Reader Question: What’s the best way to determine a “helluva good” entertainment lawyer?
tracinell asked:
Is there a magic 8 ball to help me choose a “helluva good” entertainment lawyer? Please say yes. ;)
I totally get the relevance of your question as this post and the loss of $300K in potential income will attest. A screenwriter or TV writer needs a damn good entertainment lawyer! How to find one?
When you sign with a manager and/or agent, one of the first things they will likely do is recommend an entertainment law firm. While agents can do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of dealing with the studio’s business affairs department to nail down the big negotiating points of your deal, you need a lawyer on your team to go through the contract to ensure everything is up to speed.
Your rep’s recommendation for a lawyer is important as they will promote a firm / lawyer with whom they are comfortable. As you want your whole team to be in sync and working as a unified front on your behalf, this is not an insubstantial consideration.
In addition a good entertainment lawyer will not only handle all of your legal issues on the business front, they can also be another cog in your networking team. In fact there are some writers who are only repped by a lawyer (one of whom comes to mind is the late Larry Gelbart). But in most cases, you will want an agent, manager, and lawyer. Yes, that can constitute 25% in fees, but it’s pretty much the price of doing business as a screenwriter or TV writer in Hollywood.
If you sign with a major agency or management outfit or even a mid-level boutique group, it’s almost 100% certain the entertainment law firm they recommend will be top-notch. People in Hollywood don’t have time to deal with hacks, so the chaff gets pretty much weeded out.
Now if you’re outside the system, have a possible deal come up, and you need to find an entertainment lawyer to negotiate for you and make sure the contract is sound, that’s a bit trickier question. Personally I’ve only dealt with major entertainment law firms and unless your potential deal runs to six figures, I doubt you could source anybody at that level to help you.
One resource is my end-of-year spec script analyses. I list law firms for most deals, so you can source names of reputable firms that way. Again if they’re doing business in Hollywood at that level, they are almost assuredly not hacks. And if all you’re looking for is a general sense about which entertainment law firms in Hollywood are the best, most powerful, etc, this is a good way to do that: find the names of the firms that are the most active and cross reference them with the writer’s reps.
Then contact them directly. Explain your situation. Like agents and managers, lawyers are looking for young talent they can attach themselves to for the long haul, so you may be surprised at who may agree to take on your project.
GITS readers, what advice do you have for tracinell re finding a good entertainment lawyer?
Tomorrow’s question: What are some of guidelines for establishing shots?