An Honours graduate in Economics from Bristol University and a fluent Spanish speaker, Julian Alcantara has worked across many aspects of the film business for over 20 years.

He began his career with Price Waterhouse qualifying as a Chartered Accountant and then recruited to a specialised strategic consulting team in PW (shortly thereafter PwC) specializing in the Media where his clients included Sony and Disney. Whilst here he was a keynote speaker at two conferences, The Economist Conference on Shareholder Value, and A Euromoney conference on Advanced Strategies for Company Valuation and also contributed a chapter to the published book “In Search of Shareholder Value”.

A veteran of both Polygram Films and Universal Pictures, Julian ran the Universal Pictures’ international production and acquisitions arm under the President of Acquisitions managing an extensive slate of over 25 films ranging from big budget studio projects to small Oscar-nominated foreign language films in addition to the release of all of Working Title’s films. He also managed the production and developments deals with production companies such as DNA Films and award-winning directors such as Alan Parker.

In addition to the mainstream Western film industry, through his work as an independent producer and adviser over the last 10 years, Julian has developed an in-depth knowledge of both the Indian and Chinese film industries with an extensive range of contacts throughout India and China including many of the top producers and production companies, financiers, distributors, directors and talent. He has also travelled and worked extensively in the Middle East, both in and outside the film arena.

He has been a keynote speaker and panellist at numerous film festivals and film industry events round the world including Cannes, Shanghai, Mumbai, Berlin, London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi and also currently acts as a consultant to companies in the US, UK, China, India and the UAE. He is also an adviser to the Shanghai International Film Festival and the Mumbai International Film Festival.

He is also a voting member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Andrew Boswell is Commercial Director of Twickenham Studios and is responsible for the sales and film and TV drama financing arms of the studios. Investments to date include the features Finding Your Feet (EOne), Crooked House (Sony), Red Joan (Lionsgate) and The Last Full Measure (Roadside Attractions) and the TV series McMafia (BBC/Amazon).

Prior to joining Twickenham, he was Commercial Director at post facilities Lip Sync and Molinare, where he was again responsible for sales and investment strategy. Credits include The Nice Guys and Testament Of Youth (both Warner Bros), Starred Up (Fox), Wolf Hall (BBC) and The Kings Speech (TWC).

Boswell has over fifty feature film and TV drama credits as either producer or Executive Producer and has a track record in structuring project financing and international co-productions.

In the past, he has founded two film and TV EIS companies – Fortwilliam Television and Birkdale Film and TV and he remains a non-executive director of two further film and TV EIS companies.

Boswell regularly sits on film finance panels including Closing The Gap (Berlin) and the Raindance Film Festival Alternative Film Financing (London). He has also spoken at film financing events for the Production Guild and recently was the 204^thguest speaker at The Media Lunch Club, the UK film, tv and media industry’s premiere café du commerce.

Station 12 is an advisory and investment firm focused on sports, entertainment, knowledge and immersive technologies, which Patrick Bradley founded in late 2014. The firm provides corporate finance services to businesses in its core sectors as well as operating its own venture capital fund. It is based in Mayfair, London..

Prior to founding Station 12, Patrick qualified as a lawyer in the City of London and went on to work operationally in the music, TV and film industries. He subsequently became CEO of Ingenious Ventures, which he left in 2014.

He is a Governor of the University for the Creative Arts, a Trustee of Into Film and an advisor to Innovate UK. He was formerly a Trustee of the National Army Museum.

Lindsay Conner is the Leader of Manatt Entertainment. He has served as chief outside entertainment counsel for major film studios and television networks, global telecommunications companies, film and television production and distribution companies, and digital media companies, as well as for banks, financial institutions, private equity funds and high-net-worth investors. His practice focuses on the finance, production and distribution of film, television and digital content, company finance, and M&A transactions in the entertainment industry. Lindsay’s clientele spans the globe, from North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America.  He has been honored by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the “Top 20 Dealmakers of the Year” and one of the “Top 100 Power Lawyers in Hollywood,” and by Variety as one of “50 Game-Changing Attorneys in Hollywood” and one of the “Variety 500,” Variety’s list of the top 500 most important people in the global entertainment and media industries.

Simon co-founded The Ink Factory with his brother Stephen. Simon was an executive producer of John le Carré adaptation The Night Manager, as well as The Ink Factory’s recent production of The Little Drummer Girl, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Shannon. Simon also produced Drew Pearce’s debut film Hotel Artemis, starring Jodie Foster, Sterling K Brown, Dave Bautista and Jeff Goldblum, as well as Stephen Merchant’s feature directorial debutFighting with My Family, starring Florence Pugh, Nick Frost and Dwayne Johnson.

His previous credits include Anton Corbijn’s 2014 adaption of A Most Wanted Man, as well as Our Kind of Traitor, directed by Susanna White and starring Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis, Stellan Skarsgård and Naomie Harris; and Netflix Original, Message from the King, directed by Fabrice du Welz and starring Chadwick Boseman, Luke Evans, Teresa Palmer and Alfred Molina.

Simon came to The Ink Factory from top European venture capital firm Amadeus Capital Partners, where he was a senior partner. Prior to that he was founder and CEO of a pioneering company in the field of interactive television. His early career included stints at Granada in the UK, at the Boston Consulting Group in the US, and running refugee relief programmes for the UN in Thailand.

Sara Curran is the Founder & CEO of Tricycle Talent. Tricycle Talent is talent management collective. Tricycle Talent provides talent management boutiques with working capital, strategic counsel and access to a wider network so that they can offer a 360’ management solution with a personal touch. Prior, Sara was Key executive and Board Director at YMU a leading talent management company for clients in Entertainment, Scripted, Sport & Music. Sara was also one of the co-founders and principal architects of Kew Media Group and served on its board. Previously, she was a key executive at Working Title, Universal Pictures International and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

Wayne joined Little Dot Studios in 2016 as MD, Content Acquisition & Distribution, with responsibility for the business’s distribution teams across UK, Germany and the US, focused on channel management, digital distribution and rights management operations across Broadcast, Entertainment, Kids & Family, Sports and Owned & Operated brands.

Little Dot Studios operates over 200 YouTube channels, Facebook pages and social accounts reaching over 4bn views per month and carries out rights management for over 60,000 titles and sports rights on social platforms. It is also a leading producer of original content for brands, broadcasters and digital platforms. 

Wayne has been in the media industry since 2000, working in management, commercial and business affairs roles across broadcast, production, digital and distribution. Before arriving at Little Dot Studios, Wayne worked as DRG’s Commercial Director, was Director of Commercial and Business Affairs at the Shine Group, and prior to that at FremantleMedia, and MTV.

Darren has over 20 years of experience working with clients in the Film and Television sector. Darren acts for film and television production companies, commissioning producers, distributors, rights owners, and other corporate entities which operate in the film and television industries, such as financiers, VFX and post production houses. 

As well as auditing and accounting services, Darren provided specialist advice, including structuring of productions, and tax incentives for the creative industries. Darren is also has expertise in intellectual property management, assisting his clients with IP valuations and investigations. Darren has also been involved in expert witness work in respect of Film and TV structures and Intellectual Property. 

Gareth Ellis-Unwin is the Head of Film and Animation at ScreenSkills, the industry-led skills body for the UK’s screen-based creative industries. He is leading on delivering the BFI’s action plan, Future Film Skills, and also manages the Film Skills Fund (formerly known as the film levy).

 Gareth was previously co-founder and CEO of multi-award-winning Bedlam Productions, which was formed in 2000. He was producer of the critically acclaimed The King’s Speech, the highest grossing British independent film to date, which won four Academy Awards including Best Film and seven BAFTAs, including Best Film and Outstanding British Film.  His other credits as producer include Zaytoun, BAFTA-nominated British war film Kajaki: The True Story and Exam, which was also nominated for a BAFTA and won Spirit and Dinard awards. His most recent film, Steel Country, starring Andrew Scott and Denise Gough, was released in Spring 2019. Gareth remains involved with Bedlam’s current projects as a non-executive director of the company.

Check back soon for more information.

A prolific film producer and financier with over 125 independent feature film credits to his name, Wayne has procured investment of more than US$340 million across an aggregate production budgets in excess of US$1.5 billion over the last 6 years.

As a leading expert in all aspects of independent film financing from rights acquisition, structuring, managing multi-party legal and financial closings, Wayne has built a stellar reputation as a problem solver and fixer.

Key credits highlights include:

The Foreigner, 47 Meters Down, Wind River, Strangers: Prey At Night, A Private War, Silence, White Crow, Dragged Across Concrete.

In 2018, Wayne founded Purely Capital – a disruptive supply-chain platform that automates the acceleration of long dated contracted entertainment receivables for rights owners and distributors.

Michael is responsible for regulatory affairs for A+E Networks’ UK and EMEA channels, and looks after policy matters in the UK and Europe. He also Chairs the Television on Demand Industry Forum, and is a Director of the Committee of Advertising Practice. Michael joined A+E Networks UK from Ofcom, where he worked as a Standards Executive in the area of broadcasting and on-demand standards. Before turning to policy and regulatory affairs Michael had a successful career in broadcasting as a journalist and documentary film-maker.

An Innovator and founder in film, video games, real estate, counter cultural lgbtq venue, events and management. 

Key business interests in film is Head Gear Films and Bankside Films, as well as a number of other corporate investments in the sector, Phil has  produced or executive produced over 300 feature films in the past quarter of a century.  Head Gear Films is now one of the world’s largest financiers of independent film, investing in around 60 projects a year. 

Other aspects to his career include being a BAFTA voting member; mentor to National Film and Television producing students and others; regular speaker on the industry circuit; founder of the British Film Festival of Kurdistan, Iraq; and a Patron of The Death Penalty Project.

Phil began producing feature films in the mid 90’s with micro budgets that occasionally found more than a micro audience…. Prior to the film business, was an advertising and music photographer including working with bands such as Big Audio Dynamite.  He sporadically still dusts off his Hasselblad.  

Phil began investing in central London real estate in the early 90’s and has recently purchased a commercial building in central London, home to Bohemia Club Ltd a venue and bar (The Apple Tree pub) for the burgeoning alternative LGBTQ+ communities alongside non conformists.  It provides a safe space for people living outside mainstream culture with acceptance, discretion, and tolerance.  

Robb Klein is the head of Sheppard Mullin’s Entertainment and Digital Media Practice, and is based in the Century City office. He specializes in all aspects of entertainment law, particularly film and television financing, production and distribution, merchandising, videogames and digital media. Mr. Klein has worked on the financing and production of numerous feature films, from small independent movies to studio tentpoles. Recent productions include Winchester starring Dame Helen Mirren, Wind River starring Elizabeth Olsen, the widely admired Elton John biopic Rocketman, the Marie Colvin biopic A Private War starring Rosamund Pike, and the Netflix Original young adult blockbuster, The Kissing Booth and its forthcoming sequel.  He has also worked on numerous deals utilizing tax incentives around the world, and specializes in structuring international co-productions.  His clients include producers, banks, entrepreneurs, film funds and finance houses, and transactions often involve secured lending and complex multi-party financing arrangements. Mr. Klein is qualified to practice law in California and in England and Wales. Prior to joining Sheppard Mullin in 2008, he was a partner at a leading European law firm, based in London.

Mr. Kovach is a founding member of Vine Alternative Investments and has been Chief Financial Officer and Head of Business Origination since the firms’ inception.  In his role as CFO, he has oversight responsibility for all financial reporting and operational activities of Vine.  As Head of Business Origination, Mr. Kovach is responsible for spearheading all business development activities for Vine, including the development and management of key entertainment, sports and financial relationships. In addition to sitting on the firm’s investment committee, Mr. Kovach is also involved in transaction negotiation and execution.

Prior to joining Vine, Mr. Kovach spent fourteen years in banking while working at Dresdner Kleinwort, ANZ Investment Bank and National Westminster Bank.  His career spans structured and leveraged finance, M&A finance and corporate credit.

Mr. Kovach is a member of the CFA Institute and received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2002.  He holds a B.A. in Economics and Finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University and an M.B.A. from Rutgers University.

John McVay OBE is the Chief Executive of Pact the UK’s leading Trade Association for Film, TV, Animation, Children’s and Digital production companies. He has been involved in programme making as a producer, consultant and trainer since 1986.  Prior to his appointment at Pact, John held positions as the founding Director of the Research Centre for Television and Interactivity in Glasgow, Director of Training and Education at Scottish Screen, Chief Executive of Scottish Broadcast and Film Training and as a Director of Independent Film and Television production companies.

John contributes to many UK government and international policy fora on the creative industries, broadcasting, trade and investment.  John has extensive experience of policy development across all aspects of broadcasting and television production and leads on all Pact policy development in the UK and Europe.  He also maintains excellent relationships with all of the UK’s major political parties and the devolved assemblies and parliaments.  

John is a memberof the Creative Diversity Network, a member of the Creative Industries Council (CIC) and is the industry lead on the CIC sector deal which has recently been agreed with the UK Government.  John is the Chairman of the UK’s digital single market campaign and is the UK rights spokesperson for the Creative Coalition Campaign.

 John has been active on many industry bodies and organisations and has served Chair of the Creative Diversity Network, as a board member of Skillset, Chairman of the Skillset TV Investment Committee, a Governor of the NFTS, and President of CEPI, the pan‑European TV producers’ association.  He is also a member of the British Film Commission’s business group and a Board member of the Creative Cities Convention.

 At Pact, John led the successful campaign that resulted in changes to the 2003 Communications Act which resulted in the UK having the world’s most creative and commercially successful independent production sector.  This achievement was followed by negotiating and overseeing the successful introduction of increased competition for BBC commissions (The WOCC) in the BBC charter from 2007-17 and the further agreement with the BBC that all programming will be contestable by the end of the BBC Charter 2017-28.  He recently led the successful campaign to ensure UK independent producers retained the regulations that guaranteed their ownership of intellectual property rights.

 John is involved in all of the negotiations with UK PSB’s for the commercial contracts that govern their commissioning of independent producers.  As part of his duties at Pact he is often involved in editorial or commercial issues between suppliers and commissioners and works to find a resolution that can work for all parties concerned.

Al Munteanu has been active in the international media industry for over twenty-five years, working across the film, TV and radio sectors. Before founding SquareOne Entertainment in 2002, Al was a member of the board of directors of New Legend Media AG. Under his leadership, New Legend Media developed, financed and co-produced numerous feature films.

From the beginnings of his career as a radio producer and host, establishing the radio syndication model in Germany, Al embarked on a career in television in 1987 as a producer and presenter for Music Box, MTV Europe in London, Tele 5 and for RTL Television. In 1994 Al was awarded the MEDIA 95 EAVE Programme Diploma for Young Producers. He has since worked as a producer on over twenty-five feature films and series. Subsequently expanding into distribution of films and series, Al’s entrepreneurial skill has served to position SquareOne Entertainment as one of the foremost production and distribution companies in the industry.

Al graduated from the University of Maryland in 1987 and received his master’s degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich in 1993. He serves as a guest lecturer for the University of Television and Film in Munich and for the National Film & Television School in London as part of the Inside Pictures programme.

Jonathan is a Partner at Stella EOC, a leading international Media &Tech investment bank, headquartered in London and with offices in Europe and the US. Over his 20+ year career he has advised a variety of public and private companies, financial institutions and family offices on a range of transactions in the US, Europe and Asia. Jonathan started his career at JP Morgan in New York (FIG) and Los Angeles (Media & Tech) before returning to the UK as a founding member of LongAcre Partners which ultimately sold to Jefferies in 2007.

Louise Pedersen is the CEO of all3media international (a3mi). a3mi works with television producers to co-finance television programmes and is a leading global tv sales business, with offices in London, Singapore, New York and Miami and broadcast clients in over 200 countries.

a3mi’s turnover has grown by 47% in the last two years to over £100m and Louise has overseen a tripling of investment into content during this period. Louise started her distribution career at ITV and had an 18 month spell in drama production as Managing Director of Playground Entertainment in 2015/16.  During her time in the distribution industry Louise has sat on PACT Council, mentored for Nesta and been part of Skillset’s industry training programmes.  a3mi has twice been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade.

Louise has a degree in English Literature from London University.

Billy is the founding partner and CEO of Epic Match Capital, a strategic investment fund focused on film, media and sports. As the CEO, Mr. Peterson has overseen acquisitions, complex financing on multiple feature films and documentaries produced around the world and has been featured on major news outlets to discuss his projects. Prior to founding EMC, Billy spent 5 years in international development for a non-governmental organization focusing on institutional financing between private and public partnerships throughout Europe and the United States. 

John Sachs is CEO of Eclipse Global Entertainment and a producer of film TV and theatre.

After a career as an award winning Radio broadcaster and TV presenter for Capital Radio, BBC Radio 2, BBC 1 and ITV on such shows as Gladiators and Dancing on Ice, John turned his attention to going behind the camera.

His first experience on a feature film was Michael Radford’s 2004 feature “Merchant of Venice” starring Al Pacino which he was brought in to music supervise and ended up co-producing out of his offices in Soho’s Noel Street.

John’s first feature as producer was Michael Caton Jones’s ( Rob Roy, Memphis Belle ) “ Urban Hymn “ which was released globally and had its charity premier at the Curzon Mayfair picking up many international awards including best film at Giffoni, Busan and TIFF. He was nominated as best new producer at the prestigious BIFA awards that year.

John’s feature “ Finding Your Feet “ starring Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie and Joanna Lumley was released to 500 screens in the UK in  2018 and broke box office and ancillary records in territories like Australia and Newzealand it picked up the “Audience Award “ at Palm Springs film festival.

His latest crime thriller “ The Corrupted “  Starring Sam Claflin, Timothy Spall, Hugh Bonneville Naomi Acki and David Hayman was released theatrically in May 2019 in the UK by Entertainment Film and internationally by the Exchange its currently showing on Amazon

On the slate for 2020 are gritty action movie about elephant poaching “ This is Africa “ heart-warming bio pic about Henry Cecil and legendary flat racer Frankel called “Frankel” starring Academy award winner Jeremy Irons and period drama “ Antonia “ directed by Justin Chadwick ( The Other Boleyn Girl )

John was brought up in the theatre his father being comedy legend Andrew Sachs ( Manuel in Fawlty Towers ) and his god father legendary theatre writer and producer Ray Cooney. In September 2018 his new musical directed by Craig Revel Horwood, “ Son Of A Preacher Man “ completed a 38 week tour of UK

John has several other shows he will be bringing to the stage over the next couple of years including “ Blue Bayou “ which he’s producing with Sony Music and the Orbison estate,” and the stage version of Eclipse’s “ Finding Your Feet “

John has been a vice president and chairman of the awards of Variety Childrens charity for over 35 years, he’s chairman of Child Line Rocks and an ambassador for the Princes Trust. He’s a keen martial artist holding a forth Dan black belt.

Georg Szalai joined The Hollywood Reporter in 2001 as a business reporter in New York, was named business editor in 2003 and became New York bureau chief in 2005. He has served as international business editor since April 2012, based in London. Georg oversees global entertainment business and finance coverage for THR and European breaking news coverage.  Among the big stories he has covered over the past year are Disney’s acquisition of Fox, the bidding war for Sky, the Viacom-CBS merger and various entertainment giants’ upcoming streaming services. The native Austrian has a master’s degree from the Columbia Journalism School.

Tom is the co-founder and CEO of Nice and Serious. Having trained as an environmental scientist and science communicator, in 2008 he setup ethical creative agency Nice and Serious to focus on making creative work the world needs. For the last 10 years he’s worked with international brands and charities to communicate environmental and social issues through creative content and campaigns. Nice and Serious has also launched impact-led digital platforms such as Useless London, Touch Yourself and The Moral Compass.