Director, Business Affairs

Summary

Join DEPT® as a Director, Business Affairs and oversee all talent and legal aspects of projects. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure compliance and mitigate risks. Guide creative teams on legal issues, including clearances and licensing. Draft, review, and negotiate various agreements, including NDAs, MSAs, and SOWs. Manage talent contracts, estimations, and negotiations. Maintain contract tracking systems and optimize processes. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor's degree, 10+ years of experience in a similar role, and extensive experience in business affairs and contract negotiation.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Law, or related field (JD preferred but not required)
• 10+ years of experience managing talent, licenses and contracts in an agency environment with a successful track record of negotiating, drafting and closing deals with a preference for experience from a top, creative-driven agency
• Extensive experience in business affairs
• Experience working on a global-scale with contracts, legal, risk management, compliance, etc
• Proven experience in commercial contract negotiations (including but not limited to Talent agreements, PSAs, MSAs, SOWs) for content, media, creator, and large-scale productions
• Fluency working with advertising agencies, media companies, talent agencies, publishers and production companies with a solid understanding of a range of content production and execution strategies
• Strong understanding of intellectual property rights (e.g., trademarks, copyright, etc.), licensing, and talent usage rights, including the ability to conduct high level copyright and trademark searches
• Experience with social networking, platform integrations, publishing platforms, broadcast & new media
• Knowledge of digital marketing, media buying and production processes
• Experience with content and media production and rights clearance
• Deep familiarity with industry contracts and legal requirements in the United States
• Deep understanding and mastery of talent negotiations, rights, licensing and talent union pricing structures - able to confidently quote talent projects in new media, broadcast, digital, live, etc
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and organizational skills
• Ability to manage multiple complex projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to accuracy

Responsibilities

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Closely collaborate with cross-functional partners to align on contract terms, deliverables, and compliance standards, such teams may include: Finance, Procurement, Legal, Talent Relations, Client, Media and Creative leads. Collaborate with producers and and influencer managers on the needs of contracts support
• Risk Mitigation: Identify potential risks in creative development, production approaches, and contracts. Develop mitigation plans and advise internal teams on best practices to ensure that all projects adhere to best practices, internal policies and guidelines
• Creative Guidance : Review creative for potential legal issues, including clearances and licensing of third-party materials. Liaise with Legal as needed. Assist creative teams with oversight and review of any concerns regarding intellectual property licensing, and talent usage rights
• Regulatory Compliance : Monitor industry regulations and legal requirements relevant to advertising and marketing practices, and advise the team on compliance matters
• Production Agreements: Draft, review, and negotiate Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) for vendors, and contractors to safeguard confidential information. Develop and oversee Master Services Agreements (MSAs) and Statements of Work (SOWs) for large-scale live-action productions, animation projects, and creator-driven video content, ensuring clear scopes, deliverables, and timelines. Assist Producers in reviewing and evaluating vendor bids and preparing client facing estimates. Assist Producers with insurance declarations as needed
• Talent Agreements: Draft, review, and negotiate Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) for talent to safeguard confidential information. Draft, review, and negotiate talent releases and influencer agreements. Manage contracts for on-screen and voice talent, influencers, and creators, including usage rights, buyouts, and compliance with union/non-union guidelines. Prepare SAG/Non-Union talent contracts for Producers and process contracts after shoot with talent paymaster on paymaster's platform
• Talent Estimations: Provide guidance and interpretation of the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract to Production, Influencer and Client Service Teams. Estimate SAG Talent/Non-Union sessions and residuals for productions and prepare client facing talent estimates for approval. Handle scale and over-scale talent negotiations including celebrity negotiations
• Vendor & Contractor Relations: Establish and maintain agreements with vendors and individual contractors, ensuring clear terms and risk mitigation. Manage SAG-AFTRA and ACTRA partnerships, and any other talent union relationships
• Document Tracking: Implement and maintain systems for tracking contract statuses, expirations, and renewals. Work closely with the Client Service Team to develop and maintain Rights Managed Asset Tracker including handling negotiations for renewals as needed
• Process Optimization: Ensure all contracts, legal requirements and vendor agreements are negotiated effectively, approached with consistency and are financially optimized. Re-evaluating contract templates and guidelines with Legal periodically to keep up to date with trends/issues. Implementing process, procedures and policies for managing content productions effectively

Preferred Qualifications

Experienced with union and non-union productions (SAG/AFTRA, IATSE), branded partnerships, interactive and/or social landscapes is highly preferred

Benefits

• Healthcare, Dental, and Vision coverage
• 401k plan, plus matching
• PTO
• Paid Company Holidays
• Parental Leave