Director, RISE Creative Talent Pathways

Job Summary:

The Director, Creative Talent Pathways, will lead the Creative Talent Pathways (CTP) team and strategy, oversee filmmaker labs and initiatives for emerging directors, producers, and writers in partnership with internal studio banners and non-profits, oversee the charitable budget, and work closely with the executive team. This successful leader is a strategic thinker and possesses a broad understanding of inclusion in the film and entertainment business, the filmmaking process, the creative talent pool, and has robust talent program and people management experience.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage the Creative Talent Pathways team and direct their projects. Continually build and iterate the creative talent pathways strategy for The Walt Disney Studios (TWDS).

• Oversee filmmaker programs, labs, and initiatives for emerging directors, producers, and writers:

  • Manage overall CTP budget, oversee budgets for internal studio banner initiatives, external programs, and charitable budgets.

  • Drive the creation of robust rubrics/criteria of evaluation for all program candidates as well as criteria of evaluation for each program to help assess program efficacy for individual brands, external partners, and overall CTP/TWDS. Adjust rubrics based off industry trends, company needs, and prior program outcomes.  

  • Implement processes for robust postmortems after every program cycle with all program stakeholders and implement learnings on an ongoing basis. 

  • Oversee strategy and implement internal flagship initiatives within TWDS in partnership with creative executives, HR leaders, finance, business affairs, and studio leaders based on the needs and mandates of individual studio banners.  

    • Construct and oversee budgets for programs in partnership with BA and finance.  Manage budget in context of overall CTP team budget. 

    • Identify program leads through relationships with creative executives. 

    • Construct timelines, milestones, and program curriculum in partnership with creative executive partners and senior leaders. 

    • Read, watch, and assess material from candidates for all flagship programs to help select viable cohorts.

  • Oversee external program strategy. Direct projects related to managing and implementing external programs in partnership with the CTP Sr. Manager and Manager, non-profit organizations, enterprise, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

    • Participate in the selection committee for all external programs which includes assessing materials and participating in candidate interviews and deliberation sessions.

    • Maintain strong external relationships with organizations who run filmmaker labs and develop talent, schools, and other organizations.

    • Oversee management of charitable giving budget in partnership with the CTP Sr. Manager and Manager and maintain strong internal relationships with CSR and enterprise inclusion teams.

  • Oversee strategy for inclusive data insights in partnership with the CTP Sr. Manager, Coordinator, and relevant stakeholders. Work with the VP, on strategy to share studio and industry insights with senior leadership.

  • Direct projects related to managing and implementing creative talent placement efforts in partnership with the CTP Sr. Manager and Manager and relevant stakeholders.

    • Maintain relationships with alumni and emerging filmmaker talent.

• Execute strategies and TWDC priorities in strong collaboration with the executive team and other executive leaders.

  • Work in partnership with the Content Advisement team to ensure synergy and collaboration where applicable. 

  • Create and spearhead high level presentations of broader strategy and individual initiatives for senior leaders across TWDC. 

  • Develop and maintain relationships with: 

    • Senior creative executives across The Walt Disney Studios 

    • Relevant stakeholders across TWDC including (but not limited to) those in other Creative Talent Pathways teams across Disney Entertainment, Studio Communications, CSR, Legal, and Finance.

    • Signatory guilds such as WGA and DGA

  • Attend industry events, film festivals, conferences, meetings at Disney offices, etc. and travel as needed. Network, build new relationships, and represent (sometimes on evenings and weekends based on availability).

  • Partner and provide thought partnership with inclusion leads across the company to ensure alignment with enterpƒ inclusion goals. 

• Support other related special projects and other duties as assigned.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 10+ years of work experience either as a filmmaker, creative executive, or running filmmaker labs/grants for writers, directors, and producers through a major studio, tech media company, production company, or leading filmmaker organization/non-profit in the industry.

• Deeply understands the creative process (e.g., how to make a live-action short film or feature film from development through post-production), ideally in a studio setting.

• Keen understanding of the creative process with strong creative development skills from an artist-first standpoint.

• Possesses strong ability to assess creative talent and viability for the TWDC brand

• Strong people/team leader with minimum people management experience of three years.

• Understands structural and systemic inclusion and equity work and how to drive long-lasting change and business ownership. Has a passion for equity and inclusion work in front of and behind the camera.

• Ability to influence, collaborate with, and uplift others in a highly matrixed organization. Experience working with senior leadership in large corporate settings.

• Display of mature leadership qualities – compelling communication, consistent judgment, and the ability to draw out the best from others.

• Demonstrates results-driven leadership skills with the ability to turn vision into action, motivate others to achieve goals, and follow through on decisions.

This position is based in the Burbank office 4 days a week (Monday through Thursday) with the flexibility to work from home on Fridays.

The hiring range for this position in CA is $182,700.00 to $245,000.00per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.