What are the responsibilities and job description for the Producer/Associate Producer position at The Following Films?
Company description
The Following Films is a Phoenix-based independent production company founded by writer-director Jared Swezey, focused on socially grounded, performance-driven cinema with franchise-level ambition. The company’s work is defined by emotional realism, naturalistic intensity, and original storytelling that moves between raw human drama and larger-scale cinematic vision. Whether intimate or elevated, every project is built around character, a touch of edge, and a belief that realism and commercial ambition do not have to be at odds.
Only Love is our debut feature: a $3M full union prestige drama set on the streets of Phoenix, targeting Venice 2027 as its world premiere. The film follows two people experiencing homelessness through a raw, unflinching love story shaped by direct lived experience and built to confront the brutality of life on the margins without losing sight of tenderness, faith, and emotional truth. It is a project designed to live at the intersection of social realism and cinematic power: intimate, devastating, and deeply human, with clear festival positioning and meaningful commercial upside through three distinct audience coalitions, the Arizona tax incentive, and an active capital raise targeting an October 2026 close.
Role description
We are looking for a part-time Producer to work directly alongside the lead producer in support of two priorities: financing and packaging. This is a position that would last 4 -6 months, focused entirely on the pre-production and capital raise phase. The right candidate will have the opportunity to extend into principal photography based on fit and mutual interest.
This is not a production management role. It is a creative and strategic role for someone whose network, expertise, and instincts can accelerate a project that is already in motion. The film has a complete financial model, waterfall structure, executive summary, and investor deck. The materials are in place. What we need is someone who can open doors, frame the opportunity credibly, and help move the project from strong package to financed film.
Day-to-day focus
- Support the lead producer in investor outreach, relationship management, and capital raise communications
- Leverage personal network to support packaging efforts: key creative attachments including DP and executive producer.
- Contribute expertise across development and packaging where relevant and useful
- Participate in strategic and creative conversations as a genuine collaborator, not an executor
What this opportunity offers
A Producer or Associate Producer credit on a full union prestige feature targeting major international festival competition and a domestic awards campaign (depending on experience). This is a project with the structure, materials, and creative ambition to travel — and the right person will be attached to it when it does.
Compensation is negotiated and commensurate with experience. Backend participation is available and structured within the waterfall. This engagement is designed as a 6-month commitment covering the financing and packaging phase, with a clear path to extend through principal photography for the right fit.
Qualifications
Required
- Existing relationships in the independent film industry — with investors, distributors, sales agents, agencies, or key creative talent — that can be activated immediately in service of this project
- At least one producing credit on a feature film that has screened at a recognized festival or received distribution
- Strong written and verbal communication — you will represent this project to investors and industry professionals
- Self-directed, strategic, and comfortable operating without a playbook
Preferred
- Experience with prestige independent drama — social realism, festival-first distribution, or awards-adjacent campaigns
- Familiarity with equity financing structures, investor waterfalls, and indie film capital raises
- Existing relationships with entertainment attorneys, sales agents, or acquisition executives at A24, Neon, Mubi, or comparable companies
Who we are looking for
Someone motivated by the credit and the work in equal measure. The Associate Producer who will thrive here is hungry — they have enough experience to know what a project like Only Love can do for a career, and enough relationships to make a real difference in the next six months. They are not looking for something to put on a resume. They are looking for a film worth being attached to.
- We are especially interested in someone who understands the value of material that is both socially urgent and cinematically undeniable — someone who can recognize when a raw, emotionally uncompromising film has the potential to break through. If you have been in rooms with the people we need to reach, and you believe in the kind of cinema Only Love represents, we want to hear from you.