As the British Academy of Film and Television Arts prepares to roll out the red carpet,all eyes aren’t just on the nominees-they’re also on the woman steering the organization into its next chapter. Jane Millichip, BAFTA’s chief executive officer, enters this year’s film awards season with a clear agenda that goes far beyond a single glittering night at London’s Royal Festival Hall. In an era when awards shows are under pressure to prove their relevance, Millichip is tasked with transforming BAFTA’s flagship ceremony into a catalyst for wider cultural, industrial and social change.
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, she lays out how she plans to leverage the visibility, commercial power and global reach of the BAFTA Film Awards: from sharpening the academy’s role in championing new voices and underrepresented talent to rethinking how the telecast connects with audiences around the world. Her strategy reflects a broader reappraisal of what awards bodies are for-and how one of Britain’s most venerable institutions can stay ahead of a rapidly evolving screen industry.
Jane Millichips Strategic Vision for Evolving the BAFTA Film Awards
Under Millichip’s leadership, the film awards are being repositioned as a year-round engine for discovery rather than a single glittering night in February. She is pushing for a sharper balance between international prestige and local responsibility, ensuring that British talent is not overshadowed by Hollywood scale while still embracing the global reach of streaming-era cinema. Her approach emphasizes transparency in voting, more visible communication about decision-making, and a deliberate shift away from “whisper networks” toward accountable, data-informed choices. That means closer collaboration with self-reliant distributors, more rigorous diversity benchmarks, and a renewed focus on the craft categories that often define a film’s legacy more than its box office. To support this, BAFTA is investing in digital storytelling around nominees-short features, behind-the-scenes profiles, and curated viewing guides-to help audiences understand why each title matters.
The roadmap extends beyond programming into how the ceremony itself is funded, staged, and measured for impact. Millichip wants the event to operate more like a cultural investment portfolio than a one-night spend, with resources flowing back into training, scholarships, and regional outreach. Key priorities include:
- Expanding voting membership with underrepresented voices from craft and emerging sectors.
- Embedding sustainability into production, travel, and sponsorship agreements.
- Integrating learning programs so nominees engage with schools,film hubs,and apprenticeships.
- Experimenting with formats that blend in-person prestige with accessible digital participation.
| Focus Area | Key Shift |
|---|---|
| Audience Engagement | From broadcast event to interactive ecosystem |
| Talent Pipeline | From recognition to structured career support |
| Global vs. Local | From UK vs. world to UK within the world |
| Accountability | From opaque taste to clear criteria |
Balancing Industry Celebration and Cultural Responsibility on Awards Night
As she moves between the red carpet and the Royal Festival Hall’s backstage corridors, Millichip treats the evening as both a showcase and a stress test for the industry’s conscience. Glamour is allowed, even encouraged, but only if it coexists with a sharper focus on who gets to be seen, credited and celebrated. That means quietly checking which stories are being platformed, how presenters speak about craft versus celebrity, and whether backstage conversations align with the public rhetoric on diversity, fair pay and sustainable production. For Millichip, the broadcast is not merely a three-hour spectacle; it’s a live editorial decision tree in which every cutaway, joke and acceptance speech subtly signals what British film culture values.
Behind the scenes, her team’s planning grid looks less like a party schedule and more like an accountability matrix, mapping out where celebration meets responsibility.
- On-screen narrative: ensuring winners and nominees reflect a broad range of voices and genres
- Environmental footprint: rethinking travel, catering and sets to reduce waste
- Workplace conduct: setting expectations for behavior at official and unofficial events
- Audience impact: considering how younger viewers read power dynamics and representation
| Focus Area | On the Night |
|---|---|
| Representation | Diverse presenters, inclusive nominee reels |
| Ethics | Clear stance on harassment and bullying |
| Sustainability | Lower-emission logistics, reduced single-use materials |
| Global Viewers | Contextual framing for politically charged moments |
Strengthening Global Relevance While Championing British Filmmaking
Millichip’s strategy hinges on broadening the international lens of the awards without diluting their roots. That means sharpening BAFTA’s role as a tastemaker that can spot a micro-budget British debut as confidently as a billion-dollar global franchise. Under her watch, the voting membership is being nudged toward a more outward-looking, cross-border sensibility, with curated screenings, year-round conversations with overseas guilds and festivals, and targeted outreach to underrepresented regions. At the same time, she’s leaning into the idea that British filmmaking is most powerful when it’s not parochial: stories set in council estates and coastal towns are being framed as part of a global conversation about identity, inequality and resilience.
To bolster that dual mandate, Millichip is backing initiatives that place British talent in front of the world while bringing the world’s storytellers to London. Beyond the televised ceremony, BAFTA is quietly building a pipeline of influence through:
- Coordinated festival presence that aligns BAFTA campaigning with Venice, Toronto and Berlin.
- International membership drives focused on craftspeople and below-the-line talent.
- Talent labs and residencies pairing emerging British filmmakers with global mentors.
- Cross-continental juries to ensure foreign-language and British independent films are judged side by side with equal rigor.
| Focus Area | Global Aim | UK Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Festival Alliances | Increase BAFTA visibility | Boost British premieres |
| Talent Exchange | Circulate diverse voices | Elevate local storytellers |
| Awards Campaigning | Shape global narratives | Secure more UK wins |
Practical Steps BAFTA Is Taking to Modernize the Ceremony and Engage New Audiences
Under Jane Millichip’s stewardship, the film awards are being treated as a living, breathing production rather than a static ritual. The show’s running order is being re-engineered to prioritize narrative momentum,with tighter category clusters,fewer lulls between marquee moments and a greater emphasis on visual storytelling across the broadcast.BAFTA is also investing in a more cinematic stage language – dynamic LED backdrops,live camera choreography and subtle second-screen prompts – designed to make the telecast feel less like a staid gala and more like a prestige streaming event.Behind the scenes, data from social engagement, viewing figures and audience sentiment is being fed back into planning meetings, creating a loop where viewer behavior directly shapes editorial and technical decisions.
To court younger, digital‑first audiences, Millichip is pushing a slate of initiatives that extend the show beyond its broadcast slot and into an always‑on ecosystem. New partnerships with creators, gaming communities and film‑TikTok voices will sit alongside more customary media tie‑ins, ensuring that major moments are clipped, captioned and distributed in seconds. Key moves include:
- Short‑form exclusives for Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, filmed backstage and on the red carpet.
- Fan‑facing voting elements in specific categories, blending industry judgment with popular input.
- Interactive live streams featuring commentary from emerging critics and film students.
- Accessibility upgrades such as multi-language subtitles,live BSL interpretation and audio description on digital feeds.
| Initiative | Audience Aim |
|---|---|
| Creator co‑hosting | Gen Z discovery |
| Second‑screen polls | Real‑time engagement |
| Global watch‑along | International reach |
| Educational clip packs | Film schools & classrooms |
In Retrospect
As Millichip readies for her first full season at the helm, her approach to BAFTA’s flagship film ceremony is less about red-carpet spectacle than long-term repositioning. By tightening the show’s focus, pushing for a sharper global profile and insisting that diversity be treated as a baseline rather than a headline, she is signaling a new phase for the 77-year-old organization.How successfully BAFTA can balance industry celebration with institutional reform will become clearer in the seasons ahead. But if Millichip delivers on her plan, the awards may matter less for who walks away with a mask on the night than for how they help shape the future of the British film industry – and BAFTA’s place within the wider awards ecosystem.
