Manager/Counsel, Business & Legal Affairs - Documentary Film

This is a Full Time Job

THE OPPORTUNITY

The successful candidate will be an integral part of the original documentary film team and will oversee all facets of in-house and third-party productions.

REQUIREMENTS

The successful candidate should have at least five (5) years of business and legal affairs experience in the development, production and licensing of unscripted television and/or documentary film, with direct experience negotiating and drafting deal terms and all forms of agreements, including production services agreements, above-the-line agreements, license agreements and production forms. They should be extremely comfortable dealing directly with productions, producers and talent representatives, as well as communicating across myriad departments within the company.

They need to be ready, willing, and able to work independently and completely own all business and legal facets of making a documentary film including: negotiating the commercial terms for projects, negotiating and drafting the related legal agreements, and overseeing production-legal and clearance issues for all of their projects. Experience providing in-house support and managing outside counsel OR experience serving, as outside production counsel, for a network, streaming service, or a production company that specializes in unscripted and/or documentary programming is required. The successful candidate should have knowledge of substantive areas of the law relevant to documentary filmmaking, such as defamation, copyright, and privacy rights and should also be familiar with journalistic standards and practices.

A successful candidate will also possess the following:
• J.D. (or international equivalent) and membership in good standing in at least one state bar is required.
• Excellent leadership, supervisory, interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong analytical capabilities and judgment.
• Ability to work proactively, independently, and reliably under tight timeframes in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work effectively and collaboratively, think practically and be solution-oriented.
• Willingness to tackle matters outside of expertise.