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Novel

Head of Development: Originals and Partnerships

Posted 78 weeks ago

A full time position at Novel, London, UK

Job Title: Head of Development: Originals and Partnerships

Location: Emerald Street, Holborn, London / WFH

Contract Type: Full Time

Term: Full-Time: 09:30-18:00

Start Date: Asap

Reports to: Executive Creative Director

Direct Line Reports: n/a

OVERVIEW

We’re looking for a high-end development producer to lead on creating and growing the debut crop of shows for our major forthcoming audio network. Huge creative scope. Big responsibility.

Development is the engine room of our business. As we’ve risen, great development has become a crucial differentiator for Novel. We develop at scale, and at scope. We’ve built a powerful machine for finding creative opportunities, and for finding the clients to fit them.

But the game is changing. Both externally for the market, and for us internally.

For us, because we’re building an Originals network that can compete with the biggest companies in the world.

Externally, because the podcast industry is evolving right before our eyes. What we develop today is different from that which cut through six months ago, let alone two years ago. The tussle for great IP has become fearsome. Increasingly, those who succeed on the biggest stages bring ideas that can work in multiple formats: often with podcasts as a launchpad for a bigger creative play.

That said, we’re convinced that there are still big gaps in the market. We believe that podcasting is still fundamentally a young medium with its most exciting days ahead. New audiences to reach, fresh communicates to access, new stories to tell and new audio forms to tell them. It is these gaps – both creative and commercial – that we're determined to find.

Now, as part of an internal re-organisation of our Development team, we’re separating out the purely Work For Hire arm from the Originals & Partnerships arm.

RESPONSIBILITIES

You will be running the Originals & Partnerships arm of Novel. Originals & Partnerships is about our biggest shows. Shows we make with Wondery. Gimlet. iHeart. Big ideas that can sustain six or twelve episodes, for clients who want world class podcasts.

And it’s about our forthcoming Novel Originals brand. Whoever is in charge, will be directly reporting to one of the audio industry’s most prominent names, Julie Shapiro (formerly of PRX, Radiotopia, and Third Coast).

Julie is in charge of the overall mission of Novel Originals. And you are in charge of feeding her creative furnace. Julie needs world class ideas, stories, talent and treatment.

Day to day, you’ll come up with those elements, then, stress-test them to make sure all the links in the chain are working, and of course make sure that they all feel as though they’d work for Novel, and the unique tone we’re developing here.

You’ll work all angles, all the time. You’ll iterate brilliantly. You’ll draw on your bank of existing contacts to bring into the fold. You’ll write elegantly and quickly, turning around treatments in an afternoon.

You’ll work with more junior colleagues, to critique, edit, and generally fix their work to the required standard, to lead a team, and generally get things done in a high-performance environment.

KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE

This is a senior hire: the sort of person who can take it on will bring impressive creative flair, a certain organisational genius, and very solid experience in scouting stories, handling negotiations, and cracking tricky access projects. Above all, they will know story structure intimately, and understand how to frame ideas, and use perspective to bring out the elements of a story that will have the most impact.

You’ll intuitively know what works and what doesn’t and why – both from a practical production viewpoint, and from a practical market viewpoint. Instantly, you’ll get why scam stories are so 2021, or that a great tale with an unsympathetic lead just won’t sustain. You’ll get it, because you know the podcast industry, and because you’re a fan: story is your food and drink, and you have great taste in what works.

To do all of that, at a personal level, you’ll be someone with genuine hinterland: naturally curious, someone who reads a lot, watches a lot, listens a lot, has an intense thirst for the new. A real narrative omnivore: with the capacity to cover wildly different intellectual and storytelling terrain. The kind of person who watches Euphoria for the pop culture and Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation for the culture culture, and who doesn’t miss a beat in-between. Sure, you like your Scott Carrier, but you also have a soft spot for Normal Gossip. Above all, you like to keep up.

Novel is a highly organised, highly energised workplace. We get things done. It's very rewarding. You’ll be operating at the most rewarding end of that pipeline: teaming up with the best in the business to originate the ideas that matter, turning a vague topline you scribbled down into ten episodes at the top of the global Apple charts. For the right person, this is a career-apex opportunity.

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU’RE SUITED TO WORK AT NOVEL?

PACKAGE

It is obvious the podcast industry needs to change and become more diverse. We are therefore particularly keen to hear from applicants that are underrepresented in the industry, such as those from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic backgrounds or those with disabilities.

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