Andy Harrower - Chief Executive
A highly experienced and well-regarded leader in the field of rights management, Andy has been championing the rights of creators for over 30 years. He joined Directors UK in May 2020 after a long career at PRS for Music where he was Director of Licensing. Andy has led negotiations with all the major UK broadcasters and SVOD companies and continues to do this at Directors UK. He is proud to be representing TV and film directors and working to create a world in which their talent and creativity is recognised and properly valued.
Head of HR and Executive Assistant to the CEO
Our Head of HR and Executive Assistant to the CEO looks after the smooth running of the office, personnel and staff welfare. They also manage Andy’s diary. They work closely with our Head of Legal and co-manage our Business Administration Assistant.
Ryan Laycock - Business Administration Assistant
Ryan graduated from from Sheffield Hallam University with a BA Honours Degree in Media in 2013. In his free time, he likes to produce music, play golf and tennis, and support his hometown football club, Sheffield Wednesday.
Distribution
Simone Cammarota - Director of Distribution
Sim has worked at Directors UK for around 14 years, serving as Director of Distribution for the last three. In this role he is responsible for overseeing the work of the Distributions, IT and Membership teams and ensuring that payments are distributed accurately, efficiently and transparently. He has a BA in Modern History and enjoys playing hard rock songs on the guitar to unwind.
Nikki Hopper - Head of International
Nikki has worked at Directors UK for 19 years and is responsible for all aspects of the collection and distribution of members’ payments from foreign collecting societies. Prior to joining, she worked in publicity and marketing for various film companies including Warner Bros. and Artificial Eye.
Nick Roberts - International Officer
Nick joined Directors UK in June 2018, and holds a background working in film distribution. He has a BA in Media Studies gained at the University of Surrey. Outside of his interests in film and TV, Nick enjoys listening to music, playing tennis and visiting art exhibitions.
Laura Bannister - Distributions Manager
Laura joined Directors UK in Spring 2010 and has enjoyed overseeing the mass distributions to members. She is a big TV fan and an even bigger theatre fan, but only for special occasions. TV is an everyday pleasure.
Jonathan Hart - Distribution Reporting Manager
Jonathan joined Directors UK as a Distribution Assistant in February 2015. When not monitoring television and tracing directors he loves going to the cinema, playing football and burying his head in a good book. Prior to joining, Jonathan previously worked for film and television in various production roles.
Kate Parish - Membership Manager
Kate joined Directors UK in October 2012 as a Distribution Assistant, becoming Membership Officer in March 2016 and Membership Manager in July 2019. She’s responsible for registering all new Directors UK members, and overseeing the administrative side of the membership scheme. She read English Literature at the University of East Anglia, with a master’s in Medieval and Early Modern Textual Cultures.
Stephanie Alabi - Membership Administrator
Stephanie joined Directors UK in 2022 having previously worked in film and publishing. She has a BA (Hons) degree in Sociology and Media Studies and helps oversee the membership scheme administration, registering new Directors UK members and assisting with member events. In her spare time, she surrounds herself with media, watching television shows and films, playing games and editing. Stephanie uses she/her pronouns.
Richard Anderson - Distribution and Data Supervisor
Richard joined Directors UK in April 2016 as a Distributions Assistant, having moved to London from North East England where he grew up and studied at Newcastle and Durham University, gaining an MA in Philosophy focusing on Modern Aesthetics. He enjoys getting to as many gigs as he can, writing about and reviewing music, as well as spending as much time as possible cycling in and around London and snowboarding a little further afield.
Sean Frost - Distributions Assistant
Sean joined Directors UK in September 2020 after working as a classical music metadata researcher. He has a BA in Music from Kings College London where he specialized in composition and piano performance. In his free time he works as a freelance musician, watches a lot of films and runs a YouTube channel featuring his own piano arrangements of film music.
Thomas Ashby - Distribution Assistant
Thomas joined Directors UK in February 2022 with a background in music licensing and account management. Tom has a BA in songwriting and spends much of his free time writing, producing, and performing folk, blues, and jazz.
Angelita Michael - Distribution Assistant
Angelita joined Directors UK in 2022. She has a BA degree in Performance and beyond her interest in tv and film, Angelita enjoys the theatre, live music, jazz singing and jet setting.
Ifan Davies - Distribution Assistant
Ifan joined Directors UK in February 2022. He graduated with a degree in History from Queen Mary, University of London. An avid film buff, he loves expanding his film knowledge and is always open to a good recommendation. He also enjoys reading, enduring the great pain that supporting Cardiff City inevitably brings, listening to music and running.
Georgina Trott
Georgina has been a member of the distribution team since May 2023. She graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in English Literature and Film Studies and is happy to be continuing her interest in film through her employment at Directors UK. When she isn't watching films, she enjoys walking, travelling and being outside as much as possible.
Communications and PR
Victoria Morris - Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Victoria is responsible for Directors UK’s public affairs and lobbying activity, ensuring that the voice of the directing community is represented to government and industry. She also oversees the work of the communications team in championing the craft of directing, raising the profile of Directors UK’s campaigning activity, and promoting the varied work of our distribution, campaigns and member services teams. Victoria first joined Directors UK in August 2008 as Head of Communications and Public Affairs, having previously worked in factual programme-making both at the BBC and freelance, and prior to that worked in Regional and Public Affairs at Carlton Television (ITV) and marketing.
Charlie Coombes - Communications and Public Relations Manager
Charlie looks after our PR and external communications. She is the first port of call for all press requests. You can reach Charlie in the Press Office on 020 7845 9707 or [email protected]. Charlie uses she/her pronouns.
Chris Young - Digital Communications Manager
Chris joined Directors UK in March 2017 having previously worked in PR, journalism and publishing. He manages the digital output of Directors UK, including social media, website content, newsletters and podcasts. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Chris uses he/him pronouns.
Michael Dyer - Digital Product Manager
Michael has been working in the Digital field for more than 20 years, holding positions everywhere from Copywriting and Illustration through to IT Support, Project Management and Software/Web App Production, before finding his groove as a Digital Product Manager for the last 5 years or so. He is a total gadget geek, with a love for all things techie. He has 2 adorable daughters named Mulan and Jasmine (11 and 7 years old respectively). His favourite past times in no specific order are music, martial Arts, PC gaming, and annoying his kids by dad dancing in front of their friends.
Georgia Berry - Communications and Digital Assistant
Georgia graduated with a BA in English Literature from the University of Liverpool and an MA in Mass Communications from Liverpool John Moores University. They have previously worked in communications for a creative writing NPO. Georgia joined Directors UK in 2022, and works on a variety of communication outputs, including our social media and newsletter. They use she/her and they/them pronouns.
Campaigns
Natasha Moore - Head of Campaigns
Tash joined the Directors UK Campaign team in November 2017, after completing her master’s degree in Feature Screenwriting. With nearly twenty years in marketing, communications and PR to her credit, writing is her sustaining passion. As well as being creative ‘on the page’, she’s been known to crochet, make pickle, direct community theatre productions and sing.
Member Services
Laura Adams - Director of Membership
Laura joined the Directors UK team in spring 2016 as the Head of Member Services and is responsible for member benefits, events and career development. With a master’s degree in film studies, many years as a film and events programmer at the British Film Institute, and having worked in publicity at several independent film distributors, Laura is looking forward to learning more about television. Laura’s a big fan of science fiction film, TV and literature, and has published and broadcast on the subject.
Andrea Corbett - Head of Career Development and Skills
Andrea joined Directors UK in Spring 2016 and is responsible for all career development initiatives and skills development. She has a background in training and development within the UK film and TV industries, having previously managed the Creative Skillset Film Academy at the London Film School. Other previous roles include Skills Manager at Film London, Training and Events Officer at UK MEDIA desk, BFI, and training and development within the regions and nations at Pact, where she began her career. Andrea also worked in Ireland for three years as Head of Festivals at the Arts Council of Ireland and Executive Director at the Dublin Film Festival.
Sean Thomas - Career Development and Skills Manager
Sean joined Directors UK in February 2017 as a Distributions Assistant and has been working in Member Services since September 2018. Sean graduated in 2015 with a BA (Hons) in History and has experience in both finance and television production. Sean is a big football fan, loves music and enjoys watching a range of different films and TV shows in his spare time. Sean uses he/him pronouns.
Toyin Ayinde - Member Engagement and Events Manager
Toyin joined Directors UK in November 2020 and is responsible for delivering engaging events and ensuring members are across the wide range of benefits on offer. Prior to joining the team, Toyin was a freelance Events Producer for clients including; BAFTA, BFI and BBC. She also garnered on-set experience on feature films including; Mission Impossible: Fallout and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In her spare time Toyin enjoys baking and in her mind believes herself to be better than Paul Hollywood – this is definitely not the case!
Finance
Jo Bromley - Finance Director
Andrea Marlowe - Financial Controller
Andrea joined Directors UK in February 2017. She comes from a mainly creative background having spent many years in advertising, architecture, film, animal charity and retail, in similar senior finance roles. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the table, and assists Guy in ensuring the finance department runs efficiently and effectively. A big movies fan, Andrea loves comedy, sci-fi and anything Star Trek.
Legal
Donna Thomas - Head of Legal Affairs
Donna is a qualified lawyer who previously worked at Zodiak Rights (seconded at Reed Smith). She has been involved in acquisitions, licensing, consumer products from television and film content, and dealing with other media related rights issues. She is responsible for providing legal advice and services to staff and members, including contract vetting and assisting with the lobbying activities of Directors UK.
Charlotte Brotherton - Senior Legal Advisor
Charlotte joined Directors UK in August 2011 having been previously Head of Legal Affairs at the sales agent The Works International. She is responsible for providing legal advice and services to staff and members, including contract vetting and assisting with the lobbying activities of Directors UK. Charlotte originally qualified with London law firm Goodman Derrick in 2005 where she was involved in TV and film financing transactions, production and rights issues.
IT
Bhavesh Mistry - Head of IT
Bhavesh is good with computers. When we lose our IP address he gives us his. Working in IT for over 15 years, for various industries, Bhavesh decided to make the big move to London in 2011 from his hometown of Leicester. Bhavesh’s last employment was for an international producer and distributor of music films and programming for cinema, television and physical media. Artists such as Queen, The Rolling Stones, and Eminem to name a few. Bhavesh’s ability to take risks and think outside the box brings a refreshing mind from traditional views of development and strategy.
Nicole Bandoo - Database and IT Support Officer
Nicole joined Directors UK in October 2016 as a Database and IT Support Officer. She provides day to day support to maintain the database and IT systems. She had previously worked within the charity fundraising sector after graduating with a BSc in Computer Systems Technology from the University of Westminster. Outside of work she enjoys going to the cinema, working out in the gym and promoting a healthy lifestyle.