Directors UK, the campaigning body and association of screen directors with over 8,000 members, has created two roles focusing on lobbying for better working conditions and creative rights for its members.
It has appointed Bectu’s Paul Evans as head of industry relations and former Pact policy chief Niall Stewart as policy manager.
Evans has worked at Bectu for 12 years, most recently as freelance research officer. He will lead the professional association’s work on pay and working conditions and look to ensure it is addressing the issues its members face.
As well as working as a trade union official in the film and TV industry for over a decade, helping to negotiate landmark industry working agreements, Evans has extensive experience advising on freelance employment matters including tax, personal negotiations and dealing with workplace conflict.
Evans said: “Directors are at the heart of our industry. We look to them for artistic, creative and practical leadership and their voices have impact both on the individual productions they work on and in the wider industry.
“I believe we need more collective voices to articulate and drive a shared vision that will shape our industry for the better.”
As the body’s first public affairs and policy manager, Stewart will work within the communications team to lobby government policy makers to introduce meaningful change in the way that creators’ rights are protected and regulated.
Stewart, who has spent the past three years as a research and advocacy officer at charity Independent Film Trust, previously worked as head of policy at Pact. His other policy and research work has spanned the House of Lords and the European Parliament.
Previously, he was a producer, working for the likes of BBC Film, ITV, STV, Channel 4, Paramount Pictures, and Grosvenor Films.
He said: “As the UK and international media landscape undergoes a massive change, fighting for directors’ copyright and creative rights in the places where change happens has never been so important.”
The appointments come weeks after the body established The Directors and Producers Forum alongside Pact and key studios, to encourage producers and directors to discuss industry developments and key issues.
Directors UK has been lobbying for better working conditions for its members, launching best practice guidelines on how writers and directors can best work together in 2021, and backing the creation of a Freelance Charter to improve pay and working conditions, as well as supporting The Time Project study last year, exposing TV’s long hours culture.
Directors UK chief executive Andy Harrower said: “With many years of experience at Bectu, Paul Evans will strengthen the Directors UK team hugely. He will help us ensure that our partners in the UK television and film industry fully understand and value the role of the director.
“We are also strengthening our lobbying power with the appointment of Niall Stewart. Niall’s experience of UK politics and the creative industries will be vital as we seek to influence government policy on the issues that impact our members including maintaining a strong copyright regime; safeguarding public service broadcasting; and ensuring developments around AI support creators.”
A version of this story originally appeared on Screen’s sister site, Broadcast
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