EVP, Business & Legal Affairs - International TV Production

This is a Full Time Job

Please note that this role is based in the United Kingdom. To enable us to meet the statutory and regulatory obligations of the United Kingdom immigration system, you must have the appropriate immigration permission needed to work and reside in the United Kingdom for the duration of the employment.

Role Summary

The Executive Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs – International Production is responsible for leading and oversight of the negotiation, structuring and management of complex business and legal agreements relating to television development, production, financing, and distribution.

The EVP serves as a strategic advisor to President, International Production, senior leadership team, individual production labels, finance, and distribution teams to ensure television projects are structured to maximize business value while minimizing legal and financial risk.

Core Responsibilities

Lead the Legal & Business Affairs team across the international production business (UK, EMEA, LatAm and APAC) responsible for development, production, and distribution agreements.

Legal and business affairs advisor to President, International Production on emerging issues in BA negotiation and collaboration with divisional leadership in developing studio go-to-market strategies.

Provide strategic leadership to STIP's production labels in developing creative and innovative deal structures to maximize commercial opportunities and holistic deal value to the studio.

Develop and maintain a structure that empowers and enables the BA team to negotiate, structure, draft and administer development and production related deals across the international SPT business.

Establish and maintain key external relationships with Business Affair teams from buyers around the world – FTA, streaming, cable and Digital.

Build a collaborative culture with US Studio BA to ensure best practices and market insights are shared across SPT. Similarly, develop relationships with BA teams in Sony Music and PlayStation to minimize internal friction and create OneSony opportunities.

General Duties

Deal Negotiation & Contract Management

Oversight and overall sign off on negotiation and structure of a wide range of agreements, ensuring our negotiation strategy and standard practices reflect the studio's market positioning, creative strategy and commercial strategy, including:
• Development agreements with writers, creators, and producers
• Showrunner and executive producer agreements
• Talent agreements (actors, directors, hosts)
• Production services agreements
• Co-production and joint venture agreements
• Financing and deficit financing arrangements
• Distribution, licensing, and platform agreements
• First-look and overall deals with producers and production companies

Where needed, analyse, review, and interpret contracts; provide thoughtful legal advice on potential risks and issues.

Look for innovative approaches to new deals with talent, IP and production partners.

Stay ahead of market trends, ensuring the studio is adopting industry best practice in how we negotiate, how the BA team operates, and how we structure deals for optimal value.

Television Production Legal Oversight

Leadership / Counsel for global legal and business affairs team throughout the production lifecycle. Act as a point of escalation, support and thought partnership where issues arise, deals deviate from standard processes and team members ask for assistance, including:
• Script development and rights acquisition
• Production contracts and vendor agreements
• Talent guild compliance (WGA, SAG-AFTRA, DGA, Equity, etc.)
• Production insurance and risk management
• Clearance and chain-of-title verification
• Credits, royalties, and profit participation structures

Intellectual Property & Rights Management
• Oversee acquisition and protection of underlying rights for TV projects.
• Ensure proper chain of title and intellectual property ownership.
• Oversight of rights exploitation across international territories and platforms.
• Guidance on format licensing and franchise development.

Oversight of Financing & Business Structuring
• Overall decision maker on structuring TV production financing and investment agreements.
• Collaborate with finance teams on budgeting, tax incentives, and financial risk management.
• Negotiate revenue participation and backend compensation structures.

Risk Management & Compliance
• Responsibility in identifying and mitigating legal, financial, and operational risks associated with television production.
• Oversight and guidance to team members managing disputes, claims, and litigation matters relating to SPT projects.
• Overall responsibility in ensuring compliance with industry regulations, guild agreements, and company policies.

AI Policies
• Provide leadership on the introduction of AI strategy and policies for ITVP division.

Fostering Cross-Department Collaboration

Ensure optimal collaborative information flow on current deals both within BA and amongst the various teams with SPT and Distribution. Encourage and foster interdepartmental partnership with internal teams including:
• US Studio
• Sony Music and PlayStation
• Finance and Strategy
• Distribution and Sales
• Marketing and Franchise Management
• Strategy & Business Operations

Team Development:

Cultivate a culture of continuous learning, nurturing employee development, and maintaining a pipeline of emerging talent to mentor into future BA Executives.

Ensuring a seamless partnership within the international legal and Business Affairs team, including information flow, ensuring transparency and thought partnering on negotiation strategy.

Identify and implement training programs to ensure internal competency in policies, requirements, and procedures, and external competency in leading industry practice in negotiation and deal structuring.

Provide leadership and guidance to the BA Admin team to ensure the studio is able to administer and comply with contractual and union / guild obligations.

Supervisory Responsibility:

Direct Reports: SVP B&LA (UK), Head of BA Latin America (Miami – TBC).

Oversight of BA teams in UK, Latin America and Brazil.

Mentoring responsibility for BA teams in individual production labels in UK and APAC.

Education, Years of Experience, Specialized Knowledge or Skills Required:
• 15+ years of experience in entertainment law or business affairs.
• A proven leader with impeccable judgement who acts with a sense of urgency.
• Extensive experience in television production and deal negotiation.
• Experience working at a major studio, streamer, broadcaster, or entertainment law firm.
• Collaborative style with proven ability to quickly grow and maintain strong internal relationships with multiple business lines.
• Proven ability in managing complex relationships (internally and externally).
• Experience of leading a variety of transactions, i.e. acquisitions, divestments, renegotiations.
• Willingness and ability to quickly learn new areas of the business as required.
• Ability to work closely with and win trust of senior (President and above) executives in London and LA.
• Proven network among international buyers' BA teams.

What you have:
• Excellent organisational and time management skills to manage multiple training initiatives simultaneously.
• Strong communication skills to interact effectively.