Jonathan Olsberg
Executive Chair
Jonathan founded SPI in 1992 and has guided the company to its present position as one of the leading consultancies for the global creative industries.
His work as executive chair ranges across all areas of the firm’s expertise and he has led the company’s expansion, with clients now in many parts of the world. Jonathan’s previous roles in production, distribution and finance have facilitated SPI’s practical understanding of the screen sector that helps deliver focused consultancy services to governments and businesses around the world, including a large proportion of repeat clients.
Responsible for devising many innovative services and reports, Jonathan’s recent projects include presenting SPI’s economic impact studies to the Australian government in Canberra; leading an SPI team advising a division of the World Bank on investment opportunities in the screen sector in Africa; the reality of production ecosystems in dozens of global jurisdictions for a major US streaming client; and advising public sector clients in many regions on development strategies for the sector (as disparate as Fiji, AlUla, the Netherlands, Texas and Qatar).
Following a first career in international finance on Wall Street and the City of London, Jonathan’s film career started in New York as an international sales agent, handling titles such as My Beautiful Launderette. He then became a distributor of specialised films in the U.S. from directors like Resnais, Godard, Verhoeven and Peter Greenaway. In 1989 Jonathan returned to London as Managing Director of international distributor and sales agent Glinwood Films (The Last Emperor).
Jonathan has also been a producer and executive producer, involved with over a dozen international co-productions. He founded Dakota Films (with partner Luc Roeg) in 1992 to produce high-quality, independent, director-driven films, such as Oliver Parker’s Othello.
Jonathan is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the British Screen Forum and the European Film Academy.