Senior Manager, Legal Business Affairs - TV Production

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 Overview Reporting to SVP head of UK/EMEA scripted business affairs, with day-to-day supervision by SVP Production and Development, SPTIS in our Manchester Office, the role of Senior Manager, Business Affairs is primarily to service the business affairs needs of the SPTIS in-house production hub group, but will also support other parts of the SPTI business across development, financing, production, post production and exploitation of television programming. The role holder will take end-to-end responsibility for their matters, exercise sound judgement and deliver consistently high-quality work with limited supervision. Must be capable of leading negotiations, advising stakeholders and drafting complex agreements, escalating material strategic, legal or commercial issues, where appropriate. The successful candidate will combine strong commercial judgement, excellent negotiation skills and a deep understanding of the television production and content landscape. Key Responsibilities Negotiate, structure and draft all forms of agreements relating to the development, production and exploitation primarily of scripted television projects, but when required, also unscripted projects. To include agreements all forms of underlying rights paperwork (such as option agreements, writer agreements, format agreements etc.), all production related agreements (including producer, director, HOD, crew and other contributor agreements, location, clearance and product use agreements, composer and other music related contracts), and all paperwork related to the distribution and other exploitation of television content. Support the negotiation and papering first-look arrangements, talent attachments, development partnerships, other strategic content-related commercial arrangements. Negotiation of commissioning agreements with broadcasters, streaming platforms and other commissioning partners. Negotiate and manage distribution agreements, licensing arrangements and other content exploitation transactions in partnership with the distribution team. Support the structuring and negotiation of all international co-production, tax credit financing arrangements and other deficit financing (such as loan agreements, IPAs, security documentation and all related tax credit documentation), working closely with finance and tax where necessary. Provide commercially focused advice to senior management regarding deal structures, talent negotiations, rights positions and contractual obligations. Work closely with production, legal, finance and operations throughout the lifecycle of each programme to identify and resolve commercial and contractual issues that could affect development, production or delivery. Manage rights and contractual issues relating to underlying intellectual property, including options, licences, renewals, chain of title matters, sequels, spin-offs, remakes and other derivative rights. Advise on relevant guild, union and collective bargaining requirements and work with production teams maintain compliance. Track contractual commitments, approvals, exclusivity periods and other key deal terms. Build and maintain strong relationships across the industry include with agents, managers, lawyers, producers, broadcasters, platforms, guilds, unions etc. Monitor evolving industry practices, business models and commercial trends across linear television, streaming and digital platforms. Contribute to the development and maintenance of efficient business affairs processes, precedents, templates, processes, policies and operational best practices. Provide regular status updates to senior management on development, production, rights, financing and other business affairs matters, escalating issues where appropriate. Manage multiple negotiations and projects simultaneously in a high paced environment. Provide guidance and support to other members of the Business Affairs team and other business partners and stakeholders. Qualifications