Daniel H. Black

Chair, West Coast Entertainment & Media Practice

Greenberg Traurig

Crafting Microsoft deals for original programs on Xbox, Black says he’s in uncharted territory where “you are racing to create (new) models” while mindful that Hollywood labor guilds are beginning to impose their own rules for their talent. A key early assumption for dealmaking is whether content is expected to run on additional platforms, which drives spending for broader rights. Black’s other clients include the Broadcast Film Critics Assn. (BFCA), Boneyard Entertainment China, Kathie Lee Gifford and Cesar Millan.

David Bonderman

Founding partner

TPG Capital

Raising its Creative Artists Agency stake reportedly to 53%, from 35% four years ago, TPG Capital didn’t follow the normal private equity playbook of selling in three-to-five years. TPG declined to discuss the endgame for its talent-agency investment, though business building is clearly its current agenda. Managing $66 billion, TPG also invested in Robert Simonds’ startup STX Entertainment, Evolution Media Capital, Univision and Fender Musical Instruments. Bonderman is a Wall Street giant who commissioned Paul McCartney for his private 70th birthday concert.

Paul Brett

Co-founder, executive producer

Prescience Film Finance

In forecasting revenue for a single movie, London-based film/TV financier Brett used to predict either big money or “zero for America because it’s always been unpredictable.” Now with subscription VOD platforms proliferating, he says even small films will generate some U.S. revenue, though the amount is hard to forecast accurately. Prescience is financing and co-producing “Elvis & Nixon,” starring Kevin Spacey, and financing literary adaptation “Whatever Makes You Happy.” Brett was executive producer of Oscar winner “The King’s Speech.”

Skip Brittenham, Bryan Wolf

Founding senior partner
Senior partner

Ziffren Brittenham

Wolf sees ripple effects from eroding movie profitability as subscription supplants the
higher-profit sales model. For movie studios, “margins are thinner except on the very biggest hits” so production spending is restrained, Wolf says. Amid this frugality, studios increasingly adopt narrower business plans that tend to drive film-project selection to pre-existing intellectual property — meaning familiar brands, he says. Other movie projects, even with good profit potential, are rejected if they don’t fit the pre-existing plan. “We don’t know the full impact of this yet,” Wolf adds. Brittenham handles DreamWorks Studios, Illumination Animation and Studio 8, plus talent Bruce Willis and Oprah Winfrey. Wolf’s practice covers digital including AwesomenessTV; talent including Steve Carell and Judd Apatow; and finance with Studio 8 and Skydance Prods.

Chris Brearton, Nancy Bruington, Joe Calabrese and Robert Haymer

Partner
Partner
Partner, chair, Entertainment, Sports and Media Practice group
Partner

Latham & Watkins

As new media disrupts traditional distribution windows, Brearton says lawyers are left to detail who has exclusivity, shares or no rights in Hollywood content deals. With low barriers to entry in over-the-top video, “it’s a phenomenal time,” he adds. Looking at movie and TV financing, Bruington says an influx of banks for senior lending, private equity financing and equity investors means there’s “more opportunity for creativity in financing structures.” In November it was announced that Brearton and Bruington — along with Calabrese, Haymer, and two other attorneys — had left O’Melveny & Myers to join Latham & Watkins. While at O’Melveny, Brearton worked as MGM’s outside counsel shepherding its Mark Burnett reality TV acquisition and advised the Intl. Olympic Committee (IOC) during negotiations of its $7.65 billion NBC TV contract extension. He also worked with Univision Communications helping to renegotiate its massive Televisa output pact and the launch of the El Rey TV channel. Bruington, who focused on debt financing, handled Alcon Entertainment, the extension of distributor Open Road’s $100 million credit facility, Robert Simonds’ movie startup, and the Weinstein Co. for debt refinancing. Calabrese’s clients included the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., the IOC, Legendary Entertainment for its Softbank deal, Warner Bros. in the acquisition of TV producer Eyeworks and the formation of regional sports TV networks. Haymer advised Lionsgate, Legendary, Simonds’ startup, China’s Hony Capital and private equity outfit Clarity Partners.

Bruce Campbell

Chief Development and Digital
Officer and General Counsel

Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications raised its stake in Eurosport Intl. to 51%, with seller French broadcaster TF1 retaining 49%. Three years ago, Discovery made an unsolicited approach to TF1 to buy Eurosport incrementally, reflecting, “some of the best deals don’t happen overnight or in the traditional investment banker-controlled process,” says Campbell. He oversaw Discovery’s acquisition of All3Media and Raw TV.

Ed Carroll

COO

AMC Networks

AMC Networks’ deal acquiring a 49.9% stake in BBC America for $200 million in October confirms solid valuations for basic cable networks — long-time darlings in media. AMC enlarges its advertising sales adding BBC America as well as U.S. ads for BBC World News, in which AMC has no stake. AMC grew to 60-plus channels worldwide after buying networks from Liberty Global and Germany’s KinoweltTV. The domestic portfolio includes AMC, IFC, WE tv and SundanceTV, as well as BBC America.

Christopher Chatham

Founding Partner

Chatham & Hogan

Hollywood deals need to be future-proofed “to anticipate platforms that don’t even exist today,” says Chatham, citing his clients’ content landing in social media, mobile and on-demand down the road. “Content follows technology,” he says, so “I’m always watching the different pots of participation we can capture.” A former Wall Street bond trader, Chatham has practiced law since 2005 with clients Dr. Phil, producer Jay McGraw, group broadcaster Raycom, Joss Whedon’s Bellwether Pictures, production companies and Hollywood talent.

George Cheeks

EVP, Business Operations and Latenight

NBC Entertainment
and Universal Television

So how far into the future can you crystal-ball the TV program biz? Just two years, says Cheeks. That’s the horizon dealmakers are comfortable with in connection with transformations like TV Everywhere authentication for cable subscribers, stacking episodes and the erupting subscription-VOD window. “We’re definitely at an inflection point in the business,” says Cheeks. His business affairs dealmaking includes upcoming NBC miniseries “A.D.,” the A&E series “Bates Motel,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “The Voice.”

Lindsay Conner

Partner and co-chair,
Entertainment & Media Practice

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

“We are in a golden age of film financing,” Conner says. “Film and television is a global business and now the funding is global as well.” He handles deals with money from China, Europe and Latin America. Conner represented Sony Pictures Entertainment for its $200 million slate financing with Lone Star Funds and Imax for its $50 million pact with Knights of Columbus. His clients include the Weinstein Co., AT&T, Michael Eisner’s Tornante Co., Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 and Carlos Slim’s America Movil.

Jay L. Cooper

Founder, Los Angeles
Entertainment Practice

Greenberg Traurig

With recorded music sales shrinking, and labels pushing for “360” pacts for a cut of artist merchandise, music publishing and touring, “dealmaking has become far more complicated in the past 10 years,” says Cooper. “There are no standards now.” The percentage taken and length of label participations vary. His clients include Katy Perry, composer John Williams, music and talent for NBC’s “The Voice” and writer David Seidler.

Christine Cuddy

Partner

Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo

Movie options for a book series generally focus on one book, with lesser tie-ups for remaining titles. Since all the books get encumbered to some degree, Cuddy negotiated an Imagine Entertainment/Universal movie deal for all of Anne Rice’s vampire novels. That assortment makes it easier to generate movies but if none are made rights revert back to the author, “which is the key,” she says. Other clients: “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin and Alcon Entertainment.

Stephanie Dalton

Senior VP and team leader for the entertainment division

City National Bank

City National is known as
the Los Angeles-based banker for Hollywood’s entrepreneurs, professionals and mid-to-
small-sized businesses, but
it also services Broadway
3,000 miles away. Gotham-based Dalton says the Great White Way is thriving, a fact evidenced by “many shows already capitalized that are looking for theaters.” City National provides payroll, cash management, standby letters of credit and other banking services to Broadway shows including “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” and “A Delicate Balance” starring Glenn Close.

Thomas Dey – President/CEO

Richard Gray, Sachin Dosani, Tom Manwaring – Managing directors

About Corporate Finance (ACF)
Reality TV aggregators that gobble up boutique producers build scale to license formats globally and thus aren’t forced to use agents for cross-border deals, Dey says. Another wrinkle is that TV channels are emerging as aggregators. “Unscripted is lower-risk than scripted, higher-margin than drama and has a shorter development cycle to air,” says Dey, whose ACF negotiated Leftfield Entertainment’s (“Pawn Stars”) 80% stake sale to U.K. broadcaster ITV in May. ACF also repped the March sale of London-based Raw TV (“Gold Rush”) to Discovery Communications. It followed up with the sale of a 70% stake in Love Prods. (“The Great British Bake Off”) to BSkyB in July.

Brian Edwards

COO

United Artists Media Group

While most deals focus
simply on the closing, when Edwards helped sell a 55%
stake in Mark Burnett’s content businesses for $344 million to MGM, “the most compelling reason for doing the deal was to expand the business going forward.” The reality TV program, TV commercial and occasional theatrical enterprise took the United Artists name and will tap outside capital to grow. Edwards has experience in raising money from working at DreamWorks in legal affairs when its animation arm went public.

Craig Emanuel

Chair of entertainment and talent

Loeb & Loeb

Talent wants more money from subscription VOD, where Netflix rules, and only 20% of distributor revenue is customarily reported for calculating talent royalties — the same as physical DVDs. Emanuel believes “more and more you are going to see SVOD accounted on a 100% basis.” He adds that talent is pressing as SVOD sometimes occupies the premium pay window of services including HBO and Showtime, where rates are higher. His clients include Daniel Day-Lewis, Ryan Murphy, Tony Gilroy, Robert Rodriguez, vfx house Animal Logic and See-Saw Films.

Matthew Erramouspe, Stephen Scharf, Bruce Tobey

Transactional co-heads of Entertainment, Sports and Media Practice

O’Melveny & Myers

Hollywood’s dealmaking with China has moved from exploration to “real tangible tractions,” says Erramouspe. Chinese partners can be purely financial investors as well as entertainment companies, he adds.

He advises Hollywood players to formulate strategies and then seeks suitable partners to navigate China, where American business is confronted by cultural differences. Chinese contracts are “conceptual and light on details, whereas in Hollywood they are much more detailed, descriptive and defining” of participants’ roles and obligations. Erramouspe’s clients include investor Elliott Management, China’s Huayi Bros., Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Weinstein Co. Sharf’s clients include Focus Features’ Peter Schlessel, StudioCanal and Huayi Brothers. A former CBS Films and Paramount executive, Tobey’s clients include Sony Pictures Entertainment and the Robert Simonds startup studio.

Susanna Felleman

Senior VP, business affairs

Home Box Office

Normally 10 regular actors are a lot for a TV series, but Felleman handled renegotiations for a cast of 25 on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” Besides the usual salary wrangles, “more complex and lengthier negotiations” ensued for scheduling given shooting in multiple countries, adding seasons to contracts, talent wanting to squeeze in side jobs and the sheer number of transactions, Felleman says. An HBO executive since 2001, she negotiates deals for HBO Films, miniseries, Cinemax and all things “GoT.”

Ruth Fisher

Co-chair, Media, Entertainment & Technology Practice

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Deals start as broad points that lawyers must later flesh out in detail, where we all know the devil is. “In every deal, it’s a lawyer’s nightmare to have to say, ‘I can’t get there,’ ” says Fisher. To stay on track, she focuses on business objectives “and then drafts agreements that both sides can live with.” Film financiers and investors are among her clients along with DirecTV including its mammoth NFL renewal, Bollywood’s Eros Intl., NBCUniversal and Vivendi.

Matt Galsor

Partner and chair,
entertainment group

Greenberg Glusker Fields
Claman & Machtinger

“Independent financing has become a real Wild West”
of dysfunction, says Galsor, because of a paucity of indies who can reliably crank out mid-range films budgeted $10 million-$30 million. He predicts that integrated financing-producing-foreign sales companies that are one-stop dealmakers will emerge, filling that void. Talent will have the “same confidence working with these new players as they have now with major studios,” he says. Galsor represents talent including Tom Cruise, James Cameron, Tony Danza, Harmony Korine and Larry King.

Michael Gendler & Kevin Kelly

Partners

Gendler & Kelly

Digital outlets like Netflix and Amazon are more than just new money for Hollywood. The new-wave “financer/studios are willing to negotiate and consider templates we design” for compensation to top TV creative talent, Gendler says. He adds that the new breed of buyers needs proven Hollywood talent to make foreign sales for their TV programs. “The nice thing is we are in at the ground floor and can help them design how the upside should be allocated,” says Kelly. The law firm represents Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Shonda Rhimes, David Chase, David E. Kelley, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Howard Gordon, as well as other directors, writers and showrunners.

Lev Ginsburg

Partner

Ginsburg Daniels

New-media digital buyers sometimes require a nudge when asking for holds on Hollywood talent at no cost. Ginsburg responds by “asking the right questions to ensure that an appropriate premium is paid when a client is being asked to give up exclusivity or positioning” if foregoing other potential jobs. Ginsburg represents actors, the writers and director of “Jurassic World,” writer/executive producer Lesley Arfin for Netflix’s two-season TV series commitment for “Love,” and producer Lynda Obst for “Interstellar.”

Jorge Granier

CEO

Latin Everywhere

Latin Everywhere, created by merging Spanish-language movie and TV program libraries, does video deals with YouTube and Amazon worldwide, Netflix for Latin America, Hulu for the U.S. and iTunes sparingly. “Each contract we look at is different,” says Granier. Key points are cash fee and/or ad revenue sharing, duration and geography. The Miami-based Granier oversees the TV programmer and streamer, whose format for RCTV’s telenovela “Jane the Virgin” is adapted for the English-language TV series on the CW Network.

Andrew Gumpert & Stefan Litt

President, worldwide business affairs and operations Columbia Pictures

Executive VP and CFO

Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group

As video-on-demand revenue grows, so does the discussion of how it should be treated in talent deals, says Gumpert. If computed like TV revenue, VOD is richer for talent than the homevideo method. “There are arguments going both ways,” says Gumpert, whose studio treats VOD revenue as homevideo. Meanwhile, Litt sees prints-and-advertising financing growing, as funders of production also finance marketing costs. Reported earnings for film distributors are helped when third parties cover P&A because of accounting rules that require fast expensing. “If you match the right projects with the right parties, it can be beneficial to everyone,” says Litt. During the year, Gumpert and Litt each worked on Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 distribution deal and the Lone Star/Citigroup movie slate financing.

Andrew Hurwitz

Partner-entertainment group

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz

Major studios seek young
talent to breathe unconventional visions into big-budget films
like James Gunn with “Guardians of the Galaxy” and Jennifer
Lee for “Frozen,” says Hurwitz, who reps those writer/directors. “It’s a good time to be an auteur (and not a) cookie cutter,” he says. Hurwitz helps clients fulfill their creative ambitions with occasional indie films after they achieve studio cred. His clients aso include companies like Hasbro (which he reps along with colleague Maura Wogan) and talent such as helmer J.C. Chandor.

Jesse Jacobs

President

The Chernin Group

Over-the-top video startups must constantly raise capital and position themselves to be sold, so Jacobs says that a Chernin Group joint venture with AT&T took a majority stake in Fullscreen to end such distractions. “The whole mission there should be on execution,” says Jacobs, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker. He helped arrange purchase of a majority stake in Crunchyroll, and ongoing investments in Chernin by Providence Equity Partners and Qatar Holding.

Sheri Jeffrey

Partner

Hogan Lovells

While Hollywood scrutinizes booming China, Jeffrey finds Chinese companies poised to reach out to the U.S. and Europe for film ventures and corporate acquisitions. “They’re smart and approaching business in a methodical way,” she says. “I think cross-border M&A activity will be a continuing trend.” Jeffrey advises Shanghai-based movie outfit Fundamental Media; Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp. for its U.S. distribution joint venture and $600 million credit line; 21st Century Fox merging its Shine Group with Endemol; and startup Studio 8.

Mark Kaner

President

Twentieth Century Fox
Television Distribution

“The Simpsons” finally crack China — where traditional TV shies away from licensing imports and piracy reigns — via a licensing deal with online portal Sohu.com. “We think it is a great way to get into that marketplace,” Kaner says. He adds that suitable program buyers need large scale, a commercial orientation and local savvy. In his current position since 1994, Kaner oversees $2.7 billion a year in TV distribution deals. He’s also exec VP of international television strategy at studio parent 21st Century Fox.

Joel A. Katz

Chair, Global Entertainment
and Media Practice

Greenberg Traurig

The trend of merging music talent management firms under corporate umbrellas results in managers synergistically collaborating on tours, concerts and recordings, says Katz. “This has worked very well over the past two to three years,” he adds. “And it’s growing.” Aggregators generally buy 50% of managers’ upfront, with the remainder in earn-outs over five to seven years. Katz repped Blueprint Management’s 50% sale to Live Nation. His clients include the Recording Academy, Country Music Academy, George Strait and the Michael Jackson Estate affiliation with BMI.

Wayne Kazan

Partner

Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin

Just a few years ago, videogame developers sought employment on massive console games,
but now those same developers
want to become entrepreneurs at the top of startup studios making casual games. Kazan says that the talent-driven studios “still need investors and, in some cases, publishers are investors” for access to content and options to buy studios. His client Cliff Bleszinski just established studio Boss Key Productions. Kazan’s law practice specializes in videogames, brand licensing and Hollywood creative talent.

Ynon Kreiz

CEO and president

Maker Studios

When Walt Disney Co.
bought Maker Studios for up
to $950 million, the YouTube video darling led by Kreiz
made sizeable profits for its diverse backers that included Canal Plus, Greycroft Partners, Time Warner Investments, Upfront Ventures, Robert Downey
Jr., producer Jon Landau, Elisabeth Murdoch, digital exec Jon Miller, Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital, Kreiz and others. Maker investors had pumped in $70 million. Earlier, Kreiz held senior posts at Endemol, Balderton Capital and Fox Kids Europe.

Ari Lanin

Partner, media, entertainment & technology group; co-chair of private equity practice

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Conventional “representations and warranties” often don’t justify fat prices fetched by over-the-top video startups. Lanin advises drilling down on revenue per sub to measure “how dependable is it, where is it coming from and how is measured.” Traditional media giants acquire OTT children’s programming for content and new distribution channels, he says. In OTT deals, Lanin repped CEO Ynon Kreiz when Maker Studios sold to Disney, Chernin Group for its Otter Media joint venture with AT&T, and Otter’s deal for Fullscreen.

Ted Leonsis, John Skipper, John Wildhack and David Levy

Majority owner, chairman/CEO Monumental Sports & Entertainment
President, ESPN
Exec VP, programming & production, ESPN
President, Turner Broadcasting System

The NBA’s $24 billion nine-year basketball deal with ESPN and Turner Broadcasting was crafted for more than big money. Leonsis, owner of the Washington Wizards and an NBA negotiator, says the agreement also pushes basketball internationally and in digital media, while being careful to protect the local media deals of teams, such as regional sports networks. In a digital component, ESPN will develop over-the-top NBA video to reach fans not connected to subscription TV, and so the pact “optimizes for today but also future-proofs … by creating this OTT agreement,” Leonsis says. Across the negotiating table, ESPN’s Wildhack says that there were no hidden agendas because both sides knew what the other wanted, including ESPN angling for multiplatform digital. “The leagues understand … and see that this can benefit them,” Wildhack says. Leonsis, who is also chairman of NBA’s media committee, leads Monumental, which owns the Washington Capitals (NHL), Mystics (WNBA) and Verizon Center arena, in addition to the Wizards. Leonsis is also vice chairman of Washington, D.C.’s, effort to host the 2024 Olympics; founder and largest shareholder in SnagFilms/Indiewire; and documentary producer of Sundance entries “Nanking” and “Kicking It.” From 1994 to 2006, he worked in marketing at AOL. At ESPN since 1997, Skipper, who is also co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, recently orchestrated long-term deals for baseball, college football and U.S. Open Tennis. Wildhack joined ESPN in 1980 soon after the cable network was launched. He started in production and moved up the ranks. Switching to Turner Broadcasting in 1986, Levy oversees Turner Sports, TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, truTV, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Adult Swim.

Carol A. Lombardini

President

Alliance of Motion Picture
& Television Producers

When actors, writers and directors each concluded
major movie/television contracts this year, the growing trend of sharing economic information paved the way for labor peace. Management and labor evaluated and commented on the other side’s core industry data. “This informs our bargaining,” says Lombardini, who is chief negotiator for 80 U.S. and Canada labor agreements, and a board member for multi-employer benefit plans. She joined AMPTP when it was formed back in 1982 in legal affairs, rising first to exec VP, legal and business affairs and general counsel, and then to president in 2009.

Namit Malhotra

Founder, executive chairman
and global CEO

Prime Focus

To ride out rough patches in the visual effects business, Prime Focus sought a broader scale by merging with Double Negative and then Reliance MediaWorks. Malhotra recalls lining up approvals from regulators, shareholders and stock exchanges in India and the U.K. “in a highly-synchronized manner” over just weeks. Publicly traded Prime Focus now sports 20 locations generating $300 million in annual sales. Malhotra founded Prime Focus in India in 1995 and expanded to Hollywood by 2008.

Kevin S. Masuda

Partner

Munger, Tolles & Olson

Apple paid $3 billion for Beats’ music businesses, whose ownership is a mix of entrepreneurs, including Dr. Dre, and financiers. Masuda repped Beats for early money-raising and the Apple sale. “It is the balancing of the need for capital in the growth stage, the desire to retain control and the manner of the ultimate exit,” says Masuda. “It’s a delicate dance.”

Mickey Mayerson, Susan Zuckerman Williams & Carolyn Hunt

Chairman, entertainment finance practice and deputy-chair of the firm

Partners

Loeb & Loeb

Film companies used to fully fund projects they picked, but “now there is equity in almost all of our deals and tax subsidies in most of our deals,” says Mayerson. Loeb & Loeb advised Warren Beatty on his Howard Hughes film and Don Cheadle on his Miles Davis biography, where talent also rounded up financing. As piecing together money from multiple sources becomes the norm, entertainment finance lawyers have “never been so much in need and at the front” of dealmaking, Mayerson says. He leads the entertainment team that handled more than $1 billion in movie and TV series transactions in the past year, including RatPac-Dune Capital for its co-financing deal with Warner Bros. for up to 75 films. Williams specializes in movie debt and serves as outside counsel for Netflix on its content financing. Hunt is focused on single-picture financing.

Chris McCumber

President

USA Network

USA Network celebrated renewing its wrestling franchises (including on sister net Syfy) that McCumber “looks at as our ‘Monday Night Football.’ But we get it 52 weeks a year.” Even with WWE’s online service, McCumber says all wrestling content cross-promotes “opera”-like storylines. For TV series deals, McCumber likes to adapt established intellectual property, like road drama “Queen of the South” that was a hit telenovela on Telemundo, the sister NBCU company. With a background in marketing, McCumber joined USA Network in 2001.

Michael Mendelsohn

Founder, president and CEO

Union Patriot Capital

Mendelsohn manages a fund that finances film and TV programs, and advises on and produces theatrical films. He fully funds select movies with name talent. “That allows pictures to get made that don’t fit into the normal studio sequel and Spandex cape movies,” he says. It’s structured as a loan with an interest premium and equity kicker. One beneficiary is the under-$10 million-budgeted Hollywood period drama “Zeroville” starring James Franco.

Darrell Miller

<p><strong>Chair, entertainment law department; managing partner, Los Angeles offices</strong></p>
<p><strong>Fox Rothschild</strong></p>
<p>From &ldquo;The Real Housewives of Atlanta,&rdquo; NeNe Leakes progressed to Broadway, Cirque du Soleil headliner, scripted TV and an HSN clothing line &mdash; for most of her career without an agent. Her longtime lawyer Miller says, &ldquo;A challenge became scheduling and negotiating exclusivity&rdquo; as offers multiplied. Miller says Leakes is an example of a reality TV star &ldquo;turning their brand and celebrity into multi-million dollar businesses.&rdquo; He also represents Angela Bassett, Chris &ldquo;Ludacris&rdquo; Bridges, filmmaker Reginald Hudlin, producer T.D. Jakes and corporate clients.</p>

Ernie Del, Nina Shaw, Jon Moonves

Partners

Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka
Finkelstein & Lezcano

Because digital media talent arrives at traditional media’s front door with a proven fan base from platforms like Twitter, Moonves holds out to “retain more control than studios and big media has allowed before” and “not fall into the trap of being owned by big media.” His lifestyle celeb client Bethany Mota has 7.8 million subscribers on YouTube. Shaw’s client Ava DuVernay transitioned from publicity to indie filmmaking with her African-American-centric movie distribution business Affrm and is now entrenched in this year’s awards race via her director role on “Selma,” produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and distributed by Paramount. Co-founding the law firm in 1989, London-based Del represents executives for personal/careers, and is also president of videogamer ZeniMax Media. Shaw also reps Nick Cannon, Laurence Fishburne, Jamie Foxx, Arsenio Hall, and Lupita Nyong’o. Moonves handles Ray Romano, Marc Cherry, Vin Di Bona, Robert and Michelle King (“The Good Wife”) and Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2”).

Schuyler Moore

Entertainment partner

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan

Moore feels that companies like Netflix and studios adapting products like toys into movies are under-appreciated catalysts. Netflix is a one-stop buyer of global film rights determined to compress distribution, which Moore says points to the fact that “the multi-window game is over.” Moore represented China Film Group for the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sequel that Netflix bought and that many think will upend windows. He also repped producer Moritz Borman on Oliver Stone’s untitled Edward Snowden film and Virgo Capital’s purchase of Millennium Entertainment.

Lumumba Mosquera

Senior VP, business affairs

TriStar Prods. and Columbia Pictures

Dealing with media-savvy players, Mosquera is mindful of “nuances with collaborators who have their own separate business models” with their characters, other intellectual property and also have direct digital relationships with consumers. He says dealmaking must protect his studio’s pictures while spurring contributions from moviemaking partners. He negotiated deals putting iconic computer brands in Columbia’s sci-fi yarn “Pixels.” At Sony Pictures Entertainment since 2009, Mosquera handles pacts involving movie co-financing, negative pickups, literary acquisitions, life-rights, production companies, talent and brands.

Ben Mulcahy

Partner in the Entertainment, Technology and Advertising
Practice and co-chair, advertising and sports teams

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton

Engaging audience
awareness is already high
for the “Hunger Games” franchise, so promotions
aim to lift engagement with refreshed apps and social
media, notes Mulcahy, who reps the films’ distributor Lionsgate. Promotion deals spell out rights to content, comply with rules including privacy, and fan data. “There are a large number
of legal issues that layer over the activation of these campaigns online and in mobile,” he says. Mulcahy also reps Chrysler, ESPN, Paramount Pictures, Samsung and Target.

Jeff Robinov

Founder and CEO

Studio 8

The former Warner Bros. executive launched Studio 8 with China’s Fosun and distributor Sony Pictures as key partners. Imbalances across the global film business can benefit dealmaking. Fosun Group provides upwards of 20% of capital for Robinov’s startup, giving Fosun Chinese rights to approximately five films planned for production a year. According to most film finance specialists, China still accounts for less than 5% of the global revenue for the kind of major-studio movies (miniscule TV and DVD revenue) that Studio 8 plans to produce, so the outsized China investment is a win-win deal.

Bobby Rosenbloum

Shareholder and co-chairman, Atlanta Entertainment & Media Practice

Greenberg Traurig

Online music services, performance rights organizations and music publishers are in conflict over royalty rates resulting in “chaos in music publishing,” says Rosenbloum. “These (online) technology services are getting hit by all sides,” he notes. “The labels aren’t moving and the artists are claiming they aren’t making enough.” With wide-ranging blanket music licensing under siege, Rosenbloum sees more individualized music dealmaking. His clients include the Recording Academy, Microsoft, AT&T Mobility, Deezer, Digital Media Assn., Flipagram, Harmonix, Rdio, SoundCloud and Samsung.

Stephen L. Saltzman

Partner

Loeb & Loeb

Saltzman sees “one of the most disruptive points in the filmed entertainment industry” unfolding as technology alters consumer behavior, roils production and China revamps. With visual effects now encompassing virtual performances, “if you think about the legal issues that arise, it gets really fun,” he says. Saltzman’s clients include Beijing Galloping Horse Film, Huayi Brothers licensing WWII drama “Fury” for China, director Yuen Woo-ping and producer Anthony Wong for “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny,” Merced Capital for $500 million in financing, and Black Bear Pictures for the Weinstein Co.’s distribution of “The Imitation Game.”

Ted Sarandos

Chief content officer

Netflix

Netflix continues to rewrite dealmaking conventions. After it snatched the sequel to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” for simultaneous streaming and cinema runs via Imax, Sarandos told stock analysts that threatened theater boycotts meant “very little economically.” Netflix also convinced theatrical regular Adam Sandler to make four direct-to-Netflix movies, launched big-budget TV series online with “House of Cards,” and barged into the premium pay window two years ago snatching Disney movie output from Starz.

Jody Simon

Partner & chair of Entertainment Department Production Practice

Fox Rothschild

“For online content, it’s not enough to sell a show,” says Simon. Dealmakers must then jumpstart sponsorships, brand integrations, product placement, endorsements and advertising to make revenue meaningful. Simon notes that digital production runs a wide quality range and for those producing in basements “the business has matured to where those kids can make real money.” His clients include traditional TV producers and production companies, online talent such as the Fine Brothers and online companies including the Mighty Networks.

Robert Simonds, Sophie Watts, Tom McGrath & Noah Fogelson

Chairman, CEO
President
COO
Exec VP, corporate development/general counsel

STX Entertainment

STX pitched investors the impressive financial performance of mid-budget movies with star talent from the past 12 years — an area where Simonds thrived, producing hits “Cheaper by the Dozen” and “The Waterboy.” That mid-range-centric gameplan landed TPG Growth fund, China’s Hony Capital, Gigi Pritzker and investor Beau Wrigley. “The reality is, if you strip out language, the core concepts that make movies successful are the same around the world,” says Fogelson. For talent worried about startup stability, Watts points out that STX is well-funded and already made direct theater distribution deals with the Regal, AMC, Cinemark and Carmike circuits. “That’s a pretty compelling discussion to have with movie stars,” Watts says. Watts has a background producing movies, documentaries and long-form musicvideos. McGrath held senior executive positions at Viacom, a stage touring company and a music publisher. Fogelson is experienced in legal affairs and was CEO at Crest Animation (his brother, former Universal Pictures topper Adam, is chairman, STX motion picture group).

Cheryl Snow

Partner

Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown

As Snow’s clients increasingly work around the world, evaluating tax implications
is critical. She says Hollywood talent can “pay so much in taxes that it’s not worth it for them
to take the job,” particularly for actors and directors overseas. That also means forecasting
tax obligations for talent loan-out corporations. Joining Gang Tyre in 2001, Snow’s clients include Jim Parsons in his three-year extension on “The Big Bang Theory,” Rosie O’Donnell returning to “The View” and Chris Hemsworth.

Aaron Stone, Chase Carey & James Murdoch

Senior partner, Apollo Global Management
President, COO
Co-COO

21st Century Fox

Studio parent 21st Century Fox is bulking up on reality TV assets with the pending merger of its Shine Group with Apollo Global Management’s Endemol and Core Media. “As a joint venture, (there) was really an order of magnitude greater than what the individual parts were,” said Murdoch in a recent earnings conference call. Pure-financial investor Apollo sets the stage
for an eventual sale of its half-stake to 21st Century or a third party. A longtime exec at 21st Century and its predecessor, Carey once headed DirecTV. Murdoch has broad strategic responsibilities and oversight of TV businesses (father Rupert Murdoch is chairman-CEO). At Apollo since 1997, Stone oversees media/tech investments that over the years have included AMC Entertainment, Open Road Films and Telemundo.

Mark Suster

Partner

Upfront Ventures

Santa Monica-based Suster says the L.A. digital scene is flourishing because booming online video needs Hollywood skills. “There’s been a huge movement in the past three years to Los Angeles to start companies,” he says. Suster adds that local startups plan fast routes to monetization, since the local money-pot that supports incubation is half that of Silicon Valley. Upfront was Maker Studios’ largest shareholder when Disney purchased it. It also invested in Latino video MiTu Networks. Suster has a tech and startups background. Upfront is a leading Silicon Beach venture capital firm.

Matthew Thompson

Partner and Co-Head
Entertainment Group

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan

Mark Burnett, wife Roma Downey and media conglom Hearst standardized their patchwork of reality TV program ownership ranging from “The Apprentice” to “Shark Tank” to set up what attorney Thompson calls “the quintessential win-win deal.” Thompson says his clients monetized, retained a significant stake in, and got a capable partner when MGM bought a 55% stake in September. Thompson also represented Leftfield Entertainment (“Pawn Stars”) and principal Brent Montgomery selling its 80% stake to ITV, and Relativity Media p&a financing.

Wayne Thorsen

Senior VP, corporate development

Viacom

When Viacom bought the U.K.’s Channel 5 for $725 million, it “supersized our local production budgets” in the U.K, Thorsen says. “Projects that wouldn’t have been at scale before now are at scale.” Channel 5 boasts wide audience reach that is useful in promoting TV programs. Thorsen, who joined Viacom in 2013 from Telefonica, is based in New York and joined the board of Defy Media after it acquired Viacom game properties.

Daniel Timmons & Brian Stearns

Head, Bank of America Merrill Lynch Entertainment Industries Group
VP, technology, media and telecom

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

For decades, content was king, but now distribution pipelines like YouTube video channels are increasingly prized. “Considering the rapidly evolving distribution ecosystem, financing conditions and valuations may be impacted sooner than people expect,” says Timmons. BofA Merrill Lynch views tech and content in a convergence mode. Timmons handles corporate banking to entertainment industries. Formerly in corporate banking, Stearns is moving to the investment banking side, focusing on capital markets and M&A in tech, media and telecoms. In 2014, they handled more than $1 billion in commercial credit and institutional capital delivery deals for CAA, El Rey Network, RatPac Entertainment and STX Entertainment.

Fred Toczek

Partner

Felker Toczek Gellman Suddleson

As talent increasingly jumps between film and TV, Toczek sorts out exclusivity, scheduling availability (TV series are long-term jobs), and salary issues for crossover talent. “How to translate a TV quote to features and a feature quote to TV” are challenges, Toczek adds, where talent’s stature, marketability “and a heavy dose of arm wrestling” resolve salary disconnects. Clients include Seth Rogen, Shailene Woodley, Daniel Radcliffe and writer/producer Graham Moore of “The Imitation Game.”

Dennis Wang Zhongjun, James Wang Zhonglei, Jack Ma and Pony Ma

Co-founder, chairman, CEO, Huayi Bros. Media
Co-founder, president, Huayi Bros. Media
Founder, executive chairman, Alibaba
Founder, chairman, CEO, Tencent

The Asian style of dealmaking is togetherness, as evidenced by a corporate convergence on Huayi Brothers, the biggest private-sector film outfit in red-hot China. Jack Ma-led online commerce colossus Alibaba, Internet giant Tencent, Ping An Asset Management and CITIC Securities agreed to inject $590 million in publicly-traded Huayi for stock. Huayi will use the proceeds for expansion that likely will widen its lead over local rivals. The Wang brothers founded Huayi in 1994. Jack Ma led Alibaba to a NYSE IPO in September raising $25 billion, valuing Alibaba shares at $231 billion. Pony Ma co-founded Internet outfit Tencent in 1998 and recently the publicly traded company licensed Warner Music songs for streaming.

Glenn Whitehead

Exec VP, Business and Legal Affairs

Home Box Office

With the U.K. enacting legislation this year providing a 20% benefit on qualifying spend for high-end TV productions, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” remained there for a fifth season. Incentives generate “real, substantive benefits for both producers and the U.K. production industry,” says Whitehead. HBO led a coalition for the subsidy. An HBO executive since 1983, Whitehead negotiates for original programs such as the “Westworld” pilot and with Amazon for HBO’s first domestic subscription-VOD pact.

Marty Willhite

COO and General Counsel

Legendary Entertainment

How to avoid hand-cuffing two forward-thinking companies in a deal? Willhite counsels building two tracks, as Softbank’s $250 million-$1 billion equity investment in Legendary Entertainment is accompanied by a side joint venture focused on China and India. “It makes the relationship a ‘living’ one with the ability to evolve,” he says of the venture. Willhite joined Legendary in 2011 from private law practice, working on the William Morris Endeavor merger and repping the principals of Spyglass Entertainment when they sold to MGM.

Kevin Yorn

Founding partner

Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman

Yorn set up and had to future-proof Ellen DeGeneres’ lifestyle brand ED (pronounced “Ed”). That meant ensuring DeGeneres gets right of approvals for products, licensees, board members and future funders. “When you have a rocket ship like Ellen, things can go anywhere,” Yorn notes. ED also avoids conflicts with DeGeneres’ separate endorsement deals and talkshow. Burch Creative Capital provides financing. Yorn also represents Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Saldana and producer Anthony Zuiker, and specializes in startup companies.

Steve Younger

Partner

Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox Rosenberg & Light

Dealmakers negotiate compensation for Hollywood talent from platforms that just a few years ago were unimaginable. “For example, people might be surprised at how much revenue can be generated even by in-app purchases from free games” based on TV/entertainment properties, says Younger. Emerging talents leverage their audience metrics from digital platforms to land contracts in mainstream media. His clients include four “Saturday Night Live” cast members/writers, voice actor Dan Castellaneta for “The Simpsons,” and “Divergent” trilogy novelist Veronica Roth.

UP NEXT: Chris Abramson

Partner

Felker Toczek Suddleson

Dealmaking for creative talent with new-media buyers presents “trapdoors but also more opportunities,” says Abramson. The trapdoor is that buyer behavior can be unpredictable, unlike traditional-media buyers whose tendencies are known. But there’s an opportunity to negotiate improved contingent compensation and creative control for talent, since newbie digital buyers are not hardwired. Abramson’s clients include actress Jacki Weaver, writer/producers Chad Kultgen and Christopher Moynihan, and actor/improv artist Michael Carbonaro.

UP NEXT: Erik Andreasen

Vice President, Narrative Film

Participant Media

Andreasen develops and acquires movies at entrepreneur Jeff Skoll’s media company, which he joined in 2010 after working at Di Novi Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. Participant Media feels its budding Latin American movie co-financing venture can be replicated in other regions around the world to create local hits, use film festival exposure for international sales and be a proving-ground for remakes in other languages. “What we spend on one movie here we can use to help finance 10 movies in Latin America,” says Andreasen.

UP NEXT: Ryan J. Barncastle

Partner

Raines Feldman

Barncastle reaches for his “startup tool kit” when fashioning the legal foundation for enterprises like horror-mogul Eli Roth’s “The Crypt.” That means attaching intellectual property rights to the startup, defining rights/authority of executives and familiarizing management with corporate governance. “You (also) want to avoid granting complex rights or preferences to founders and/or early investors that would impede subsequent investment,” Barncastle says. His practice covers finance and M&A.

UP NEXT: D.J. Gugenheim

Executive VP, production, development and operations

Lotus Entertainment

Indie film financiers used to tilt to foreign markets, but no more. With video-on-demand and SVOD booming, “domestic distributors have become more bullish,” says Gugenheim. “Now you can finance from both foreign and domestic” revenues. Overseas, films relevant to Chinese audiences get fat prices, while the U.K. and France have softened, he adds. Gugenheim helped snag a Relativity Media domestic distribution deal for “Kidnap” starring Halle Berry, and brought in sci-fi thriller “Replicas,” starring Keanu Reeves.

UP NEXT: Amy Siegel

Entertainment, sports & media group

O’Melveny & Myers

Lawyering morphed into a traffic-cop job when Siegel’s client Warner Bros. acquired TV programmer Eyeworks in June 2014. Siegel prioritized information traffic flowing from 15 local attorneys in territories where Eyeworks operates. Her task became highlighting risks in key relationship agreements, titles to rights and potential for future lawsuits. “You have to have an understanding not only what a contract says but also the local regulations,” she says. Siegel, who also represents the Weinstein Co., joined the firm in 2005.