Entertainment Law Blog

Television programming is mostly predicated upon original teleplays/telescripts or literary/dramatic works licensed from third parties. Such licensing is often negotiated through an option/purchase agreement between an author and a producer/production company. This article seeks to explore some of the salient points of such option/purchase agreements including the term of the option, the amount paid for the option, the commencement date of the option, the amount paid for the option, among others... Read More

Deal Memos might precede an Exclusive Recording Artist Agreement. Deal Memos are primarily intended to eschew protracted, costly, and often futile negotiations and instead establish contractual relationships between artist and recording company. Deal Memo might further the interests of both parties. If the recording studio longs to take advantage of the artist rather swiftly, the Deal Memo would provide a vehicle. If the artist longs to ascertain if and when they will be paid.... Read More

Despite the fact most film studios and major production companies have their own distribution company affiliates in one form or another, independent production companies due to lack of adequate wherewithal have to rely on outside distribution entities. This article explores some of the most salient provisions of "Short Form" distribution agreements including but not limited to rights and obligations of participants, division of receipts and expenses.... Read More

With the advent of wholly newfound media and the ease to pirate songs, any meaningful tangible income from music publishing has drastically diminished. Consequently, it is incumbent upon music participants including but not limited to publishers, singers and songwriters to ascertain the fundamentals of music publishing income to some extent to monetize their hard earned commodity. In this article, we explore some of the salient types of music publishing income.... Read More

Procuring and securing financial backing from investors constitutes the sine qua non of entertainment deals. in fact, lack or dearth of money is translated into death knell of the deal especially a motion picture project. Accordingly, it behooves project participants including investors underwriting a motion picture project and producers yearning the funding to prudently consummate the deal. This article presents some of the issues such deal participants should be wary of.... Read More

To live broadcast an event, producers or broadcasters must obtain permission from sponsors. Sponsors could be the ones owning or performing the event in one form or another. The event could be a play, ballet, concert or any other special event to be broadcast live. Producers could be the stadium or venue housing the event, a for-profit entity or any other entity or individual(s). It is incumbent upon participants and parties to ascertain the salient provisions of such contracts.... Read More

From legal perspective, making a motion picture is esoteric, convoluted and fraught with peril. The process of movie making encompasses numerous deals and consequent contracts. To properly and prudently effectuate such contracts parties involved have to contend with plethora of issues ranging from acquisition of rights, preproduction, financing and production to distribution. Let us in some depth delve into movie making process, from legal perspective.... Read More

Exclusive Recording Agreement ("Agreement") between an artist and a recording company encompasses some rather unique and other rather esoteric provisions applicable to only such agreements. Let us review, in some depth, duration, exclusivity, advances, and royalty provisions of such agreements, among others.... Read More

Often, television programming involves original teleplays or telescripts licensed from third parties and not copyrighted works. Nonetheless, if the work is copyrighted, both seller and buyer should be mindful of several salient factors including but not limited to the option period, the option amount, the option commencement date, option extension, the option price for the right, the amount of profits, the type of profits (net or gross), the ownership of rights, among others. ... Read More