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Hollywood law impact list(Daily Variety Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) THE BARNES MORRIS PARTNERS (Michael Barnes, Kevin Morris, Debbie Klein, Douglas Mark, Kevin Yorn, Stephen Barnes and Jared Levine) Firm: Barnes, Morris, Klein, Mark, Yorn, Barnes & Levine The practice: Its partners view themselves as the next generation of entertainment lawyers, but with 10 years as a firm under their belts and an imminent move to Century City, the Santa Monica-based firm has already arrived. Barnes Morris' entertainment practice covers the spectrum of actors, writers, directors and authors. Along with Michael Barnes, who handles the firm's corporate work, Morris founded the firm in 1996. His first clients were "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Today, Morris' comedy clients also include Eddie Izzard, Mike Judge and Steve Coogan. He also represents Chris and Paul Weitz, Minnie Driver and Matthew McConaughey, whom he has repped since admiring his performance in 1996's "A Time to Kill." Morris credits the firm's success to strategic hiring, growth from within and the good fortune of having clients who have blossomed along with the firm. Klein joined the firm in 2000, bringing with her comedy clients Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn. She helped her clients jump from smaller deals to huge paydays, steering Carrey from his $300,000 salary in "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective" to a record-breaking $20 million for "The Cable Guy." She represented Ferrell on "Anchorman," which he famously sold based on a pitch. Klein also reps top-booking standup Dane Cook. Yorn, who joined the firm shortly after its inception, boasts a client roster that includes Scarlett Johansson, Ellen DeGeneres and the Wayans brothers. Stephen Barnes, who joined the firm in 2002, represents Chris Rock and John Singleton. Levine has a broad-based practice that ranges from comedian Zach Galifianakis to skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. POV: "The business is dividing between those who see trouble everywhere and those who see opportunity everywhere. We see opportunity everywhere," Morris says. JAKE BLOOM Firm: Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal & LaViolette The practice: The dealmaker behind many big-budget, big-bang pics over the years still boasts a big-name client list that includes producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard and actors including Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Also found on his speed dial is helmer Martin Scorsese, for which the gregarious, foul-mouthed Bloom recently helped negotiate a four-year, first-look deal with Paramount. Back in 2001, Bloom secured a whopping $29.25 million guaranteed contract for Arnold Schwarzenegger for the soon to be Governator to star in "Terminator 3" --- a deal that also included, according to Slate, a lump sum of $1.5 million for private jets, a fully equipped gym trailer, three-bedroom deluxe suites on locations, round-the-clock limousines, and personal bodyguards. POV: Bloom refused to speak to Variety for this profile, but he did offer this rebutal to the publication several years ago when he was asked if a salary dispute caused a prized attorney to leave his firm: "That's a pile of fucking shit." SUE BODINE Firm: Epstein Levinsohn Bodine & Weinstein The practice: A top indie finance and sales specialist, the Bodine's introduction to entertainment law came in 1982 and involved the music rights on the VHS release of the Rolling Stones documentary "Gimme Shelter." "It was a total nightmare," recalls the New York-based attorney. "During those days, nobody knew what homevideo was. It turned out to be very interesting, though, and got me into film." Bodine has since become a force in the indie feature world, tackling areas from production to financing to distribution. Together with her former collaborative, Andrew Hurwitz --- who recently left the firm --- she was involved with the sales and financing of films including Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," Bennett Miller's "Capote" and Zach Braff's "Garden State." Bodine likes the process of visiting film fests and lining up backers. "There are a lot of financiers who are anxious to get in the movie business," she explains. "There's a certain portion of the funding that they want to put in that's fun, sexy and different. Intellectually, they know they may not make money, but then they see 'Little Miss Sunshine.' I tell them that's a 1-in-a-100 scenario, but they think that's what their project is going to be like." POV: "I don't sell myself as an executive producer. What I want to do is raise money for your movie." JOHN BURKE and STEVE FAYNE Firm: Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld The practice: In a town bubbling over with talent lawyers, Burke and Fayne are members of the less abundant, but no less critical, subset of attorneys who represent the money side of the business --- namely, investment banks, equity and hedge funds and high-net-worth individuals. As hedge-fund mania has hit Hollywood in recent years, they've been front and center, helping bridge the gap between Wall Street and the entertainment business. "We've been extremely busy for the last 18 months because of the increased appetite that Wall Street has had for the film business," says Burke, who along with Fayne has been particularly active in negotiating studio slate financing deals, such as Dresdner Kleinwort's $300 million backing of Paramount's slate and Deutsche Bank's $628 million support of a combined Sony and Universal slate. "Some of what we do is provide not only legal expertise but business affairs expertise," Burke explains. "We can give people a good understanding of what's going on behind the curtain at the studios. We try to provide a lot of transparency in business --- a process that is sometimes hard in Hollywood." Burke and Fayne also work with individual producer-financiers such as Steve Bing and 2929 Entertainment's Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, as well as production lenders including Comerica Bank and the Bank of Ireland. POV: "We pride ourselves on being able to use innovative solutions to close complex transactions, often in the face of unreasonable deadlines," Burke says. THE DEL SHAW MOONVES TRIO (Ernie Del, Jon Moonves and Nina Shaw) Firm: Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein & Lezcano The practice: Del and Moonves aren't related, but they might as well be. Del's biggest client is CBS' Leslie Moonves (aka Jon's big brother). That said, Del and Jon Moonves --- who work out of their firm's Santa Monica offices --- have very different practices. Del is a one-man employment agency for TV titans, repping an eye-popping roster of top small-screen suits. In addition to the man he calls "LM," Del also handles top L.A.-based execs at NBC (Kevin Reilly), Fox (Peter Liguori) and the CW (Dawn Ostroff). Other studio types who use "Ernie the attorney" include Sony bosses Steve Mosko, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg and 20th chief Dana Walden. The relationship with Leslie Moonves led Del to specialize in execs, he says. It "grew organically from Leslie Moonves' first contract (with a production company housed at Columbia Television) and continues to grow from a very loyal client base," Del says. Some of Del's exec base has morphed into production talent. Former Del-repped suits-turned-talent include Eric Tannenbaum, Sarah Timberman, Stu Bloomberg, Bob Greenblatt and David Janollari (Greenblatt is once again an exec, heading up Showtime's entertainment division). Jon Moonves, meanwhile, reps a mix of TV writers (Jack Orman of "ER" fame), producers (Vin di Bona) and actors (Leah Remini). He's guided Marc Cherry's career through hell (being robbed by his manager) and back (a new megabucks deal to continue on "Desperate Housewives" through 2011). He negotiated what may be the biggest deal ever for an actor, getting Ray Romano a reported $2.2 million per episode fee for "Everybody Loves Raymond." And there's no telling how much coin Jeff Foxworthy and Blue Collar Comedy Tour producers Parallel Entertainment will continue to bring in each year. Despite his brother's showbiz pedigree and some summertime exposure to Hollywood, Moonves originally practiced traditional law, working in Atlanta. He was offered a partnership in Georgia, "but I decided to go for my passion," he says. Not to be overlooked, co-founding partner Shaw reps some of the most powerful African-American talent in Hollywood, including 2006 Oscar winner Jamie Foxx. Her client roster also includes Spike Lee, Laurence Fishburne and Yvette Lee Bowser. POV: The Moonves brothers' relationship grew a bit heated during the Romano renegotiation. At one point, Jon says, "Leslie called up our mother and said, jokingly, 'Your son is an asshole.' I think we both did a very good job of aggressively and passionately representing our side without it ever becoming personal." SCOTT EDELMAN Firm: Gibson Dunn & Crutcher The practice: Edelman made headlines in 2004 when he obtained a $122 million jury verdict on behalf of Intertainment Licensing, but the high-profile fraud case against Elie Samaha and his Franchise Pictures was just one milestone in an entertainment practice that has been building steam over the past decade. When Edelman, 48, started at Gibson Dunn in the mid-1980s, the firm had a well-regarded media practice, but it did little pure entertainment work. "A year or two after I made partner," says Edelman, the co-chair of Gibson Dunn's media and entertainment department, "the firm moved me to the Century City office to develop an entertainment practice. I said, 'Thank you, but I have no clients and neither does the firm.' For the last 10 years, I've worked on developing the kind of large institutional-based practice that works best for a big firm." Edelman has done substantial work for the studios, particularly Sony. He is lead counsel for Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment in a lawsuit brought by independent video retailers against the major studios and Blockbuster challenging the revenue-sharing model by which videotapes are distributed to the major video chains. And in a case that settled favorably before trial, he represented Sony in an antitrust claim brought by Intertainer, alleging studio collusion in creating the Movielink download service. POV: "We've had a great time growing the practice," Edelman says. "You start with smaller cases and get some victories under your belt and move up to bigger things. Building a practice is like building a house: one stone at a time." PATTI FELKER and PETER NELSON Firm: Nelson Felker Toczek Davis The practice: Founded by Nelson and Felker 14 years ago, this eight-person firm is one of the smallest but most exclusive companies in town. In fact, Nelson says that he turns down half of its prospective clients. The firm has a reputation for repping key figures in some of the most groundbreaking franchise deals in movie and TV history. Nelson negotiated Peter Jackson's deals on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "King Kong," director Andrew Adamson's deal on "The Chronicles of Narnia" and David Duchovny's "X Files" pact (unprecedented because Duchovny received gross participation even though he didn't develop the property). Felker handled the renegotiation of "Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal's contract on that series, as well as Orlando Bloom's deals for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. Nelson says his firm's expertise lies in knowing "how to make deals for multiple films and recurring revenue streams. You have to be forward-thinking when you're negotiating for films or series that may become franchises," he says. "You want as much control as possible for the creative talent and the ability for them to remain attached (to future films) if they choose, and to participate in all revenues." POV: "Everyone is entitled to have an ideal vision of what they would like their career to be; my job is to help them, in a business way, to get there," Felker says. BERT FIELDS Firm: Greenberg Glusker The practice: Bert Fields, the legendary Hollywood lawyer, has a string of "onlys" after his name. He is the only major dealmaker to do litigation and the only major entertainment lawyer to represent both talent and all the studios, except Disney. Mario Puzo, a client, once described Fields as "the greatest consigliere of them all." As Hollywood becomes more corporate and technology-driven, he may also be the last. Famed for his toughness as well as his urbane manner, Fields serves a unique advisory role to a diverse group of clients. With the shadow of the Pellicano scandal lifting, Fields --- who turns 78 Saturday --- is back in action. He's currently handling a jury trial for book author Clive Cussler in a breach-of-contract action against Philip Anschutz and his Crusader Entertainment revolving around the underperformance of the 2005 pic "Sahara," and he reps ousted publisher Judith Regan in her nasty battle with Rupert Murdoch. He brokered client Tom Cruise's summer exit from Par and subsequent landing at UA. Fields client list also includes Harvey and Bob Weinstein, James Cameron, DreamWorks, Jeffrey Katzenberg (whom he's represented since his signature case, Katzenberg v. Disney), David Geffen, Japanese film companies Toho and Nippon Herald, Warren Beatty, the Cisneros Group, Brad Grey and Sherry Lansing. POV: "The entertainment industry is more interesting and exciting than ever, and I'm having more fun than ever being a part of it," Fields says. "But it's always been a delight for me, and I thank God for the life I've been given." RUSSELL J. FRACKMAN Firm: Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp The practice: The Napster case made Frackman a marquee name in the fight against Internet piracy, but he's been in the trenches battling illegal copying for 35 years and has represented the Recording Industries Assn. of America for almost as long. In the last decade, as digital piracy has began to encroach upon the film world, Frackman has added the Motion Picture Assn. of America as a client. "When I started out in the early '70s," Frackman says, "we were looking for pirated eight-track tapes at record stores and flea markets. It was great fun going on raids in Las Vegas. I learned a lot, and it all came into play many years later because even though the technology changes, the same basic principles of copyright law still apply." Recent and significant among Frackman's vast list of copyright cases are Rossi v. MPAA, in which he was lead counsel for the motion picture org in a case involving the take-down provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; and 321 Studios v. MGM, in which he represents the MPAA in litigation involving the anticircumvention provisions of the act. Frackman also represents the rights holder in an important copyright infringement case against Google involving the search engine's use of photos. POV: "With each new technology, there is new piracy," Frackman says. "When you arrive at the Internet, you have a copyright holder's nightmare: a perfect copy and easy distribution." MICHAEL FRANKFURT and RICHARD HELLER Firm: Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz The practice: Founded by Frankfurt 30 years ago, the Big Apple firm boasts perhaps the most diverse portfolios of clients and acumen in the entertainment law biz. "My practice on any given day moves between publishing to major motion pictures to indie films to theater to licensing and merchandising to digital media," notes Heller, who joined the then-tiny firm right out of NYU Law in 1977. Today, Frankfurt Kurnit has 50 lawyers under its roof. On the talent side, the firm "goes back to people like Sidney Lumet and includes new talents like Dan Fogler," notes Frankfurt, adding that Geraldo Rivera, Kathy Lee Gifford and John Goodman are also in the stable. But thesps are just one part of the practice: There's a thriving indie film business, which includes representation of the Tribeca Film Festival; there's representation of topflight TV talent, including Aaron Sorkin; there's work with local advertising production firms, including Radical Media; there's work with international clients like Britain's Richard Curtis, helping them cross over into the U.S.; and there's the repping of bestselling book writers, including Dean Koontz, Walter Mosley and South Beach Diet guru Arthur Agatston. In fact, Agatston --- who has branched out beyond his Rodale book series to a newsletter, a Web site and a national sponsorship deal with Kraft Foods --- is a good example of the kind of "super-hyphenate" the firm strives to transform its clients into. "In the last eight years, there's been a tremendous growth of individuals building great brands," Heller notes. "We have a firm large enough and deep enough to deal with the tax work, the licensing issues, the intellectual property issues and the digital media issues right under one roof." POV: "Being from New York, we felt it was important to add services beyond film and television," Heller says. "We have an independent attitude towards dealing with Hollywood because we're not located there." PATRICIA GLASER Firm: Christensen Glaser Fink Jacobs Weil & Shapiro The practice: Tough is practically a middle name for this well-known litigator who has been in the public eye since she crushed Kim Basinger at the 1993 trial for her client Main Line. The longtime attorney for Kirk Kerkorian, Glaser represented MGM in a series of multimillion-dollar litigations and currently is handling an arbitration over distribution issues for the company against Universal. Glaser continues to represent producers, but also does substantial work for studios, including Warner Bros. (where she is handling the "Dukes of Hazzard" rights dispute), Paramount, Disney and Sony (where she worked on the last round of "Spider-Man" litigation). Although she typically doesn't represent clients against a studio, she obtained a huge settlement for Saul Zaentz in his suit against New Line over "The Lord of the Rings." A portion of that case is still pending. She represents ABC and Endemol in connection with "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and the creators of the Baby Channel in a copyright action. Recently, she has represented Bob Yari in his "Crash" litigation and handled matters for magnate Ron Burkle, including his suit against Michael Ovitz. POV: "People ask me all the time how I deal with the pressure. I tell them, 'This is hugely fun. I love it,'" Glaser says. THE HANSEN JACOBSON QUARTET (Tom Hansen, Craig Jacobson, Jeanne Newman and Steve Warren) Firm: Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman Newman Warren & Richman The practice: It's hard to turn on the TV and not see shows that bear the imprint of Jacobson and Newman's clients, be it news (Katie Couric and Anderson Cooper), drama ("CSI's" Ann Donahue), comedy ("Ugly Betty" exec producer Ben Silverman), reality ("Big Brother" showrunner Allison Grodner), gameshows ("Deal or No Deal" creator Endemol) or latenight ("Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels). Jacobson's practice is, as he puts it, "as eclectic and diverse as you can get." He provides counsel to newsies such as Couric and Cooper and to film big shots such as Sam Raimi, David Fincher and Scott Stuber. Jacobson even reps some actors, such as Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Fox. The past year saw Jacobson working on two of the biggest deals in the news biz: Cooper's multimillion-dollar reup at CNN and Couric's headline-grabbing defection to CBS. The latter negotiation should go down as one of the most memorable in Jacobson's career. "It was the most intense, most interesting and most fun deal," he says, noting that CBS Corp. topper Leslie Moonves, along with news/sports chief Sean McManus, personally negotiated for the Eye. Newman's clients might not have made as many headlines, but they certainly had an impact --- particularly in the unscripted genre. Known as the queen of reality legal reps, Newman --- who in the last year launched the Jorian Hill winery with husband, 20th Century Fox TV prexy Gary Newman --- has pioneered the art of importing overseas talent in the unscripted arena to the U.S. Starting with Endemol co-founder John DeMol (still a client), she reps a small battalion of reality producers, including Grodner, Silverman (with Jacobson), R.J. Cutler, the Jay and Tony Show, Scout Prods. ("Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"), Shine, Stuart Krasnow and Evolution Film and Tape. Newman says working with scripted producers --- including Donahue, Tim Kring ("Heroes") and Amy Sherman- Palladino ("Gilmore Girls") --- "gave me entry into the reality world. I've always represented storytellers, whether they're telling scripted or unscripted stories." Like his partners, Hansen's practice is also diverse. Having helped do the original deal for "Twin Peaks," he's big on indie power players, including David Lynch, John Waters, Don Roos and Curtis Hanson, but also reps mainstream names like John Wells, John Woo and Jon Stewart. On the thesp side, his clients include several vets who've had career resurgences in the past year, including Sally Field, Robert Downey Jr. and Pierce Brosnan. Oh, and he reps Mel Gibson, too. Warren reps one of the game's more star-packed talent rosters, which includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Colin Farrell, Drew Barrymore and Kirsten Dunst. POV: "You've got to be willing and open to learn new things and risk doing a kind of deal you've never done before," Jacobson says. BARRY HIRSCH Firm: Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof & Fishman The practice: One of the more venerable of the big-name transactional attorneys --- and perhaps the toughest negotiator of them all --- his last-minute demands and "unsigned deals" have earned him no surfeit of friends at the studios over the years. But with a client roster that includes Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez and Francis Ford Coppola, Hirsch's profile remains among the highest in the profession --- even without his headline-grabbling divorce last fall from his old firm, Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum & Morris. "The biggest change in the business is the lack of available options for talent across the board because of all the animated and so-called comicbook movies being made these days," says the 1957 USC Law grad and licensed psychotherapist, remarking on the key evolution of the talent-representation business over his four decades in the field. "It has shrunk the opportunities, especially in the dramatic area, for major talent. You see the same thing on TV, where reality and gameshows have eaten up a lot of the primetime availability for talent." POV: "I don't see it as tough or not tough," says Hirsch when asked about his well-known tenacity on the dealmaking front. "I see it as protecting a client in all the areas that he or she needs protection in. If you're committed to doing that, it may be perceived as tenacity." ANDREW HURWITZ Firm: Schreck Rose Dapello Adams & Hurwitz The practice: The New York-based indie finance and distribution guru just changed to a new firm --- which straddles both the studio and indie finance worlds --- ending a long working relationship with Sue Bodine at Epstein Levinsohn Bodine & Weinstein. After graduating from Georgetown Law in 1988 and entering the corporate realm, he found himself more interested in film finance and took night courses at NYU to learn about that world. "What I liked then about financing, and still do, is that there's nothing cookie-cutter about it," he explains. "I've always liked the creative way lawyers get involved in structuring the financial aspect of a movie and the important role that plays in whether movies are made." Raising enough coin to allow client-directors such as Michael Moore, Ang Lee, Jim Sheridan and Bennett Miller to fulfill their cinematic visions excites Hurwitz, who says more money these days is coming from outside the States, even if a project is U.S.-based. "We're always looking globally," he says. "Even though a movie is shot in New York, I'll get two-thirds of the financing out of European equity sources and presales. "If we're raising money for filmmakers, we don't try to understand the motivation of the financier beyond closing the sale. At the end of the day, what we do is try to understand who the investor is and what do we need to do to greenlight the picture." POV: "It's the lawyer, more than any other player on the team, who is charged with the responsibility of film financing. That's the value added we provide --- knowing how to secure and structure the sources of financing." JIM JACKOWAY and BARRY TYERMAN Firm: Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum & Morris The practice: The firm specializes in transactions for all areas of the motion picture, television and music businesses, and includes personal representation for clients such as David Letterman, J.J. Abrams, Rod Stewart, Sean Connery and Anthony Minghella. Tyerman, a UCLA grad who grew up a rock 'n' roll fan and compares his early career to that of the protagonist's in "Almost Famous," handled tax scenarios for Elton John fresh out of law school. With his expertise in the tax field, and knowledge of British law, he launched relationships with Michael York, Michael Caine and a slew of other top U.K. talent. "The real delight of my career is that I've been able to represent such a broad range of people in different job categories," Tyerman says. In describing the change in writing contracts today compared with 20 years ago, he adds, "New media have forced the deals to be more complicated and more interesting." Jackoway --- a Yale law grad and former Wall Street corporate lawyer who has been at the firm since 1985 --- adds: "Vertical integration has created a new and different list of concerns and problems for attorneys of A-list clients. The studios are not quite sure what their business models will look like, and our job is to anticipate --- however we can --- where the money is going to be coming from." POV: "The challenge is to find and take these new technologies and expand opportunities while protecting rights," Tyerman says. "Together, as a firm, we strategize on which deals to make --- not based on the size or shape of the deal --- but which makes the most sense for a particular client," Jackoway adds. MARTIN KATZ Firm: Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton The practice: The litigator has come out on the winning end of a couple of noteworthy battles of late. There was Wolf v. Walt Disney Pictures, in which an appeals upheld a judgment against "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" creator Gary K. Wolf, who had argued that "gross receipts" should also include advertising dollars thrown in by promotional partners. In Corwin v. Walt Disney World Co., Katz again came through for the Mouse House, convincing the 11th Circuit to uphold an earlier ruling that renderings shown to Walt Disney in 1963 were not in fact "strikingly similar" to the Orlando, Fla., theme park he would later build. And in Wagner v. Columbia, Katz successfully argued for the California Court of Appeal to uphold a judgment in favor of Columbia stating that actor Robert Wagner --- who wrangled 50% of the net profits from the ABC series "Charlie's Angels" in the mid-1970s in exchange for his participation in a TV movie --- was not entitled to half the net profits from the "Angels" pics. POV: "The studios for a while had the reputation for not paying what they owe," notes the Michigan Law grad. "But as you pull back the layers of the claim one by one, you end up finding that they indeed paid what they owed. I find more honest mistakes where people were overpaid." LINDA LICHTER Firm: Lichter Grossman Nichols & Adler The practice: Though she's something of a fixture in the indie world --- one of her first movie sales was the Coen brothers' "Blood Simple" --- Lichter insists she's a "hybrid" with hands both in the independent and mainstream film industries. Indeed, Lichter's client list ranges from "Little Miss Sunshine" producers Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger (and that film's star Abigail Breslin) to "Pirates of the Caribbean" scribes Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. "My clients go back and forth," she says, pointing out examples such as "Monster's Ball" director Marc Forster, whom Lichter repped before he had either an agent or a manager, and who just wrapped "The Kite Runner" for DreamWorks. When she was starting out, Lichter considered working with independent filmmakers a "hobby." "It was really the province of just a couple lawyers," she explains. "Now the agencies see it as a real business and have jumped in with both feet." Her experience in that world lends itself to mainstream dealmaking, she says, because "it's given me a much broader understanding of how movies are financed and distributed. "So when I go and do a mainstream deal, I have much more of an ability to pick that deal apart and make it a better deal." POV: "Your reputation is the most important thing you have," Lichter says. "It's a small enough business that you have to always be aware of that." LOEB & LOEB's CRAIG EMANUEL and MICKEY MAYERSON Firm: Loeb & Loeb The practice: With a 50-lawyer entertainment group, Loeb & Loeb has a diverse and dominating practice. Mayerson, the managing partner of the firm's L.A. office, is a leading film finance lawyer, who has represented banks, hedge funds and high-net-worth individuals in putting together deals. "My practice is dominated by the migration of money from the East Coast to the West Coast," Mayerson says. "These transactions are where Hollywood meets Wall Street." The huge influx of capital into the film world has created a whole new spectrum of clients. GE Capital, says Mayerson, which never had investments in this area, has become a player on the financial side and is starting to lead deals. Mayerson also has handled financing for producers Joel Silver and Michael London; the Gun Hill Road deal for Relativity Media; deals on behalf of high-net-worth individuals such as Larry Ellison and newcomer Steven Rales; Sam Nazarian's Element Films; and hedge funds including Fortress and financial institutions like Citibank and Merrill Lynch. While Mayerson has pioneered revenue streams for film finance, colleague Emanuel has built a robust talent portfolio, discovering new faces --- he met client Robert Rodriguez, for example, just after the filmmaker finished his breakthrough effort, "El Mariachi" --- by actively combing the festival circuit. Today, the Aussie native's roster also includes Gary Oldman, Leelee Sobieski and Ryan Murphy --- Emanuel just negotiated a $15 million deal for "Nip/Tuck" creator Murphy. POV: "One of the things that distinguishes our offices is the sheer amount of financial transactions we do," Mayerson explains. SCHUYLER MOORE Firm: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan The practice: Long known as a tax lawyer who literally wrote the book about the business --- it was appropriately titled "The Biz: The Basic Business, Legal and Financial Aspects of the Film Industry" --- in recent years, Moore, 51, has morphed into a kind of outside general counsel for a host of independent production companies. Among his numerous recent projects: He did the legal work for ClickStar, the joint venture between chipmaking giant Intel and Morgan Freeman that produces original films for download shortly after their theatrical release; he is in the midst of a large financing transaction for Summit Entertainment; he is working on a foreign film fund for Endgame Entertainment; and he closed a Section 181 U.S. tax deal for Inferno. Moore put together the deal on "Goal!" the soccer trilogy largely financed by Adidas. He is helping Japanese film giant Kadokawa with further expansion. Plus, he's had his hands full as the general counsel of First Look, where CEO Henry Winterstern recently resigned. Moore is a prolific writer, frequent speaker and popular adjunct professor at UCLA Law School. POV: Moore, who is well known for his traffic-stopping pronouncements about the state of the entertainment business, had this to say about current film financing trends: "Bush has destroyed the dollar, and therefore film production in the United States has totally shifted. (The devalued dollar) plus state tax credits and no more foreign tax funds means it is now cheaper to shoot in the United States than foreign." THE O'MELVENY & MYERS TRIO (Joe Calabrese, Stephen Scharf and Robert Schwartz) Firm: O'Melveny & Myers The practice: The venerable O'Melveny & Myers --- one of the oldest and largest firms in Los Angeles --- has stayed up-to-date by always trying to figure out what's around the next corner. "We've been around for longer than anybody," says Calabrese, the head of the firm's entertainment and media practice, "and we can do the basic bread-and-butter stuff. But our growth has been in structuring sophisticated vehicles. We see ourselves as adding value in complex deals." In fact, Calabrese and his partner Stephen Scharf have handled a multitude of transactions in the $100 million to billion-dollar range. Clients include studios like Disney; hedge funds such as D.B. Zwirn and lenders such as CIT. They worked on the financing for Joel Silver's Dark Castle and for the Weinstein Co. They represent film distributor Mandate; the private-equity funded Legendary Pictures, which has a hit with "300"; Jeff Skoll's Participant Prods.; and Philip Anschutz. On the litigation side, Schwartz's practice ranges from traditional Hollywood accounting cases to innovative copyright issues. The numerous matters he's handled for the studios include Sony's struggle for the film rights to Spider-Man; Garrison v. Warner Bros., a class-action case involving profit participation; and a series of false advertising claims, where he defended the studio in cases arising from fake movie reviews. Currently, he represents New Line on a number of high-profile profit participation matters, particularly claims by Saul Zaentz over the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which are largely settled, and claims by director Peter Jackson, which are still pending. Schwartz also has been deeply involved in new-technology issues. He is particularly proud of his role in Grokster, the 2005 case handled by numerous lawyers, where the U.S. Supreme Court held that sharing copyrighted film and music files is illegal. "The court adopted my theory of active inducement, which makes it much easier for film and television rights holders to go after piracy," Schwartz says. POV: "An enormous amount of money is being reinvested into hedge funds and venture capital," Scharf notes. "People who historically had not invested in film because it is too risky and the returns are not good enough are now saying, 'I'm already tolerating a greater amount of risk.' " BRUCE RAMER Firm: Gang Tyre Ramer & Brown The practice: In his fifth decade of law practice, Ramer still reps Steven Spielberg, who named the mechanical shark in "Jaws" Bruce, in his lawyer's honor. The 73-year-old Ramer also counts George Clooney, Clint Eastwood, Robert Zemeckis, Milos Forman and Rob Minkoff as clients. Ramer was instrumental in the building of DreamWorks a decade ago, and his recent accomplishments include a deal between Spielberg and Paramount Pictures for the filmmaker to produce and direct "Interstellar," a film exploring the wormhole and gravity-field theories of Caltech physicist Kip Thorne. Ramer also negotiated Clooney's deal with Warner Bros. to star in and produce "White Jazz" and direct "Belmont Boys." Ramer, a former American Jewish Committee president and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has also remained one of the more active --- and right- of-center --- political forces in Hollywood, hosting a confab featuring Bush administration officials in his Beverly Hills office in the days following 9/11 to discuss ways the film and TV businesses could help fight terrorism. Earlier this month, he appeared at a Los Angeles fund-raising event for Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. POV: "We live in perilous times, unequaled in decades," Ramer opined in Los Angeles Lawyer in 2004. "Never has the republic had greater need for civil discourse, for ordered debate, for wise counsel, and the deliberate exchange of ideas." JOHN SCHULMAN Firm: Exec VP and general counsel, Warner Bros. The practice: A fixture in the entertainment law community, Schulman is a standout both for his flamboyant personality in an era of corporate drabness and for his sheer longevity. Working out of an office that has cartoons by famed Looney Tunes animators drawn right on the walls, Schulman oversees a staff of about 125 lawyers --- a job he has held since 1984, following a stint as an outside entertainment lawyer. Over the years, Schulman has been involved with his fair share of high-profile litigation, including a breach-of-contract case against Francis Ford Coppola over the production of "Pinocchio," in which Warners ultimately prevailed on appeal. Schulman also defended Warner in a suit claiming Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" was responsible for a copycat killing spree. Regarding these triumphs and others, Schulman credits Warners' inhouse legal team, singling out his lieutenants Jeremy Williams, Shelley Presser, Zazi Pope and Leigh Chapman. POV: "We handle problems quietly, efficiently and well here," Schulman says. "I have a lot of sayings using the 'C' word. We don't want claims to turn into cases, or cases to turn into causes, or causes to turn into calamities." MARTIN D. SINGER Firm: Lavely & Singer The practice: The scourge of the tabloids, Marty Singer is the man to call when a celebrity is in trouble. Over the years, he has gone to war to protect the reputations of a long stream of clients including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Britney Spears, Sylvester Stallone, Eddie Murphy, Nicolas Cage, Celine Dion, Jim Carrey and Kelsey Grammer. Notable recent suits involve Willis' court battle against a photographer who claimed he was assaulted by the star, and Reese Witherspoon's suit against the Star for claiming she was pregnant. He's earned the sobriquet "Mad Dog" --- he says a colleague once saw "M.D. Singer" stenciled on his parking spot and gave him the nickname. But Singer says there are many more tools in his arsenal besides aggression. "First we try to prevent an article, and if we can't do that, we try to change it. With most publications, we're looking for cooperation," he says. "You can't accomplish anything by being a jerk." Although defamation matters are a substantial part of his practice, Singer also handles employment and contract issues that are resolved without litigation or in private arbitrations. Recent cases that spilled out into public view were his representation of James Gandolfini in a salary dispute involving the thesp's work in "The Sopranos"; a rights and likeness case filed by former heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner against Stallone; and a breach-of-contract case for Steve Bing against Sean Penn, where Penn claimed he was fired from a film because of his views on the war in Iraq. POV: "I always tell my clients they must tell me the truth because the truth always comes out," Singer says. THE SLOANE OFFER PARTNERS (Jason Sloane, Robert Offer, David Weber and Warren Dern) Firm: Sloane Offer Weber & Dern The practice: Founded in 2002, this boutique firm is one of the youngest and hottest in the biz. All the partners are alumni of large, established firms such as Bloom Hergott (where Offer and Weber originally worked), Hansen Jacobson (Sloane's previous firm) and Nelson Felker (where Dern was a partner). "Because we're so small, we can all really work together," Offer says, noting that his firm has seven lawyers, in comparison with the nearly three dozen found at most major firms. "When you come with us, you get the benefit of a law firm, not a lawyer." The Young Turk partners --- all are in their early 40s --- are a generation younger than most of their peers, and their client list is similarly youthful: Angelina Jolie, Michael Bay, Will Smith, Jack Black, Spike Jonze and Mark Wahlberg. The roster is one of the most prestigious in the biz --- six of the firm's clients received Academy Award nominations this year, including Ryan Gosling, Djimon Hounsou and "Little Miss Sunshine" directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. POV: "It's just getting harder and harder to make deals," Offer says. "We used to make just straight studio deals. But now we're doing more independently financed movie deals, and those deals are tougher to make." JOHN SLOSS Firm: Cinetic Media The practice: Sloss is widely credited with establishing the indie sales-agent profession and has remained at the top of this realm. Operating his Sloss Law Office out of New York, he does legal work for a wide range of clients including Paul Allen and Jody Patton's Vulcan Prods., Bob Dylan, John Hamburg, Todd Haynes, Richard Linklater, Jared Hess, Morgan Spurlock, John Sayles,Victor Nunez, Kevin Smith, Whit Stillman, Christine Vachon's Killer Films, Gary Winick, Bravo and the Independent Film Channel. It is through a separate company, Cinetic Media, that Sloss has financed and sold such high-profile indie fare as "Spellbound," "Super Size Me," "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Little Miss Sunshine." Cinetic is coordinating the financing for Todd Hayne's Dylan biopic "I'm Not There." It's said that Sloss' profile is so big at Sundance, local theater managers have special codes to signal when he's in the house. "I was super-young when I repped John Sayles," explains Sloss, 50, describing his entry into the indie world. "He was the Good Housekeeping Seal of approval; it allowed me to have credibility as a lawyer." Sloss is also a founding partner in Independent Digital Entertainment, which makes digital pics using established filmmakers and actors. POV: "Putting together financing for films, we've incrementally expanded the description of what a lawyer's job is and have demystified the practice of law so that it feels like a lawyer can help facilitate commerce, instead of (being part of) a black art that people can't possibly understand," Sloss says. STANTON (LARRY) STEIN Firm: Dreier Stein & Kahan The practice: In his 30-plus years as a talent-side entertainment litigator, Stein has seen --- and participated in --- all of the cutting-edge issues. "As the industry changed, I've changed," Stein says. He made his name representing talent in the renegotiation of television contracts to reflect the riches that poured in with syndication. From there, he moved into handling profit-participation claims on films. In the late '90s his name became synonymous with self-dealing cases brought on behalf of clients David Duchovny and Alan Alda, claiming that vertically integrated media companies were cheating talent when they sold projects to themselves. In January, Stein moved to a new firm, and while individual talent still makes up the bulk of his practice, he's expanded his acumen to include Lionsgate, Marvel and the World Poker Tour. As for talent, he continues to represent longtime clients the Olsen twins, Hilary Duff, Denise Richards and others on an array of matters ranging from defamation to business planning. POV: "The business has become much more complicated, and it isn't enough to be a litigation boutique anymore," Stein says. "Even our individual clients, like the Olsens, have become more institutional with trademark and other issues." THE ZIFFREN BRITTENHAM FIVE (Ken Ziffren, Harry (Skip) Brittenham, Sam Fischer, Clifford Gilbert-Lurie, Melanie Cook) Firm: Ziffren Brittenham Branca Fischer Gilbert-Lurie Stiffelman Cook Johnson Lande & Wolf The practice: Widely viewed as the most powerful entertainment firm in the country, Ziffren Brittenham not only boasts a spectacular client list on the talent side, it also is the law firm of choice for companies seeking cutting-edge deals. "When I walk around the halls and hear about the kind of work my partners are doing, my jaw just drops," Cook says. "Even I'm doing some of the multiple-source financing deals now." Cook is a relative newcomer, joining the firm in 2002. However, as the best-known female dealmaker in town, she brought with her Keanu Reeves, Barry Sonnenfeld, Scott Rudin, Sam Mendes, Christina Ricci, Tim Burton and Mimi Leder. With clients Julie Taymor and Winnie Holzman, who wrote the book for "Wicked," Cook has also carved out a significant theater practice. Brittenham, the firm's co-founder, also has a stellar talent practice, representing Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, Eddie Murphy, Tim Allen and Ridley and Tony Scott. But it's in the corporate arena that he really shines, having put together billions of dollars worth of deals. He represented Pixar in its acquisition by Disney; for DreamWorks, he engineered the spinoff of the animation arm as a public company, as well as the sale of the live-action division to Paramount. He put together Working Title's new deal at Universal. Founding partner Ziffren, a pioneer in the TV syndication biz, today is the elder statesman of the entertainment bar and is frequently called in to mediate labor disputes and counsel corporate clients. Repping the next generation of firm leadership, managing partner Fischer and Gilbert-Lurie have their own extraordinary list of film and television clients including Sacha Baron Cohen, Steve Carell, Judd Apatow, writer Greg Daniels, Felicity Huffman, Matt Damon and Wes Craven. Among the highlights of the past year, Fischer cites the phenomenal rise of Baron Cohen; Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun's deal with NBC; and successful negotiations on behalf of James Brooks on "The Simpsons" and for Simon Cowell. Gilbert-Lurie's clients include Sandra Bullock, Claire Danes, Tina Fey, Tony Shalhoub, Sarah Silverman and Dick Wolf. POV: "TV deals are more complicated and harder to make because of the shifting of revenues from networks to other outlets," Fischer notes. "On the film side, the number of films is the same, but fewer of them are studio films." Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information - US |