Director, RISE Content Advisement

Job Summary:

It’s the magic of immersing yourself in a motion picture masterpiece, or a new track from your favorite band, or the spectacle of a live Broadway show. It’s hard to define and even harder to create, but that’s what we do at The Walt Disney Studios. Ours is a culture of innovation, collaboration and creativity. We raise the bar, then step over it, blazing trails through the production and distribution of world-class entertainment around the globe. If you want to help tell compelling, enduring stories through movies, music or stage plays, then we want to hear from you.

The Director, RISE Content Advisement will report to the VP, Representation, Inclusion Strategies, and Engagement, and will oversee development of studio-wide strategies to ensure content, marketing, and distribution efforts are relevant to a rapidly diversifying and global audience. This person will co-lead our strategy in providing feedback on projects for the entire life cycle of a film, from development and pre-production to marketing and distribution, ensuring accurate and authentic representation, and identifying diverse storytelling opportunities that reflect consumers around the world.

Responsibilities:

• Advise on TWDS content, stories, and characters, to ensure cultural authenticity, considering social, cultural, political, and commercial implications so that each project is best positioned for commercial and critical success.
• Understand the creative needs of our studio banners and work in partnership with production teams to help make the best creative choices for their projects, translating the insights coming from external stakeholders, community members or consultants, and taking into account the nuances of the creative process.
• Project manage a content advisement strategy across Studios, partnering with Creative Executives, corporate brand management, TWDC DEI leads, internal planning and franchise management, and other key stakeholders, across content, marketing, and distribution.
• Co-lead and manage the content advisement team, along with the other Director. Oversee strategy and team budget.
• Manage a team of three embedded leads and direct their projects. In addition, this includes co-managing the Coordinator, RISE Content Advisement .
• Build and lead a process to continuously engage with key external consultants and community partners across all areas of representation and identity.
• Partner with creative teams at across our Banners on consistent cultural content authenticity strategies.
• Manage a growing roster of consultants who advise on content, consumer strategy, and more. Source, vet, and onboard new consultants and vendors.
• Identify and guide community engagement opportunities in partnership with marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility teams.
• Represent the company at external industry and community events, film festivals and some on-set and conference travel required when needed.
• Participate in cultural competency building work and seek opportunities to increase the RISE team’s overall inclusion knowledge.

Basic Qualifications:

• 10+ years of work experience crafting and implementing cross-functional strategies, managing teams and executing complex projects.
• Experience working in film and/or television in a creative capacity with demonstrated success building strong relationships with creative executives/filmmakers and sharing feedback that understands their creative needs.
• Minimum of 6 years of team management experience in a supervisory/leadership role
• A track record of positive and productive relationships with a variety of community, non-profit and industry experts across various dimensions of identity and a strong network of DEI resources to leverage in educating teams and advancing work.
• Ability to build relationships and work across a highly matrixed organization.
• Ability to have a high tolerance for ambiguity
• Strong business acumen and affinity for leadership, with specific experience setting goals, assigning and monitoring tasks, providing strategic direction, coaching team members, and resolving conflict among team members.
• Robust experience in the creative filmmaking process and proven experience gathering and synthesizing multiple, nuanced perspectives and effectively prioritizing feedback to creative on projects for the entire life cycle of a film.
• Strategist who understands structural and systemic inclusion and equity work and how to drive long-lasting change.
• Demonstrates mature leadership skills with the ability to turn vision into action, motivate others to achieve goals, problem solve, follow through on decisions, draw out the best in others, and lead with compassion and kindness.
• A self starter who can use executive judgement and EQ to know when to influence, how to collaborate, and strategically work through others in a highly matrixed organization.
• Strong verbal and written communication and ability to work closely with studio leadership and experience bringing together multiple stakeholders to strategize.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Global work experience, especially as it pertains to diversity and inclusion is preferred.
• MA/MS Degree or Comparable Work Experience preferred.

What Else You Should Know

• Location:  Burbank, CA
• Reports to: Vice President, Representation, Inclusion Strategies, and Engagement
• Status: Full-time, exempt

About The Walt Disney Studios:

For over 90 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built. Today the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under the following banners: Disney, including Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios, Disneynature, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm. The Disney Music Group encompasses the Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records labels, as well as Disney Music Publishing. The Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Disney on Broadway, Disney On Ice and Disney Live!. Ours is a culture of innovation, inspiration and collaboration that brings together visionary artists, gifted technologists and savvy business minds to conjure up magical entertainment experiences for a global audience.

About The Walt Disney Company:

The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with the following business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family. Disney’s stories, characters and experiences reach consumers and guests from every corner of the globe. With operations in more than 40 countries, our employees and cast members work together to create entertainment experiences that are both universally and locally cherished.

This position is with Walt Disney Pictures, which is part of a business segment we call The Walt Disney Studios.

Walt Disney Pictures is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law. Disney fosters a business culture where ideas and decisions from all people help us grow, innovate, create the best stories and be relevant in a rapidly changing world.