Director, Production & Planning

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Combining masterful artistry and storytelling with groundbreaking technology, Walt Disney Animation Studios is a filmmaker-driven animation studio responsible for creating some of the most beloved films ever made, including Frozen, Zootopia and Moana. For over 100 years, Disney Animation has told timeless stories, set in imaginative worlds, with compelling characters. We invite you to bring your unique talents, passion and ideas to our collaborative team. 

The Director, Production & Planning supports the VP, Production & Planning in strategically planning feature films and other projects that are simultaneously being produced within the studio, and to explore alternate production and slate scenarios. This position is responsible for the overall utilization of historical data to:

• Inform current and future planning
• Highlight areas to review regarding complexity, efficiency and budget
• Identify recommendations for improvement

This position also manages the evolution and maintenance of production plan templates for the studio. Requiring deep collaboration with Studio, Departmental, and Production Leadership, this role oversees a team that develops dashboards, reports, and tools to drive production analysis, informing strategy and decision-making at WDAS.

Responsibilities:

• Manages Studio’s production plan templates for features, specials and shorts projects. Update as necessary, prepare scenario analysis, and assess studio impacts in collaboration with Studio leadership
• Creates initial production plans and resource schedules for projects that do not yet have an Associate Producer assigned to them, working with Development to incorporate the development timeline into the overall production plan. Works collaboratively with Finance to translate these early show plans into budgets
• Creates and consolidates production scenarios to provide recommendations on how best to optimize studio resources, minimize production risks and provide options for slate planning based on studio, financial and creative goals.
• Responsible for data from past projects and uses this data to generate production dashboards, reports and presentations to highlight areas to review complexity, efficiency and budgets to inform decision making and future planning.
• Acts as a thought partner and provides recommendations to Associate Producers on inventory flow strategies, challenges and opportunities.
• Partners with Production leadership to create consistent production milestones and dashboards to improve cross-show consistency in data tracking and reporting.
• Partners with Production Finance to realize financial impacts at both the production and studio levels that are driven by production planning assumptions.
• Manages a team that:
  • Owns and supports the production tracking tool (Autodesk Flow Production Tracking) and the generation of meaningful and consistent dashboards that will help provide the basis for analysis and inform recommendations for future projects.
  • Owns and supports workforce planning tools and the generation of meaningful and consistent dashboards as it pertains to resource planning for the studio and to enhance the studio’s production planning and workforce planning capabilities.
• Partners closely with Technology leaders to help prioritize initiatives for future process improvement tools and helps guide the development of such tools.
• Keep up to date with industry trends, and take the initiative to explore how new technologies could improve or disrupt existing established methodologies for production scheduling, data management and visualization.
• Key Stakeholder to, and responsible for partnering with, the Data Team in their efforts to create trend analysis, and predictive production and workforce forecasts.

Required qualifications:

• 10+ years of production experience
• 5+ years of production leadership experience is preferred
• Creates an inclusive and safe cross-site work environment by carefully managing sensitive information, making rooms feel open and comfortable, creating space for everyone to have a voice and addressing bias when it occurs.
• Specialized knowledge of the production process in animation, deep understanding of animation workflows and the management of production environments
• Strong leadership, communication, time management skills
• Thinks critically and analytically with a high aptitude for strategic planning and tactical execution on a multitude of simultaneous projects. Demonstrates the ability to identify and track priorities.
• The ability to effectively communicate, interact and partner with production leadership, creative talent and executives inside the Company is crucial.
• The ability to drive results and to generate and promote new and innovative ideas is required, adaptable in an ever-changing environment
• Proficient in Excel, Powerpoint/Keynote, Google platforms, Shotgrid
• Must be customer service-oriented and an intuitive trouble shooter
• High level of confidentiality and discretion required
• Ability to travel as needed
• Must be available to work onsite 3-5 days per week

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