Colin Brown is stepping down as the longstanding Editor-in-Chief of Screen International to pursue new entrepreneurial ambitions in the global media and entertainment sphere.

Announcing the amicable departure, Natasha Christie-Miller, Managing Director, Retail & Media at Emap Inform, Screen's parent company, paid tribute to Brown's long and profitable association with the paper.

'As Editor-in-Chief of Screen International, a paper he first joined 21 years ago, Colin has been instrumental in transforming Screen from a weekly newspaper tied to the fortunes of the British film industry into a cross-media information source that is respected throughout the worldwide film business,' said Christie-Miller.

'Colin helped conceive and initiate the daily news service Screen Daily that put the title firmly on the global map in January 2000, and also spearheaded Screen's highly influential conferences in London and Berlin. As the architect of an entirely new analytical direction for the Weekly paper, he helped earn Screen International its second PPA Award for Best International Business Paper one year after that re-launch.

'Now, having successfully steered Screen to a new growth level, we wish Colin well in whatever future ventures he undertakes.'

For his part, New York-based Brown acknowledged his own debt of gratitude to Screen: 'It has been my privilege to have helped shape an esteemed film paper that can trace its roots to the very beginning of the cinema business in 1895. The time is right for me to start a new chapter in my career, one that I am certain will keep me involved with so many of the wonderful colleagues and film industry professionals that I have collaborated with these past two decades.'