Director, Business & Legal Affairs - UTAS UK
The Director of Business & Legal Affairs at UTAS UK Productions will oversee a broad range of legal and business matters across the development, production, compliance, talent, and rights for the company's unscripted slate. This role involves close collaboration with creative, production management, finance, casting, talent, formats, distribution, and global NBCUniversal business units to provide strategic legal and business affairs guidance across all unscripted productions.
Key responsibilities include leading legal and business affairs support across all stages of unscripted development and production, from ideation through delivery. The Director will negotiate, draft, and review agreements with on-screen talent, contributors, writers, producers, showrunners, senior editorial staff, executive producers, and all key production personnel. Additionally, the role involves managing agreements related to casting, contributor participation, welfare, behavioral policies, media clearances, location releases, access agreements, format rights, and archive use.
The ideal candidate is a qualified lawyer with substantial experience in unscripted TV production. Strong experience negotiating talent, production, licensing, contributor, and commissioning agreements is essential. A deep understanding of UK unscripted industry norms, rights issues, broadcaster requirements, and duty-of-care obligations is required. Experience within a major broadcaster, streamer, production company, or top-tier law firm is strongly preferred, along with familiarity with production financing structures, co-production models, and global rights exploitation.
UTAS UK Productions is the London-based division of Universal Television Alternative Studio, part of Universal Studio Group. The company is behind the first-ever British incarnation of NBC’s legendary, award-winning late-night comedy showcase, “Saturday Night Live UK,” produced with Broadway Video and launching on Sky and NOW in March 2026. UTAS UK Productions boasts an exceptional track record of long-running UK hits, including the British Academy Television Award-winning “Made in Chelsea,” now spanning more than 30 series for E4, and 18 series of “The Real Housewives of Cheshire” for ITV2.