Overview And Responsibilities
The Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs for Viacom Media Networks will provide day-to-day business and legal affairs services for this group in either Los Angeles or New York, on primarily BET Networks- branded programming, with a focus on unscripted development and production. This person is expected to be an operational leader on high-level deals and projects and handle a heavy volume of development and production matters relating to both “in-house” and third party productions.
The Group’s business and legal affairs department handles development and production work for unscripted programming, news programming, tent-poles and works closely with the networks’ Development and Production Management teams as well as many other departments (including Programming, Talent, Publicity, Music & Media Licensing, Labor & Employment, Risk Management, Pre-Broadcast Content Review, Intellectual Property & Litigation and Accounting/Finance).
Primary duties will include structuring, drafting and negotiating complex development and production agreements (e.g., rights acquisition, producer, writer, production services, and talent agreements, format licenses, venue and location releases, etc.)
Performing and/or supervising day-to-day legal production work for presentations, pilots, specials and series, and advising and consulting with clients and outside production companies regarding production-related legal matters (including guild, union and other employment law issues)
Reviewing and approving legal contracts for execution by management
Participating in and contributing to strategic deal discussions and researching relevant business and legal issues; providing complex risk assessment for production-related matters; advising and communicating with various other departments within Viacom Media Networks regarding exploitation of original programming across all media platforms
Counseling the client groups on a wide variety of other legal matters, including guild/union and labor issues, intellectual property rights, off-channel marketing and promotions, insurance, product integrations, online and music issues
Performing other day-to-day business and legal affairs-related duties
Basic Qualifications
Qualified candidates must be members of the New York and/or California Bar(s) with at least 10+ years of relevant experience (ideally with a minimum of 8 years of business/legal affairs experience in a network, studio, entertainment law firm or production company environment)
Comprehensive working knowledge of television industry agreements, guild and union regulations (WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA), contract law and intellectual property rights (as applicable to the entertainment industry) is required, along with demonstrated capability for legal research, analysis and reasoning
Excellent drafting, negotiation, communication (written and verbal), interpersonal, organizational and computer skills are also a must
Additional Qualifications
Desired candidate will be well-versed in entertainment industry customs and practices and possess demonstrated ability to effectively negotiate and interact with agents, managers and outside attorneys
Must be able to build strong internal client relationships, effectively advise senior-level executives under conditions of uncertainty, high pressure and/or high-risk and generate strong client satisfaction through strategic thinking and firm decision-making
Must be able to multi-task under pressure, manage a varied, high-volume workload efficiently and smoothly and operate independently with minimal supervision
A vice president is expected to analyze fact patterns and devise creative solutions that allow network executives to execute their creative vision in compliance with corporate policies and guidelines while minimizing overall legal and business risk
May be required to supervise and/or train junior executives, contract managers and/or legal assistants
The business and legal affairs department works as a team in a highly collaborative manner. The ideal candidate will have a cooperative, positive, team-oriented spirit.
We’re an equal opportunity employer (EOE).
At Viacom, the spirit of inclusion feeds into everything that we do, on-screen and off. From the programming and movies we create to employee benefits/programs and social impact outreach initiatives, we believe that opportunity, access, resources and rewards should be available to and for the benefit of all. Viacom is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, creed, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, and Veteran status.
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