Director of Licensing

About the Role

DramaWave is building the next generation of mobile-first storytelling. We’re looking for a Director of Licensing to lead our U.S. book-to-vertical-drama acquisitions. This role drives our strategy for identifying, evaluating, and securing high-impact literary IP — across romance, NA, thrillers, fantasy, and BookTok-driven titles — and shaping the pipeline of stories that become our next global hits.

You will own the full lifecycle of IP acquisition: scouting the market, building author/agent relationships, driving deal negotiations, and partnering with development teams to ensure each title is adaptation-ready for the vertical drama format.

This role is ideal for someone who lives at the intersection of publishing + entertainment, understands story potential at a glance, and can build a scalable system for high-volume rights acquisition.

What You’ll Do

IP Discovery & Scouting

• Identify high-potential books, authors, and series across KU, indie publishing, BookTok, genre imprints, and agency catalogs.
• Build and manage a robust scouting pipeline.
• Track U.S. and global publishing trends, genre performance, and emerging authors.

Rights Acquisition & Negotiation

• Lead all negotiations for vertical drama adaptation rights (option + purchase).
• Partner with authors, agents, and rights holders to secure clear, fast, scalable deals.
• Create bundled deals, series deals, and strategic multi-title packages.
• Maintain transparent rights tracking, contract timelines, and cost forecasting.

Partnerships & Market Relations

• Build long-term relationships with literary agencies, scouts, rights managers, and author communities.
• Represent DramaWave in U.S. publishing circles, industry events, and author meetings.
• Serve as the key liaison for U.S. rights partners, scouts, and book-to-screen agencies.

Creative & Development Collaboration

• Work closely with DramaWave’s development team to evaluate story fit for vertical drama frameworks.
• Provide clear creative briefs and title recommendations that align with market-tested vertical storytelling.
• Help shape the adaptation strategy for high-priority IP.

Strategy & Leadership

• Design and scale DramaWave’s U.S. IP acquisition machine.
• Build acquisition models, pricing tiers, and quarterly target pipelines .
• Implement data-driven evaluation systems for story potential and adaptation ROI.
• Mentor and manage scouts, coordinators, and freelance readers.

What We’re Looking For

• 10+ years in publishing, book-to-film/TV, literary scouting, entertainment rights, or agency work.
• Deep familiarity with romance, NA, YA, fantasy, and commercial fiction markets.
• Strong negotiation experience in IP, rights, or talent deals.
• Excellent relationships in U.S. publishing, BookTok/romance communities, or literary agency circles.
• Ability to evaluate story potential quickly and communicate it clearly.
• Comfort working in a fast-moving, high-growth content environment.
• Entrepreneurial mindset. Able to build systems from scratch.
• Ability of full circle business development skills

Why Join DramaWave

• Be part of a global platform defining the future of mobile storytelling.
• Build the pioneer U.S. literary acquisition engine for vertical drama.
• Collaborate directly with creative leadership and influence high-impact decisions.
• Work across both publishing and entertainment industries in a new and rapidly growing medium.
• Competitive compensation, growth potential, and an opportunity to shape an entirely new content pipeline.