Chairman and CEO of EMI Music joins Film Business Academy of Cass Business School

Alain Levy, Chairman and CEO of EMI Music, has been appointed Chairman of the Film Business Academy’s Advisory Board at Cass Business School, London.
Levy was formerly worldwide President and CEO of PolyGram, then the world’s largest music company, where he led its expansion into the global movie business with the establishment of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. This subsidiary produced and distributed films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Trainspotting, Mr Bean, Fargo, Dead Man Walking, Wild At Heart, The Game, Priscilla - Queen of the Desert, The Usual Suspects, Sleepers, Elizabeth, Portrait of a Lady, The Big Lebowski and The Borrowers.
The Film Business Academy at Cass is the world’s first international centre dedicated to the business of film. It has been selected by Skillset and the UK Film Council as the national ‘Centre of Excellence’ for film business education, and is also supported with National Lottery funding as part of ‘A Bigger Future’ - the UK Films Skills Strategy.
In Autumn 2006, the Cass MSc in Film Business and the Executive MBA in Film Business will be launched. The Masters course will give students a foundation in management and business skills, plus specialised education in all aspects of the film industry value chain. The MBA aims to provide advanced business education for those already in the film industry.
Levy will chair an Advisory Board comprising major film industry business leaders including Stewart Till from UIP, John Woodward of the UK Film Council, Tim Richards of Vue Cinemas, Xavier Marchand of Momentum Pictures, Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, Dawn Airey of Sky Networks, Andy Duncan of Channel Four, Patrick McKenna of Ingenious Media, talent agent Jenny Casarotto, and producer Duncan Kenworthy. The advisory board assists and advises on developments concerning the Film Business Academy.
Alain Levy commented: “The Film Business Academy will be running Britain’s first and only MBA in the business of film. I hope that it will help foster even more successful movie making, funding and distribution in future generations, through training in the actual business of film. Film - like music - has a great deal to contribute to the UK’s economy, creativity and culture but to be most impactful, it needs a truly global perspective and I am pleased that the Cass Business School is forging links with film schools in other countries such as the US.”
(GB)