Head of Film Legal & Business Affairs

A24 is seeking a team member to join our Legal and Business Affairs team to lead film content-related legal and business affairs. This person should be a proactive, strategic business leader with a demonstrated experience in intellectual property, film development, production, film finance, and distribution. This role will be an integral member of a highly collaborative Legal and Business Affairs team, a member of the BALA senior leadership team, and a key contributor on our growing team.

Initial Responsibilities

• Build and lead a highly engaged team of talented film attorneys, with a focus on developing people into more senior partners within the business.
• Structure and negotiate a wide variety of domestic and international film-related agreements including development, production, financing and distribution deals, talent agreements, releases, licenses, partnership deals, services agreements, consulting agreements, and option agreements.
• Leverage established relationships at major talent agencies, networks, law firms, financiers, production companies and other relevant industry contacts.
• Act as an escalation point for other team members on film-related details, negotiations, and/or challenges.
• Structure, negotiate, document, and manage transactions to acquire and distribute content from 3rd parties and by way of co-productions worldwide.
• Provide strategic business and legal affairs advice to internal business teams on general legal matters affecting A24 content, distribution, acquisitions and production. 
• Expertly advise business partners with respect to legal rights and contractual responsibilities, guild agreements, intellectual property matters, claims and other matters arising out of the day-to-day production of film and television productions.
• Maintain familiarity with the requirements of, and relationships with, all the major entertainment guilds (WGA, DGA, SAG-AFTRA, etc).
• Establish and maintain key stakeholder relationships with regular, effective and timely communications concerning deal negotiation and business strategy.
• Contribute to relevant internal and departmental process development and management, as well as deal-making resources.

Qualifications

• J.D. with strong academic performance and membership in good standing in California bar.
• 12+ years of transactional experience working in a film business affairs department, legal affairs department and/or entertainment law firm.
• 5+ years in people management or a leadership role.
• Experience with distribution-related, financing and/or acquisition agreements, talent agreements and production issues. Expertise with respect to guild and union agreements, contracts, and intellectual property law.
• Strong attention to detail, project management, time management, long-term planning skills and creative problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent writing and organizational skills, including clear and effective written and verbal communication skills, negotiating skills, strong drafting abilities and a can-do, no job is too small, team attitude.
• Professional individual who can build strong relationships, both internally and externally, and is able to comfortably interact with all levels of employees.
• Ability to juggle multiple, competing priorities, pivot quickly, think practically and be solution-oriented.
• Humble, diligent and resourceful.

We are looking for diverse perspectives. A24 is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages applications from all kinds of candidates.

Our target salary range for this position is between $325,000 to $375,000. We do not use formal job titles internally and similarly named positions may have different compensation levels. Actual starting salary within the range will depend on various considerations, including: work experience, skills, specializations, and training. This role is also eligible for an annual performance bonus, including both cash and equity components, competitive healthcare, as well as other employee benefits.

A24 is an award-winning global entertainment company producing and distributing film, television, documentaries, music, publishing and consumer products. Founded in New York in 2012, A24 has built a premium library of over 150 films and 50 TV series, and garnered critical acclaim and commercial success receiving over 16 Oscars, 14 Golden Globes and 18 Emmys. With award-winning films such as Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Uncut Gems, as well as television series like Euphoria, Beef, and Ramy, A24 has built a passionate fanbase and launched complementary businesses like 2AM, Half Magic, and the Cherry Lane theater. Upcoming projects from the studio include The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Emily Blunt, We Live in Time starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, Heretic starring Hugh Grant, Babygirl starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson, Eddington starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, The Sympathizer at HBO starring Robert Downey Jr. from director Park Chan-Wook, Sunny at AppleTV+ starring Rashida Jones, Overcompensating at Amazon starring Benito Skinner, Charli XCX and more.