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The Role:
The Senior Development Producer will have excellent creative and communication skills, be a great team player with several years’ experience of working in a Development Team and significant script editing experience. They will be a motivated, organised, independent and dynamic self-starter, who is comfortable working to tight deadlines. They will work with the existing Development Team on the current slate of projects as well as bringing their own ideas to the table for consideration. They will have a proven track record of developing shows with top tier writers and have excellent existing relationships with commissioners, agents and /or writers.
Creative thinking is key to this role: finding the right projects for the right partners and being instrumental in helping push them through to commission.
Responsibilities:
Supporting the Director of Development by being across all projects and guiding and advising junior team members on the development process where necessary.
Having central involvement in the development of ideas from initial concept through to full treatment and pitching, suggesting new approaches to ideas generation and thoroughly analysing ideas in weekly meetings before pitching them to the Director of Development.
Working with and nurturing junior members of the Development team. Attending writer meetings with them when required and offering guidance where necessary.
attending writer meetings with them when required and offering guidance where necessary.
Building and maintaining relationships with commissioners or channel development leads, established top tier writers and emerging talent, and agents both in the UK and internationally where appropriate.
Liaising with book scouts and agents on material to consider and researching ideas for story, talent and production potential, keeping abreast of industry news, seeking potential IP etc.
Attending writer, commissioner and agent meetings with the Director of Development when required.
Using their extensive knowledge of the TV landscape to proactively seek out and track talent, (both well established high profile and emerging) and potential projects to consider, as well as reading and responding to submissions.
Shortlisting and selecting appropriate and commissionable writing candidates for projects including meeting with potential writers to assess suitability.
Working independently and closely with established and emerging writers to develop projects and provide notes as needed, using their extensive storytelling skills to ensure the treatment or script is the best it can possibly be before pitching it to commissioners.
Maintaining regular communication with key creatives on projects and fostering an environment whereby the creative process can flourish.
Developing high quality project specs/pitch documents including synopses, treatments and assisting with support materials (visual pitch decks etc) where required.
Script-editing individual projects as required, providing both written and face-to-face feedback.
Assisting the Director of Development with legal matters, such as rights agreements, and dealing with agents on these agreements in conjunction with Company’s legal advisor where required.
Engaging and overseeing external readers and contributors as and when required.
The above list of duties is not exhaustive, and the Company may reasonably vary the responsibilities of the role from time to time.
The successful applicant must demonstrate the following:
Must care deeply about making impactful and entertaining television and be an avid viewer/consumer of Drama and preferably the wider film and television landscape.
Must possess a passion for creative excellence and highly developed editorial skills with sound judgement.
Will have in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of the changing tastes of audiences and what they want from high end TV drama programming, with an ability to work with writers to shape scripts to help them best meet their needs.
Will have extensive experience in script development including working independently with writers - giving script feedback and development notes, assessing projects from a creative perspective and contributing to the generation of ideas and the resolution of script problems.
Must have proven experience working at a senior level in Development, including leading brainstorms, spotting exciting new talent to work with, producing compelling treatments and decks and pitching ideas passionately to a range of senior editorial staff and commissioners for a range of broadcasters and platforms.
Takes a proactive approach with a great eye for bringing talent and projects together, with the proven ability to turn ideas into action. (Must be able to demonstrate having been meaningfully involved in the development of projects that have been greenlit or moved into script commission stage).
Will have proven experience of supporting on negotiations with agents and rights agreements through to execution for high profile talent.
Will have an understanding of programme compliance issues and the Ofcom code and ensure these are taken into account in the development of programme briefs/pitches.
Will have a commitment to Diversity and Inclusion within the industry.
As well as having established relationships with agents, you will have robust knowledge of key agents within the industry, preferably within the UK and internationally.
Will have experience of working on a range of shows with differing production budgets and be able to keep an awareness of these budgets throughout the development process.
Will be comfortable working with legal personnel and can demonstrate a solid understanding of intellectual property rights and Writers Guild agreements.
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