Director, Brand Studio Live Action & Photo (Hybrid)

A+E Networks•Los Angeles, CA

9d•$145,993 - $170,812•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Brand Studio Live Action & Photo Production oversees the day-to-day operation of live action and photo productions within Marketing Production. In partnership with the Sr. Executive Producer, the Director provides production leadership across Brand Studio and Storyground initiatives, translating creative and business priorities into efficient, high-quality execution. The role ensures work is strategically planned, appropriately resourced, financially managed, and delivered on time while maintaining creative excellence and operational discipline. Reporting to the Sr. Executive Producer, Storyground & Brand Studio Live Action & Photo Production, the Director leads, coaches, and develops the Brand Studio Live Action & Photo Production team. The Director establishes priorities, allocates resources, reinforces accountability and collaboration, helps assess organizational capacity, supports resource planning, and escalates strategic risks, decisions, and opportunities. The Director is the primary operational production partner to Production Operations, Design Management, Creative, Account Management, Talent, Legal/Business Affairs, Risk, Finance, Post-Production, and external production partners. The role aligns cross-functional teams and ensures productions balance creative quality, budget, schedule, rights, delivery, usage, and archive needs. It calls for deep experience across live action, video, and photo production; sound production and creative judgment; an inclusive production-services network; and the ability to select production strategies, models, and resources suited to each assignment. The Director connects daily execution with department priorities and campaign objectives, develops high-performing teams, improves operations, and implements scalable production practices. The position is hybrid, with employees collaborating in the office three times per week. New hires must be commutable to an A+E Global Media office in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Stamford, Connecticut. The role may require travel and occasional nights or weekends when production needs require.

Requirements

At least 10 years of relevant production experience leading live action, video, and photo production within entertainment, media, creative services, marketing, or related industries.
At least 5 years of direct people-management experience leading, coaching, and developing direct reports, production teams, and/or freelance and vendor partners, including setting priorities, giving feedback, managing performance, and building team accountability.
At least 5 years of experience managing multiple concurrent productions from creative brief through delivery.
At least 5 years of experience overseeing production planning, budgeting, scheduling, staffing, vendor sourcing, negotiation, logistics, post-production, delivery, asset management, and archive.
At least 5 years of experience across the full production lifecycle, including creative brief, bidding, production, post-production, delivery, rights and usage considerations, asset management, and archive.
At least 5 years of experience owning production budget oversight, including bids, estimates, actuals, cost tracking, budget recommendations, vendor negotiations, and resource planning.
At least 5 years of experience collaborating across Creative, Marketing, Finance, Legal, Production Operations, Talent, and external partners.
Ability to travel and work occasional nights or weekends when production needs require.

Nice To Haves

Experience producing branded content, creator-led content, influencer campaigns, or client-facing productions.
Strong creative judgment and understanding of producing high-quality live action, video, and photo marketing assets across platforms and campaign needs.
Working understanding of post-production workflows and how production decisions affect editing, design, retouching, finishing, delivery, usage, rights, and asset management.
Strong understanding of video and photo asset-management workflows, including media transfers, transcripts, releases, delivery specifications, backup, archive, and cross-functional handoffs.
Ability to identify the right production model for each project based on creative need, budget, timeline, platform, rights considerations, audience need, and business priority.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including aligning cross-functional partners, communicating with senior leadership, and clearly surfacing issues, options, decisions, and recommendations.
Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills, including anticipating issues, establishing controls, adapting plans as priorities shift, resolving operational challenges, and escalating strategic risks appropriately.
Proficiency with Airtable, Microsoft Office, related project-management tools, and AI-powered productivity tools for drafting, organizing information, improving workflow efficiency, and increasing visibility.

Responsibilities

Oversee the day-to-day operation of the Brand Studio Live Action & Photo Production team, ensuring work is prioritized, resourced, budgeted, produced, delivered, and archived effectively.
Lead, coach, and develop team members through clear expectations, accountability, prioritization, feedback, and performance management.
Partner with the Sr. Executive Producer to assess capacity, align production priorities, resolve operational issues, and escalate risks or opportunities.
Oversee live action and photo production from creative brief through final delivery, determining suitable production approaches, budgets, schedules, staffing plans, vendor models, workflows, and asset-management paths.
Lead production across talent, photo, marketing, social-first, digital, and Storyground shoots; press and PR needs; behind-the-scenes capture; pickups; and broader organizational initiatives.
Serve as the primary operational production partner to cross-functional teams, translating creative and business priorities into executable production plans while protecting creative goals and output quality.
Establish communication mechanisms across teams so issues, questions, dependencies, and decisions are surfaced and resolved quickly, and elevate recommendations to the Executive Producer as needed.
Develop scalable and inclusive production models and maintain a trusted network of freelance producers, line producers, photographers, directors, DPs, crews, production service companies, agencies, post partners, and specialty vendors.
Match production models to creative needs, budget, timeline, platform, rights considerations, audience needs, and business priorities.
Oversee live action and photo production budgets, including bids, estimates, actuals, cost tracking, vendor negotiations, and budget recommendations in partnership with Finance and Production Operations.
Ensure production resources are planned and used strategically, responsibly, and transparently.
Lead workflow optimization and asset-management practices, including planning, approvals, documentation, asset handoffs, media transfers, transcripts, releases, post-production coordination, delivery, backup, and archive.
Identify and implement workflow improvements that increase efficiency, scalability, visibility, and operational effectiveness.
Partner with Legal/Business Affairs, Risk, Finance, Talent, Standards & Practices, and other internal teams to ensure contracts, releases, insurance, vendor paperwork, compliance requirements, and production documentation are handled accurately and on time.
Identify partners, tools, workflows, and production models that improve creative quality, speed, efficiency, and flexibility while supporting A+E's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and representation.