Pippa Harris and YouTube UK chief Alison Lomax join NFTS board, signaling a bridge between film and the creator economy

Britain’s National Film and Television School named producer Pippa Harris and YouTube UK and Ireland managing director Alison Lomax to its Board of Governors on October 29, 2026, an appointment that folds big‑screen pedigree and platform strategy into the school’s leadership. Harris, co‑founder of Neal Street Productions and BAFTA’s Vice President for Television, joins as one of the UK’s most decorated producers. Lomax arrives from a perch at the apex of the country’s online video economy. They step onto a board that already features BBC content chief Kate Phillips and Sky Studios chief executive Cécile Frot‑Coutaz. citeturn1view0turn7view1turn0search8turn0search1

The timing is deliberate. NFTS has spent the past year deepening ties between traditional production and digital‑first storytelling, including a formal partnership with YouTube and the BBC aimed at creator training. Lomax has argued that the two spheres have effectively merged. “Over the last decade, the two worlds of YouTube and TV and film have gone from ‘never the twain shall meet’ to a complete crossover,” she wrote in May, framing the new skills push as a national pipeline investment. Her blog post described Create x Connect as a programme to “unlock creative potential for the UK,” with NFTS as a cornerstone delivery partner. The appointments, seen through that lens, are less about novelty than about consolidating a blended industry that students now enter. citeturn5view0

The governance refresh also aligns with a physical expansion. The school plans to open the Cubby Broccoli Building at its Beaconsfield headquarters in January 2027, adding teaching space, launching new courses in costume design and hair and makeup, and providing on‑site accessible accommodation for the first time. The project underscores an institutional bet on crafts training across formats, from prestige drama to high‑volume creator content. Alongside Harris and Lomax, the governors include Roughcut TV founder Ash Atalla, Film4’s Farhana Bhula, ITV Studios managing director Julian Bellamy and former Warner Bros. Discovery executive Polly Cochrane, a mix that reflects the breadth of Britain’s screen industries. The question now is execution. If NFTS can knit studio‑grade craft with platform‑era agility, the appointments announced this week will read not as ceremony, but as a syllabus for the next generation. citeturn6view0turn7view0