Press Release

Directors UK is delighted to announce the appointment of four new Board members including directors Jan Genesis and Christine Lalla, Successor Representative Lisi Russell and Deborah Stones. 

Speaking today, Chair of the Directors UK Board Steve Smith said: “As well as bringing a wealth of skills and experience that will prove invaluable in the months and years ahead, the appointment of Jan, Christine, Lisi and Deborah goes a step toward ensuring our Board better reflects and represents the make-up of our wider membership. I’m pleased to say that alongside seasoned working directors, the addition of an independent board member with specialist knowledge around copyright in the creative industries will ensure we are able to better carry out our objectives as an organisation. I know we are all looking forward to working together, and to continue to serve our members as our industry faces the uncertainties of the future.”

Jan Genesis is a multi-camera director. Having started his career at Bloomberg in 2006, Jan took part in Directors UK’s hands-on multi-camera training in 2016, and has since worked across entertainment, reality, sport and news with credits including Love Island, Big Brother and I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!
 

Jan said: “Directors UK has been a leader in driving positive change within the industry and has played a key role in the development of my own career. I am thrilled to be joining the Board – being involved in important conversations and effecting real change at Board level is a crucial step toward change. I am committed not only to helping to protect the interests of directors, but to increasing participation of underrepresented directors on mainstream productions.” 

Christine Lalla is a is a film and TV drama director with credits including Hollyoaks and The 4 O’Clock Club, and she has a background in cinematography. Previously a mentor on the Directors UK Inspire scheme, Christine sits on the Steering Committee at Cinesisters, and is on the Programming Committee of the inaugural Windrush Caribbean Film Festival. 

 

Christine said:“I would not have a career without the support of Directors UK and I’m very happy to be joining the Board to use my voice for the hundreds of highly skilled and talented underrepresented directors who are still largely unseen and unheard by the film and TV industry.”

 

Lisi Russell joins the Directors UK Board as Successor Representative. Lisi was happily married to the late director Ken Russell and is director of Ken Russell Productions Ltd. As a professional theatre and film actor, published poet, produced playwright and recording singer, Lisi has regularly presented Ken Russell’s films at cinema houses in London, Lymington, Keswick, New York City and North Carolina, and was keynote speaker at the Kingston University Film Symposium in 2017. 

 

Lisi said: “I am honoured to be asked to join the Directors UK Board. I have been a British film obsessive since my journalist father acquired for me a press pass to get into movies from the age of twelve. I very much respect and am on personal terms with many British film directors. I have experience making sure designees in wills are rightfully located and bequests distributed and believe I can handle this aspect of my new role sensitively. I look forward to working with such a personable and effective group of Board members.”

Deborah Stones has worked for over thirty years in the copyright and collective management industries. Originally a solicitor and partner in the Intellectual Property department of law firm Taylor Joynson Garrett (now Taylor Wessing), she specialised in copyright and entertainment law. Deborah has acted for several collecting societies in the music, visual arts, publishing and audio-visual industries, including DPRS – the precursor organisation to Directors UK. In her position as General Counsel at PRS, Deborah was part of the Executive Leadership Team and had responsibility for the provision of legal services to the company for the policy and public affairs functions. In that regard, Deborah has been heavily involved in many significant regulatory and legislative developments affecting copyright and the creative industries in Europe and the UK. 

 

Deborah said: “I am delighted to be joining the Board of Directors UK. In the last twenty years or so since I first worked with the team, the organisation has developed enormously, and it has achieved a great deal for film and TV directors in that period. I very much look forward to playing a part in its future and that of its members.”

 

Andy Harrower, CEO of Directors UK said: “It is a pleasure to welcome Jan, Christine, Lisi and Deborah to the Board. Our new colleagues each offer a unique insight that, alongside the continued invaluable input from the rest of our Board, guides the work of our organisation. The Directors UK Board not only represents directors from different genres and different backgrounds, but now, with the addition of an independent Board member from outside of the film and TV industry, we can broaden our scope. Our collective knowledge and experience will serve our members across a wider range of issues – from protecting creators’ copyright to managing estates, from the pressing issues impacting directors to championing the craft of directing within our industry and beyond. I am very much looking forward to working with them all.”

The new Board members have been co-opted as part of a wide-ranging governance review that took place last year. This review ensures that, through the experts that comprise our Board, Directors UK is able to deliver the best support to our members and the wider directing community.