Variety’s 2017 Dealmakers Impact Report
Without the hard work of these execs and attorneys, the wheels of entertainment would come to a grinding halt.
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Without the hard work of these execs and attorneys, the wheels of entertainment would come to a grinding halt.
Without the hard work of these execs and attorneys, the wheels of entertainment would come to a grinding halt.
Profiles by Robert Marich
Senior VPs: AEG Global Partnerships
The live entertainment, sports and venue giant finds that technology outfits increasingly showcase their services organically via sponsorships, says Silvers. He adds that such tech-event integrations “let brands use our platform to tell their story and enhance the fan experience.” Baker says consumer brands of all kinds plug their pre-existing consumer rewards/loyalty programs into live events with such perks as ticket upgrades and enhanced food/beverages. “They are customizing based on their objectives,” Baker says. The duo crafts marketing sponsorships and other deals for 135 entities, including facilities, sports franchises, media and events, with $2 billion under contract. Recent deals include inking Netflix as content provider for entertainment complex L.A. Live and ride-share Uber globally, including for London’s The O2 arena.
Chairman, CEO: MGM
Barber is living his vision of vertical integration, building out distribution capabilities coupled with production. MGM formed a theatrical distribution joint venture with Annapurna Pictures in October and relaunched its Orion distribution label in September, resurrecting a direct avenue to domestic movie theaters. “A strategic advantage of having your own distribution is you control your own destiny,” picking dates and release patterns for movies, Barber says. Beefy in-house distribution also enables monetization of acquired content. Barber bought out partners in premium pay TV company Epix in May, arranged a $2.1 billion bank credit the same month, and continues the James Bond and Rocky film franchises. MGM will have more than 30 series on TV in 2018.
Executive VP. Business Affairs: Walt Disney Studios
Brandis believes Hollywood needs “event films” to stay competitive with booming digital entertainment and also stretch theatricals to a year-round business, not just seasonal. “You have to get people’s attention and motivate them,” she says. An example: this year the usually slow March supported live-action blockbuster “Beauty and the Beast.” Brandis handles business affairs for above-the-line talent deals for Disney movies, including Marvel, Lucasfilm and animation, and also liaises with Disney’s legitimate stage and music groups. She worked on 2019 releases “Aladdin” starring Will Smith and Tim Burton’s “Dumbo.”
Partner: Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman
Brecheen advises clients to
invest their own sweat and perhaps a little money to develop intellectual property rather than take quick money at an early
stage. “The earlier in process of creation that you take money from a third party, the more it is going to cost you in terms of rights given up,” she says. Recently, the attorney negotiated the five-year extension for Conan O’Brien’s deal with TBS, including a digital-production co-venture; John Oliver’s three-year talent and first-look production pact at HBO; and Lionsgate executive Kevin Beggs’ employment-contract extension. With Jake Bloom, she worked Jerry Bruckheimer’s TV deal at CBS.
Latham Watkins
With the cooling of a once fast-paced Chinese acquisition spree, Calabrese finds “a pivot to European and other investors who have stepped into the breach” for what he sees as “continued consolidation and strategic investment in the media industries.” He adds, “That’s not to say we don’t continue to see a number of deals coming out of China, but not at the same pace as in 2016.” In evidence of the European activity, Latham represented Netflix in its acquisition of Scottish comic book company Millarworld in August and advised completion bond firm Film Finances for its June initial public offering in London. In the team’s law practice, Calabrese handles the full media/entertainment/sports spectrum as chief of the group. Brearton specializes in strategic alliances, project financing and mergers and acquisitions. Haymer advises on entertainment and sports industries for M&A, securities and partnerships. London-based Savill covers European media. Bruington specializes in financing matters. Deutsch handles production, financing, distribution and joint ventures. Their clients include AMC Networks, Blumhouse Television, the Intl. Olympic Committee, MGM, Netflix, Chinese online giant Tencent Holdings, Univision Communications and Warner Bros.
Partner: Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo
Carlo sees opportunities for composers to retain music publishing rights in videogames, advertising, indie film/TV and foreign territories. The model is to grant limited-time exclusivity to the primary licensee, after which the composer can deal the same music rights to third parties non-exclusively. “It’s a mutually beneficial situation,” she says. Her law practice spans talent, movies, TV, film/TV music and production companies in film. She’s working for videogamer Sega’s Marza Animation Planet with its film adaptation of “Sonic the Hedgehog.” Talent clients include noted film/TV composers Rupert Gregson-Williams, Henry Jackman, Heitor Pereira and Hans Zimmer; as well as director Brenda Chapman.
Founding Partner: Chatham Law Group
Chatham’s clients produce 800 episodes in broadcast TV syndication, where new series generally suffer a high mortality rate but successes are profit gushers. He worked the September launch of “Daily Mail TV” and is longstanding general counsel for “Dr. Phil.” He says that credibility from past success, proven creative talent behind-the-camera and experienced hands around the dealmaking table avoid the “things that can kill a deal.” Other clients are Stage 29 Productions for its CBS network TV series “Bull,” and the Bud Yorkin estate.
Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips
Conner says the China-Hollywood financial relationship has stabilized, after a period of exuberance. “Going forward, we will see substantial business done by sophisticated Chinese entertainment companies seeking to partner with the key players in Hollywood,” he says. “The relationship is vital on both sides of the Pacific.” That applies to investments for the direct creation of product, including slate deals, and also to some corporate acquisitions. Conner and Yen repped China-based Perfect World Pictures for a $250 million ultimates-based loan facility in October, and Tang Media Partners’ TV slate financing for an inter-creditor agreement with additional funding in September. The duo’s clients include AT&T, Michael Eisner’s Tornante Co., China’s Huayi Bros. Media and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
ACF Investment Bank
Dey says over-the-top video streaming giants will soon take deep dives into unscripted reality programming after planting themselves in scripted TV. Because streaming platforms are multiplying, he expects that “competitive tensions” will allow reality TV producers to negotiate better deals selling programming and spur streamers to acquire unscripted production companies as in-house program suppliers. Aided by Gray, Dey played a role in multiple significant deals over the past year. Among them: repping unscripted TV producer Litton Entertainment in selling a majority stake to Hearst; and U.K.-based TV producer True North going to pan-European TV giant Sky.
![Partner, Head of Entertainment Group: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Eisman has a keen interest in fashioning Chinese-American partnerships to make film and TV content that “in, an early stage in the development process, can crack that code to make it a real collaboration. The [Chinese] government seems to be encouraging collaboration as opposed to acquisitions,” which carry big price tags. The attorney reps major studios, production companies, talent agencies, talent managers and talent, including UTA for acquisition of speakers bureau Greater Talent Network in September and its purchase stake in investment outfit AGM Securities in March. His clients include Alibaba Pictures, Aspen Comics/David Maisel, Brillstein Entertainment, Katherine Jackson and Recon Group.](https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/david-eisman.jpg "David C. Eisman")
Partner, Head of Entertainment Group: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
Eisman has a keen interest in fashioning Chinese-American partnerships to make film and TV content that “in, an early stage in the development process, can crack that code to make it a real collaboration. The [Chinese] government seems to be encouraging collaboration as opposed to acquisitions,” which carry big price tags. The attorney reps major studios, production companies, talent agencies, talent managers and talent, including UTA for acquisition of speakers bureau Greater Talent Network in September and its purchase stake in investment outfit AGM Securities in March. His clients include Alibaba Pictures, Aspen Comics/David Maisel, Brillstein Entertainment, Katherine Jackson and Recon Group.
Vice Chair; Chair, Talent Practice: Loeb & Loeb
Emanuel says the mass shift to online by restless viewers ages 15-28 makes short-form content a viable business that Hollywood is embracing. Digital media “is not just another way to view feature-length films and TV series,” he says. He expects that Hollywood studios will increasingly accumulate distribution rights, adapting successful short-form content into longer-form fare. He specializes in movie and TV with a practice covering talent, distribution, finance, production companies and high-net-worth individuals. Clients include Daniel Day-Lewis; Clive Davis for his biopic; multi-hyphenate Ryan Murphy (“American Crime Story”); Robert Rodriguez and his El Rey Network; and “Lion” producer See-Saw Films.
Partner & Co-Chair, Entertainment, Sports & Media: O’Melveny & Myers
Erramouspe sees non-entertainment giants increasingly making “their own content to deepen their relationships with the customers and prolong the user experience.” Examples are sports outfits jumping into e-sports to woo the youth demographic; stadiums and arenas; media hardware companies; and ecommerce players mounting various original-programming initiatives. He repped Libra Foundation investing in multicultural Macro Ventures in October, Top Rank for a multi-year TV boxing contract with ESPN in August, and Elliott Management selling a film library that includes 30 Relativity Media titles in April.
Partner & Co-Chair, Media, Entertainment and Technology Practice: Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
In an odd convergence, news, advertising, user-generated content and even politics are increasingly considered as entertainment online. So Hollywood finds it “very hard for its content to rise to the top,” says Fisher. “Filters and search engines are critical to the discovery function.” She adds that consumers and regulators grapple with the new world where “the lines are blurred.” Fisher advised the organizers of the 2028 L. A. Summer Olympics, Sony Pictures Television Networks buying 95% of Funimation in July, CBS buying a stake in TV producer Kapital Entertainment, and AT&T on entertainment/content matters for acquiring Time Warner.
Chairman & CEO: Red Arrow Entertainment Group
Founder and CEO: Gravitas Ventures
Munich-based Frouman bought into 21 TV companies — mostly producers — across eight countries and is broadening his approach to the U.S., amid turmoil in its cable TV channel sector. In addition to acquiring established program producers, he is more open to “partnering with creators to start either development labels or full-fledged production companies on the back of Red Arrow’s existing infrastructure and scale.” Giving Frouman confidence is that past deals worked well with startups. Frouman arranged U.S. deals acquiring a majority stake in digital distributor Gravitas Ventures in November, and partnered with producer 10Fold in October, getting an option to buy a majority stake. In May, Gallagher helped license 2,000-plus titles to streamer Pluto TV. Frouman joined Red Arrow’s parent ProSiebenSat.1 in 2004 from Saban Capital. Gallagher founded Gravitas in 2006, after working at Comcast, Warner Bros. and General Cinema Theaters.
Partner, Head of Entertainment Group: Greenberg Glusker
Galsor finds that video streamers seek different benefits from their content than traditional Hollywood, which is focused primarily on basic financial return. Streamers want content that retains their subscribers, attracts new subscribers and is a magnet for “other filmmakers that they want to work with,” he says. Galsor also expects that streamer deal templates “will evolve over time” with more flexibility because of rising competition. The attorney advises talent, production companies and financiers in film, TV, new media and music. Clients include Tom Cruise, James Cameron, David Fincher, TV outfit Beyond Entertainment, video gamer Ubisoft Entertainment and animation/FX Starburns Industries.
Partner: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Griffith wonders if the film community is too focused on simply latching on to familiar intellectual property because many movies built on well-known intellectual property seem to fall flat at the box office. “You have to execute the intellectual property in an original way,” Griffith says, citing “Wonder Woman” as an exception with IP that translated as “unique, fun and fresh.” The attorney’s clients include Media Rights Capital for properties that include the film “Baby Driver” and Netflix series “Ozark”; RatPac-Dune Entertainment; and commercial banks Bank of America, Comerica, East West Bank, J.P. Morgan, MUFG Union Bank and SunTrust.
CEO, Legendary Entertainment; Formerly Partner/Co-Chair Transactions Practice: Irell & Manella
Grode, who at press time was appointed CEO of Legendary Entertainment, believes that what has until now been a uniform movie distribution track is evolving into a “two-consumption world.” In other words, consumers can sidestep traditional segmented sequential distribution — the arc along which properties move from theaters to television — because movies now linger in the realm of subscription video on demand. “The on-demand approach to consumption has eliminated the need to buy the same title as many times as we did previously,” he says. Grode works on mergers-and-acquisitions and on financings in media and media technology. The attorney repped Dalian Wanda Group converting publicly traded debt into equity of its affiliate Legendary Pictures, and served as counsel for distributor A24’s new $100 production facility that includes diversifiction into TV. Grode also repped Matt Groening to bring his “Disenchantment” direct to series at Netflix.
COO: Starz
Hirsch helped guide the premium pay-TV outfit’s diversification to app delivery, now with more than 2 million subscribers. Creating the Starz app required technical expertise; product smarts for consumer navigation and negotiating program rights; and marketing savvy to glean insights from audience analytics and for pricing, Hirsch explains. The low $8.99 retail price positions the standalone Starz app subscription uniquely and allows it to side-steps direct competition with leading streamers. “We kept it very simple,” he says. Hirsch enlisted two new investors to expand the Starz Play Arabia OTT venture in July, and separately beefs up Spanish and kids programming for Starz’s domestic on-demand offer. Hirsch joined Starz from Time Warner Cable in mid-2015 to oversee global marketing and was named COO the following year.
CEO: Bron Studios
Producer-financier Gilbert seeks distribution deals only when his projects are fully marinated. “A focus for us is to internally develop a package and get talent involved, and then go to potential partners from a position of strength,” he says. That means a writer with a track record and other key talent. Bron provided production back-office and finance to Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res in June. It produced and financed “The Front Runner” starring Hugh Jackman; and partnered with Sony Pictures for “Roman J. Israel, Esq.,” starring Denzel Washington.
Partner and Chair of the Entertainment Department, Head of the Intellectual Property Group: Paul, Weiss
Googe believes that the entertainment industry is pushing out-of-home initiatives for live entertainment and sports, with initiatives in interactive screens and virtual reality. “Hollywood is participating actively by making its content available to these more experiential platforms,” he says. The New York-based lawyer’s practice embraces companies and talent in film, music, television, print publishing and live performances on Broadway. He represented Vice Media in receiving a $450 million private equity infusion in June and China’s Tencent Holdings for its investment in social media music developer Smule in April.
Partners: Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton
Years ago, big-budget projects would routinely launch with just two U.S. backers, but now a half dozen or more buyers across continents can converge for a co-production, says Darwell. “It’s a combination of reasons why multiple partners come together,” such as sharing to afford pricey fare, locking in content with a pre-buy or getting broad distribution rights to feed a buyer’s in-house distribution operation. Klein, Darwell and Clark’s law practice covers movies, TV, and digital, including VR. The trio’s clients include Amazon Studios, Oculus VR/Oculus Story Studios, Supermassive Games, Vevo, Vice Media, Creative Wealth Media Finance (“Tully” and “Beatriz”), Eclipse Pictures (“Winchester”), Focus Features, Fyzz Facility, and Motion Picture Capital (“Kodachrome”).
Co-Founder Partner: Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo
Video streamers want to hire Hollywood talent with simple front-loaded pay without downstream bonuses because of “a totally different set economics based up a different methodology of distribution,” says Kleinberg. Traditionally, talent get bumps when content reaches benchmarks like pay TV and foreign. He expects that eventually competition will prompt streamers to bend on bonuses. Kleinberg represents music’s Peter Cetera and Toby Keith; Jack Nicholson, a client since 1973; author J.K. Rowling, including assisting her U.K. team build out the Pottermore digital universe; director Douglas Trumbull; Korean animation company Locus/Sidus; producer Paula Wagner; and animators Glen Keane and John Kahrs.
Partner, media, entertainment & technology practice group / co-chair, private equity practice group; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
With media technology vital and cloud computing tools empowering them, Lanin says entrepreneurs can crack Hollywood as never before as the town’s giants look to snag promising technology, content and savvy executives in startups. “You see companies entering the business in unique and creative ways, and they don’t have the baggage of the way things needed to be done years ago,” he says. Lanin advised the formation of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s digital investor WndrCo in January and its NewTV initiative; Chernin Group for its April partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo; private equity Aurora Capital selling a portfolio company, and incubator FactoryMade Ventures.
Hughes Hubbard & Reed
Lefkowitz and Syrkin expect cross-border M&A activity to proliferate as creativity increasingly sprouts around the world. One example: the August sale of Scottish comic book outfit Millarworld to Netflix in August. Representing Millarworld, Lefkowitz says that the transaction straddled regulations in the U.K. and the U.S. with “a lot of late-night calls” involving participants spread across numerous time zones. Lefkowitz is an M&A lawyer and also advises senior execs at media companies on employment contracts. Clients include AMC Networks, CBS and Madison Square Garden. Syrkin focuses on technology and commercial transactions specializing in media convergence. Clients include Ernst & Young, Sony Music Entertainment and John Varvatos Enterprises.
General Counsel & Board Member: ICM Partners
Sharing information fluidly within a company keeps deals flowing, though Levy says cyber security is a growing challenge: “There are a lot of bad guys trying to hack into this data.” He says that keeping the lid on requires teamwork among tech and legal execs both in-house and outside. Levy worked deals taking a majority stake in speakers bureau Royce Carlton in October and Headline Media Management (clients Wolf Blitzer and Savannah Guthrie) in April. Levy serves as de facto head of business operations, overseeing operations, business/legal affairs and human resources, and has a hand in finance.
Partner: Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano
Hollywood exes have a new dream gig. “The plum job used to be a buyer job” at TV channels, Lezcano says. Now he finds that the top job is that of a seller of popular TV content in the proliferating world of over-the-top video. He negotiated the Apple employment contract in August for TV executive Matt Cherniss. Other employment contract clients include Channing Dungey at ABC Entertainment; Mark Pedowitz at CW network; and John Landgraf, Eric Schrier and Nick Grad at FX. He negotiated ex-Attorney General Eric Holder’s TV drama deal at CBS/Jerry Bruckheimer in September, and also reps writer-producers and Langley Productions (“Cops”).
Partner & Chair of Entertainment, Media and Sports Practice: Barnes & Thornburg
Karlov feels the biggest upside in music industry economics is nurturing “new uses, especially in the context of hardware,” since those newbies contributed nothing before. For example, some exercise equipment is now bundled with music. Karlov says the industry should embrace “embryonic platforms for which payments can be verifiably monitored and collected.” His practice covers music, TV, film, live events, licensing and tech. Clients include Michael Bolton, T Bone Burnett, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Stevie Wonder, the Grateful Dead catalog, NFLNetwork, and fitness brands Peloton and Beachbody.
COO: Big Machine Label Group
Music labels now take deep dives in newly available consumer data from websites, social media, marketing partnerships and streamers. This, says Kautz, provides a “complex weave of a lot of touchpoints.” One finding is that audience tastes are more diverse than previously thought. Digital exposure also lifts catalog music as streamers present music by themes such as various moods. “All of a sudden there’s a renewed value in our artists’ body of work,” he says. Nashville-based Kautz, who joined Big Machine at its founding in 2005, handles business development, operations and finances. Label artists include Taylor Swift, Florida Georgia Line, Thomas Rhett and Reba McEntire.
Loeb & Loeb
Mayerson and Williams rep Annapurna Pictures, which in October unveiled a U.S. theatrical joint venture with MGM, and they also handle startup distributor Aviron Pictures. “There are some positive lights shining through the darkness,” says Mayerson. “I think that the business will all settle out over time” though perhaps with changes in its business model. The lawyer duo, whose practice centers on Hollywood finance and distribution, advised Annapurna in its September recapitalization and $350 million credit facility; and Vine Alternative Investments acquiring controlling interest in Village Roadshow Entertainment in April.
Fox Rothschild
Bad news about celebrities and entertainment properties travels fast in social media “whether the story is true or fake news,” Miller says, so there’s more arm-wrestling these days over morals clauses, penalties for misconduct and usage of name/likeness. Miller handled fast-rising comic Taylor Tomlinson for her semi-autobiographical comedy at ABC Television and Terrence J’s overall deal at MTV Networks. Miller reps Angela Bassett, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, singer-songwriter Jonathan Cain, TV showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, Reginald Hudlin, T.D. Jakes, Teyonah Parris and Courtney B. Vance.
Partner: Greenberg Glusker
While Hollywood is entranced by booming digital streaming, Moore predicts that the next big thing will be location-based virtual reality. In three years, he expects that walk-through VR will click because “it’s such an overwhelming immersive experience,” although he’s not as bullish on in-home VR. The attorney repped VOD distributor Gravitas Ventures in its sale, Germany’s Tele Muenchen Group for its part in a film distributors’ fund, and the $15 million Bert Marcus Film Fund. He also handled movies involving Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman” and “Silence”) and Oliver Stone (“Snowden”).
Managing Partner & President: Stagwell Group
Penn is piecing together what he calls the first digital marketing services holding company, and it’s connected to Hollywood. That means “understanding how to combine today’s digital world with great creativity.” In September, Stagwell took a majority stake in the entertainment-marketing division of CAA and in July acquired Nielsen’s TV pilot testing operation, its fourth purchase from Nielsen. Its private equity incubator program, with former Microsoft honcho Steve Ballmer a key investor, bought a minority stake in March in Los Angeles-based digital agency Wolfgang.
Partner: Sidley Austin
Petretti cautions that financiers across Hollywood need to look under the hood when offered high-octane returns because there are usually attendant high risks if a borrower hits a rough patch. Layers of financings mean that the money providers need to “completely understand the capital structure in a complex organization,” he says. For example, transactions can bundle senior debt, junior debt, and mezzanine financing, and also put limits on collateral pledged. The lawyer represents banks, funds and borrowers, mostly for debt transactions, in film, music, TV media, TV programming, and digital media. Petretti’s clients include J.P. Morgan and City National Bank.
Shareholder & co-chair, Atlanta entertainment & media practice; Greenberg Traurig
Rosen arm-wrestles with music labels to raise what his recording artists feel are unjustifiably low royalties passing through labels from music streaming, particularly for older catalog tunes. He argues that “there are not a lot of costs associated with streaming,” yet older contracts assumed expenses from physical CDs. He aims to raise catalog rates to greater parity with current tunes, noting that labels sometimes prefer indirect ways to raise pay to avoid clear precedents. Rosen helped craft deals for liquor brands originated by Florida Georgia Line and Kenny Chesney. Other clients include Lady Antebellum, Old Dominion and Miranda Lambert.
Senior VP & Associate General Counsel: IMG
Hollywood talent no longer tailors content for specific buyers, given the proliferation of media outlets, says Sanhueza. Content creators are “not coming to the table anymore with a fixed idea of where their content needs to go.” Given this overflow, content creators as sellers can push for greater creative freedom and control. This year, she helped establish finance/sales/advisory Endeavor Content and now oversees its legal team; she launched Michael Moore’s Broadway debut “The Terms of My Surrender”; worked Steve Harvey’s TV talk show “Steve”; and revamped IMG’s fashion portfolio.
Partner: Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler & Feldman
In one fallout from giant video streamers entering the content business, Lichter expects that, out of necessity, traditional indie movie companies will produce more in-house. Competition pushes the “small and medium-size companies to finance more of their own films rather than simply looking to acquire them,” she says. “And this is good for talent.” She adds that indie companies may eventually pursue mergers to achieve larger size to better compete. The lawyer reps talent including directors Susanne Bier (“Bird Box”), Niki Caro (live-action “Mulan”) and Marc Forster (“Christopher Robin”) and, writers Terry Rossio (“Godzilla v. King Kong”) and Linda Woolverton.
Executive VP, Worldwide Distribution-Television: Sony Pictures Entertainmet
Because linear TV broadcast and basic cable networks are creating their own streaming platforms, Littmann expects that they’ll also nail down on-demand rights in program buys. Since traditional TV can now monetize streaming in-house, “they will be able to pay up in the original deals so they don’t have to share with SVOD players,” he says. In March, Littmann negotiated a noteworthy deal licensing current and some library films for a worldwide window with Netflix. He also worked complex worldwide TV series deals with Netflix and Amazon, and Amazon for feature films globally.
Head of Entertainment Industries Group and West Region, Corporate Client Banking: J.P. Morgan
Shaheen finds that debt financiers and equity investors are beating a path to Hollywood. “The strength in capital markets and M&A activity have helped our clients achieve their strategic objectives,” he says. But there are pockets of concern, such as softness in feature film performance, he adds. Shaheen helms a group that has led a hefty $15.3 billion in syndicated debt transactions since January 2015. Among recent client financings are Annapurna Productions for $350 million in August, MGM for $1.85 billion in May and music publisher Concord for $500 million.
President & COO: Skydance Media
With so many distribution pipelines available, more thought must to into selecting the right path for original content, says Sisgold. “It could be a five-minute short on OTT, a 10-episode series where we build a whole new world with one of our TV partners or a 90-minute film that goes through our distribution system with Paramount.” Sisgold worked on the four-year Paramount production/distribution deal in August, launch of Skydance’s Animation & Family Entertainment unit in March and ramping up TV programs spawning six primetime TV series so far.
Partner, Entertainment Group: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
With financing from rights pre-sales getting tougher, Spicer finds that producers of indie movie and TV shows push harder on other fronts. This includes milking tax credits, co-productions, licensed merchandising, product placement, and more foundation equity investment. “It’s not necessary groundbreaking but these are not in the normal checkboxes you would traditionally see for indie projects,” Spicer says. His practice covers the money side of movies, including Chinese companies in cross-border transactions. He repped East West Bank in China’s big Perfect Universe film-slate financing at Universal Pictures in October.
Founder & Managing Partner: Tang Media Partners
Tang sees the media technology and content industries as co-dependent, though they sometimes clash. “Content is lost without curated technology to populate it with the right audience,” he says. Besides programming, Tang also quietly pursues tech initiatives, such as developing software to reduce marketing spending for content through more precise audience targeting. In August, Tang acquired U.S. theatrical distrib Open Road Films (Oscar winner “Spotlight”) and rebranded itself as Global Road Entertainment — a name that also reflects its earlier acquisition, IM Global. Veteran Hollywood exec Rob Friedman is CEO of GRE and reports to Tang of parent Tang Media.
Co-Founder, Century City Office; Leader, Media/Entertainment Group: Sidley Austin
Hollywood’s major studios usually succeed in hedging risks, but Thompson says their film-slate co-financings that reduce capital needs are in flux and theatrical financial performance has become turbulent. “It is a massively interesting time right now among the major studio players,” he says. In the next two years, Thompson expects some acquisitions or mergers among the majors. The lawyer handles M&A, joint ventures, finance and content transactions in media. He repped W.K. Kellogg Foundation for its investment in Charles King’s multicultural Macro Entertainment in July and Philadelphia-based private equity Alliance Holdings acquiring a portfolio of media/entertainment assets in January.
Partner & Co-Head, Entertainment, Sports and Media Practice: O’Melveny & Myers
Because of a crowded TV/film landscape, Tobey sees Hollywood pursuing breakthrough content as a necessity to turn heads. Increasingly selective consumers engage in “much more purposeful viewing,” he notes. An impact is that financiers and companies, which are a big part of Tobey’s law practice, stretch for top-tier talent and welcome outside investment to augment program budgets. Tobey repped Alibaba for China rights for the Pac-12 U.S. collegiate conference in October, Lionsgate selling its Epix stake in April, and STX Motion Pictures for domestic theatrical distribution of EuropaCorp movies in January. Other clients include Lightspeed Venture Partners and VR startup The Void.
Chief Financial Officer: Netflix
While the video streaming business gallops along, Wells explains that Netflix is careful to raise consumer prices only when its content offer in a given territory becomes really compelling. “Many investors have sort of criticized us in the past for being underpriced,” he said in a recent earnings call. Subscription hikes come “slowly and steadily over time,” he added. Wells has orchestrated fund raisings of $1.6 billion in senior notes in October, a $750 million bank revolver in September and $1.4 billion in senior notes in April. That buttressed Netflix’s program budget, which will climb to $8 billion in 2018, versus $5 billion in 2016.
President & CEO: Discovery Communications
CEO: Scripps Networks Interactive
The two cable giants both own reality-based content that they repurpose for today’s multiplatform world. Discovery’s pending $14.6 billion acquisition of Scripps would form a reality behemoth. Zaslav told an investors call that the merged company can “pivot that content on to any platform, whether skinny bundles, direct-to-consumer or the 7 billion screens in mobile.” Lowe notes that the HGTV Dream Home contest generated more than 130 million entries, enabling “direct communication with consumers where we can go deeper on data, find out viewing patterns, behavior patterns and, most importantly, buying patterns.”
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VP: J.P. Morgan Entertainment Industries Group
Carvajal helps raise money for film, TV and music companies mostly involving debt; advises on overall capital structures; and rolls up his sleeves for M&A transactions, including negotiations and valuations. He worked on music publisher Concord Music’s $500 million October financing for an acquisition, Arnon Milchan’s Regency Entertainment for a $625 million financing in June, MGM’s $1.85 billion financing to help acquire Epix in May, and Lionsgate to raise capital for its Starz acquisition in December 2016.
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Associates: Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano
The duo work as lead production counsels on multiple unscripted projects, handling the arc from development to production to delivery. Reality TV means also juggling free speech, defamation and privacy issues. Coleman handles Big Fish Entertainment for A&E’s police ride-along “Live PD” that merited a 300-hour commitment midway through its first season. Klingler reps Brian Graden Media for its Oxygen TV series “The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway.” Their clients include Apple, Love Productions, NFL, STX Entertainment, Tremendous! Entertainment and Vin di Bona Productions.
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Associate, Entertainment Law Group: Fox Rothschild
Grea advises celebrities and production companies on placing their brands across TV, film and digital platforms. She also handles traditional Hollywood work-related contracts. Grea helped on deals involving Chris “Ludacris” Bridges as host and executive producer for YouTube Red’s “Best Cover Ever” series; a star in Netflix big-budget film “The Irishman”; and Justin Prentice for Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why” that involved a SAG-AFTRA nudity rider. She also reps Angela Lewis (“Snowfall”).
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VP, Strategy & Operations: Endeavor
Fleitell works on executing business acquisitions and on post-deal integration. She was involved with Endeavor’s IMG College unit merger with a rival in October, led the acquisition of foreign entertainment sales agency Bloom, helped design the business structure for the new Endeavor Content business unit, and aided in the closing of a $4 million partnership with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority of Atlantic City.
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Associate: Cowan, DaBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard
Jaffe provides legal and business advisory services in digital, entertainment, and music — including early-stage fundraising, exit transactions, joint ventures, tax credits for films and identifying strategies for brands. He assisted Chinese investor Meridian Entertainment in a co-financing with Blumhouse Productions in April. Jaffe handles ongoing work for mobile gamer Pocket Gems in licensing music; podcaster At Will Radio for acquiring/producing content; and e-sports outfit FaZe Clan in signing players and for endorsements/sponsorships.
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Senior VP, Strategy and Business Development: Participant Media
Lim helps identify promising emerging media and implements new initiatives. He worked on expansion into TV production, which yielded Ava DuVernay’s “Central Park Five” for Netflix, and digital media, which generated VR experience “Melting Ice.” He was involved in the acquisition a year ago of Rainn Wilson’s SoulPancake and monitors a 2015 investment in Amblin Partners.
