The head of an American movie company based in the UK has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Greg Dyke as chairman of the British Film Institute.
Josh Berger, the head of Warner Bros in the UK, Ireland and Spain, could be appointed by the government in the coming weeks after emerging as the favourite to replace Dyke when he stands down in January.
One source close to the appointment process called the American-born executive a “very strong candidate” on a shortlist of three. Another candidate is said to be ex-Sony chief Sir Howard Stringer, who is also a non-executive director at the BBC.
Although Berger is the head of the studio responsible for one of the most successful British-made films of recent times, Harry Potter, rumours of the appointment of a US film studio boss is already causing some disquiet among British film-makers.
The BFI is a state-backed charity set up in 1933 meant to champion independent British filmmakers and filmmaking.
The new chair will be responsible for lobbying the government about government support such as film tax credits among other things at a time when the BFI, like other publicly funded non-departmental bodies, is facing swingeing funding grant-in-aid cuts of up to 40%.
Although Berger is a popular executive who has lived in the UK since 2009 and is currently a governor of the BFI, one source close to the industry said some members of the institute were “livid” about his emergence as favourite because of his perceived conflicts of interest as a US studio boss in a role originally designed to support independents.
In an article for the Evening Standard in 2014, Berger described Gravity, a Time Warner film “about a Nasa space mission, made by a Mexican director, starring two of the world’s biggest American stars” as a “great example of the evolution of British film” because it was “shot, produced, mixed and edited in Britain”.
“When the first Potter film was shot in 2000, fewer than 15% of the effects were produced in Britain. By the time the last film was made in 2010, more than 85% of the visual effects were made in Britain,” Berger wrote.
Warner Bros became the first Hollywood studio since the 1940s to have a permanent base in the UK when it bought Leavesden Studios in 2010, which it used to film the Harry Potter films. At the time, the studio said it would invest £100m in the site.
The film industry is booming in the UK – in 2014 it was responsible for £1.7 bn in exports. However, the industry fears the impact of expected funding cuts with some film-makers even suggesting that the future of the London Film Festival could be in doubt.
Dyke, a former director general of the BBC and, since 2013, chairman of the Football Association, has already let it be known that he will stand down at the BFI at the end of this year.
Although typically titled men, chairmen of the BFI have included former director and playwright Anthony Minghella and even two women although one, Enid Wistrich, was acting chair only. Were he to get the job, Berger would be the first American appointed to the role.
