Director, Legal and Business Affairs

Job Description

THE DIVISON'S STORY
Our global Legal and Business Affairs department believes in the promise and power of teamwork. When we work together as a cohesive unit – supporting, involving, appreciating and respecting each other – we can elevate our company, our clients, and ourselves. At A+E Networks, we have built and developed a culture based on the principles of effective communication, collaboration, accountability and trust. These guiding principles serve as our north star as we partner and strategize with other departments across the Company to help A+E Networks achieve its goals and stay at the forefront of a highly competitive, rapidly changing industry. If you share these values and want to learn more about who we are and what we do, consider joining our team.
The Legal and Business Affairs team in the Los Angeles office is looking for a Director to draft and negotiate agreements relating to the development, licensing, and/or production of scripted programming for all networks within the A+E Networks portfolio and A+E Studios.

MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU'LL DO:

Director, Legal and Business Affairs:
• Draft and finalize a variety of production, co-productions, license, distribution, acquisition and development deals, including above-the-line talent agreements and rights agreements.
• Create and maintain form templates to be used interdepartmentally to ensure all business and legal affairs documents remain consistent.
• Craft new language based upon novel provisions negotiated in each deal and respond to comments received from external counsel.
• Provide business affairs team, executives and client groups, labor and legal advice on production and programming issues.
• Manage all legal issues, including labor, copyright, location, guild, talent, digital rights, insurance, risk, marketing, promotion and budgeting issues related to scripted programming.
• Maintain relationships with both internal and external clients, as well as counterparts at other studios and networks and with the many members of the representation community.
• Remain current with the latest industry trends and our competition's positions to insure we comport with industry standard and maintain strong negotiation leverage.

The qualified individual shall demonstrate:
• Extensive knowledge of entertainment law, entertainment transaction (in cable television/studio) and strong relationships within the industry.
• Impeccable skills as a draftsperson with STRONG ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND the ability to compare and challenge precedent.
• In-depth knowledge concerning labor (union and non-union) issues and strong understanding of guild agreements.
• An ability to defend, articulate and structure industry-specific definitions, e.g., backend definitions.
• The ability to reason, apply logic, make autonomous, common sense decisions and work with strict deadlines, heavy volume and all the while managing to make accurate legal assessments, be highly efficient and organized.
• A cooperative, team-oriented approach with an easygoing personality and the ability to interact and persuade senior level staff and generate strong client satisfaction.

YOUR STORY:
• BA or BS and JD
• Negotiating and drafting experience at major network, studio and/or law-firm essential
• Labor issues and strong understanding of guild agreements is strongly preferred
• Minimum 5 years' experience
• Member of California and/or New York Bar(s)
• Strong written and verbal communicator, team player essential

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-rewn10-3-145-201-71-42 in your application.