Executives: Paul Buccieri

Paul Buccieri

President, CEO

ITV Studios U.S. Group

ITV Studios feasts on reality TV, as cable networks boost their non-scripted programming. The U.S. arm of U.K. TV conglom ITV Studios invested nearly $100 million to acquire Gurney Prods. (“Duck Dynasty”), High Noon Entertainment (“Cake Boss”) and Thinkfactory Media (“Hatfields & McCoys”). “So much of the acquisitions is about finding those really dynamic and smart creative producers that have a consistent record over time,” says Buccieri, who oversees TV programming and distribution outside the U.K. 

Executives: Stephen J. Davis

Stephen J. Davis

President, Hasbro Studios and global entertainment & licensing, Hasbro Inc.

Hasbro Inc.

Hasbro re-imagined its My Little Pony brand with what Davis called “an immersive expression on multiple platforms.” The “My Little Pony Equestria Girls” movie hit Screenvision cinemas, DVD release and Hasbro’s co-owned Hub Network. Davis says the toymaker’s 1,500 brands plug into deals with “film, TV, toys, games, lifestyle brands and digital” incarnations. Davis is responsible for all Hasbro entertainment, including TV programs, film and licensing IP rights. 

Executives: John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa

John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa

Co-CEO and CEO

FactoryMade Ventures

Startup incubator FactoryMade Ventures landed deals with Comcast and private equity investors on the road to launching its joint-venture El Rey Network, an English-language TV channel for Latinos. Comcast agreed to carriage and private-equity-owned Univision Communications is the funding partner in El Rey. Fogelman says an “incredible amount of research and listening” was involved in fashioning a compelling pitch. The Univision investors “helped with distribution, ad sales and capital markets,” he adds. FactoryMade is led by Fogelman, founding board member of William Morris Endeavor, and WME’s former strategic planning chief Patwa. Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez is also partnered in El Rey. 

Executives: Cecile Gaget

Cecile Gaget

Director

Gaumont International

Since taking the full reins of Gaumont’s international biz in 2010, Gaget has been a driving force behind the company’s financial success and global outreach. Well-connected with Gaul’s top producers as well as international filmmakers and distributors, Gaget has actively participated in the financing of some of Gaumont’s biggest-budgeted, internationally driven films, including: Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s $33 million English-language pic “The Young and Prodigious Spivet,” which sold to The Weinstein Co.; Fred Cavaye’s $21 million “Mea Culpa,” a Fox pickup; and $32 million toonpic “Ballerina,” from “Intouchables” production shingle Quad. Before joining Gaumont as VP of international sales in 2007, Gaget worked at Rezo Films and TF1 Intl..

Executives: Ray Hopkins

Ray Hopkins

President, television networks distribution

CBS 

When Hopkins arrived at CBS this summer as networks distribution chief, he concluded a carriage deal for Verizon FiOS without incident but faced the high-profile Time Warner Cable blackout. Hopkins’ mantra — which he thinks TV platforms now understand — is CBS “won’t put handcuffs on monetizing our content in other ways” in digital, such as Netflix-like deals. Earlier, Hopkins was COO at regional sports net YES Network and worked at News Corp. in TV networks distribution. 

Executives: Jimmy Horowitz

Jimmy Horowitz

President

Universal Pictures

Signing Legendary Entertainment to a movie co-finance and distribution pact, Universal Pictures fills the finance void after Relativity Media’s exit. Horowitz landed the five-year deal with a partner sporting both money and creative smarts. Universal’s success with its “Fast and Furious” franchise undoubtedly impressed Legendary, which targets the same demographic. Horowitz — who joined Universal in 1992 — also wooed film vet Peter Schlessel to lead the studio’s Focus Features specialty arm.

Executives: Matt Cherniss & Peter Liguori

Matt Cherniss 

President, general manager at Tribune’s WGN America and Tribune Studios

Peter Liguori

President, CEO at Tribune Co.

Renowned media conglom Tribune Co. has emerged from bankruptcy. Now helmed by former Fox TV exec Liguori, the company is acquiring 19 TV stations from Local Television Holdings for $2.72 billion, enlarging Tribune to 42 local stations upon deal completion. The company’s WGN America cable network — which relies on TV series reruns — is getting a facelift with original programs from new boss Matt Cherniss, who worked with Liguori at Fox. Cherniss licensed two original scripted series. “We’re not doing pilots,” says Cherniss. “We’re going directly to series,” and looking for two more with great scripts, capable showrunners and bible outlines. 

Executives: Gerry Lopez

Gerardo “Gerry” Lopez

President/CEO

AMC Entertainment

Lopez lives in interesting times. At the helm when China’s Dalian Wanda Group bought AMC in August 2012, he’s helping lay the groundwork for a planned $400 initial public stock offering. Proceeds will generate capital for Wanda and publicly traded AMC stock can be used to make cashless acquisitions. Other key AMC execs for the IPO include exec VP-CFO Craig R. Ramsey and senior VP-general counsel Kevin M. Connor.

Executives: Deborah McDermott

Deborah McDermott

Senior VP, broadcast markets

Media General

Overseeing 30 network affiliated TV stations, McDermott worked at Young Broadcasting during its 2010 bankruptcy, guided it through its restructuring and engineered its June merger with Media General, resulting in a 30-station group. She’s now pushing digital media initiatives and “profitable growth that neither company would be capable of achieving on its own.” With broadcast TV battered by the online revolution, and with its spectrum space coveted by the mobile industry, consolidation is sweeping the TV station business. 

Executives: Steven T. Mnuchin Brett Ratner and James Packer

Steven T. Mnuchin Brett Ratner and James Packer

Chairman & CEO at Dune Capital Management

Brett Ratner and James Packer

Partners at RatPac-Dune Entertainment

Film slate financing deals are in vogue, as evidenced by the $450 million investment by RatPac-Dune Entertainment in up to 75 Warner Bros. movies, starting with blockbuster “Gravity.” “We could do more with the right opportunity,” says Mnuchin, whose Dune Entertainment helped finance 125 20th Century Fox films over eight years. He seeks a diversified portfolio of films, and doesn’t try to pick winners one at a time. He favors meshing risk equity and bank loans, which excludes the middle layer of mezzanine financing employed by other slate investors. The RatPac part of the Warner deal brings in Hollywood filmmaker Ratner and Australian media/resort tycoon Packer, son of Oz media mogul Kerry. Packer’s family was once an investor in Arnon Milchan-led Regency Enterprises, which has deep Hollywood ties. 

Executives: Steve MacDonald & Chuck Saftler

Steve MacDonald

Exec VP, general sales manager, basic cable sales at Twentieth Television

Chuck Saftler

President, program strategy/COO at FX Networks

In buying “The Simpsons” — reportedly for $750 million — FX Networks gets extensive online rights for its FXNow mobile- viewing app for authenticated subscribers. “It’s the most revolutionary part of the deal and future-proofs it,” says Saftler. “The Simpsons” accumulates 530 off-network episodes for its August debut with FX Networks, with more piling up later, yet the plan was not to find multiple buyers. “Our feeling was this is going to be shared within one entertainment conglomerate,” says MacDonald, who was on the selling end. Saftler recalls he put then-newbie “Simpsons” on his program wish list when he joined FX in 1993. “I’m a very patient man,” he jokes.

Executives: Ted Sarandos & Janice Marinelli

Ted Sarandos 

Chief Content Officer at Netflix

 Janice Marinelli

President, Disney Studio global in-home and digital distribution at Disney-ABC North America content distribution

Online video streamer Netflix barged into the premium pay TV window for theatricals with a reported $300 million-plus a year output deal starting in 2016 for Disney titles, replacing Starz. Sarandos picked the major studio with the most family-friendly content and a low output of new releases — all desirable characteristics. He said Netflix viewing data showed “lots of repeat viewing” for top family animated movies. On the opposite side of the negotiation table was Disney’s Marinelli, whose career at the studio started in 1985. 

Executives: Alon Shtruzman

Alon Shtruzman

Managing director

Keshet Intl.

Shtruzman set up three foreign outposts to produce local versions of Keshet TV programs, stressing “shared investment and shared incentives for both parties, and passion for the content.” Keshet, whose formats drive such content as Showtime series “Homeland,” has ventures in Australia, Canada and the U.S., and a company-owned U.K. office, where Shtruzman is based. The Israeli parent Keshet Media is a TV media conglomerate with 50 formats that it licenses around the world.

Executives: George Strompolos

George Strompolos

CEO

Fullscreen

Strompolos, who founded online video provider Fullscreen, the largest independent YouTube network, achieved the dream of entrepreneurs everywhere by nabbing high-profile venture capital, roping in Series A investments from media blue-chips The Chernin Group, Comcast Ventures and WPP. He pitched Fullscreen as sitting pretty at “the intersection of creativity and technology” with 3 billion monthly views. The former YouTube exec finds that meeting with sophisticated VC investors means that “I’ve gotten used to punching above my weight.” 

Executives: Thomas Tull

Thomas Tull

Chairman, CEO

Legendary Entertainment

With ambitions for a multi-media empire catering to fan-boys, Tull will funnel his films through Universal Pictures starting in 2014. His Legendary Entertainment reportedly has a five-year film distribution and co-finance deal, and exits Warner Bros. In the past 12 months, Legendary raised just over $1 billion in debt and equity to push into China, where Legendary is partnered with the leading distributor, and also into non-film media, such as buying a creative marketing agency. 

Executives: Wang Jianlin

Wang Jianlin

Chairman

Wanda Group

Hollywood’s biggest guessing game is where Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group will pounce next, after buying the AMC theater chain for $2.6 billion last year. Led by billionaire Wang, Wanda already assembled a stable of U.S. advisers. Wanda has hired consultancy Ernst & Young and law firms Davis, Polk & Wardwell and Reed Smith for assignments. For an IPO of AMC, CitiGroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Credit Suisse lead a list of Wall Street underwriters. 

Finance: David Acosta & Denise Colletta

David Acosta

Denise Colletta

Senior VPs, entertainment, 

City National Bank

Acosta and his team of 10 provided financing of more than $300 million in the past year for single and multiple feature projects, TV and sports, and also structured credit facilities for production and post-production companies. In one recent deal City National helped supply financing to Entertainment One, boosting the Canadian film shingle’s international division. Acosta notes that growth in soft-money subsidies, video-on-demand and cable TV has made independent TV production even more viable in the past four years. Colletta, with expertise in the music biz, has provided financing of more than $100 million in music in the past year, completing over 60 deals. She says a pickup by music clients to monetize their intellectual property assets triggered the bank’s expansion in music services. 

Finance: Thomas Dey, Richard Gray & Sachin Dosani

Thomas Dey

President/CEO

Richard Gray

Sachin Dosani

Managing directors

About Corporate Finance

TV production companies are desirable acquisitions because they increasingly spawn big merchandise revenue and use digital media to communicate directly with audiences. Investment bank About Corporate Finance represented “Duck Dynasty” TV producer Gurney Prods. in its sale to U.K. TV conglom ITV — one deal among $1.7 billion in transactions since ACF was founded in the U.K. in 2010. Other deals have included sales of Shed Media, Left Bank Pictures,19 Entertainment, Sirens Media, High Noon and Thinkfactory. Dey says ACF’s founders’ history with accounting firm Grant Thornton enables them to translate the cash-basis bookkeeping of TV producers for big-media buyers who use another method. “There is always a disconnect between the two,” says Dey, who moved to Los Angeles to be closer to deal action. Also relocated: Richard Gray and Sachin Dosani. 

Finance: Charles M. Heaphy

Charles M. Heaphy

Head of motion picture & TV finance group

First Republic Bank

There’s been “a massive influx of capital in both senior debt and mezzanine debt into the film and TV marketplace,” says Heaphy. The bank was among a dozen mostly American institutions that stepped in to fill a void following the withdrawal of some non-U.S. banks from Hollywood after the 2008 financial crisis. Its corporate clients include Lionsgate, DreamWorks Studios, New Regency, Weinstein Co. and Entertainment One. First Republic also provided single-picture financing for 22 films in 2013, including “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” 

Finance: Steven H. Kram & Steven Blume

Steven H. Kram

President/CEO

Steven Blume

COO/CFO

Content Partners

Hollywood is rife with talent, investors and others holding passive profit participations, which now can be cashed out. “This business didn’t exist seven years ago,” Kram says. Content Partners buys backend profits for films and TV shows that are in the black. In its biggest deal, the company reportedly paid around $400 million for a half-interest in the sprawling “CSI” TV series property. Estimating values is “part art, part science and part experience,” Blume says. 

Finance: Chip Seelig

Chip Seelig

Managing partner

The Seelig Group

Investor enthusiasm for Hollywood film slate deals perked up because movie revenue from digital media is steadily rising and overseas markets maintain brisk momentum, says Seelig. Previously, uncertain Hollywood economics and the recession meant a “dearth of financing because of uncertainty… which pulls everyone back.” Seelig recently arranged a $400 million-plus movie slate financing for 20th Century Fox, continuing his studio relationship, though parting with Dune Entertainment, which segued to Warner Bros. 

Finance: David Shaheen, Jason Sklar & Bill Hageman

David Shaheen

Managing director, head of entertainment industries group

Jason Sklar

Bill Hageman

Executive directors

J.P. Morgan Chase 

Investor enthusiasm has returned for film and TV because home entertainment is no longer in free-fall and VOD revenue is becoming predictable, says Shaheen, head of J.P. Morgan Chase’s entertainment-lending unit. With equity more available, “the broader market for debt has strengthened significantly in 2013 for film, TV and music content,” he adds. Sklar, an exec director along with Hageman, detects movie companies in a “strong push for diversification” into TV programming using film-like financing. In the past year, J.P. Morgan arranged over $3 billion in film/TV content debt and advisory deals for Entertainment One, DreamWorks Animation, Legendary Entertainment, Lionsgate and MGM. 

Finance: Brian Stearns & Daniel Timmons

Brian Stearns

Daniel Timmons

Co-heads, entertainment industries

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Stearns says the high end of the movie business is bankable because of its good content, risk-mitigation strategies and distribution clout. “The rich have gotten richer in motion-picture land,” he adds, referring to a growing divide between risky and less risky projects. Following the credit crisis of 2008-2009, some banks exited Hollywood. Those remaining, while competitive with each other, partner on deals to share risk across banking syndicates, adds Timmons, the other entertainment co-head. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is left-side lead arranger/advisor for more than $1.5 billion in new entertainment financings for Content Partners, FilmNation, DreamWorks Animation, Legendary Pictures, Open Road films, Dune Entertainment (Fox slate), RatPac-Dune (Warner Bros. slate) and various project financings.

Business Affairs: Bernardine Brandis

Bernardine Brandis

Executive VP, business affairs

Walt Disney Studios

Disney increasingly has big-name actors portraying classic characters in live-action films, such as Angelina Jolie in “Maleficent” and Cate Blanchett in “Cinderella.” When Disney seeks image rights outside of the movie, “at first there’s pushback,” says Brandis. “But then they come around,” in part because they want their own kids seeing them in the Disney world. She negotiates talent agreements for live-action and animated films, including the “Star Wars” revival.  

Business Affairs: Robert Kelly

Robert Kelly

Deputy General Counsel

DreamWorks Animation 

Online destination AwesomenessTV, which DreamWorks Animation acquired in May, has grown to nearly 30 million subscribers and generated 2 billion video views, since being founded in mid-2012. Kelly, who worked on the acquisition, marvels at those stats, which he attributes to AwesomenessTV’s core teenage audience loving “bit-sized media in short-form clips and aggregating user-generated content.” The buy is for $33 million, plus a possible earn-out of $117 million more. A seven-year veteran of DWA, Kelly handles M&A, corporate securities, governance and compliance.

Business Affairs: Rita Tuzon

Rita Tuzon

Exec VP, general counsel

Fox Networks Group

In negotiating cable TV carriage agreements, hot-potatoes are how many episodes to stack for binge viewing and how to handle out-of-home video access. Fox Networks Group resolved those and other points in a big Comcast deal, which reportedly covers some channels to 2020. “There is a conflict at the edge, but we think we can get to win-win,” says Tuzon, the highest-ranking female executive at Fox Networks Group. She heads a staff of 50. 

Business Affairs: Jeff Frost

Jeff Frost

Executive VP, U.S. business affairs

Sony Pictures Television

Throughout history, the big studios were slow to jump into embryonic media, but Jeff Frost has other ideas. In what’s said to be the first instance of a major studio creating new original material without an established backend revenue stream, the Sony TV biz affairs maven helped place the “Damages” creative team in a program deal with Netflix. He also closed a deal to license a TV series based on the pic “Zombieland” to Amazon. Since the buyers take the lucrative subscription VOD window, Sony found “other innovative ways to share revenue and create new revenue streams,” says Frost, a five-year Sony vet. 

Law: Tom K. Ara

Tom K. Ara

Partner

Reed Smith

Handling the U.S. legal side of two Chinese ventures and Malaysia-based TV miniseries “Marco Polo,” Ara gets plenty of phone calls at odd hours and constantly deals with document translations. He’s the lead U.S. counsel for Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis, a multibillion-dollar Chinese studio building project, and Qingdao Intl. Film Festival. Both are pushed by Chinese juggernaut Wanda Group. Cultural differences are often “not complications but rather added steps required,” he says.

Law: T. Hale Boggs

T. Hale Boggs

Chair, Manatt Digital Media/partner, corporate & finance

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Boggs sits at the intersection of technology and creativity. He sees San Francisco and Silicon Valley embracing content businesses, while Hollywood delves into tech initiatives. “Those two orientations are blending together,” he says. Boggs feels Southern California needs to grow its own pool of venture capital money to foster growth of its tech industry. He repped comics/graphic novel publisher Boom! Studios in acquiring Archaia Entertainment and also other tech clients including mobile messaging marketer Mogreet. 

Law: Christopher Brearton

Christopher Brearton

Managing partner, Century City office

O’Melveny & Myers

Brearton recently worked on four cable TV channel launches where ambitions for funding high-quality programs for linear channels are based on expectations of generating revenue from the Netflixes of the world. “In a weird way, the subscription-VOD window is really one of the things to get these programs created and financed,” he says. Brearton’s clients include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Univision Communications, Participant Media, the Intl. Olympic Committee and DreamWorks Animation, which he advised on its five-year distribution agreement with Twentieth Century Fox.

Law: P. John Burke & Marissa Roman Griffith

P. John Burke

Marissa Roman Griffith

Partners

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld 

Burke notes that all the small and vastly numerous deal points in any film slate financing can — in their totality — derail a transaction. But all went relatively smoothly in the case of the recent $450 million investment by RatPac-Dune Entertainment in up to 75 Warner Bros. Pictures. “All these seemingly minor issues along the way can add up to a big misalignment of interests,” says Burke, who represented RatPac-Dune in negotiations with Warner. “But this deal is very well aligned.” Fellow Akin partner Griffith negotiated the credit facility for RatPac-Dune. Burke also worked for Dune Entertainment on three earlier slate financing deals with 20th Century Fox.

Law: Aydin S. Caginalp

Aydin S. Caginalp

Partner, entertainment & media

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Valuations for music publishing assets, after being down in the dumps, soared in recent years from recognition that this business-to-business sector is “resilient to changes in the music industry,” Caginalp says. In contrast, recorded music is driven by fickle consumers. Caginalp reps BMG Rights Management as it expands globally, including its acquisition of indie Primary Wave Music, Rosetta music publishing from Sony/ATV, and the U.S. aspects of BMG buying Mute Records and Sanctuary Records publishing and recordings. 

Law: Joseph Calabrese

Joseph Calabrese

Chair, entertainment, sports & media practice

O’Melveny & Myers

Hollywood is of two minds about film slate financing. Some prefer the slate model, delivering a wide portfolio, while others pick one movie at a time. “The good news is there seems to be room for both of those philosophies in Hollywood on the studio and investor side,” says Calabrese, whose clients include Legendary Entertainment, Digital Cinema Implementation Partners, Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., Warner Bros., Guggenheim Digital, and Intl. Olympic Committee. Calabrese also advised Caruso Affiliated in its bid to acquire the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Law: Jeff B. Cohen

Jeff B. Cohen

Co-founder

Cohen Gardner

Cohen combines legal savvy with sensitivity to opportunities in the growing arenas of gaming and endorsements. With celebrities cultivating fanbases online, they have growing clout for personal branded lines of consumer goods, he says. “Technology has empowered artists like never before.” Among Cohen’s clients with their own products are chef Adam Gertler (“Next Food Network Star”) for a line of sausage that Costco carries, and Shorty Rossi (Animal Planet’s “Pit Boss”) with cigars. Cohen sits on the board of client Game Desk, an educational game tech company.

Law: Ruth Fisher

Ruth Fisher

Co-chair-media, entertainment & technology practice group

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

A Hollywood lawyer has to be “a little bit of a prognosticator” to anticipate the digital revolution’s impact on transactions, Fisher says. The trend of media convergence upends the simpler industry benchmarks that were reliable in the past. In notable work on videogame transactions, Fisher repped Vivendi in selling for $8.2 billion a portion of its majority stake in Activision Blizzard and guided vidgame developer and publisher THQ in its bankruptcy asset sales.

Law: Craig Emanuel

Craig Emanuel 

Head of entertainment

Loeb & Loeb 

Entertainment lawyering can require the occasional all-nighter, as Emanuel can attest following his representation of producers at Sundance for “The Way, Way Back” and Toronto for “Can a Song Save Your Life?” Reports say Fox Searchlight paid $10 million for “Way Back.” “Especially in festival settings, you don’t want to leave the room without a signed document because people can change their minds,” says Emanuel. His clients include director Robert Rodriguez and Daniel Day-Lewis. 

Law: David M. Fox

David M. Fox

Partner

Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox Rosenberg & Light

Electronic Arts jump-started a screen version of its game “Need for Speed” by developing its own screenplay, eventually bought by DreamWorks Studios. An attorney for EA, Fox notes that the practice shortens development time — few script-approval hangups, for example — and the movie hits when the game is still hot. “Others are doing it now,” says Fox of the pioneering process. He also reps writer-directors Chris McQuarrie (“Mission: Impossible 5”) and James Wan (“Fast & Furious 7”), plus Jon Cryer’s renegotiation for “Two and a Half Men.” 

Law: John T. Frankenheimer

John T. Frankenheimer

Partner, chair-music industry practice

Loeb & Loeb

Anyone expecting stability in the music business will be disappointed because its “evolution has not reached a conclusion,” says Frankenheimer. There’s upheaval from digital streaming and consolidation in international touring. Some new revenue streams are not being shared equitably so “that’s going to one of the big debates and conflicts over the next few years,” he adds. His practice covers film, TV and music.

Law: Matt Galsor

Matt Galsor

Chair, entertainment group

Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger

Disruption from the digital revolution creates a “pessimistic atmosphere” for dealmaking because of uncertainty over Hollywood’s revenue streams in the future, Galsor says. “But deals still do get done” even though the mindset is to be cautious because of unpredictability in the media/entertainment landscape. Galsor handled Tom Cruise’s contract for “Mission: Impossible 5” and James Cameron’s pact for climate-change TV series “Years of Living Dangerously.” 

Law: Eric Greenspan

Eric Greenspan

Partner

Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox Rosenberg and Light

TV’s ubiquitous talent shows are proving grounds where record labels seek new artists, which is “a big sea change in music,” says Greenspan. His firm reps all the contestants on “The X Factor” and half of those on “The Voice,” Greenspan’s clients include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slash, Jewel, Christina Aguilera and Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis (who once worked as a chef in Greenspan’s home and is about to open an eatery in Las Vegas).

Law: Alan Grodin

Alan Grodin

Partner

Weintraub Tobin Chediak Coleman Grodin

As fantasy comedy “Journey to the West” nears $200 million in China’s box office, Hollywood attorney Alan Grodin smiles. He represented the Chinese blockbuster’s star and producer Stephen Chow. Grodin finds that Asian filmmakers often work pic deals into publicly traded companies for the additional upside of a stock gain. “It’s a different model” from Hollywood’s, he says. Another client is Anant Singh, producer of $35 million Oscar hopeful “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”

Law: Matthew M. Johnson

Matthew M. Johnson

Managing partner

Ziffren Brittenham

Johnson finds that increased competition from new program buyers such as Netflix make traditional TV outlets more aggressive. At the same time, he sees traditional buyers becoming more selective, “putting more of their chips own on fewer projects.” Johnson manages Tyler Perry’s program supply relationship with OWN. He specializes in representing talent, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Michael Keaton, footballer Tim Tebow and directors Matthew Vaughn and Shawn Levy. 

Law: Ken Hertz

Ken Hertz

Senior Partner

Hertz, Lichtenstein & Young

When Taylor Swift licensed her name for a line of Keds shoes, the footwear got exposure across cyberspace, including on the singer’s personal website, Tumblr and YouTube. Consumer goods marketers “want the artists to be engaged in new ways, and artists themselves don’t always want to do traditional endorsements,” says Hertz, who represented Keds. He also handles Will Smith, David Blaine, Britney Spears and Jamie Oliver. 

Law: Darrell D. Miller

Darrell D. Miller

Chair, entertainment and managing partner Los Angeles office 

Fox Rothschild

One of Miller’s clients has two current movies but he’s not very Hollywood. T.D. Jakes is pastor of a Dallas mega-church and produced Fox Searchlight’s “Black Nativity” and TriStar’s “Heaven Is for Real.” Also with recording, festival-event and TV talk show deals, Jakes “is a multi-hyphenate client who has the capacity to diversity his brand over multiple industries,” says Miller, who also represents filmmaker Reginald Hudlin, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and corporate clients. 

Law: Kenneth Kleinberg

Kenneth Kleinberg

Senior partner

Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo 

Kleinberg client J.K. Rowling’s film deal at Warner Bros. for “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” had many “moving parts because of extraordinary universe of IP she created,” says Kleinberg. The author also expanded online rights for her Pottermore.com, among tweaks of her “Harry Potter” property. Literary agent Neil Blair was also involved. Other Kleinberg clients include Jack Nicholson, Michael Nesmith for interactive 3D technology, and director/effects maven Douglas Trumbull. 

Law: Robert Lange

Robert Lange

Founding partner

Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo

Representing reality TV producers with $120 million in productions, Lange sees new math for up-from-nowhere reality stars cashing in on personal fame. “There is a general trend of the network and producer receiving some participation in the upside of the personality’s businesses,” says Lange. His clients include Thinkfactory Media (“Hatfields & McCoys”), Authentic Entertainment (“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”), Intuitive Entertainment (“Millionaire Matchmakers”), plus showrunners, film and TV talent and producers of branded entertainment. 

Law: Jamie Mandelbaum

Jamie Mandelbaum

Partner

Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein

Mandelbaum likes to leverage new media to his clients’ benefit: “With all the new exhibition platforms, I get to reinvent the wheel every day, ensuring that my clients fully participate in the upside of projects produced on new models, and exploiting new models to allow (them) even greater creative freedom.” Among Mandelbaum’s clients: TV writers/creators Carol Mendelsohn (“CSI” franchise), Michael Patrick King (“2 Broke Girls”) and Emily Kapnek (“Suburgatory”); actors Jonny Lee Miller (“Elementary”) and Nathan Fillion (“Castle”); and rising stars Olivia Munn, Britt Robertson, Nick Braun and Josh Helman.

Law: Schuyler Moore

Schuyler Moore

Entertainment partner

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan

Moore believes the growing multinational footprints of subscription-VOD platforms will have a profound impact on movie financing. “Pre-sales to the Netflixes of the world is the future because of their worldwide reach,” he says. “This will rip the heart out of traditional pre-sales” with its patchwork of deals. He represented investors in the RatPac-Dune and Hemisphere 2 film-slate financings, and handled transactions for “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” 

Law: Mickey Mayerson

Mickey Mayerson

Chair-entertainment finance practice 

Loeb & Loeb

The glue for many movie financings is abundant equity investments from high-net worth individuals and institutions, Mayerson says. “Equity is coming into the entertainment industry from all sources,” he notes. With a risk equity foundation, deals can be enlarged with other types of financings. Mayerson advised an investor in the RatPac-Dune film slate deal for Warner Bros., Universal in its HBO extension and Endgame Releasing with prints & advertising transactions. 

Law: Ben Mulcahy

Ben Mulcahy

Partner

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton

Promotions by consumer product marketers increasingly aim for transformative effects, and not just media exposure, says Mulcahy. He repped Samsung in its big NBA promotion in which “both sides will collaborate on technology to change the way sports fans consume media — in this case on their mobile devices.” Mulcahy handled Paramount Pictures for its summer movie promotions and Samsung’s downloads of a Jay Z music album, and reps Chrysler. 

Law

Arnold Peter

Managing partner

Peter Law Group

Few people are better placed than Peter to advise Indians making English-language films for global markets. His Indian heritage has put him in a position to rep such entities as Yash Raj Films for $42 million action-thriller “Dhoom 3,” the most expensive film made in India and the first to shoot on Imax. He also handled a distribution deal between Fox and the producers of Bollywood comedy “3 Idiots,” and legal work for “Broken Horses,” financed and co-produced by Indian conglom Reliance.

Law: Stephen L. Saltzman

Stephen L. Saltzman

Partner

Loeb & Loeb 

Saltzman credits a trip to the 2007 Shanghai film fest to “showing me the next wave was clearly China,” as well as South Korea and Southeast Asia. His clients in the region include Shanghai Media Group, Huayi Bros., Celestial Pictures, Talent Intl. and Beijing Galloping Horse Film, which acquired key assets of Hollywood’s Digital Domain. To bridge cultures, Saltzman finds his lawyering is “sometimes mediation and education as much negotiation.” 

Law: Libby Savill

Libby Savill

Partner

O’Melveny & Myers

Savill certainly knows her way around the British film industry and entertainment law. A London-based partner of O’Melveny & Myers, Savill is deputy chair of the British Film Institute, and her private practice clients include the Weinstein Co., StudioCanal, TF1 and eOne. She also is credited as co-executive producer of Oscar winner “The King’s Speech.” Savill specializes in financing of films, especially co-productions, and structured financings of film slates and single pictures. 

Law: Matthew Thompson

Matthew Thompson

Entertainment partner and co-head, transactional entertainment group

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan

Thompson sees a big impact from “Pawn Stars” producer and client Leftfield Pictures acquiring “Real Housewives of New Jersey” producer Sirens Media. That’s because an accompanying eight-figure, Barclays-led credit facility was simply backed by future receivables. “It’s made everyone a potential buyer and substantially increased the value of the companies” in unscripted TV, he says. Separately he repped Relativity Media for its ultimates facility with One West Bank.

Law: Stephen Tsoneff

Stephen Tsoneff

Partner, media, entertainment & technology practice group

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 

As someone who reps major studios, Tsoneff marvels at how investors are again embracing film slate financings following a lull of a few years. “They’re dipping their toes if not jumping into the pool,” he says. His clients include 20th Century Fox for its TSG Entertainment film slate finance and IP license to a Malaysian theme park, Paramount Pictures for re-upping Skydance Productions and DZ Bank for Constantin Film finance. 

Law

Bryan Wolf

Partner

Ziffren Brittenham

Wolf repped David Ellison’s Skydance Productions (“World War Z”) in continuing its Paramount Pictures relationship that takes a step toward establishing a diversified media company. “It enables Skydance to build its business efficiently by not having to take all the functions of being a studio inhouse in its first phase of existence,” says Wolf. Other Wolf clients include Judd Apatow, Steve Carell and Nicholas Stoller. 

Up Next: Uri Fleming

Uri Fleming

Associate

Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo 

When he worked at a movie completion bond company, Fleming saw dealmaking as “problem solving.” Now at a law firm, he’s found solutions for various clients by helping out on transactions such as author J.K. Rowling’s expanded deal with Warner Bros., the sale of TV producer Thinkfactory Media, CDC Intl. on its multipic Latin American deal with Disney, and Chernin Entertainment’s production of social media program “Summer Break.”

Up Next: Hayden M. Goldblatt

Hayden M. Goldblatt

Associate

Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz

Goldblatt made entertainment law his career after interning at director Robert Altman’s company a decade ago. Armed with a Brooklyn Law School degree, he reps producers Terrence Malick, Nicolas Gonda, A.J. Edwards and Charley Beil for financing “The Better Angels,” and also cinema booker Tugg in the acquisition of Sundance docu winner “Blood Brother.”

Up Next: Gina Reif Ilardi

Gina Reif Ilardi

Associate, entertainment, technology and advertising practice group

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 

Advising media, retail and brand clients on marketing, Ilardi works on Chrysler’s tie-ins with Hollywood, including “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.” Other Ilardi clients: Game Show Network, Lionsgate, MillerCoors, Paramount Pictures, Samsung in connection with the NBA and retailer H&M with its Beyonce tie-ins. She steered toward entertainment after her mother became an executive at NBCUniversal. 

Up Next: Amy B. Ortner

Amy B. Ortner

senior counsel

Loeb & Loeb 

Music attorney Ortner counts Universal Music and Warner Music among her clients, and advised Sony Pictures Entertainment in the sale of a music publishing catalog. She repped BMG Rights Management in connection with its acquisition from Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing of the Virgin music publishing catalog and the Famous U.K. music publishing catalog, and also advises on M&A, media content licenses and branded entertainment. Her law degree is from Fordham.

Up Next

Alissa Miller

Counsel

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

A third-generation attorney, Miller focuses on film/TV finance deals, including financing for “The Hunger Games” movies. She repped Bank of America and JPMorgan on chain-of-title and diligence matters in connection with a $200 million credit facility, and worked with Comerica, Union Bank and OneWest Bank. Titles that have crossed her desk include “Out of the Furnace,” “Ender’s Game” and “Hemlock Grove.”