Stage 1 business development consultant

Olsberg•SPI is a creative industries consulting firm specialising in the worlds of film, television, video games and digital media. With a practical understanding of the creative industries, SPI delivers informed, creative and realistic solutions for clients. The firm has worked on company development and sustainability in the UK and around the world and in 2012 published Building sustainable film businesses: the challenges for industry and government.

Olsberg•SPI proposes a team approach to Stage 1 consultation. Companies will work directly with Leon Forde, but also benefit from the support of Jonathan Oldsberg, Andrew Barnes and Aidan O'Hare.

Jonathan Olsberg

SPI Chairman Jonathan Olsberg has worked in the screen industries for 35 years, starting out in New York as an international sales agent, handling titles such as My Beautiful Launderette, before distributing specialised films in the US from directors like Resnais, Godard, Verhoeven, Greenaway and Paul Cox. In 1989 Jonathan returned to London as Managing Director of international distributor and sales agent Glinwood Films (The Last Emperor).

Jonathan founded SPI in 1992 and his work as chairman has ranged across all areas of its expertise, including extensive work on company development. He is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the British Screen Advisory Council and the European Film Academy. His first career was in investment banking, in London and New York. In 1973 Jonathan obtained an MBA from Columbia University in New York having previously qualified as a chartered accountant in 1971.

Leon Forde

Leon is an Associate Director of Olsberg•SPI having joined the firm in 2013 after 15 years as a senior journalist and contributing editor for Screen International. Leon’s work for Olsberg•SPI spans a wide range of international strategy, business planning, feasibility and insight projects. In 2017 he delivered The State of the UK Independent Film Sector, a major analysis for UK producers’ body Pact of all cyclical and structural changes occurring in the independent film business.

He has spoken about the film business on the BBC and CNN and at international festivals and conferences, and has also contributed to a wide range of media outlets in the UK and overseas. He is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and the British Screen Advisory Council’s Future Leaders’ Forum.

Andrew Barnes

Andrew is an Associate Director at Olsberg•SPI, with seven years’ experience consulting in the public policy space, and has been at the firm since 2012. Andrew works across all areas of SPI’s business, with recent projects related to economic impact and screen sector strategy, the future potential of digital media innovations, and festival evaluations.

He is presently working on a refresh of SPI’s 2015 Economic Impact for the UK’s Screen Sector Tax Credits, an evaluation of the status of the Irish audiovisual sector, including economic impact and strategy elements, and an evaluation of the Sarajevo Film Festival. He is a member of the British Screen Advisory Council’s Future Leaders’ Forum.

Aidan O’Hare

Aidan is a Research Analyst at Olsberg•SPI, having worked previously in Ireland as an Investment Analyst. He has finance and applied economic research experience from his time in the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, a large sovereign wealth fund. Here he worked to develop a framework, methodology and procedures to measure and report the Fund’s annual economic impact on the Irish economy across many metrics. He also analysed and forecasted the economic impact of prospective investments and conducted scenario analysis on the entire assets of the Fund. Aidan has completed level two of the Chartered Financial Analyst programme. He also has a research Masters’ degree in Economics from Trinity College Dublin from 2011.

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