Women in Film: Changemakers of Film and Screen

Stacy L. Smith, Ph.D. is the foremost disrupter of inequality in the entertainment industry and a recipient of the 2025 James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award. Dr. Smith is the Founder of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative (AII), the leading global think tank studying inequality in entertainment. Her groundbreaking research and solutions span film, TV, and digital platforms, the music business, and economic analyses investigating the relationship between inclusion and financial performance. She has authored over 150 reports, papers, and book chapters and is routinely consulted as an expert on entertainment. Dr. Smith served on the Recording Academy Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion following the release of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s inaugural study on the music industry and is Founding Board Member of She Is The Music, and the TIME’S UP Global Leadership Board. LA Weekly named Dr. Smith the most influential person in Los Angeles in 2015. In 2019, the Hollywood Reporter named her one of 50 Agents of Change, and in 2021 Billboard listed Dr. Smith as an industry Change Agent.

annenberg.usc.edu/research/aii

With a daily radio show on Kiss FM, Neev commands a daily audience of 1.5 million in her 8th year at the station. From interviewing the likes of Pink, Rihanna, 1D, David Guetta and even David Cameron to name just a few, Neev is well know for her down to earth attitude and larger than life personality. Off air, she has headlined in Ibiza for the last three years and DJ’s every week in the UK’s coolest spots and super clubs. Neev is also the official DJ for Nike Women and is booked frequently to DJ for brands such as River Island, London Fashion Week, Red Bull, Grazia magazine and Nokia.

As well as her show, DJ gigs and voiceover work, Neev is kept busy by her role as ambassador for several charities. She works with Dance4Life, Mencap, Women of the Future, and The Princes Trust. In 2009 Neev was named Young Achiever of the Year at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards, leading to an invitation to Buckingham Palace.

Lucy Bevan is a multi-award winning Casting Director whose credits include; ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’, ‘Barbie‘, ‘The Batman’, ‘Belfast’, Apple TV’s ‘Masters of the Air’ and the upcoming HBO ‘Harry Potter’ series. She has worked with established directors including frequent collaborator Kenneth Branagh, Greta Gerwig and Steven Spielberg.   

Finola Dwyer ONZM is a twice Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning producer for BROOKLYN and AN EDUCATION. She entered the industry as a film editor in her native NZ before turning to producing. Her personal life took her to London, and her producing credits include Iain Softley’s BAFTA-winning debut BACKBEAT, on the early days of The Beatles, with a formidable soundtrack by über music producer Don Was; Stephan Elliott’s cult favorite WELCOME TO WOOP WOOP, which played in competition at Cannes; Chris Menges’ THE LOST SON; Sandra Goldbacher’s award-winning ME WITHOUT YOU, starring Michelle Williams, Anna Friel, and Trudie Styler; Antonia Bird’s Emmy-nominated THE HAMBURG CELL; and Bharat Nalluri’s Golden Globe- and BAFTA-winning TSUNAMI: THE AFTERMATH, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Toni Collette, Sophie Okonedo, and Tim Roth.

She went on to produce the multi-Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning AN EDUCATION, which featured a breakout performance by Carey Mulligan. This was followed by Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut and box office hit, QUARTET, with a stellar cast led by Maggie Smith, and A LONG WAY DOWN, starring Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette, and Aaron Paul. Finola received her second Oscar nomination for the three-time Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning BROOKLYN, starring Saoirse Ronan. Ritesh Batra’s OUR SOULS AT NIGHT for Netflix followed, starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, premiering at the Venice Film Festival.

Finola produced Kristin Scott Thomas’ directorial debut, MY MOTHER’S WEDDING, starring Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham, and Scott Thomas, and most recently, JOY, the story of IVF, starring Thomasin McKenzie and Bill Nighy, which premiered at the London Film Festival before going straight to No. 1 on Netflix.

Finola is a former Chair of the BAFTA Film Committee and a BAFTA Board member and trustee. She is a member of AMPAS and has served on the Academy’s Producers Branch Executive Committee.

Fiona Lamptey is a BAFTA award-winning producer with a career spanning over 20 years, having worked at Netflix, Film4, and Channel 4, running her own production company and freelancing as an independent producer.

In June 2024, she Co-founded Juno Studios—a bold, boundary-pushing production company that dares to do things differently: inventive in its creative output, fearless in its storytelling, and intentional in discovering and elevating talent. With a sharp focus on audiences, Juno explores how stories connect across formats, platforms, and communities.

As Director of UK Film at Netflix for three years, Fiona was a driving force behind the UK’s cinematic output, shaping a new era of British film on the global stage. Under her leadership, her films received widespread recognition, including a BAFTA nomination for The Wonder, an Emmy nomination for Scoop, and an Academy Award nomination for The After. Fiona’s career began at Channel 4, where she helped to oversee business affairs and production finance for flagship shows such as Big Brother, Dispatches, and Deal or No Deal. She went on to spend nine years at Film4 as a Production Executive, where she helped manage the development and film production slate.

In 2013, Fiona founded Fruit Tree Media, a company dedicated to discovering and nurturing new voices in British cinema. Her mission for inclusivity and storytelling led Fruit Tree Media to be awarded the BFI Vision Award. Fiona continues to lead Fruit Tree Media alongside Juno Studios, championing a more inclusive and equitable future for British talent.

A passionate advocate for diversity and authentic storytelling, Fiona was a Co-Producer on the critically acclaimed drama Sitting in Limbo, which won the BAFTA for Best Single Drama in 2019.

Candid Broads is a BAFTA-nominated production company founded in 2020 by French-British producer Oriane Pick. The company aims to revolutionise the industry by bringing unspoken truths from underrepresented communities to the forefront. Shortly after its inception, Development Producer Anais Ferrato joined the team, furthering Candid Broads’ commitment to ensuring diverse female representation both in front of and behind the camera. In 2024, Pick was shortlisted as one of the 3 Finalists of Film London Lodestars in the Producer category and won Business Woman of the Year at the SME Awards.

Upcoming features from Candid Broads include the highly anticipated TO THE GIRL I ONCE KNEW, starring Calvin Demba, recognised as a Screen Star of Tomorrow; Folk Horror BLACK SAMPHIRE starring Cathy Tyson and Stephen Fry, in co-production with Silicon Gothic. The slate also includes ARTHUR & CLARA starring CJ Beckford and BAFTA Nominee Mirren Mack, the debut feature by Kieran Bourne; and amongst other projects, BELLE, a feature documentary exploring intergenerational trauma and women’s rights (currently in post-production).

In the short film arena, Candid Broads  is working with Warner Brothers Discovery on the groundbreaking documentary FATIMA’S GOAL (WIP title), a story hailed by The Guardian as “a modern-day Schindler’s List” in 2021; SWIM SISTAS documentary about the swimming journeys of three very different Black girls/women as barriers are broken down in the water both films shot in March 2025; and the new comedy THE CONTRACEPTION FAIR, featuring Screen Star of Tomorrow Ronke Adekoluejo and DERRY GIRLS Kathy Kiera Clarke, shooting in April 2025. Their recent success, THE DATE earned acclaim as a 2024 BAFTA Cymru Breakthrough Nominee and won the Best Film Award at BIFA-qualifying Exit6 Film Festival. It has been screened at prestigious festivals, including the BFI and Aesthetica, and is now in early development for a feature-length adaptation with Olivier-nominated director Amy Hodge and BAFTA-nominated writer Bethan Marlow.

Biography – Trisha Ward
Trisha Ward is a prolific writer of scripts/screenplays and musicals.
She started her writing career at the age of 15, when she wrote her
musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth entitled “Nightshriek”
which won her a Time Out Critic’s Award. The musical starred a
young Daniel Craig and Trisha beat The Phantom of the Opera and
Les Miserables to win this prestigious award. Trisha went on to set
up IMPACT, the first professional theatre company in Cleveland in
her native Northeast. During this time, Trisha also wrote her
commissioned stage play, the critically acclaimed “Behold the Man”,
which was staged in the Northeast at several prominent venues before
being adapted into a feature film and being televised across the ITV
network.

After this early success, Trisha was signed up by Warner Chappell
Publishing (Theatrical & Plays) and Samuel French publishing who
offered her a world-wide publishing deal for Nightshriek and
subsequently all her other stage work. Nightshriek went on to be
performed all over the world and is lodged in the New York Public
Library.

Trisha quickly wrote two further stage plays, “Forever Yours” and
“Lonely Hearts”, both of which were staged in London. Trisha also
worked on the feature film and West End theatre production of her
musical adaptation of “Sleeping Beauty”, for which she wrote music,
lyrics and a book. Trisha wrote the music and lyrics and co-produced
– with classical Brit Award winner Rupert Christie – the No 1 album
Coronation Street: Rogues, Angels, Heroes & Fools which was
released in December 2010, working with ITV for the 50th
Anniversary of the iconic soap. The album achieved much critical
acclaim. Trisha was signed up by Sony/ATV music publishing at this
time. In 2020, Trisha’s script of “The Two Wolves”, based upon the
world-famous legend of Romulus and Remus was made into a feature
film starring Sir Derek Jacobi, James Cosmo, Frances Barber and
Disney star, Dove Cameron. The film was directed by US director
Andy Fickman (She’s The Man/Playing with Fire) and is currently in
post-production. Trisha is also currently working on her forthcoming
feature film – “The Vampyre: Blood & Ink” which is an adaptation of
John Polidori’s iconic novella – “The Vampyre”. Trisha has cowritten the screenplay of the film and is also directing it, which stars
Malcolm McDowell, Sir Derek Jacobi, Anya Chalotra, Frances
Barber and Calam Lynch (Bridgerton).

See press below for
“The Vampyre: Blood & Ink” –
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12982471/LegendaryBritish-actor-famed-disturbing-nation-iconic-role-returns-screensnew-terrifying-film-know-is.html
https://deadline.com/2023/06/the-vampyre-blood-ink-malcolmmcdowell-derek-jacobi-john-william-polidoris-novel-1235418812/

Reviews for Trisha’s first stage play Nightshriek:
‘Cancel all engagements. Beg or even steal a ticket, hammer on the
theatre door until they let you in – it is little short of astounding when
one learns that the book, music and lyrics of Nightshriek are all work
of Trisha Ward’. – The Times

‘Ward displays an exceptional talent for pace and rhythm –
producing a fine range of powerful musical numbers. She is tipped as
the next Andrew Lloyd-Webber and it is easy to see why’– Time Out.