BAFTA confirms Film and Television Committee chairs and deputies

BAFTA has confirmed the chairs and deputy chairs of its Film and Television Committees.

BAFTA’s three sector committees – comprised of BAFTA members who volunteer their time – play a central role in the oversight and steering of BAFTA’s high-profile Film, Games and Television Awards, and support BAFTA to deliver its strategic charitable mission through invaluable industry insight and expertise. The chairs of all three committees also sit on BAFTA’s Board of Trustees.

BAFTA’s guiding principles for its awards are to celebrate creative excellence, level the playing field, provide a fair and robust process, and encourage positive industry change. The eligibility, campaigning rules and voting criteria for the Film, Games, Television and Television Craft Awards are individually reviewed and set by the sector committees annually.

• Anna Higgs, managing director of Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, has been re-elected as chair of BAFTA’s Film Committee, having held the position of chair for the previous two years, and deputy chair two years prior. Anna will serve alongside Emily Stillman, senior vice president at Warner Bros. Studio Leavesden, who has been newly elected deputy chair.
• Hilary Rosen, director of commissioning at UKTV, has been newly elected as chair of BAFTA’s Television Committee. Christine Healy, COO of Keshet Productions UK, has been newly elected deputy chair.

As previously announced, Sara Putt was recently appointed by the Board as chair of BAFTA in June 2023. Tara Saunders continues as chair of the Games Committee, alongside deputy chair Des Gayle.

“We are so grateful to our Sector Committee members who are comprised of people from across the screen industries who generously volunteer their time and expertise,” said BAFTA chair Sara Putt. “We are delighted to see Anna Higgs re-elected as our Film Committee chair, and to welcome Hilary Rosen to the chair of the Television Committee for the first time. Together with Tara Saunders who chairs BAFTA’s Games Committee, and our deputy chairs Emily Stillman for Film, Christine Healy for TV and Des Gayle for Games, our committees play a central role in ensuring BAFTA’s activities, including our world-leading awards, support and spotlight the screen industries and the talented people within them.”

Biographies

Anna Higgs
Anna Higgs is managing director of Casarotto Ramsay & Associates, a fiercely independent agency for some of the world’s most exceptional talent working in film, theatre, television and new media.  A creative leader with wide-ranging experience, she is also Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee and on the Board of Trustees.  She has been named one of Time Out’s ‘Creative 100’ and Creative Review’s ‘Creative Leaders 50’.

Emily Stillman
As senior vice president at Warner Bros. Studio Leavesden, Emily is responsible for Business Development, Marketing and Operations for Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, Warner Bros. Leavesden Park and Warner Bros. Set Lighting & Rigging; working to attract all types of productions, from high-end TV drama to feature films, music videos and commercials. Most recently Emily oversaw the preparation and delivery of WBSL masterplan expansion application to local and central government, gaining approval on all levels with the construction plan due to start Jan 2024.
Emily is passionate about diversity and inclusion and during her time at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden has worked on a number of initiatives and events with the aim of making the industry more inclusive, including an annual International Women’s Day event.
Emily became a board member of the Production Guild in September 2020 and was elected to the BAFTA Film Committee in June 2021. She is also on the Film and TV charity Mental Health Taskforce Group, is a judge on the Movers and Shakers awards panel and was listed in Variety’s Women That Have Made An Impact in Global Entertainment 2021 report.

Hilary Rosen
Hilary Rosen is director of commissioning at UKTV and leads UKTV’s award-winning team of commissioners, overseeing all of UKTV’s original unscripted and scripted content. Hilary has commissioned some of UKTV’s biggest successes including BAFTA-winning show Taskmaster and award-winning Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable. While running the Factual and Factual Entertainment slate she and her team commissioned breakout hits Emma Willis: Delivering Babies, Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, the double BAFTA-winning Big Zuu’s Big Eats, Blackadder: The Lost Pilot and the Bangers and Cash franchise. Her team has delivered the hit scripted shows Annika, We Hunt Together and The Cockfields.
Prior to UKTV Hilary was creative director at Silver River. Her career has also encompassed ten years as a senior executive producer at Lion Television having begun her career in BBC News and Current Affairs at Panorama. Hilary is an active member of the BAFTA Television Committee and has also acted as a consultant for BBC Academy, worked on the Edinburgh International TV Festival and Realscreen advisories and is passionate about mentoring women in television.

Christine Healy
Christine is COO of Keshet Productions UK, a UK Scripted HETV production company, where she oversees the commercial, operational & production side of the business.
Throughout her television career she has played a pivotal role in the success of a multitude of high-profile dramas, including Line of Duty, Doctor Foster, The White Queen, Catherine the Great, and Des, and has worked with some of Britain’s leading production companies including New Pictures, Drama Republic, Leftbank, Company Pictures, World Productions, BBC Studios, and ITV Studios.
She remains an engaged Council member of the HETV Fund at ScreenSkills, whose main purpose is to support and enhance the HETV industry through professional training and development chiefly for below-the-line freelance talent at all stages of their careers across the whole of the UK.