Production Finance Manager, Local Language Originals - Africa
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Finance
The Opportunity
This is your chance to make an impact with a team that is transforming entertainment through original local language programming like South African series Queen Sono and Blood & Water. These shows are changing the perception of what great content is, where it comes from, and how it can be enjoyed and celebrated around the world. Fueled by the broad appeal of the instantaneous enjoyment of unlimited movies and TV shows, Netflix has grown to over 190+ million streaming members globally. It’s a great time to join Netflix!
The Role
The Manager for African Local Language Originals will be instrumental in creating and implementing the goals and strategy of the EMEA Production Finance team in Africa.
These include:
i) providing valuable insight and guidance to best protect Netflix’s investment in its African slate
ii) managing the financial life-cycle of productions from Development through Delivery
iii) providing comprehensive and current market intelligence
iv) providing innovative financial solutions to facilitate smarter and more timely decisions, internally within the content/production team, and externally with productions.
The Responsibilities:
- External
- Work effectively and decisively within the Netflix team to manage third party production companies who are producing Netflix local content.
- Closely align with Physical Production, Post Production, VFX, Business and Legal Affairs, and Content teams to manage cost controls and production processes. Knowledge and familiarity with each of these workflows is important.
- Oversee timely and comprehensive budgeting and cost reporting throughout the life-cycle of a production to ensure proper financial management.
- Ability to analyze a production budget from overall spend to individual rates.
- Implementation of best practices of financial control and cash management for our partners.
- Provide insightful production and financial analysis for our producing partners
- Travel in market to grow market intelligence and keep abreast of current industry trends
- Research or have knowledge of local production capacity (stages, vendors, equipment, crewbase)
- Understanding of financial landscape in key markets (banking, accounting, compliance, etc)
- Internal
- Work with studio finance support teams including Legal, Tax, Content Planning and Content Accounting to collaboratively apply expertise towards the Africa business.
- Oversee all Netflix internal reporting for Africa slate
- Manage cash flow, forecasting, and funding processes for entire slate
- Track any applicable production incentives and tax receivables
- Work with our financial engineers develop and test the next generation of production finance tools and apps
- Build a stable pool of Production Accountants and from which to draw from for future productions
- When needed, travel to the Netflix LA office to stay current on company and team strategy
- Be an advocate of the Netflix Culture
Experience/Qualifications
*Knowledge of film financing and back-end distribution is a plus.
*Strong budgeting, production accounting, and accounting software experience is a plus
*Understanding of local payroll, tax, banking, and invoicing processes.
- Credentials
- 7+ years financial executive experience working within the media sector
- University degree in accounting or finance preferred
- Fluency in English; additional language(s) preferred
- Knowledge
- Strong understanding of all of the financial elements needed to bring an original production to life. An ideal candidate needs to be familiar with everything included in a production budget.
- An understanding of the production process from Development to Delivery, is key. There is an emphasis on production in Production Finance.
- Broad understanding of regional financial production practices and government regulations as related to film production.
- How to communicate effectively (both internally and externally) and maneuver within a lean, fast-paced, and high performing content team. As mentioned above, it’s important to understand the roles and responsibilities of a content/production team.
- Ability to identify potential hurdles for our productions and help to keep a project on track
- Understanding of production service/commissioning contracts is a plus.
- Working Style
- Candidates must be able to thrive in a dynamic environment and have a high aptitude for complex problem solving and analysis.
- Professional communication skills are critical
- Must possess a high level of intellectual curiosity with a focus on action and generating results.
- Must exhibit the highest personal and professional standards of integrity and ethics.
- Strong leadership traits and must be self-motivated, disciplined, highly organized and prioritized.