Senior Producer, Research and Development

Department: Production

Location: Austin

Employment Type: FullTime

About Early Media

Early Media is creating and distributing groundbreaking original series. We craft narratives with viral potential while preserving the heart of indie production, telling meaningful stories audiences actually care about. Every creative decision is sharpened by a proprietary testing and marketing engine that collapses the distance between filmmaker and audience into the tightest iteration loop in the industry.

We’re hiring a Senior Research & Development Producer to source scripts and manage locations for Scripted production, and to own the talent network behind our Unscripted “Recess” content for the Level platform.

About Level

Level is a learning technology company transforming how students develop academic and life skills. We merge rigorous curriculum principles with world-class interactive design so that practice becomes something students seek out instead of avoid. We amplify educators and parents through high-quality, standards-aligned practice:

• For students: Rewarding, high-motivation experiences that meet learners at their current level and build genuine proficiency.

• For educators: Integrated tools that sharpen instruction and hold engagement while significantly reducing teacher workload.

• For parents: Activities that help kids catch up or accelerate, and end the cycle of homework battles.

About the Role

This role reports to Early Media’s production team and works across Scripted and Unscripted content. On the Unscripted side, you’ll work closely with the Publishing team at Level to deliver content for the Level platform.

Recess is Level’s break from curriculum: short, adventure-driven stories built around the subjects, athletes, influencers, geographies, creatures, arts, and sciences students haven’t met before. We cast students who are actually passionate about the subject — for a mountaineering concept, real climbers and wilderness kids, not actors. Your job is to build that pipeline: find the students, earn the trust of their parents, and make working with us feel fun and easy.

On Scripted, you’ll prioritize script-sourcing and serve as locations scout and manager. That takes an eye for story, a social sense, and the judgment to tell whether a project is right for vertical content and producible inside our budget and distribution framework.

What you’ll own

• Non-actor and Actor Talent pipeline. You quickly stand up and maintain a network of non-actor students, parents, agents, and casting contacts. You are the point of contact for every talent relationship on the unscripted side of the business.

• Locations. A well researched locations database that you have personally visited and vetted. You’ll establish owner relationships and negotiate contracts across multiple productions with evolving schedules and location needs.

• On-set talent and location operations. Call sheets, talent agreements, location contracts, and agency negotiations — and the health, safety, and experience of every kid and parent on set.

• Script sourcing. Proactive cold outreach to writers and a clear point of view on which PG-13 stories are producible in our format and budget. You advocate for what works and can explain your thinking when you believe a concept doesn’t work.

• Talent and location budgets. You own Talent, Location, and Script Line Items (with the Project Producers) and can wrangle deals. You reconcile against shifting priorities, and know when and how to spend for a successful production.

Must-haves

• Disciplined, organized independence. This role splits between office, set, and location. Producers need to reach you, and your Locations, Talent, and Script databases need to be current without anyone asking.

• Resourceful. You proactively research and bring in the person, the place, or the script nobody else was considering and build relationships

• Production experience across talent and locations. You’ve scouted, negotiated, and closed location agreements, talent releases, and agency deals.

• Comfort with cold outreach and great with kids: Most of this job is starting conversations with strangers: kids, writers, other talent, parents, agents, business owners, and private homeowners.

• Budget ownership. You’ve carried a line-item talent or locations budget and reconciled it without oversight.

Nice to Have

• Experience in Movie Magic Budgeting, Wrapbook, and Ironclad preferred.

• Scripted and unscripted production background

• Experience or interest in early childhood education subjects

• Existing location and talent management relationships in Austin, TX

• Short-form or vertical content experience

• A live network of emerging writers