The UK policy consultant to America’s Motion Picture Association (MPA) is replacing John McVay as CEO of producer trade body Pact, with McVay stepping down soon after a quarter of a century at the helm.
Nigel Warner has previously worked for ITV and the UK’s Culture, Media and Sport department. Following a lengthy interview process overseen by Pact chair Jane Muirhead, he will replace McVay on March 2, representing the interests of hundreds of UK production companies at a time of sweeping change in the industry.
“I am very pleased to be passing the baton to Nigel whom I have known and worked with for many years,” said McVay. “I look forward to working with him during the handover period next year and until then I will continue to work for Pact members as I have done for over two decades.”
Warner labeled the UK indie sector “the envy of the world” and said he will “do everything in my power to make sure it stays that way.”
Warner’s experience with the MPA will likely come in very handy at a time when Hollywood is having a bigger impact over the international industry than ever, while Netfix and Paramount are currently battling it out to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which will reshape the industry. All three are members of the MPA.
Warner is UK policy consultant for the MPA as well as Special Counsel at strategic comms firm Lexington, where he has focussed for more than 10 years on policy issues of concern to the creative industries. He was Director of Public Affairs at UK net ITV from 2008 to 2011 and co-founded Creative Access, which is now an industry-funded social enterprise.
Warner was also a special advisor to Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary who in the early noughties was the driving force behind the UK terms of trade, which allowed production outfits to hold IP for the first time and had a colossal impact on the landscape. Those terms were some of the first negotiated by McVay, who has been a central part of many industry shifts during a 25-year tenure including the introduction of the gamechanging high-end TV tax credit and Covid-19-enforced Production Restart Scheme. The terms of trade will likely be his most defining legacy.
“I am thrilled that we have a successor that can take forward the many, many achievements of Pact over the past 25 years,” said McVay.
Warner’s inbox will be packed with issues to get to grips with as he takes up challenges like improving tax credits, artificial intelligence protections, co-operating with a broadcasting sector in flux and a soon-to-be-appointed BBC Director General, dealing with the streamers, negotiating a new set of contracts with actors union Equity and attempting to help stem the flow of indie closures.
Relations with Channel 4 will be integral and Warner will be looking to get to know Priya Dogra, that network’s new CEO who starts in a few weeks’ time.
McVay will step down as Pact boss in March but will be retained for a further period to give strategic advice to Warner and lead in the short to medium term on Pact’s political and campaigning work.