ENTERTAINMENT

Entertainment Law

Sports, Film and Music

We understand both the law and the business of the entertainment industry and offer an integrated approach to sports, film, television, and music. We take the time to understand the career goals and objectives of athletes, creative artists, and use our negotiating skills to ensure their efforts are properly compensated and protected. This includes ensuring that the Intellectual Property (IP) embodied by our clients' artistic expression is properly protected.

Our innovation and skill at advising our entertainment industry clients matches the high standards they expect. We help clients work through the entire life cycle of agreements whether its film or music production, from creating and structuring full-service music companies, artist groups and licensing, production and publishing companies, to unwinding relationships when an entity has run its course. We counsel our clients in every step of a transaction.

Sports Contracts Negotiation

The major professional sporting leagues, in association with their players’ associations (unions), develop boilerplate contracts for their athletes, which are known as standard player contracts. Players can negotiate additional components to these contracts, but as written, they incorporate stipulations governing relevant state laws, arbitration procedures, league rules, and liability terms, among other elements.

We focus on creating and negotiating tailor-made contracts to fully protect our clients’ interests, whether we are working with an athlete, coach, broadcaster, analyst, journalist, retired athletes, other sports industry figures or corporate sponsors. We assist in the negotiation of the following contracts and related rights, but not limited to:

• Salary negotiations
• Player contracts
• Coaching contracts
• Endorsement contracts
• Branding campaign obligations
• Corporate sponsorship and licensing agreements and contracts
• Rights to name, likeness or voice
• Other media contracts
  

Sports Endorsement

We help professional athletes and other sports industry figures create, structure and negotiate sports endorsement contracts. With help from an experienced sports lawyer, it may be possible to avoid potential problems in the future arising from an improperly structured product endorsement agreement. Under this arrangement, the player offers his or her name, image, and often spoken or written endorsement for the promotion of a product or service. These contracts involve compensating the player as an independent contractor, not as an employee. The player gets cash considerations and must manage taxes and other obligations on their own.

Take the time now to create and structure a sports endorsement agreement that lays a foundation for a successful product endorsement relationship. If you are considering entering into a sports endorsement contract, contact our firm.

Professional Baseball

Our exceptional depth of knowledge in the baseball industry allow us to guide Major Baseball clubs or eligible professional baseball players in salary arbitration proceedings.

Arbitration

Baseball arbitration refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party submits a proposed settlement amount and, after a full hearing before an arbitrator or panel of arbitrators, the arbitrator or panel selects one of the proposed settlements as the final award. Baseball arbitration is a type of binding mediation, but unlike other types of arbitration, the arbitrator selects one of the parties' proposed settlements instead of calculating the award in another way.

Motion Picture and New Media

Transactions

We draft, negotiate, review, and counsel, deal memorandums and agreements for film – motion pictures and new media including, but not limited to:



• Producer Agreements
• Co-Production Agreements
• Talent Agreements
• Crew Agreements
• Talent and Literary Agent/Management Agreements
• Life Story Agreements
• Writer Employment Agreements
• Producer’s Representative Agreements
• Sales Agent Agreements
• Film Distribution Agreements
• Joint Venture Agreements
• Collaboration Agreements
  

Pre- and Post-Production Counsel Services

Representation for your project from pre-production through post-production. This includes negotiating and drafting all necessary agreements. Counsel on an ongoing and on-call basis through post-production.

• Above-the-line Employment Agreements for the cast, director, writer and producer
• Below-the-line Employment Agreements for crew
• SAG, DGA and WGA signatory applications
• Screenplay Option/Purchase Agreement
• Script and Copyright Clearances
• Trademark, Copyright and Title Searches
• Copyright Registration
• Location Agreements
• Preparation of insurance documents and liaison with the insurance companies