Stephen Frears is one of the UK’s most respected and experienced filmmakers; having shot to recognition in 1985 as Director of the critically acclaimed feature My Beautiful Laundrette, Frears has continued to receive the highest critical praise throughout his career for films including High Fidelity, Dangerous Liaisons and Dirty Pretty Things. Frears comments "Alexander Mackendrick said: film writing and directing cannot be taught, only learned. At the Met Film School, you'll spend most of your time making films with the support of professional filmmakers. I don't know any other way to learn."

Thomas Hoegh is the founder of Arts Alliance. Thomas trained as a theatre director at Northwestern University and worked as a director of theatre, television and large-scale events in Norway, the US and Japan. He later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and founded Arts Alliance in 1996. Since then Hoegh has built up forty-five businesses involved in technology and entertainment. Amongst them, film related companies in production, distribution, exhibition and digital cinema. Thomas serves on the board of directors of the UK Film Council.

Roger Laughton is currently Chair of South West Screen and Deputy Chair of the British Film Institute. He is also on the boards of the Arts Institute of Bournemouth, the Grierson Trust, Services Sound and Vision Corporation and Met Film. He began his production career in the BBC where he worked in Bristol, Pebble Mill and Manchester before moving to London in 1980. From 1999 to 2004, Laughton was the Head of Bournemouth Media School and also chaired a DCMS/Skillset enquiry into the training needs of the audio-visual industries. He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society and was awarded the Society’s Gold Medal in 1999.

Susan Benn is Founder and Artistic Director of PAL (Performing Arts Labs Ltd.), a not-for-profit charitable company established in 1989 in England to bring together exceptional talent to develop fresh ideas and challenging new work in film and interactive media; theatre, dance, opera and music theatre; and latterly in science and education; and research and policymaking. A former editor, publisher, and reportage photographer, Benn works with her team to shape PAL’s research agenda and international Lab programmes. In 2000, in recognition of PAL’s achievements, Benn received a major four-year education award of over £1m from the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA). She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce and a member of the RSA Council.

Christoph Röhl has directed prime-time dramas for television and his short films have won numerous international awards, including the Max-Ophüls Short Film Prize and the Gold Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival. Christoph is a founding member of the Met Film School and was the Course Director from 2003 to 2007.

Jill Tandy has worked in senior management positions on the business side of the international media industry for over 20 years. She is currently working with NBC Universal as acting Head of Commercial Affairs, advising on the strategy and implementation of their new International Television Production Division. In 1999, as Co-Owner, Tandy established Qwerty Films with her partners, whose credits include The Duchess, Kinsey, and I Heart Huckabees . From 1986-99, together with the rest of the initial management team, Tandy established  Polygram Filmed Entertainment, heading the International Business and Public Affairs activities. PFE grew to become Europe’s only fully integrated film studio at that time, with operations in 14 countries, and over $1 billion of revenue from producing and globally distributing movies such as Notting Hill, Green Mile and Four Weddings and a Funeral. She has been involved in numerous training activities including Director of Inside Pictures ,Vice-Chairman of the European Film College; Business Director of the Film Business Academy at Cass Business School. 

Judy Counihan is Executive Producer for Arts Alliance and produced the innovative, five-screen ID-Identity of the Soul with Thomas Hoegh directing and starring Vanessa Redgrave. Prior to joining Arts Alliance Counihan was Executive Producer for Drama at IWC Media. Counihan was also Director of Film at Skillset, the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries. Her career spans 18 years, winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Picture twice for No Mans Land in 2001 and for Antonia’s Line in 1995. She also produced the Oscar nominated Before the Rain which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Award. Her other film credits include Me Without You, Janice Beard and Borstal Boy. She has just produced two films for Slingshot; French Film starring Eric Cantona and Hugh Bonneville and Faintheart: a co-production with Vertigo Films and My Space. She has been a tutor at the Film Business School and the NFTSl. She is also co-author of a recently published book entitled The Pitch published by Faber and Faber.

Sarah Gavron began her career in documentaries and is a graduate of the NFTS. In 2003 Gavron directed her first full length drama, the Dennis Potter Award winning This Little Life for BBC TV. The film also won Gavron two BAFTAs for Best Single Drama and Best New Director, the RTS and WIFTV Award for Best Newcomer and she was selected as one of Variety’s ten directors to watch at the Sundance International Film Festival. Further to this, Gavron was nominated for the Douglas Hickox Best Directorial Debut Award.

Her films include The Girl in the Lay-by (2000), which won a BAFTA nomination and Losing Touch (2000), which won the Young Jury Award at the Clermont Ferrand Film Festival, Best Film Award at the London Royal Television Society Awards and Best International Short at the Foyle Film Festival. Her latest film is the critically acclaimed Brick Lane.

Cameron McCracken is Managing Director of Pathe UK. He is a member of the British Screen Advisory Council, the British Council Film Committee and a director of Yorkshire Screen. Prior to his appointment at Pathe 8 years ago, Cameron was Director of Business Affairs at British Screen Finance Limited (1997 – 2000). Cameron read law at Oxford University and worked as a film lawyer for 9 years in London, Paris and Rome before establishing himself as an independent producer. Cameron has co-produced or executive produced over 20 films including: Girl With A Pearl Earring (dir. Peter Webber); Enduring Love (dir. Roger Michell); Mrs Henderson Presents (dir. Stephen Frears), Breakfast on Pluto (dir. Neil Jordan) and The Queen (dir. Stephen Frears).

Michael Gubbins is the former editor of Screen International and Screendaily.com and is also a speaker and media commentator on the film industry worldwide.

Gubbins has been a keynote speaker at dozens of major events including the Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam and Sarajevo Film Festivals. Gubbins has also chaired leading conferences in cities including Hong Kong, London, Budapest, Bucharest, Paris and Montreal and been chair at a session at the European Parliament. Media work includes articles for The Guardian and Time Out and interviews for all the leading UK broadsheets, the BBC, Sky, CNN and ABC News in the US. Gubbins has been a journalist and editor for 21 years.

Dick Ross began his career as a BBC journalist. From 1970, he also held a number of university fellowships researching the social impact of  mass media.

In 1980 Ross was appointed Professor of Film at the Royal College of Art in London, and in 1989 co-chairman (with Milos Forman) of the graduate film department at Columbia University in New York. From 1990-1992 he was chairman of New York University's graduate film department. For five years before he ‘retired’ in 2000, Dick Ross was Head of Curriculum, then Deputy Director at the National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield. Since then, his work with the Norwegian Film School has led to the creation of the world’s first training institute specifically for teachers of film and television. He has also worked as script consultant for many features and award-winning short film scripts including Potentia, Lady in Waiting, La Boule, Artisten.

Francis Seriau is a drummer, teacher, clinician and author who founded the internationally renowned London based group of music schools Drumtech, Vocaltech, Guitar-X and Keyboardtech in 1983. Francis developed new concepts and techniques for the drumset, introduced the 'learning to learn' approach and the mental approach to playing and practising. This unique philosophy and methodology is at the heart of all courses at Drumtech, Vocaltech, Guitar-X and Keyboardtech. In 1998 Francis received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music education.

Barnaby Thompson is Head of Studio at Ealing Studios, the founder of Fragile Films and has produced four of the top twelve British Independent movies of all time. He has extensive experience in both television and film in the UK and in America, and his films have grossed over $500 million in worldwide box office. Credits include Easy Virtue, St Trinian’s, The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband.

Nik Powell is an accomplished producer and the Director of the National Film and Television School. In the early 1970’s Nik Powell set up Virgin Records with Richard Branson. In 1982 Powell went into partnership with Stephen Woolley to form Palace Video, and then Palace Pictures and Palace Productions. Powell has acted as Executive Producer on all of Palace’s productions including Neil Jordan’s Company of Wolves, Oscar-nominated Mona Lisa and Neil Jordan’s multi Oscar-nominated The Crying Game. Films that Nik and Stephen Woolley’s new company Scala has produced include Shane Meadows’ Twentyfour: Seven, Mark Herman’s Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Little Voice and Fred Schepisis’ Last Orders starring Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, and Ray Winstone.

David Kosse is the president of International at Universal Pictures. Kosse has extensive experience within the studio system having worked with Universal, Polygram and Momentum pictures. Kosse was also the executive producer of Wondrous Oblivion and co-executive producer of Things to Do Before You’re 30.