Outline Productions managing director Laura Mansfield is to step away from production after more than two decades to become chief executive of ScreenSkills.
Mansfield succeeds Seetha Kumar, who announced her departure from the training organisation in June, after eight years in the role.
The appointment comes at a pivotal time for ScreenSkills, which is set to be overhauled as part of a proposed industry-wide “radical transformation” of sustainable training and development in the TV sector, as outlined in the Screen Sectors Skills Task Force’s recent report A Sustainable Future for Skills.
Mansfield co-founded Outline with Helen Veale in 1999 and is also creative director of Tin Roof Media, which bought the company in 2017.
She is a non-executive director for Elstree Film Studios and has previously chaired Pact, held a board advisor role on the Indie Training Fund and has worked in youth and entertainment for the BBC and at indies Watchmaker and Rapido TV.
Mansfield said she is “passionate about supporting the development of people in our industry - whether that’s helping new starters or those who are mid-career and upskilling to move genre or role.”
She added: “It’s a challenging but also exciting time for the screen industries and I’m encouraged by the recognition from the Skills Task Force that the industry needs to come together to build a long-term skills strategy to ensure the UK remains world-leading and best in class.”
On leaving the indie sector, Mansfield said she is “ hugely proud of the legacy of quality programmes, and work culture we’ve built with our teams at Outline”.
She said: “We’ve helped grow hundreds of careers and produced entertaining television that’s made positive real world impact. I’ll miss our creative partnership, but know she’ll continue to do extraordinary things. This unique opportunity now afforded by ScreenSkills to help many others build sustainable careers in an industry I love at a pivotal time was too good to miss.”
