Many law students decide to focus on entertainment law as a practice area while in law school for all the wrong reasons. In this article, we dispel misconceptions that students have of hobnobbing with stars and interfacing with power players, and outline the day-to-day responsibilities of some of the most influential entertainment practitioners in the industry. We hope to shed light on the field itself and by doing so assist law students in navigating their careers.
"Lights. Camera. Action!" For the past century, those three words have conveyed all the excitement and glamour of the entertainment industry. Whether it's television, film, music, radio, or even the internet, entertainment today is a business that is central to the lives of most Americans and, more importantly, to the U.S. economy. While musicians, actors, directors, and others are its best-known representatives, the entertainment industry employs even more people behind the scenes as it does front and center—and the entertainment lawyer is a key player in putting projects together.
To those on the sidelines, including attorneys who are not involved with this area of practice, the image of entertainment law is one of hobnobbing with high-profile celebrity clients, often with the attendant rewards of huge fortunes, lavish parties, and outsize fame. While an entertainment lawyer's clients can indeed include the rich and famous, and, for some, there are invitations to award shows, post-production parties, and the Grammys, most will tell you, "Perception is not reality." In fact, the contact between most entertainment lawyers and their celebrity clients is not as frequent as assumed. More often than not, an entertainment lawyer's interaction with his or her celebrity client is generally limited, since communication about a client's affairs is generally handled by the client's business manager.
According to a recent study conducted by the American Bar Association (ABA), there were just over a million licensed attorneys in the United States in 2004.1 While statistics do not reveal what percentage of this number is specifically involved with entertainment and sports law, for attorneys practicing in this seemingly alluring industry that covers a wide range of entertainment media—from film, television, and radio to multimedia, publishing, and the visual arts—the job is much the same as a counterpart practicing in any other area. At the end of the day, notwithstanding an entertainment lawyer's area of expertise—copyright, trademark, contract law, labor law, and tax law—the goal is to negotiate the best contract for one's client in order to ensure their success.
Tracy Burnett-Brogdon is a senior attorney in the Burbank, California office of Turner Entertainment Group. Burnett-Brogdon began her career at a non-entertainment California-based law firm, and during stints at Fox Broadcasting Company, Warner Brothers Television Productions, and VH1 Networks, she honed her skills in negotiating and drafting production-related agreements for broadcast and cable television. Today, she handles the legal work for TBS and TNT original programming, spending a good portion of her time drafting deals for all stages of production, including development, production, licensing, and distribution.
Similarly, Michael Lanzillotta and Julie Yoo, both attorneys at MTV Networks, work closely with network executives to negotiate and draft contracts for programming, including award shows, television series, and licensed limited film runs.
Lanzillotta, a vice president and senior counsel at VH1, prepares drafts pertaining to developing production, producer, writer, and on-air talent agreements. When Viacom merged with CBS, he represented Country Music Television (CMT) for a period of time, and later in his career, represented Logo, MTV's new channel targeting the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities, in order to assist in Logo's launch. At VH1, he also negotiates agreements for on-air talent, where the goal is to brand the artist as VH1 talent, while attempting to find a delicate balance between the client's needs and that of the network.
At Spike TV, the MTV Networks offshoot catering to a mostly male audience, vice president Julie Yoo, who formerly practiced at a New York City firm before making the switch in-house, devotes her core energies to negotiating and drafting production and programming acquisition deals. She is also responsible for providing business and legal advice for Spike's award shows and on-air promotion spots.
In an environment where much of what is done is dependent on the MTV Networks' current and pending projects, Lanzillotta and Yoo work in tandem with the networks' creative community—producers, development executives, and behind-the-scenes staff—to advise and counsel them.
Denis E. Kellman, a former BMG Music (BMG) executive, is principal at the Law Offices of Denis E. Kellman. He is also president of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association, Inc. (BESLA), an 800-member international organization of lawyers and other entertainment and sports industry executives that works in support of a more diversified, expert, and informed group of entertainment and sports industry professionals. A sole practitioner, Kellman's New York-based firm provides legal services and management consulting in entertainment matters, including audio book and music matters. The services that he offers run the gamut from the development of business plans to agreements for the distribution of audio books and music (via the internet and otherwise), and cover recording agreements and intellectual property (copyrights and trademarks) matters. In addition to addressing the legal issues confronting his clients, Kellman also manages their business affairs with regard to marketing, promotion, advertising, and touring. Kellman's practice is a "soup-to-nuts" operation, which, he states, "goes from finding the artist, negotiating a contract, making sure that the creative aspect of the deal is captured, then trying to maximize the return on the investment by getting as many dollars as you can from the sale of the product."
Television producer Sean A. Joell Johnson, who sits on the board of BESLA, is a former entertainment lawyer and vice president at MTV Music Television, where he structured, negotiated, and drafted agreements, including talent, executive producer, and programming acquisition for the Music Development and News and Documentaries departments. He recalls that during his tenure at MTV, his responsibilities could run the gamut from making revisions to a television show contract, to working with a producer of a reality show on how to handle a new writer deal, to being called down to the set of a shoot to handle a legal concern. According to Johnson, these varying responsibilities are typical when practicing in-house law, because of the quantity of programming in various stages of production at any given time that requires legal assessment and follow-through.
Helen Richardson, counsel to Zane Management Inc., a Philadelphia-based firm specializing in marketing and managing performers and personalities in entertainment, sports, media, and the arts, began her full-time entertainment law practice a little over three years ago. A former corporate counsel and professional musician, Richardson's client base is comprised of celebrities, including musicians, songwriters, major-market television news personalities, authors, several non-profit arts organizations, record labels, and music publishing enterprises. While her main expertise is in music-related concerns, she also handles and lectures extensively on entertainment content and intellectual property applications relating to the internet. Her background in corporate work comes in extremely handy when representing institutional clients, since she believes that "any good entertainment lawyer is just a good business lawyer who has a particular understanding of what her clients do. The outside world perceives it to be a glamorous business, but the contracts are anything but glamorous, at 75 pages or so for a basic record deal."
Intellectual property lawyer Sherri Blount is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Morrison & Foerster, with a practice that provides branding and trademark services to major corporations within the entertainment and telecommunications industries. She also represents a number of television producers and film actors. Blount, who developed her practice skills while serving as in-house counsel to Public Broadcasting Service and at a boutique entertainment firm, says, "I assist people in the entertainment space in strengthening and protecting their brands, names, and images—the things they are known for, their intellectual property. Without their intellectual property, their value is diminished."
Channing Johnson is a founding partner of the Los Angeles offices of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, one of the few large firms that provide legal services to the entertainment industry. In his practice, Johnson focuses on mergers and acquisitions, as well as corporate finance. He concentrates in the media and entertainment areas, and represents companies and high-profile talent in major transactions. Johnson believes that everyone involved in this practice needs to find his or her niche in order to excel as a practitioner.
"If you want to practice in the entertainment arena, and be known for your excellence, you must choose to be a transactional lawyer, a litigator, or a specialist in an area such as labor, guild, or tax."
Entertainment lawyer C. Anthony "Tony" Mulrain, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Loeb & Loeb, a national multi-service firm, primarily represents high-profile talent in the television, film, and music industries. His job includes negotiating agreements for motion picture and television actors, writers, producers, and directors; recording and production contracts; and endorsement arrangements. He also provides legal advice in connection with commercial, corporate, and litigation matters. Mulrain credits his experience at large general practice law firms like Greenberg Traurig—his former employer—and Loeb & Loeb, for affording him the opportunity to first hone his legal skills and then focus on the entertainment industry. With their in-house entertainment boutiques, Mulrain says that big firms are an ideal training ground for specialization. While Mulrain has always had his eye on a career in the industry, the advice he received years ago is what he shares today with those interested in entertainment law: "It is ill-advised to start your legal career as an entertainment lawyer," he states. "Instead, you would probably serve yourself better doing something more general in order to develop a better skill set so that when you focus on the entertainment business, you have something to draw from."
Most entertainment attorneys practice in New York and Los Angeles, hubs of the industry. However, a select number of experienced entertainment attorneys have built national reputations and expertise from other parts of the country. Kenneth J. Abdo is one of those lawyers. He enjoys a nationally recognized practice centered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has represented major entertainers and artists, primarily in the music industry, for more than two decades. A senior partner and founder of the entertainment practice at the law firm of Abdo, Abdo, Broady & Satorius PA, he is the first Midwesterner to chair the American Bar Association's Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries. The forum, boasting about 5,000 members, fosters education and excellence in the practice of entertainment and sports law. Describing himself as a "former part-time professional-turned-hobby musician," Abdo decided to merge his vocation with his avocation when he realized that he "probably didn't possess either the vocation or the skills to make it as a pro." Today, he is a successful full-time entertainment transactional attorney whose practice focuses on music and, even more specifically, artist advocacy, which includes reviewing and negotiating contracts of all types, such as recording contracts, and publishing and licensing agreements.
The business of sports law is often aligned with entertainment law. Charles M. Greenberg is a general business lawyer who heads the sports practice at Pepper Hamilton, a large general practice firm. The firm's sports and entertainment law practice represents buyers, sellers, and operators of sports franchises in business and marketing matters. Greenberg has negotiated the purchase of several major league franchises during his career. According to Greenberg, "The business of sports has morphed into being very much an entertainment-related type of endeavor. Many issues that the firm deals with in representing sports franchises and other constituents within the sports industry have very meaningful entertainment-related elements to them. The firm's work crosses a wide spectrum of specialties. The common thread within the sports industry is that ultimately, they all relate to the business of putting out an entertainment product for the fans. That includes marketing players and merchandise, just like any other industry that is entertainment-oriented."
Protecting the interests and confidentiality of sports personalities who are consistently in the public eye is key. Ebiho T. Ahonkai, a former basketball player herself who is now an associate and sports agent at Pepper Hamilton, has an unusual role representing players both as an agent and in a legal capacity. (Pepper has another attorney and sports agent on board, William Phillips, based in its Detroit office.) Ahonkai's experience as an athlete gives her particular insight into her dual roles. While she is charged with securing marketing, endorsement, and special appearance contracts for her clients, she also advises and counsels them on legal matters. "I think it's valuable for a client to have a gateway through someone like Ms. Ahonkai, who can provide access to a group of lawyers with varying specialties to address whatever the athlete's needs may be," says partner Joseph J. Serritella, who concentrates on copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrets, unfair competition, defamation law, free speech, and other intellectual property issues. "The interface between the other business professionals who represent the client and the attorney is crucial," says Serritalla. "Entertainment law should not be regarded as a practice unto itself, because the high-profile sports-industry clients we represent have all the needs of any other high net worth or popularly recognized individual who has concerns about exposure and privacy."
For attorneys who seek a career on the sports side of entertainment law, Greenberg offers the following: "While getting a job in this industry does require a certain amount of luck, it is very important to be prepared. Know both the law and the business of sports equally well. Be diligent; build up your substantive legal knowledge; get to know the industry inside out so that when an opportunity comes your way, you're ready for the challenge."
Not surprisingly, many of these entertainment practitioners shared a similar sentiment—because the entertainment industry's products and services are often tangible, seeing the finished work to which they contributed brings a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Many expressed having a passion for the art form in which they work—to be able to practice their craft in a creative, comfortable environment is the perfect merging of their passion with their legal and business acumen. It is, as some say, "The best of both worlds."
Donna Dick is a freelance writer based in Montclair, NJ.
For more information on the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association (BESLA), visit www.besla.org.
For more information on the American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries, visit www.abanet.org/forums/entsports/home.html.
NOTE
1. See "Lawyer Demographics," American Bar Association (ABA Market Research Department) at http://www.abanet.org/marketresearch/lawyerdem2004.pdf.
From the November/December 2005 issue of Diversity & The Bar®