Description:
EastEnders, the UK’s national treasure soap, has an exciting opportunity for an experienced Editorial Producer.
This is a leadership position supporting the Series Producer and Executive Producer to oversee long term story development, script consistency, character development and consistency, research quality and general line management duties.
We’re looking for someone who knows soap. You will have significant experience of working on a continuing drama at producer level across story and script. You will be an expert editorially. You will be a proactive, thoughtful leader; supporting teams to perform to their highest standards. You will foster and maintaining a positive working culture; keeping teams motivated to work with tight deadlines, a carefully managed budget, and ever increasing ambition. You will be confident and assertive and have experience of working with wide range of writers, at all levels, delivering clear notes and feedback to ensure the editorial vision is upheld across all storylines, script and output.
You will also work with departments including costume, make-up and digital to ensure strategies are aligned to our long term story, character and editorial ambitions.
Key Responsibilities And Accountabilities
- Long term story planning: collaborate with Story Producer to plan and develop long term storylines
- Support the planning for key events including anniversaries, cultural milestones and sporting events
- Communicate the long term plan to writers, HODs and wider department to ensure alignment and a clear vision
- Plan and attend story conferences. Attend story planning and commissioning meetings to ensure consistency and continuity
- Work closely with Series Scheduler, Line Producer and Story Producer on forward planning, considering creative needs and production requirements including budgets, cast holidays and scheduling
- Support and work closely with the Story Producer to ensure short term stories are in line with long term vision for the show
- Support and work closely with the script team, feeding into script drafting process with notes. Be a point of contact for Script Editors and assist the Script Producer where necessary to ensure the narrative vision is upheld throughout the script process and ensure long term consistency. Communicate script changes to wider team and update long term plans accordingly
- Manage and work with writers; supporting them to solve problems, relaying notes and provide clear feedback to ensure their material aligns with the long term strategy and editorial vision of the show
- Work with editorial teams to ensure clarity in character arcs and consistency across episodes
- Lead the Research team to ensure research is focused, accurate and exhaustive, collaborating with the Senior Researcher to identify and pitch new story ideas, ensuring fresh and exciting narratives are always in the pipeline
- Lead the digital team to ensure digital strategy is in line with long term editorial ambition for the show, exploring new opportunities and innovation to grow our digital following
- Build and nurture relationships with HODs and other key stakeholders across the production to ensure the vision for each character is accurately reflected on screen
- Have an input into key casting decisions and working with Casting department.
- Work with Series Producer to review the dub to ensure episodes align with the long-term narrative vision. Have input into Executive review where appropriate for big long term stories
- Work with Story Producer, Series Producer and Executive Producer to liaise with cast who wish to discuss storylines or pitch ideas, keeping an eye on emerging talent for future casting opportunities.
- Refine and roll out awards submission strategy, partnering with Story Producer and Press/Digital teams and Awards Coordinator to ensure storylines and scripts align with this strategy
- Have editorial oversight of episodic inserts
- Identify emerging talent on and off screen
What does it take?
- Producer experience working across story and script on a long-running soap
- Experience of line managing a story and/or script team and delivering high performance
- Experience of working in a leadership position where you have been responsible for impactful editorial decisions
- Evidence of strong communication and mediation skills with HODs, writers and team members at all levels; working across departments to align vision and culture
- Experience of providing clear and direct notes and feedback to ensure collaboration and alignment to editorial vision and strategy
- Experience of working in a position which required you to work across multiple projects and tasks simultaneously
- Experience of devising and executing strategy
- Knowledge and experience of complying with editorial policy and safeguarding practices
- Excellent communication and team collaboration skills.