Role summary
Reporting to the Head of Production Management, the Studio Operations Manager is responsible for providing all aspects of logistics and planning support to the production customers before, during and after their residency at the Studio. This includes managing their pre-arrival recces and on-boarding (in collaboration with the Studio Production Manager), their arrival and occupation of their spaces, set ups and re-configurations, access and security needs, special requirements, and finally their smooth exit from Studio.
The Studio Operations Manager will act as the key communications conduit between the production customers and the wider Studio teams, acting as an advocate for their needs and experiences, whilst also working with them to agree operational compromises that allow the wider business to operate in an efficient and economic manner.
Leading the Site Assistant team, The Studio Operations Manager will proactively anticipate customer needs, striving for continuous improvement in the customer experience and encouraging and facilitating positive collaboration between productions, tenants and Studio functions.
The Studio Operations Manager is a dynamic problem solver who can exercise good judgement whilst juggling multiple, often competing, workstreams and delivering at pace to meet our customer’s needs.
Principle accountabilities
- The Studio Operations Manager is responsible for managing all production special support requests including location shooting, out of hours shooting/working requests, SFX requests, drone flights, wild animals and aircraft movements, gunfire and explosive usage including liaison with EHO, Fire authority, CAA, local police, and the wider local community, to ensure mitigations are effectively in place and communicated.
- Responsible for maintaining strong relationships and active communication channels with customers is a central function of the role, ensuring that the business has a clear and detailed understanding of their schedule, activities, and needs, and feeding that acquired information into the wider Studio Management, Facilities Services & HSSC teams to allow for the planning and execution of planned, remedial and project works and activities.
- The Studio Operations Manager will lead the Site Assistant team to facilitate the smooth occupation and correct set up of production space, including cleaning or stages and workshops following off-hire, working with productions ahead of their arrival to agree their usage and layout needs, setting up and configuring space, including telephony and furniture, maintaining communication with customers to anticipate their changing usage needs and ensuring that reconfigurations are quickly actioned. The Studio Operations Manager, supported by the Site Assistant team, will also provide general logistics support to customers including bulk waste removal.
- Responsible for the Condition Inspections of Studio facilities before and after they are released to Productions. The Studio Operations Manager will ensure that any faults are reported and tracked through to completion, and any damage beyond that of reasonable “wear & tear”, is captured, logged, and processed for re-charging and rectification.
- The Studio Operations Manager is responsible for external space setups and re-configurations including; unit vehicles movements and placement, cabin placements, technical vehicle moves and placement, crowd holding and processing facilities, craft, storage, and special vehicle/equipment siting. The Studio Operations Manager will ensure that detailed plans are produced, communicated and adhered to in practice to ensure the Health and Safety, Fire Safety, Security and efficient operation of the site is not compromised.
- The Studio Operations Manager, supported, by the Studio Operations Assistant, is responsible for all production related communication; including notices and bulletins about works on and off the lot that may impact them, communication to the local community or wider Studio about production operations that may have special requirements or impacts etc. This will also include the essential role of actively seeking out and communicating feedback on Studio Services and the Customer Experience from all levels of the customer base to allow for the continuous improvement of facilities, services, and processes.
- To Studio Operations Manager, along with the Studio Production Manager, will act as the first point of contact and primary relationship owner for production customers once they arrive on site, orientating them in their new facility’s and ensuring all relevant service summaries and contact information for Studio functions is communicated.
- The Studio Operations Manager will act as an advisor to customers, providing guidance on Asset Alteration Requests, communicating best practice and Studio standards to ensure their fast processing and increasing the likelihood of approval.
- During Critical incidents, the Studio Operations Manager will form part of the incident management team, acting as the communication conduit between internal stakeholders and the relevant production Stakeholders.
- The Studio Operations Manager is responsible for completing regular site and facility inspections to ensure that the customers environment is maintained to the Pinewood Group standard, reporting Health and Safety Concerns via the Company’s internal systems. The Studio Operations Manager will track open work order within customer spaces, and coordinate with the Head of Studio Services to ensure progress is regularly communicated to customers.
- The Studio Operations Manager will support the Senior Community Outreach and Education Manager with local community engagement and support Pinewood Group in maintaining an excellent relationship with its neighbours.
- The Studio Operations Manager will be required to be available as part of an on-call rota, out of hours and at weekends as may be required to support productions during periods of non-standard operation.
Skills and experience
Essential criteria
- Previous operational experience in the film and/or television sector.
- Previous experience working in a supervisory or managerial position within the Facilities Management sector.
- Knowledge of production organisations and processes.
- Knowledge of Workplace Health and Safety
- Basic knowledge of Hard FM, including heating, cooling, power and drainage systems.
- Budget and cost management
- Strong leader who sets clear standards, motivates and drives performance through their teams
- Highly organised & commercially aware.
- Excellent communication skills and customer focused.
- Adept managing challenging conversations.
- Ability to plan effectively in dynamic environments to deliver complex programmes of work.
- Capable of working to strict targets and timescales with an ability to set deadlines.
- Ability to find practical solutions, think creatively and overcome obstacles.
- Values driven personally & professionally.
- Excellent attention to detail.
- Desire and ability to engage in continued professional development.
- Team player.
Desirable criteria
- NVQ/Degree-level education or equivalent
- IOSH Managing Safely
- IWFM Level 3 in Facilities Management.
- Track record of defining and implementing process/tech/people changes to step-change performance
- Experience managing logistics on a complex multi-tenant site.
- Knowledge of Incident management.
- Knowledge of workplace transport and roadway management
- Knowledge of continuous improvement methodologies.
