Sam Taylor founded Film and Music Entertainment UK and Ireland with Mike Downey in 2000. It has a long history of collaboration with European film makers, partnering with more than 150 European partners on over 65 films with a total value in excess of $200 million.

Prior to founding FAME, Sam Taylor’s first produced films were Academy Award nominee Before the Rain and Benjamin Ross’ The Young Poisoner’s Handbook. Since then, she has produced films by Europe’s top talent including Agnieszka Holland/Anders Thomas Jensen/ Baltasar Kormakur/ Benjamin Ross/ Colm Toibin/ Dome Karukoski/ Fatmir Koci/Jannik Johansen/ Julien Temple/ Mariam Khatchvani/ Mark Dornford May/Martin Koolhaven/ Michel Franco/ Mohsen Makmalbaf/ Naji Abu Nowar/Pavel Pawlikowski/ Rebecca Lenkiewicz/ Sjon Sigurdsson/Srdjan Dragojevic/Volker Schlondorff.

In 2020/21 she co-produced Servants directed by Ivan Ostrochovsky and written by Ida Academy Award winner Rebecca Lenkiewicz in official selection at the Berlinale as was Charlatan, directed by the world-famous Polish director Agnieszka Holland. How To Fake a War directed by Rudolph Herzog starring Katherine Parkinson and Jay Pharoah was the sixth film she has produced in Georgia, and opened in cinemas in Summer 2021.

She is currently producing films by Naji Abu Nowar, Agnieszka Holland, MJ Bassett, Gela Babluani, Kasia Adamik and preparing a TV series by Rudolph Herzog, Vinci Cardona and Nicola San Fillipo. 

Mike Downey founded the UK-based independent production house Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) in 2000 as part of an IPO on the Frankfurt DAX and to date has production credits nigh on 100 feature films.

Educated at the Universities of Warwick, Paris III (Sorbonne-Nouvelle), where he was a Boursier du Gouvernement Français (French Government Scholar) and Paris X (Nanterre) where he did his Master’s degree and began his doctorate and while concurrently teaching at the prestigious Lycée Charlemagne and the theatre school at the Théâtre des Amandiers – Nanterre – under Patrice Chereau.

He spent most of the eighties as a theatre director and producer in France, Germany, the former Yugoslavia and the U.K., and the nineties as the co-founder and publisher of the Moving Pictures International group of media publications. He then established the prolific UK production house.

In his relatively short career as a film producer he has worked with the likes of Peter Greenaway, Agnieszka Holland, Julien Temple, Pawel Pawlikowski, Andrzej Jakimowski, Rajko Grlic, Srdjan Karanovic, Juraj Jakubisko, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, and Stephen Daldry, as well as a multitude of other directors the length and breadth of Europe, South America, Africa and India.

Mike divides his time more or less equally between his homes in Notting Hill and Istria, and the film sets that he is shooting in various parts of the world.

Lisa acts as Personal Assistant to Sam Taylor working with FAME’s successful and diverse international client base. 

Lisa has worked with agents, clients and artists on many production related matters as well as supporting Sam with a busy diary, projects, travel and general administrative support.

In her spare time Lisa can often be found walking with her much loved English Bull Terrier, Jessie and supports various charitable animal projects. 

Lisa also holds several wellbeing certificates and practices Reiki which she feels brings a great combination of balance and harmony to everyday life.

Anita Danino is a qualified accountant who has worked with Film and Music Entertainment since 2008. She previously worked as the management accountant at the Royal Opera House for a number of years following 10 years working as an accountant in investment banking.

Tesfa is a Senior Technical Consultant at Tech Access, a MSP providing IT consultancy and support services to a range of global clients, particularly in the UK, UAE, USA and Australia. 

Tesfa is particularly hands-on with FAME, and after completing our email migration, he and his team have been on-hand to assist with all computing & IT queries we swing their way. 

Away from work Tesfa is a keen musician – a self-taught pianist, guitarist, & soon to be saxophonist. When not busy making melodies, Tesfa is keeping up to date with football news, being an avid Arsenal fan.