Senior Director, Film Marketing & Creative Strategy

Senior Director, Film Marketing & Creative Strategy

Position Overview

The SeniorDirector, Film Marketing & Creative Strategy is a senior creative marketer responsible for shaping and executing bold, distinctive campaigns for our slate of independent films across theatrical and VOD/SVOD releases.

Working closely with the President of Marketing and the EVP of Marketing, this role will translate each film’s unique voice, positioning, and audience opportunity into compelling creative campaigns that break through a crowded marketplace and build cultural momentum.

This role will lead the day-to-day creative development and production of campaign materials from trailers and key art to digital AV, social content, experiential concepts, and theatrical marketing materials, guiding projects from initial concept and creative brief through production, delivery, launch, and post-campaign learnings.

This is a highly collaborative, hands-on role for a creative marketer with strong taste, sharp strategic instincts, and a deep understanding of how audiences discover and engage with films.

Generate the Idea

Develop distinctive campaign ideas and creative approaches that capture what makes each film special, connect with its audience, and create conversation around the release.

Bring Everyone Around It

Turn strategy into clear, compelling creative briefs and confidently present campaign concepts and materials to filmmakers, talent, senior leadership, agencies, and other creative partners.

Creative Direction

• Own the day-to-day creative marketing strategy for assigned films from acquisition through release, in partnership with the President and EVP of Marketing.
• Lead the development of AV marketing assets, including trailers, teasers, promotional videos, digital AV, and other campaign content that captures the distinct voice of each film.
• Provide creative direction and quality control across key art, digital, social, theatrical, and promotional materials.
• Develop a strong creative point of view for each campaign and ensure that it carries consistently across every audience touchpoint.
• Evaluate creative work critically and provide clear, actionable feedback to internal teams, agencies, editors, designers, and other creative partners.

Creative Marketing Strategy

• Translate high-level positioning, audience, and brand strategy into actionable campaign ideas, creative briefs, and deliverables.
• Develop and execute marketing strategies for assigned theatrical and VOD/SVOD releases in alignment with the overall direction of the President of Digital Distribution and Marketing leads.
• Identify opportunities for films to break through culturally and connect authentically with target audiences.
• Proactively identify creative risks, gaps, and opportunities throughout the campaign lifecycle.
• Apply campaign performance and audience learnings to optimize creative and inform future campaigns.

Campaign Development

• Drive the development and execution of integrated creative campaigns across AV, key art, digital, social, experiential, and theatrical channels.
• Oversee the production of trailers, teasers, posters, key art, promotional content, and other campaign assets from brief through final delivery.
• Partner with internal teams and external agencies to ensure campaigns are cohesive while allowing creative to be optimized for individual platforms and audiences.
• Contribute to the development of experiential and culturally relevant marketing ideas that extend campaigns beyond traditional film advertising.

Team Leadership & Staff Management

• Manage and develop direct reports, including Managers and Coordinators, providing clear direction, feedback, coaching, and opportunities for professional growth.
• Create an environment that encourages strong creative thinking, collaboration, accountability, and attention to detail.
• Establish and maintain best practices for creative development, production, approvals, and team workflow.
• Help prioritize resources across multiple simultaneous film campaigns and deadlines.

Digital & Social Strategy

• Creator Marketing: Identify relevant creators and cultural voices and help develop creator strategies for individual campaigns, spanning organic editorial opportunities and paid partnerships.
• Organic Social: Partner with the Digital Marketing team to shape organic social rollouts, participate in trend and creative brainstorms, and optimize AV and campaign creative based on platform behavior and performance.
• Help identify emerging platforms, formats, communities, and cultural conversations that can create meaningful opportunities for our films.

Marketing Content Production

• Lead marketing-driven AV shoots from concept through delivery, including creative development, agency and vendor management, budget oversight, production, and talent/representative coordination.
• Work closely with production partners to deliver high-quality creative efficiently and within campaign budgets and timelines.

Creative Partnerships

• Build and maintain strong relationships with creative agencies, editors, designers, freelance talent, creators, distributors, publicists, and other partners.
• Identify emerging creative talent and partners who can bring fresh thinking and distinctive voices to our campaigns.

Brand Stewardship

• Ensure marketing materials reflect both the individual identity of each film and the standards and reputation of the company.
• Help strengthen the company’s position as a distinctive home for independent film through consistently thoughtful, original, and culturally relevant marketing.

Cross-Departmental Collaboration

• Acquisitions, Production & Development: Support creative marketing wish lists and production deliverables; help develop and oversee on-set marketing materials, including specialty photography, BTS, EPK, and other content opportunities.
• Delivery & Post-Production: Coordinate with Post and Delivery to ensure Marketing has timely access to assets and maintain efficient, cost-conscious workflows for marketing materials.
• Digital Distribution: Support home entertainment and awards/FYC initiatives and adapt theatrical campaign materials for subsequent release windows.
• Legal/Business Affairs: Route campaign materials for appropriate guild, legal, and paid advertising compliance review and ensure proper onboarding of freelance and vendor partners.
• Publicity: Coordinate talent participation requests for marketing initiatives and align key material launches, including trailers and posters, with broader publicity strategy.
• Theatrical Distribution: Track deadlines for in-theater materials, adhere to MPA guidelines, and provide creative direction for exhibitor-specific digital AV assets.

The Ideal Candidate

You are a film-obsessed creative marketer who combines exceptional taste with the ability to get things made.

You know what makes a great trailer, poster, social idea, or campaign, and can articulate why. You can take a film from an early positioning conversation to a fully realized campaign, giving thoughtful creative feedback along the way while keeping multiple projects moving.

You are equally comfortable brainstorming a provocative campaign idea, giving notes in an edit, presenting work to a filmmaker, reviewing key art, discussing audience strategy, managing an agency, or coaching a member of your team.

Most importantly, you understand that great independent film marketing isn't about applying the same playbook to every release. It's about finding the singular idea, audience, and cultural opportunity that makes people feel they need to see this film.

Location & Compensation

This role will be based in either our Los Angeles or New York office, with a hybrid three-day-per-week in-office work arrangement and occasional travel between locations.

Our target salary range for this role is $120,000–$150,000. Hiring pay rates are based on a number of factors, including location, experience, knowledge, skills, and internal equity.

A Note on the Process

We're committed to giving every candidate a fair shot, so please hold off on reaching out to us directly. To keep the process equitable, we won't be able to respond to individual inquiries. If your experience is a strong match for the role, we'll be in touch. Apply for this role: HERE

Requirements

What We're Looking For

Our ideal candidate will have:

• 8+ years of experience in film or entertainment marketing, with significant experience developing creative campaigns for theatrical releases and experience managing and developing a team
• Exceptional creative taste and strong film marketing instincts, with the ability to identify what makes a film distinctive and translate that into an original, compelling campaign
• Demonstrated expertise developing trailers, teasers, key art, AV, digital, and social campaign creative across theatrical and streaming releases
• A strong understanding of audiences and culture, with the ability to connect positioning and audience insights to creative ideas that generate conversation and drive discovery
• A proven ability to develop, articulate, present, and defend a creative point of view, while incorporating feedback from filmmakers, talent, senior leadership, and other stakeholders
• Experience leading complex creative campaigns and multi-vendor production workflows from concept through delivery, with the judgment to maintain creative quality while managing budgets, timelines, and competing priorities
• Strong relationships with, or experience identifying and managing creative agencies, editors, designers, filmmakers, talent representatives, creators, and other external creative partners
• The ability to move comfortably between big-picture creative strategy and hands-on execution, whether brainstorming a campaign idea, giving notes on a trailer cut, reviewing key art, writing a creative brief, or troubleshooting a production challenge
• A highly collaborative working style and experience partnering cross-functionally with teams including Production, Post, Digital, Distribution, Legal/Business Affairs, Publicity, and Theatrical Distribution
• Deep curiosity about film, audiences, culture, social platforms, and the evolving ways people discover and engage with entertainment
• Familiarity with Adobe Creative Suite, Google Workspace, and project management platforms such as Airtable or Asana

Benefits

At NEON, we believe in taking care of our full-time team members with an exceptional benefits package designed to support you at every stage of life:

• Enjoy comprehensive Health Care coverage that includes medical, dental, and vision plans to keep you and your family healthy and worry-free.
• Plan confidently for the future with our flexible Retirement Savings options like 401k and Roth IRA, tailored to help you build lasting security.
• Gain peace of mind through our Life Insurance offerings, featuring both Basic and Voluntary coverage, including AD&D protection.
• We offer unlimited vacation, generous sick days, public holidays, and an annual winter break closure because rest is part of doing good work.
• Support your loved ones with compassionate Family Leave options, encompassing Parental and Caregiver Leaves designed to meet your needs.
• Prioritize your wellness with access to our comprehensive Wellness Programs and resources that foster a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

NEON is an equal opportunity employer. We're committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone is set up to do meaningful work — and we welcome candidates from all backgrounds and experiences. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

This job description is a guide, not a ceiling — responsibilities may evolve as the business does.

U.S. applicants are protected under the Family & Medical Leave Act, Equal Opportunity Employment, and the Employee Polygraph Protection Act. If you need a reasonable accommodation at any point in the process, please reach out to your NEON recruiter.