Former Amazon Studios boss Georgia Brown to chair UK Skills Task Force

Former Amazon Studios, Europe boss Georgia Brown has been appointed Chair of the Skills Task Force for the UK’s Screen Sectors.

Creative executive Georgia Brown will chair the Skills Task Force, the industry-led group which is addressing the critical skilled labour shortages within the UK’s production screen sectors.

The Task Force will comprise senior representatives from all the major broadcasters, studios and streamers, as well as key organisations including ScreenSkills, PACT and national screen agencies, and has been convened by the BFI in response to the BFI Skills Review commissioned by the DCMS. The Task Force is committed to working together to design a comprehensive and clear industry response to this review, building on ongoing work by ScreenSkills, in order to address the skills shortages, gaps and related challenges over the next five years.

Chair of the Task Force Georgia Brown was formerly Head of Amazon Studios, Europe, and has also held senior leadership roles at Fremantle Media, BBC Worldwide and Shine International. Brown will spearhead the project, which has over 20 senior representatives from all leading organisations actively involved in film and television production in the UK.

The Task Force will bolster the BFI Skills Review and together they will produce and support the delivery of a plan of action in order to grow, train and retain the largely freelance screen sector workforce, while addressing other top line recommendations from the Review. Intrinsic to all the work on skills undertaken by the Task Force is a commitment to delivering a significant improvement in equity, diversity and inclusion, tackling mental health and retention issues, as well as having a UK-wide perspective. 

The following three work streams have been established: industry training and investment; improving access to the Apprenticeship Levy; and pathways to industry from further and higher education. The resulting outputs will assign clear responsibility for delivery of each element to relevant parts of the industry, and where appropriate, the Task Force will make recommendations to HM Government.

Georgia Brown, chair of the UK Production Skills Task Force for the Screen Sector, said: “The UK has an important and well-earned reputation for being the centre of creative excellence, however if we want to accelerate growth and build a sustainable industry, we must accelerate change by creating a robust framework to develop, support, train and ignite the next generation of talent. This Task Force will build on and complement the essential strategic work already undertaken by industry, ScreenSkills, the BFI and public bodies across the UK and it’s an honour to work collaboratively with colleagues from across the industry to lead this important work.”

Members of the UK Production Skills Task Force for the Screen Sectors:

• Animation UK
• Apple TV+
• BBC
• British Film Commission
• BFI
• Channel4
• COBA (the Association for Commercial Broadcasters and On-Demand Services)  
• Creative Wales
• Disney
• HETV Skills Council
• ITV
• MPA (Motion Picture Association)
• NBCUniversal
• Netflix
• Northern Ireland Screen
• PACT
• Paramount        
• The Production Guild of Great Britain ScreenSkills
• Screen Scotland
• Sky
• Sony
• UK Screen Alliance
• Warner Bros Discovery