Director, Business & Legal Affairs, Carnival

Job Description

The Director, Business and Legal Affairs is a member of Carnival Films' Business and Legal Affairs team, providing legal, commercial, and strategic support across the development, financing, and production of Carnival's scripted television slate.

Reporting to the Head of Business and Legal Affairs, the role works closely with creative, production, finance, and commercial teams to help bring premium content to screen. The successful candidate will lead complex negotiations, advise on a broad range of contractual and rights-related matters, and support projects throughout their lifecycle, from development through to delivery and exploitation.

This is an exciting opportunity for a commercially minded lawyer to play a key role in one of the UK's leading scripted production companies, partnering with broadcasters, studios, distributors, financiers, and production teams.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Business & Legal Affairs

• Provide day-to-day legal and commercial support across Carnival's portfolio of scripted television projects from development through to delivery and exploitation.
• Lead the negotiation, drafting, and management of a broad range of agreements relating to development, production, financing, rights acquisition, talent engagement, distribution, and content exploitation.
• Advise on intellectual property, chain of title, rights clearances, licensing, production finance, tax incentives, and content exploitation matters.
• Support productions throughout the lifecycle of a project, including contractual interpretation, rights-related issues, production queries, and dispute resolution matters.
• Liaise with and manage external legal advisers on specialist or complex legal matters.

Commercial & Strategic Support

• Provide practical, commercially focused advice to creative, production, finance, and business stakeholders across Carnival's scripted slate.
• Identify legal, commercial, and operational risks and develop pragmatic solutions that support creative and business objectives.
• Support the Head of Business & Legal Affairs on high-profile matters, strategic initiatives, and complex transactions.
• Contribute to the ongoing development and improvement of legal and business affairs processes, templates, and best practices.

Stakeholder Management & Collaboration

• Build and maintain strong relationships with broadcasters, distributors, studios, financiers, production partners, agents, talent representatives, and other key industry stakeholders.
• Act as a key point of contact for legal and business affairs matters across assigned productions and projects.
• Provide guidance, support, and knowledge sharing to junior members of the Business & Legal Affairs team where appropriate.

Responsibilities are not limited to the above description and may be modified at any time by the Company.

Qualifications

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Qualified lawyer with strong post-qualification experience.
• Experience within television, film, media, or entertainment, ideally within scripted content.
• Strong experience negotiating and drafting complex production, development, talent, rights acquisition, financing, and commercial agreements.
• Strong knowledge of intellectual property, chain of title, rights licensing, clearances, and content exploitation.
• Experience advising broadcasters, distributors, producers, financiers, and other industry partners.
• Experience supporting productions through development, production, and delivery.
• In-house experience is highly desirable.
• Experience working closely with finance teams on production financing and tax incentive matters is advantageous.
• Experience gained in a leading law firm, media company, or multinational organisation with an international outlook.
• Strong educational background.

CANDIDATE QUALITIES

• Commercially minded, pragmatic, and solution-focused.
• Strong legal and commercial judgement, with the ability to balance risk and business objectives.
• Excellent negotiation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Highly organised, responsive, and able to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to focus on key objectives, provide efficient legal solutions, and make sound decisions under pressure.
• Detail-oriented and methodical, with the ability to assess risks and evaluate different courses of action.
• Collaborative and capable of building strong relationships across legal, production, creative, finance, and commercial teams.
• Confident, concise, and persuasive communicator, both verbally and in writing.
• Ethical, accountable, and highly professional.
• Curious, resourceful, and adaptable, with a willingness to take on new challenges.
• Enthusiastic about television, film, and the wider media landscape.
• Open to leveraging technology and AI-enabled tools to improve efficiency while maintaining nuance, creativity, and sound judgement.

Additional Information

As part of our selection process, external candidates may be required to attend an in-person interview with an NBCUniversal employee at one of our locations prior to a hiring decision. NBCUniversal's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability, you have the right to request a reasonable accommodation. You can submit your request to [email protected].

Business Segment: Universal Television Entertainment