Accountable to: Sarah Mosses (CEO)

Hours: 5 or 4 days per week, 8 hours per day. Occasional out of hours work on evenings and weekends. 

Location: Hybrid (remote and office) working, with flexible office bases available in London and  New York. You do not need to reside in London or NYC to apply, though you do need to be UK or US-based and to be able to operate in either London or NYC (EST) time zones. Please let us know your location and any flexible work requests upon application.

Term: Permanent or contract, subject to negotiation, with a 6 month probationary period.

Salary: (£45K to £50K base salary ($65K-$70K) pro rata, plus performance-based commission, projected total £70K+ ($95K) per annum. 

Start Date: Q1 2022 (no later than 30th March 2022)

Application Closing Date:  13 October 2021 at midnight GMT (Now closed)

We aim to do first round interviews w/c 18 October, 2021 and second interviews will be w/c 25 October, 2021. 

About Together Films

Together Films are leaders in the Social Impact Entertainment space. We provide Strategy, Marketing, Impact, Distribution and Technical services to the film and television industries and brands who share our commitment to social responsibility. We are based in London and New York, but we serve clients worldwide. 

We believe that a film doesn’t exist until an audience has seen it. Our vision is a creative sector driven by collaboration, transparency and insight, to ensure great work gets seen. 

Previous film campaigns have included the Oscar-nominated FOR SAMA, the Oscar long-listed UNREST; ONCE UPON A TIME IN VENEZUELA, CODED BIAS, THE 8TH and 2040. Our industry clients include the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, DOC NYC & the Athena Film Festival. Our work has been funded by leading partners including the Ford Foundation and the BFI.

We manage a slate of impact distribution campaigns for up to ten documentary films each year and we now are looking for a key person to grow this offering and lead our expansion into international Sales.  

Job Purpose

We are seeking an ambitious, well-connected, target-driven senior executive to shape the future of Distribution, Sales and Acquisitions at Together Films. We mainly focus on feature documentaries with a social impact goal, however there is scope to move further into scripted – ultimately we support creative storytellers looking to engage audiences in solving real-world challenges.

You will be responsible for all acquisitions; building our strategy, as well as overseeing all film releases on the Together Films slate. In addition, you will manage a distribution sales team focusing on theatrical and non-theatrical license sales (including educational, festival, community and corporate partners). You will accompany your team (when required) on high value pitch calls, and support them to strong sales outcomes. We are a data-led company, as such you will have full visibility and responsibility for the live sales performance of our films across broadcast, theatrical, VOD and non theatrical, and will own the rights management system. Experience of and comfort with working with market-leading technologies and CRM systems is an advantage.

You will have fantastic relationships with global streamers, key US and UK broadcasters, large global distributors and be well-recognised and liked amongst content producers, from independent filmmakers to studios. You will be well-versed in, and excited to continue the fight for independent films to find enough screens in theatres, working early with your team to warm-up exhibitors and create appropriate and engaging promotional materials as well as working with internal marketing and external PR experts to leverage any publicity opportunities. You will also be strategic enough to balance team and monetary resources on loss-leading activities, in order to generate profit through other revenue avenues, and find a path to profitability for all our titles.

We are seeking someone with strong experience in international sales, competency in rights negotiation and distribution agreements, royalty reporting, with fantastic attention to detail. If you are an inspiring role model who can nurture a team and enable them to reach their full potential, we’d love to hear from you. 

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Departmental Management:

• Own and implement the Acquisitions, Sales and Distribution strategy for Together Films
• Manage and grow a team to enable sales success (currently including Theatrical & Film Festival Sales Officer, and Non-Theatrical Film Sales Executive)
• Attend key markets and festivals to acquire new titles and sell our slate. Become a senior public member of the team at key industry events (e.g. Sundance, AFM, MIP, Cannes, EFM)
• Maintain a good relationships with filmmakers, film festivals, rights holders, distributors and exhibitors
• Collaborate with internal teams (e.g. distribution, marketing, technical, public relations, finance, operations, etc.) project-managing the timeline, updating rights systems, preparing deal summaries so senior stakeholders have a clear outline of each film’s expected release plan.
• Provide monthly briefings as part of the board meeting on progress of the department alongside revenue projections

Acquisitions:

• In collaboration with the CEO, review films for acquisition, providing consideration analysis.
• Keep in contact with key producers to track upcoming release opportunities. 
• Prepare P&L documents for acquisitions consideration, evaluating theatrical and digital potential revenues against spend and resource allocation.
• Sign up to 10 titles throughout 2022, for release in 2022/2023 covering international sales and UK/US distribution. 

Sales:

• Nurture international partnerships e.g. international distributors, film festivals, tv channels and digital platforms
• Sell the films on our slate to your network of international buyers in global territories.
• Own the rights management system, entering contracts into the database and updating back-end metadata.
• Prepare concise summaries of deal terms for internal & producer approval (where applicable)
• Work with the legal team to negotiate and draft favourable distribution/sales agreements with rights holders, sales agents, broadcasters and new media distributors; 
• Raise invoices for international sales based on deal terms. 

Distribution: 

• Create strategies for and manage the distribution team to deliver UK/US distribution campaigns for our slate (across all rights categories), briefing to Heads of Departments across Strategy, Marketing & Technical Delivery. 
• Review Home Entertainment relationships and expand our output with key partners. 
• Review and expand further D2C opportunities for TVOD, License Sales & Merchandise through an updated Together Films online presence (in partnership with the Head of Digital Marketing & Partnerships). 
• Work with our technical team to ensure all material delivery to all partners (DCP, DVD etc)
• Work with our Finance Team to prepare and circulate monthly internal royalty reports and quarterly royalty reports for Producers. 
• Work closely with the Impact Campaign Director to make sure any release or sale is aligned with impact campaign goals & awards strategies. 
• Apply for distribution funding where appropriate and manage funding and reporting outcomes with the finance team.

This is not an exhaustive job description and may be subject to change according to the needs and development of the role. It is expected that the post holder may undertake such other duties as may reasonably be requested. 

The hope is to grow a team around you, and so the mission is to come in to define the operational workings of the department and train up, or hire in additional team members to support your work moving forward as the slate expands. We are seeking someone who can effectively lead and grow a team to deliver on our ambitious goals. It is likely that April – June 2022 will be focussing on setting the department agenda, with July-December 2022 focussed on rolling out those plans, and 2023 where you really hit your marks. 

About you:

Key words when we think of this role: 

• Sales-driven 
• Visionary team-leader 
• Data-driven

Requirements:

• 5+ years experience in a film acquisitions, distribution and/or sales role
• Experience in a business affairs role at a distribution, production, sales agency, broadcaster or similar would also be advantageous, some formal legal training is desirable but relevant practical experience with demonstrable success is more important. You will be supported by a legal team. 
• Experience of the UK & US distribution sectors and international sales environment (with practical experience of sales and deal making in these territories). 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrable experience of high value sales 
• Understanding of fast growth environments 
• Understanding of the changing media landscape (e.g. SVOD, Corporate Screening license sales opportunities)
• Strong project management skills
• Great attention to detail and the ability to work autonomously, to find and solve problems.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to understand and discuss complex accounting treatments to ensure accuracy in royalty reporting.
• Creative, analytical and problem-solving skills and ability to prioritize and complete multiple priorities and assignments in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Two references who can account for your sales abilities.

What we can offer you: 

• A friendly hard-working team that is passionate about what we do
• A performance-related bonus
• Flexible work environment (remote working) & Membership of Soho Works (in London or NYC)
• An award-winning Employee Assistance Programme including free therapy for you and close family members
• Life Assurance (& Health Insurance package if US based). 
• The opportunity to work with award-winning film talent, who have premiered at top tier festivals with a focus on films that are raising awareness of the important social issues of our time
• Learning and Development budget for you to use as you need, on courses, screenings, film festivals that you think will improve your ability to deliver

Together Films is an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We actively encourage applications from women, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), LGBTQI+ and disabled applicants and value the positive impact that difference has on our teams. 

For any questions about the role, please email Alex@TogetherFilms.org with the email subject heading “Head of Acquisitions, Sales and Distribution”.