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Screen Yorkshire CEO Joynson to retire after two decades with funding body

UK funding body Screen Yorkshire has confirmed Sally Joynson will be retiring from the business after 16 years as its chief executive.

Sally Joynson

The Leeds-based executive, who has been with the organisation for 20 years, is expected to leave Screen Yorkshire in early 2022, once a successor has been found and after a period of handover.

The search for a new CEO for Screen Yorkshire will start immediately, the funding body said.

Joynson began her career with Screen Yorkshire as head of industry development and was the organisation’s second employee when it was first set up in 2002.

She became chief executive in 2006 and is widely credited with relaunching and rebuilding the company as a standalone enterprise, following the closure of the regional screen agencies in 2010.

Securing almost £15m (US$21m) in funding to invest in content produced in the region, she launched the Yorkshire Content Fund – the biggest of its kind in the UK – of which the first recipient was Peaky Blinders.

Since then, the fund has invested in over 50 productions, including TV shows such as Ackley Bridge and All Creatures Great and Small.

Yorkshire and the Humber was the UK’s fastest growing centre for film and TV between 2009 and 2015, when employment and turnover in the area shot up at more than double the rate of any other region in the UK, supporting over 12,000 jobs with a turnover of £1.1bn.

In 2015, Joynson helped found Church Fenton Studios, home to ITV’s Victoria, and established the first BFI-backed out-of-London screen cluster in 2016 – the first award through its Creative Clusters Challenge Fund, designed to accelerate growth in key regions.

Joynson also played a key role in bringing Channel 4 to Leeds, as part of the consortium that successfully pitched for the broadcaster to relocate its main HQ outside London.

John Surtees, chairman of Screen Yorkshire, said: “There are no words that can fully do justice to our debt of gratitude to Sally for the extraordinary contribution she has made to Screen Yorkshire. Screen Yorkshire has never been stronger thanks to her passion, advocacy, resilience and diplomacy which she has employed over the last 20 years to steer the organisation through both the good and the more challenging times. Her legacy impacts not only this organisation but the wider screen industries in Yorkshire and Humber. As we launch the process to find her successor, I and the Screen Yorkshire Board would like to wish her a wonderful retirement.”

Of her retirement, Joynson said: “I always said that when I reached a certain age, I was going to take some time out to focus on me, and in the blink of an eye we’re here. It’s been an absolute privilege to lead Screen Yorkshire for so long and I’m immensely proud of what’s been achieved and the role we’ve played in making things happen in this most glorious part of the country.

“I leave the film and TV industry in Yorkshire in the best shape it’s been for a very long time. But it’s now time for a new era to begin – both for me and for Screen Yorkshire. I’m looking forward to taking some time out, concentrating on spending time with my family and looking at new opportunities in non-executive roles when the time is right.”

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