ANewYearmessagefromDirectorsUKChairKarenKelly

2025 asked a great deal of directors, with so much uncertainty and so little opportunity to do what we do best, direct. The landscape continues to shift, fractured by new formats like vertical drama, staggering developments in AI based technologies and tightening economics. While prospects narrowed and pressure intensified, Directors UK has remained focused on its core purpose: working on behalf of directors. 2025 saw record distribution payments to our members, the successful strengthening of our UK Rights Agreement, and the agreement of the Director’s Engagement Guidelines. At a time when the ground has felt unsteady for so many of us, Directors UK’s role has been to provide consistency, credibility and stability when so much else is in flux. 

The year ahead calls for clarity and conviction. At a moment when authorship is being blurred and creative labour undervalued, we must restate plainly and confidently what directors bring: vision, coherence and momentum; the ability to translate ambition into stories brought to life brilliantly, on time and with purpose. Directors UK will continue to press those who commission, employ and legislate to recognise that value. Not rhetorically, but materially - in fair pay, sound policy and sustainable working lives. We move into 2026 with renewed focus and collective resolve: realistic about the pressures ahead, but unwavering in our belief that directors are not peripheral to the industry’s future, they are central to it.