2026-05-17
35 分钟Lauren Laverne here.
We're taking our Easter break, so until we're back on air, we're showcasing a few programmes from our archive.
As usual, the music's been shortened for rights reasons.
This week's guest is the film studio executive Dame Donna Langley, who was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship this year.
I cast her away in 2023.
My cast away this week is Dame Donna Langley, Chairman and Chief Content Officer for the NBC Universal Studio Group.
She's the first British woman in history to run a major studio and is arguably the most powerful woman in Hollywood.
Her brief encompasses Universal's film and television studios,
and she oversees franchises like Fast and Furious, Despicable Me and Jurassic World.
Under her leadership, the studio has achieved record-breaking revenues and enjoyed some of the most
profitable years in its 111-year history.
She 's earned respect in a fickle industry for her creative nous and championing of emerging talent,
as well as successfully wooing the likes of Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan.
She's also stuck her neck out by backing original content, often where others failed to see the potential.
Mamma Mia!
Get Out and Straight Outta Compton, the story of the hip-hop group NWA, are just three examples from a very long list.
It is a testament to her talents that Ice Cube once declared her the sixth member of the band.
Though to be clear, she's not from Compton.
She's actually straight out of the Isle of Wight, growing up on the UK's so-called Sunshine Island.
When she was in her early 20s, she decided to go where the weather was even better, LA.