Entertainment Lawyers

  As we’re sure you’re aware, the WGA has seen a rocky 18 months to date trying to force agencies to comply with its demanded end to packaging fees for writers. So far, the only holdouts have been the CAA and the WME- but why? With an end to the standoff promised soon, we take a quick look at the reasoning behind it.  On the CAA side, it has an ownership interest in the affiliate whip. WME has ownership stakes in Endeavor Content to consider. That alone isn’t the entirety of the problem, however. It’s that the WGA demands any ownership stakes in production entities be 20% or less… a slightly problematic demand for both. So there can be a little surprise it’s been tough getting to this point. The CAA had, however, announced in a statement earlier this month that it will accept the bulk majority of the guild’s terms, save a ‘few details’ around wiip to tweak. The WGA still, however, refused to agree to the proposed changes. Probably wisely, to be honest. While both have a...

  There was a time when ‘North Carolina’ and ‘thriving film industry’ went hand in hand. Then a series of unfortunate knockbacks, including changes to the tax incentive programs offered, all but drove the filming opportunities here into the ground. From 2019, however, we’ve seen growth in the attractiveness of the iconic state to filmmakers, and it’s well possible we could be on the way to a complete renaissance in the North Carolina film industry.    The evidence? At least 7 series and films are in production here in 2020, despite the generally lackluster nature of the year. 2019 was no slouch, either, proving to be one of the best on record in ages for the state. One of these productions is even directly set in Charlotte. With the film, crews come money spent in the community, tourism, and hope for more to come.  Why, however, are films on their way back to the state? North Carolina remains a beautiful- and more importantly scenically diverse- place to film. Y...

SAG-AFTRA and AEA are pitted against each other over Broadway matters during the pandemic, with knock-on effects for the industry. Entertainment law firms San Francisco to LA and beyond have been monitoring the situation carefully, so we have all the information you need to stay in the loop. We’ve looked in detail at the complexities of the matter before, as well as the core of AEA’s argument. Today we take a closer look at SAG-AFTRA’s response, and where the matter currently lies.  Unsurprisingly, after some pretty accusatory statements of contract poaching and breaching solidarity from AEA’s side, SAG-AFTRA has come back swinging, labeling the claims made as ‘blatantly untrue.’ They note that SAG-AFTRA has traditionally had jurisdiction over broadcast and recorded media, and that (far from the claimed ‘breaches of AEA jurisdiction’) AEA is, in fact, the ones attempting to poach from SAG-AFTRA territory. This ‘uncertainty’ over jurisdiction, they claim, is impacting their abi...