the Royal Society of The Arts, a member of Bafta and a Fellow of the Royal Television Society.
Non-executive directors (alphabetically)
Mike Blair - Director, ITV Regions
As Director of ITV Regions, Mike is responsible for commissioning, executive producing and managing a team of 200 and three regional news teams. Prior to joining ITV Mike was Head of Factual for Southern Star. Mike is also a Trustee for the New English Contemporary Ballet and a Board member for TV Nations and Regions.
Marc Boothe – Founder and MD - B3 Media
Marc is a creative producer, with a passion for supporting, developing and producing emerging talent across film, new media and visual arts. He produced the acclaimed feature film Bullet Boy, directed by Saul Dibb, for which he was nominated Best British Producer by the London Film Critics Circle.
Marc is also Founder and Managing Director of B3 Media; an award winning digital media arts network, based in Brixton, which has been responsible for a number of innovative initiatives ranging from new media, moving image to digital cinema. He is Executive Producer on the award-winning UK-wide digital short scheme Blank Slate (supported by the UK Film Council and the Arts Council England).
Currently, he is developing his next feature for Film Four, as part of B3’s FeatureLab, a collaboration between Film4, Binger Filmlab and Skillset, which also includes a slate of six feature film projects. Marc devised and produced Tate: Remixed, a digital media collaboration between B3 Media and Tate and PowerLabs, a cross-platform development labs in collaboration with the Channel4, National Theatre, Tate and the Young Vic for the Arts Council England.
Previously, Marc worked as a Senior Executive at the UK Film Council’s (UKFC) New Cinema Fund and at the Bank of England. He holds an MBA and is the recipient of a NESTA Fellowship award (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts).
Stephen Frears - Director
Stephen's production of the one-off drama My Beautiful Laundrette for Channel 4 in 1985 first brought him critical acclaim. His next directing project was another successful British film, the Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears in 1987, and the following year he made his Hollywood debut with Dangerous Liaisons. Frears had another critical success with The Grifters. He has since directed a number of successful films in both Britain and America, including The Hi-Lo Country (1998), High Fidelity (2000), Dirty Pretty Things (2003) and Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) starring Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins and The Queen (2006) starring Helen Mirren.
Stephen was born in Leicester and spent many years living in Nottingham before moving to London. He is one of the UK’s most well known and respected film directors with a career spanning 40 years. His initial career was in television where he contributed to several high-profile series such as the BBC's Play for Today.
Jeremy Gawade – Partner - Lee & Thompson
Jeremy has over 25 years experience in the film and television sectors. Jeremy worked in industry, firstly as a partner in an international film and television distribution company and then as a consultant for various film and production companies, before bringing his diverse film and television experience to Lee & Thompson in 1990 when he founded the firm's Film and Television Groups. Lee & Thompson is a London based law firm specialising in media and entertainment law.
Jeremy has particular expertise in putting together finance distribution and co-production deals for major film and television productions. In addition he is uniquely qualified to help clients finance, produce and exploit concert specials and other music based film and television programming. Jeremy acts for talent based production companies allowing actors, writers and directors a greater degree of ownership and control over their work.
Elizabeth Karlsen – Producer and Co-Director Number 9 Films
Elizabeth Karlsen began her career in independent film production in New York, working with directors such as Jim Jarmusch and Jean-Baptiste Mondino. Returning to London, Elizabeth worked as Head of Production for Palace Pictures, headed by Stephen Woolley and Nik Powell. She co-produced Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game (nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture) and continued to produce for Woolley and Powell’s Scala Productions. After a long collaboration with Stephen Woolley under the banner of Palace Pictures and Scala, the pair formed the London-based Number 9 Films, which, in 2004, was awarded one of the much sought after UK Film Council Slate Development Funding schemes.
Elizabeth was nominated for the Producer’s Guild of America and was awarded a Woman’s Image Network award for her work on Mrs Harris.
Dr. Lisa Mooney Smith - Director of Research for Art, Architecture & Design, University of Lincoln
Lisa has worked in Higher Education for over 20 years where she has continually worked at the interface between interdisciplinary scholarship and business. She has a background in fine art and critical theory, and has more recently been engaged in research that explores how traditional arts and humanities disciplines might be better enabled to interact with the new demands of the knowledge transfer environment.
She regularly advises public and private business and organisations on the benefits of research and knowledge transfer partnerships with academia and also sits on the AHRC Peer Review College for Knowledge Transfer and non-HEI engagement.
She is actively involved in both national and international networks concerned to raise the impact and profile of the arts and humanities and regularly writes on the shifts and changes brought about by Knowledge Transfer in academic and administrative practices.
Roger Morris - Managing Director Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios is home to three of the top shows on British television today; ITV's Dancing on Ice and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? plus Channel 4's Big Brother. Some of the most famous films in the world have been produced at Elstree; Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Shining, Superman, Labyrinth to name but a few.
Roger was co-opted to the board of EM Media in June 2011 following the expansion of EM Media's investment remit to include the East of England.
David Shear – Head of Theatrical Distribution - Revolver Entertainment
David has been at Revolver for two years and as Head of Theatrical Distribution he is responsible for the overall release strategy of all Revolver’s titles. Revolver was the first independent to release a digital 3D film, U23D, and also created the day-and-date model in the UK with the multi-platform release of the award-winning Mum & Dad. David is currently working on releases by Charlie Kaufman, Werner Herzog, Steven Soderbergh and Jim Jarmusch.
Starting at the Feature Film Company in 1997, he became Head of Sales moving onto Winchester Films, Content Films and then set up a UK Distribution arm at The Works. In that time releasing such critical and Box Office successes as Lantana, My Summer of Love and Open Range.
Bill Thompson - New media pioneer and Chair of the Cambridge Film Trust
Bill Thompson has been working in, on and around the Internet since 1984 and currently spends his time thinking, writing and speaking about the digital world we are in the midst of building. During the 1990's he was Internet Ambassador for PIPEX, the UK's first commercial ISP where he developed websites for Comic Relief, the Edinburgh Fringe and Anne Campbell MP, before moving to Guardian Newspapers as head of new media. He established the paper's first website in 1994 and was responsible for many online projects including Eurosoccer.com in 1996. He is currently working with the Archive Development group at the BBC on finding ways to make the BBC Archive more accessible. Bill appears each week on Click (formerly 'Digital Planet') on BBC World Service radio writes a monthly column for Focus magazine and makes occasional contributions to other publications and programmes both on and off-line. He is a Visiting Fellow in the Journalism department at City University, a trustee of the Cambridge Film Trust and a member of the board of Writers' Centre Norwich. You can find him online at http://www.andfinally.com/ or working in one of Cambridge's many cafes.
Bill was co-opted to the board of EM Media in June 2011 following the expansion of EM Media's investment remit to include the East of England
Lucy Ward - Founding Director Wavelength Films
Wavelength Films is an independent Film and TV company specialising in arts and history documentaries based in Norwich. Lucy's recent credits as producer include the Bafta nominated "The Machine that Made Us" and "Wagner & Me" currently on release in Europe and Australia. As well as having a creative role in the production of Wavelength's output Lucy manages the financing, sales and distribution of the company's film projects. Lucy is a qualified lawyer and before founding Wavelength practised with international law firm Hogan Lovells.
Lucy was co-opted to the board of EM Media in June 2011 following the expansion of EM Media's investment remit to include the East of England
