AD Guild’s Advisory Council (AC) is made up of elected ADG members and non-members from the wider Film & TV industry. Our Advisory Council members have extensive experience and expertise either as Assistant Directors or from their chosen fields of related work. The purpose of the AC is to contribute to the vision and strategy of the Guild and to provide input and advice which supports the goals and objectives of the Guild.
2nd Assistant Director
Jo Tew is a 2nd Assistant Director, working in film & drama with over twenty years’ experience in the industry. Jo has been a member of the ADG Council since its inception. During her time as a council member, she has enjoyed working on the development of the Guild, as it grows.
Jo works closely with the AD Guild Manager as part of the Education and Training Committee, developing outreach programmes, training and mentor opportunities for members. Jo also believes equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within the industry is essential, and that the Guild can have a huge impact on enabling working environments where every AD feels empowered to achieve their full potential.
1st Assistant Director
Paul Murphy has over twenty years’ experience as a 1st AD, working in features, HETV and commercials. In that time, he has worked with both Oscar and BAFTA-winning cast, directors and production companies, and some of the productions he has collaborated on have themselves won BAFTAs, a fact of which he is very proud.
A member of the ADG since its inception, Paul has been a member of the ADG Regional Committee and, as a father to three neurodiverse children with disabilities, is very interested in avenues for strengthening inclusion and accessibility for all disabled and neurodiverse people already working within our industry, and for those with ambitions to do so.
2023 saw Paul’s first foray into producing. ‘Partygate’, which was commissioned by and screened on Channel 4, was a success with both critics and audiences alike. It was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Director and won Best Single Drama at the Royal Television Society Awards. Paul is currently looking to cement his nascent producing work with his AD career, seeking opportunities to both 1st and associate produce HETV productions, to help strengthen & solidify his producing experience.
Chair, Mark Milsome Foundation
As Chair of the Mark Milsome Foundation (MMF), Samantha has knowledge and experience of many of the issues surrounding crew in the Film & TV industry, particularly, but not confined to, the area of health & safety.
She is responsible for advocating for better well-being provision for crew, increasing awareness and education around health & safety issues, establishing partnerships with industry-wide bodies, and supporting young people to consider a role in Film & TV.
Alongside her volunteer role for MMF, she works part-time for the European Film Academy (based in Berlin) on their pan-European youth education projects.
Samantha has over 30 years’ experience working in the entertainment, charity, and consultancy sectors, including as a consultant for the BFI. She is a communications leader, strategic advisor, and film education champion. She would be delighted to continue to apply her knowledge to the AD Guild, through the role of Advisory Council member.
1st Assistant Director
Over the last 14 years, Jez has meticulously made his way through the AD department in HETV and Features to become 1st AD and has worked for the likes of BBC, ITV, Mammoth Screen, Netflix, Searchlight, Disney, to name but a few.
Jez has been the Co-Chair of the Education and Training Committee for the ADG since its foundation, helping to ensure excellence in the training of UK ADs and maintaining the high standards for which our ADs are regarded worldwide. He is also a contributor and external tutor at the National Film and Television School.
3rd Assistant Director
Emmy Brown is in her 8th year in the industry and has worked up from Floor Runner to 2nd AD, working on Band 2 budget productions.
In the past few years, Emmy has worked as 1st AD on second units, short films and indie features, as well as a chaperone, on the side; staying busy and working hard.
In between all her work, Emmy is also an active member of Bectu and the ADG and is an advocate for new entries into the industry, as she found the support of experienced colleagues a huge asset to starting her career and would like to pass this onto others.
Emmy’s ambitions include becoming a 1st AD and, some day, directing her own film.
1st Assistant Director, AD Guild Director
Richard has been actively involved with the AD Guild as a Council member and company director since its inception in 2020. Before this, he enjoyed a 25-year career as a 1st Assistant Director on a wide variety of commercials, film and HETV productions with directors such as Stephen Poliakoff, Beeban Kidron and Taylor Hackford.
Richard is a passionate advocate for the AD Guild and keen to advise and support the next chapter of its development with colleagues on the Advisory Council. He is keen to encourage the provision of more training and services for our Guild membership and to drive wider recognition and respect of the Assistant Directors’ craft and critical role in our industry.
Head of Industry Relations, Directors UK
Paul is the Head of Industry Relations for Directors UK. He has previously spent more than a decade working at Bectu, including five years as the Assistant National Secretary overseeing the London Production Division of the union which negotiated the Bectu/Pact agreements. In this role he helped to establish the AD Branch, and helped in the discussions that resulted in the founding of the ADG and the ADs grading scheme itself. His final years at Bectu were spent as the union’s freelance researcher.
Prior to joining Bectu, Paul’s film industry-related work included four years as a researcher in the European Parliament, specialising in Film and TV global trade for a Labour MEP. Other working roles have included being a founder and director of a software company, freelance work advising on media matters and organising policy conferences, and a period working as the advertising manager at The New Statesman.
Crew Development Manager | Liverpool Film Office
Helen Morgan spent 16 years working in the film and TV industry as an Assistant Director working her way up through the ranks from Runner to First Assistant across a wide range of production types, including feature films, High End TV, serial drama and Children’s TV.
Helen was a member of the AD Guild from its inception and took an active part in both the Equality and Diversity and Regional Committees. In 2023, Helen took an industry side-step and joined the Liverpool Film office as Crew Development Manager. Helen’s role in the film office is to promote and advocate for local film and tv crew as well as developing the next generation through LFO’s Action! training programme.
Helen supports productions filming in the region to crew with local behind-the-scenes talent and manages the BFI-funded skills cluster activity with Screen Alliance North. In 2024, Liverpool Film Office and the AD Guild worked in partnership to deliver Continuing Professional Development training with Entertainment partners to deliver Movie Magic Scheduling training for 12 ADs from across the North West. In this new role at the film office, Helen works across a variety of national projects with industry agencies including BAFTA, BFI, The Film and TV Charity, Production Guild, Bectu and BFC as well as with numerous regional and national training providers.
2nd Assistant Director
Having done a few bits and pieces as a daily runner on film (of all budgets), TV and pop promos, Gareth’s career was kickstarted through a chance encounter with Cliff Lanning whilst working in a cinema in north London. After learning that he was going to be the 1st AD on the fifth in the Harry Potter series, Gareth asked Cliff if he was in need of any runners, and what initially started as a two-week probation ran to the end of the show.
Throughout Gareth’s near two-decade career he has risen through the AD ranks up to 2nd AD, working on a variety of budgeted film and TV and has even dipped his toe into Visual FX and COVID department, which helped expand his skillset as a 2nd AD.
During periods of downtime, Gareth has collaborated with the Production Guild and Sgrin Cymru, on educating school children about the role of the Assistant Director and imparting his knowledge and passion to those who may have not known about our role and how they could get work in our industry.
He is someone who is passionate about the role of the AD and wants to help make it a viable career for those who express an interest in getting into the film industry.
The AD Guild aims to help all AD's working in the UK and beyond. Help us to help you...
