Position Description: Films Manager

Posted by Filmed by Bike

About Filmed by Bike

Filmed by Bike is a film festival that features the world’s best bike movies. This is our 18th year.

We host an expansive film festival weekend in Portland, Oregon every May. Our movie collections tour throughout the year, visiting 30-40 tour stops to strengthen bike communities worldwide.

Filmed by Bike is an inclusive organization. People of color, non-binary, all genders, backgrounds and orientations are encouraged to apply. We strive to foster a diverse and welcoming team.

 

About the Position

We are thrilled to be in the process welcoming a creative, enthusiastic film lover to the Filmed by Bike family. This position helps us present an incredible film festival in Portland and around the world.

The Films Manager is responsible for finding and soliciting the world’s best bike movies. This person works directly with our incredible community of filmmakers to obtain, compile and archive films to the highest standards.

Opportunities for creative freedom and refining and expanding skills are intentionally built into this position

 

Hours + Commitment

An average of 5 hours a week

  • Roughly 3-5 hours a week from October through mid February
  • 2 hours a week March and April
  • Additional hours during the festival weekend and the two weeks prior.

December and January are the busiest months for this position other than the weeks directly surrounding the festival.

At times there is very little work to accomplish, at other times the position is busy and deadlines are imperative. It is up to the Films Manager to manage this schedule with limited oversight. Our ideal candidate knows that a wide variety of details goes into making an event successful and will embrace this to put on a fantastic event.

Required dates:

  • January 24 and 26 – evening
  • March 1 – evening
  • May 14-17 – Afternoon, evening, night

 

Work Environment

We are an extremely positive, supportive work team. We work hard in an efficient manner and are fully dedicated to the festival. We work from home and have regularly scheduled staff meetings.

We use Google Docs for file management and we share resources. We all work extremely independently with very little oversight, though support is always available when there are questions or roadblocks.

We are a streamlined, creative event. If you enjoy working with a team of efficient people who are involved for an altruistic, true love of the film festival experience, you will fit right in.

 

Position Requirements

  • Desire to watch/skim many hours of bike films online.
  • Driven toward success and a desire to do a great job.
  • Desire to find the world’s best bike movies and help Filmed by Bike be the best possible film festival.
  • Ability to devise creative approaches to complex situations.
  • Cool under pressure
  • Friendly, positive, personable – works well with the public.
  • Communications oriented – can do a good job of representing the festival to a wide variety of people.
  • Ability to explain complex information in a clear, concise fashion.
  • Works independently with thorough initial instruction but limited oversight after that.
  • Thorough with detailed projects, doesn’t mind occasional office tasks.
  • Knows how to set project priorities and ask questions to stay on track.
  • Ability to balance Filmed by Bike workload with other life commitments.
  • Ability to work well with volunteers, provide clear instruction and efficiently support them as they donate their time to our organization.
  • Access to a computer capable of edit and export of high quality .mov files for theatre delivery
  • Access to production monitors, or at minimum production quality headphones
  • Strong skillset and comfortability in working with the following:
    • Digital audio and video formats including but not limited to .mov .m4v .h264
    • Digital audio and video conversion including pixel aspect ratio, 4K downscaling, audio remixing and volume normalisation.
    • Digital audio and video delivery
    • NLE use and program compilation: Mac. Adobe Premiere if PC based.
    • Strong attention to detail between varying deliverables

 

Preferred Skills

  • Creative, eager to brainstorm new ideas for the festival.
  • Desire to hone your skills by contributing to our festival.
  • Excellent correspondence etiquette.
  • Knowledge of bike movies and independent films in general – what’s out there, what’s good, what the trends are, what our audience would enjoy watching.

 

Volunteer Management – 5%

  • Oversee a team of 1-2 movie experts who will scour the internet to recruit movies.
  • Meet with these people once for training and check in with them periodically to ensure they are on track. Their work is meant to alleviate your workload and result in finding more of the world’s best bike movies, not make more work. This position is not responsible for the general Filmed by Bike volunteer program.

 

Films Recruitment – 40%

  • Find the world’s best bike movies by quickly skimming through films all over the internet and reaching out directly to filmmakers.
  • Seek out films that mesh with the festival’s values and goals while contributing to an outstanding program of films.
  • Oversee a team of volunteers to supplement this effort.
  • Hunt down filmmakers who have submitted great films to other festivals.
  • Analysis of previous years programs with an eye towards improvement and maintaining Filmed by Bikes film standards, representation, and vibrance.

 

Filmmaker Relations – 25%

  • Main point of contact for filmmakers.
  • Ensure filmmakers’ films arrive on time and in the optimal format.
  • Encourage filmmakers to attend our festival and assist them in the process of doing so.
  • Concierge for filmmakers – finding lodging, helping them attend filmmaker functions.
  • Create award trophies and ship them to winners.
  • Oversee of our filmmaker Homestay Program – matching filmmakers with local hosts.

 

Event Support – 15%

  • A/V assistance with the Jury Screening in January – increased hours at this time.
  • A/V assistance with Ticket Launch Party March 1.
  • Assistance with various projects related to the execution of our festival in Portland.
  • Theater Manager during the festival weekend – assisting the theater with A/V needs to ensure we are presenting a high quality program free from any glitches.

 

File Management + Films Compilation- 10%

  • Ensure submitted films meet our submission criteria.
  • Manage and keep persistent backups of filmmaker production files through duration of festival.
  • Compile assets into film programs with attention to detail and accuracy.
  • Level sound and create appropriate spacing between visual elements (films)
  • Full preview of festival programs prior to delivery to the theatre.
  • Work directly with the theater to deliver files on time and in required format.

 

Additional Projects As Needed- 5%

Other projects as they arise.

 

Compensation

Contract employment paying a total sum of $4,250 dispersed in three installments for the duration of this position.

Staff perks include free entry to the festival, world wide networking opportunities, learning on the job and the opportunity to work with filmmakers.

Remote work is possible, but there are several required in-person dates and we are unable to cover travel expenses.

 

How to Apply

Deadline for applications: September 1, 2019

Email Hello [at] FilmedByBike.org

  • Cover letter addressing each of these points:
    • Why are you interested in joining our festival family?
    • What unique skills and interests do you bring to the position?
    • Are you available for the dates required: January 24 and 26, March 1, May 14-17?
    • What is your experience compiling multiple video formats into one program for flawless, glitch-free theatre presentation?
  • Resume or LinkedIn