Co-Founder

We are looking
for one person.

Not a hire. Not a consultant. A genuine partner — someone who would have built this themselves if they'd thought of it first.

thisisheld.io — Boston, Massachusetts
What Held Is

A film platform built for audiences the industry stopped serving.

The infrastructure that once moved character-driven film to adult audiences has broken down. Streaming didn't replace it. The mid-budget adult drama has been pushed off studio slates. The single-asset indie model is failing investors and filmmakers alike.

And yet the audience is still here. Financially capable, subscription-committed, and consistently underserved.

Held is a curatorial film company built around defined audiences, consistent point of view, and infrastructure that compounds instead of resetting with every release. The first slate is women 35–55. Long Middle Productions is the founding creative imprint. The thesis is already proven in two completed scripts with more in development.

i.
The work doesn't perform its values. It embodies them.
ii.
We build for audiences, not demographics.
iii.
Specificity is the strategy.
iv.
The community is not just an audience for the work. It is how the work gets smarter.
v.
The model compounds not only value, but belonging.
vi.
Infrastructure exists to protect the work.
What We're Looking For

Someone who understands both the creative world and the business of building something durable inside it.

Producing and packaging experience
You know how to take a slate from concept to screen. You understand attachments, co-productions, financing structures, and the difference between a project that's interesting and one that's actually moveable. You've done this before.
Distributor and financier relationships
You have real relationships in the independent film financing and distribution ecosystem. Not aspirational connections — people who will take your call and who respect your judgment.
Alignment with the thesis
You believe in character-driven adult drama. You believe the audience is real and underserved. You find the infrastructure argument compelling rather than abstract. This isn't a job to you — it's a direction you were already moving.
Operational depth
You can help build the company — not just the films. Entity formation, deal structures, investor relationships, team building over time. You understand what it takes to run something lean and serious.
Taste and curatorial instinct
You can read a script and know whether it belongs. You have a point of view about what makes a film matter and what makes an audience trust a company over time. Your aesthetic judgment is specific, not generic.
Partnership orientation
You want to build something together, not execute someone else's vision. You bring your own thinking. You push back when it matters. You are looking for a genuine creative and business partner, not a founder to work for.
The right person will feel the alignment before they finish reading this page. That recognition is part of how we'll know.
What We're Not Looking For

Being honest about what doesn't fit protects both sides.

This is not the right opportunity for everyone. Knowing that clearly is a form of respect.

—
Someone primarily oriented toward television or streaming series. Held is a feature film company by design and intention.
—
Someone looking for a producing credit on a single project. This is a company-building commitment, not a project engagement.
—
Someone whose creative instincts run toward broad, high-concept, or platform-driven content. The whole thesis runs the other direction.
—
Someone who needs a large salary from day one. The proof round is lean. This is an equity partnership with modest early cash compensation, contingent on the raise closing.
—
Someone who finds the audience thesis limiting rather than clarifying. The specificity is the point. It is not a constraint to work around.
—
Someone rooted exclusively in the LA ecosystem who has no interest in building something East Coast-centered. LA experience is an asset. LA-only orientation is not a fit.
The Structure

This is a founding partnership, not a hire.

The right person comes in as a co-founder with meaningful equity. The specific terms are a conversation — not a posted number — because they depend on what each person brings and when they come in.

What won't change: this is a partnership built on genuine shared ownership of the company and the work. Not a consultant arrangement. Not a producer-for-hire structure. A real co-founding relationship with everything that implies about commitment, decision-making, and shared stake in what this becomes.

Structure
Co-founder equity partnership. Terms determined by conversation and timing.
Cash compensation
Contingent on the close of the proof round. Once funded, modest during the 18-month proof period and structured to scale as the company grows. Lean by design and dependent on fundraising.
Location
LA experience is an asset. The right person is open to building bi-coastal with genuine roots in and commitment to the East Coast ecosystem, culture, and model.
Stage
Pre-raise, proof round. Held is actively raising its initial $750K–$1M. The right co-founder joins in this phase and helps shape what the company becomes.
Legal
Formal equity terms, vesting, and agreements structured through entertainment and corporate counsel upon close of the proof round. Everything done properly from the beginning — once the raise makes it possible.
From the Founder

I have been a storyteller my whole life. I went to film school because that was always where I was heading. Then the technology industry found me, and I spent 30 years learning how audiences form, how value compounds, how infrastructure either enables or kills the work it was built to support.

I came back to film with all of that. And I came back to find an industry whose infrastructure had collapsed — and an audience that hadn't gone anywhere.

Held is my response to that. It is the largest thing I have ever tried to build. And I know it needs two people at the center of it.

I am looking for someone who understands the producing and financing side of independent film in a way I don't — someone with real relationships, real packaging experience, and real operational depth. But more than the skills, I am looking for someone who finds this model genuinely compelling. Who believes the audience is real. Who wants to build something that lasts.

The right person will feel the fit before we've finished the first conversation. I'm looking forward to finding them.

Tanya Thompson
Founder, Held / Long Middle Productions
Get in Touch

If this sounds like you, we'd like to hear from you.

There's no formal application process. Tell us who you are, what you've built, and why Held is interesting to you. That's enough to start a conversation.

We will respond to every serious inquiry. We are looking for one person and we intend to find them.