Senior Manager, Legal Business Affairs – TV Production

Job Position(s): Senior Manager, Legal Business Affairs - TV Production

Sony Pictures Entertainment is hiring a Senior Manager, Legal Business Affairs for its TV production hub based in Manchester, UK. This role sits within the SPTIS in-house production group and covers the full business affairs lifecycle across scripted television development, production, financing, and content exploitation. It is best suited to a television business affairs professional who is comfortable leading complex negotiations independently and advising senior stakeholders without close supervision.

About the Role

Reporting to the SVP Head of UK/EMEA Scripted Business Affairs, with day-to-day oversight from the SVP Production and Development, this position serves as the primary business affairs contact for Sony’s Manchester-based scripted television production operation. The work spans everything from underlying rights acquisition and talent agreements through to co-production structuring, broadcaster commissioning deals, and distribution arrangements. On any given day, that means drafting a writer agreement in the morning and sitting across the table from a streaming platform’s legal team in the afternoon.

Key Responsibilities

• Negotiate, structure, and draft the full range of scripted television production agreements, including option agreements, writer deals, format rights, director contracts, HOD and crew agreements, and location and clearance paperwork.
• Lead commissioning agreement negotiations with broadcasters, streaming platforms, and other commissioning partners across the episodic television landscape.
• Structure and negotiate international co-production arrangements, tax credit financing, loan agreements, inter-party agreements, and related security documentation in close coordination with finance and tax teams.
• Manage chain of title, underlying IP rights, renewals, and derivative rights including sequels, spin-offs, and remakes across the production slate.
• Advise production teams on guild, union, and collective bargaining obligations relevant to UK television production, ensuring contractual compliance throughout each production cycle.
• Track deal terms, exclusivity periods, approvals, and contractual commitments across multiple active projects simultaneously, providing regular status reporting to senior management.

What You Bring

• Substantial business affairs experience within UK or international scripted television production, with a track record of leading negotiations end to end.
• Demonstrated expertise in underlying rights acquisition, talent deal-making, and content exploitation transactions across linear and streaming platforms.
• Working knowledge of UK and international co-production financing structures, including tax credit regimes and deficit financing instruments.
• Familiarity with relevant guild, union, and collective bargaining frameworks applicable to UK television production.
• The right to work and reside in the United Kingdom for the duration of employment, as required under UK immigration regulations.

Why This Role

Sony Pictures Entertainment operates one of the larger international scripted television production infrastructures, and this Manchester position sits at the centre of its UK and EMEA output. The scope here covers development through to exploitation, which is a broader remit than most business affairs roles at this level. For someone who wants genuine end-to-end ownership across a substantial scripted television slate, this is a rare position to find outside of London.

Apply now for the Senior Manager, Legal Business Affairs position at Sony Pictures Entertainment and take the next step in your television production career.