Associate Producer Jobs

Position: Associate Producer

Reports To: Director of Production

The Summary

Zara Creative is looking to hire an experienced Associate Producer to work with our values-driven video production team. Must have a minimum of three years of relevant professional experience as an Associate Producer or the like in video production working with household names / global brands / high-profile clientele. Agency experience is a plus. If you’ve never been in the industry or have yet to be in a supporting role on a collaborative team, this job is not for you.

Our vibe is laid-back-luxe. High quality. Sleek, modern, fresh. Effervescent. Full of life and life-giving. Does this feel like a vibe aligned with yours? If yes, keep reading.

Our expectations: you are excited to support an experienced team of producers and creatives, have an innate desire to help where needed, are a self-starter, hungry to learn and grow, have an eye for detail, a knack for organization, logistics, and overseeing a crew. Basically, you love to see a project come together and take pride in supporting however you can to bring a vision to life. You consider yourself a problem solver with a knack for figuring it out… and also have no issues asking questions or raising concerns to fellow team members for support. Your communication skills are polished and one of your greatest strengths: email, IRL, Zoom… all the ways. It’s literally our artform of choice, our specialty, our expertise and you must be good at it. You can collaborate with a team and execute tasks with flair on the daily. You are comfortable with both following directions and making suggestions for improving workflow and how we do things. Small teams lend themselves to big opportunities -- are you someone who gets excited at that thought? Small teams wear many hats, they support each other and step up when needed. Are you up for it?

The Must Haves / Expectations

• Willing to learn AICP bid forms and the bidding process.
• Think, act, and communicate in ways that create raving fans out of our clients. We like to operate like a modern, high-end luxury hotel: every need is met before it’s even asked for.
• Must have high attention to detail, and superior project time management capabilities within a fast-paced, ever-changing, high-performing environment.
• Demonstrated ability in creative and story development: choosing and highlighting best-of sound bites and b-roll, A/V script development, including ideating and concepting, helping craft storylines.
• Thrive in working with a team and putting the team above the ego.
• Collaborates with the client, internal staff, and all other project participants to understand the project assignment, audience, and intended message.
• Adhere to uniform and efficient methods and procedures for efficient workflow and communication.
• Bachelor’s degree in communications, arts, digital filmmaking, journalism, or video production (not required but preferred).
• Organize our Vimeo channel (naming structure, descriptions, finals, collections by client, etc.)
• Versed in various types of existing and emerging media platforms.
• Able to capture behind-the-scenes photos on the phone for Zara Creative social media platforms. Plus if you have a knack for social media and are willing to post on our ZC platforms (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook).
• Have a foundational understanding of video production storytelling.
• Experience/willingness to support projects from the pre-production stage through post-production: pre-production planning, identifying distribution opportunities for video content across multiple platforms, researching, making calls, getting quotes, reaching out to multiple people/vendors on the daily, crafting and sending emails, organizing craft services, transporting gear when needed and running production related errands such as coffee and lunch runs, on-set production assistant as needed on set and in the field.
• Actively seeks insight into the latest technology and social media trends, techniques, and tools.
• Willingness to coordinate/secure/drive rental vans/vehicles for production.
• Taking on tasks, requests, and assignments from producers, creative directors, directors, managers, and other personnel throughout the production process.
• The ability to take delegation and direction well: this role is the ultimate support role, committed to taking on tasks to help our producers and creative directors in bringing projects to life through every phase of the process.
• Capacity and flexibility to assist on multiple projects and meet time-sensitive deadlines simultaneously.
• Understand our operating principles and values; make them the guidelines for how you do your job (detailed below -- our performance reviews are guided by these).

About Us

Zara Creative is a woman-owned and led, full-service production house rooted in Detroit with global reach. We’ve been in business since June of 2011 and have worked with household names like Apple, Audi, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, The Detroit Pistons, Google, ESPN and more. We capture and shape powerful video content that forges lasting connections between brands and the humans they serve. We are a values-driven organization committed to working with inspiring brands focused on making our lives and the world better.

About You

This job is right for you if you are a creative soul who is passionate about using your gifts to be of service to the world. You spend time researching and educating yourself on all things production, storytelling, brand, trends, and ideas. You see the world differently. You connect the dots. You extract meaning from the mundane. You can jump in and contribute to any project. You are mindful of paying attention to detail. You work quickly and independently while communicating fluently with your team. You love the creative process; growing, evolving, improving, consistently generating new ideas, and bringing them to life. Most importantly: you must be aligned with our core values, which are the heart and soul of our business: they are how we measure our success, how we hire, and how we fire.

Our Place of Work

Zara Creative is going remote effective 8/31/2023. You are able to work from home and will be asked to meet for team meetings weekly/monthly. Cadence is to be determined as we begin to experiment with what works for us. We may be moving back into a building in late 2023 / early 2024 or beyond should we decide we need an office space for productivity, team building, and efficiency. Our intention is to remain a hybrid workplace. In-person meetings will likely be held in the Royal Oak, Ferndale, or Detroit area.

Our Mission

To build an extraordinary company that gives exceptional creators the opportunity to live fulfilling lives of purpose by using their artistic gifts to be of service in the world to remarkable brands and people focused on making our world better.Our mission in short is to create, connect and inspire.

Our Values

Our values are our guiding principles, our compass, our north star. They are our stake in the ground for how we measure ourselves as individuals and as a team. Our values ensure that all of us are rowing in the same direction, together towards achieving our shared vision of who we want to be and what we are meant to do. They are not for everyone, and that’s totally okay. We took the time and space to figure out who we are and invite you to do the same. We are firm believers in attracting what is in alignment.

Ecosystem > Egosystem

We think holistically. We are conscious individuals that make decisions from the perspective of what is best for the whole; which includes our team, our clients, and our audience. Collaboration, flexibility, and teamwork are what this value is all about.

• Get curious: is this for the greater good or is this just good for me?

Communication

Communication is our art form of expertise and we believe in practicing, honoring, and mastering this beautiful and powerful craft. We communicate with transparency, compassion, and clarity in order to create meaningful connections and understanding.

• Get curious: am I withholding information that could cause an unexpected hiccup in our project delivery? Do I need support and am I asking for it? Am I clear in what I am creating and are all parties involved on the same page?What does the viewer need to see/know/hear in order to understand, feel connected and take inspired action?

Growth and Evolution

We are humble yet progressive cycle-breakers who always welcome a challenge for the betterment of ourselves and those we impact. Continuous improvement requires us to commit to learning, unlearning, and reflecting as a part of our daily process.

• What this looks like: reading books, taking a new course, talking out a concern with a fellow team member with the intention of learning and improving. Humility is a necessary ingredient.

Details

Attention is care; we focus our attention on the details because we care. Details are what separate us from the status quo and define our standard of excellence. Attention to detail creates unmatched quality, a unique experience, and evokes emotion.

• Get curious: Am I featuring our clients in the best possible light, does anyone need anything while on set? Could an additional transition or film technique be incorporated here? Is this email clear? Did I double-check spelling, punctuation, and names and titles? Do our rundowns and interactions with clients feel like the experience at a high-end hotel (every need is met before it is even asked for).

Responsibility

Accountability and integrity are a must for building an autonomous and thriving organization. Our objective is to get shit done and have fun! To do so at thehighest level, we must have trust amongst ourselves, our team, and our clients that we’ve got this.

• Get curious: Do I need to be micromanaged? Am I evading responsibility by passing the buck to someone else? Can I take the initiative here to be accountable and autonomous? Trust cannot exist without responsibility.