Home > News > September 2004 > 23-Sep-2004

Cold Mountain producer takes over as chair of Skillset Film Skills Strategy Committee

Iain Smith, Producer of Alexander and Cold Mountain, has taken over as Chair of the Skillset Film Skills Strategy Committee. The committee is in charge of guiding the delivery of A Bigger Future - the UK's £50m five year strategy to make the UK's film industry the world leader in skills.

Smith, who has sat on the Film Skills Strategy Committee since it was formed in 2003, replaces Stewart Till as Chair of the committee. Till has stepped down due to becoming Chair of the UK Film Council but will maintain an overview as Deputy Chair of Skillset.

Iain Smith is one of the UK's most experienced producers having produced Seven Years in Tibet, The Fifth Element, Entrapment and Spy Game amongst others. In the 1980s he worked with David Puttnam, line producing Local Hero, The Killing Fields and The Mission. After forming Applecross Productions, Smith co-produced Hearts of Fire, Killing Dad, City of Joy and Ridley Scott's 1492 - Conquest of Paradise. Smith is a Director of the UK Film Council, a member of the Scottish Screen Board, a Director of the Children's Film and Television Foundation and Vice President of The Production Guild of Great Britain. He was a founding member of the Scottish Film Training Trust and is a former Governor of the National Film and Television School.

Stewart Till, Chair of the UK Film Council, Deputy Chair of Skillset and Chairman and CEO of UIP, said: "We couldn't have chosen a more suitable individual to lead the delivery of A Bigger Future. Iain knows the British, and international, film business inside out and has been integral to the development of the strategy right from the start."

Iain Smith, Producer and new Chair of Skillset's Film Skills Strategy Committee, said: "I'm honoured to take Stewart's place as Chair of the committee. I've always believed that this industry lives or dies on the skills and talent of its people. Now we've actually got real industry backing for a skills strategy to get the brightest and best into the film business, and keep them there. Stewart's done a great job in developing the strategy and overseeing its initial implementation but this is just the start. It's a five year strategy and we've got much work to do to make the UK's workforce number one for skills in film."

Judy Counihan, two time Academy Award winning producer and Director of Film at Skillset, said: "I'd like to thank Stewart for all his hard work in making A Bigger Future a reality, without him we wouldn't have this skills strategy. However I'm delighted that, in Iain Smith, we now have one of the UK's leading producers giving Skillset the support and guidance it needs to guarantee the strategy continues to give the industry what it needs in terms of skill development."

A Bigger Future, the UK Film Skills Strategy is a joint strategy developed by Skillset (the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries) and the UK Film Council with the support of the Northern Ireland Film & Television Commission, Scottish Screen and Sgrin Cymru Wales.

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