Barbara Broccoli, who produced the James Bond films for three decades, has been appointed president of the UK’s National Film and Television School, the first woman to hold the post. The appointment was announced on Thursday 12 November, first reported by Deadline. She succeeds David Puttnam, the producer of Chariots of Fire, who becomes president emeritus after nine years in the role.
The timing is tied to a building. In January the NFTS opens the Cubby Broccoli Building on its campus at Beaconsfield, west of London, named after her father, Albert R “Cubby” Broccoli, who co-produced the first Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. Barbara Broccoli named the building in February, when construction began. Backed by £10m ($13.3m) of UK government money, it will house new courses in costume design, hair and make-up, and virtual production, and gives the school its first on-site student accommodation: nine fully accessible bedrooms for disabled students.
Key facts
- Role: president of the National Film and Television School (NFTS), the UK’s main specialist film and television school
- First: Broccoli is the first woman to be the school’s president
- Predecessor: David Puttnam, president for nine years, becomes president emeritus
- Next: the Cubby Broccoli Building opens at Beaconsfield in January 2027
- Bond: Broccoli and her half-brother, Michael G Wilson, handed creative control of the franchise to Amazon MGM Studios in 2025
From Eon to Beaconsfield
Broccoli ran Eon Productions, the Bond producer, with Wilson for about 30 years, and the two received the Academy’s Irving G Thalberg Memorial Award in 2024. In February 2025 they handed creative control of the franchise to Amazon MGM Studios in a joint venture. Amazon has yet to name the actor who will follow Daniel Craig; Denis Villeneuve is directing the next film, and Robert Pattinson and Nicholas Hoult are among the actors reported to have screen-tested. Broccoli and Wilson also co-founded the London Screen Academy, a free sixth-form college for 16- to 19-year-olds who want to work in film and television.
Her ties to the school go back years. She is an NFTS fellow, and more than 100 of its former students have worked on the Bond films, many in senior roles, the school said in February. Her father gave the NFTS its production and facilities department in 1986. The expansion is paid for partly by the industry: Netflix, Prime Video, Sky and Channel 4 are among the companies backing it, the school said in February.
“Having been involved with the NFTS for many years, I have seen first-hand the extraordinary talent it develops and the vital role it plays in shaping the future of our industry,” Broccoli said in the announcement. “My father believed in the power of filmmaking and in giving talented people the opportunity to succeed.”
Puttnam steps back
Puttnam has been involved with the school since 1974 and took over the presidency from Richard Attenborough. During his tenure the school added the Channel 4 Rose Building and its Sky Studios, according to the announcement. “To leave the school in such good hands is repaying the last of the many debts I owe to my predecessor Richard Attenborough,” he said.
The NFTS chair, Sophie Turner Laing, called the appointment a “landmark moment”. Last month the producer Pippa Harris, co-founder of Neal Street Productions, and Alison Lomax, who heads YouTube in the UK, joined the school’s board, Deadline reported. The school is also one of two winners of the British Film Institute’s In Our Hands innovation fund, which will pay for tests of AI and virtual production tools.
Our reading
The president does not run the school. That job belongs to its director, Jon Wardle, answering to Turner Laing’s board. What a president brings is reach, and Broccoli arrives with three decades of studio relationships built on the Bond films, at the moment her family name goes on the school’s newest building. For a school that already funds its growth with money from streamers and broadcasters, her standing with studios is the asset it has hired.
Sources
- Deadline, Barbara Broccoli appointed president of UK's National Film & Television School (exclusive, 12 November 2026)
- The Hollywood Reporter, Barbara Broccoli named president of UK's National Film and Television School (12 November 2026)
- Screen International, Barbara Broccoli named first female president of UK's National Film and Television School (12 November 2026)
- Film-News.co.uk, Barbara Broccoli makes history as first female NFTS president (12 November 2026; NFTS announcement details)
- European Central Bank, euro reference rates, 11 November 2026 (USD 1.1127, GBP 0.83618; $1.3307 to the pound)
- NFTS, Barbara Broccoli and Ted Sarandos visit the NFTS as new expansion breaks ground (23 February 2026)