Our team thrives at the intersections of business, law, and creativity – and perhaps no more so than with our entertainment law clients. Creativity, and particularly, a creative business, requires collaboration, teamwork, passion, and, when needed, a few reality checks.
Our secret sauce?
Our lawyers are creatives. And entrepreneurs. While we are a firm with substantial experience and industry-leading legal expertise, we pride ourselves upon the fact that our entertainment lawyers have each, in some significant way, walked in their client’s shoes. We have writers and filmmakers; musicians and game designers; and we have all launched businesses outside of the legal field, from the ground up.
Why does it matter?
The work our clients need is often a thorny combination of legal issues and creative industry norms and knowledge. At times, the law is simple, but the business context is nuanced, or even a minefield. Or, the simple business need may, however unfortunate, present a cutting-edge legal challenge that requires nuanced, experienced, sophisticated navigation. We believe that giving stripped-down legal advice that leaves a client only with multiple choices and no idea how to best choose, is a disservice to the client. Our approach is this: that solving client problems requires an understanding of the problems, from the client’s perspective.
In the arts and entertainment fields, we represent:
- Recording artists
- Print, film, television, web authors
- Filmmakers (writers, directors, producers, investors)
- Publishers
- Record companies
- Game and toy companies
- Digital game companies
- Online services
- Creative company and project financings
A broad spectrum of needs
Our entertainment work covers a broad (and seemingly limitless) spectrum of needs for the creatively driven company. What kind of entity do you want or need to be? How will you structure your joint ownership? What is your intellectual property (trademark, copyright, licensing), and how can you protect and defend it?
How can you respond to someone who tells you to simply sign a contract, that it’s “industry standard?” What are the key agreements you’ll need as the snowball of collaboration builds? How will you enforce your rights against others, and defend your company if needed? What are the options for commercially monetizing your idea or products? All these, and hundreds more, followed by these key questions, no matter where you are in the business “circle of life:” how is all this affordable, how can it be efficient, and how should the work be prioritized?
Ready to get started?
Contact us for an initial consultation to discuss your projects. We look forward to having our team become part of yours.