Entertainment Lawyers

Brandon Blake - Managing Partner at BLAKE & WANG P.A.   With critical cinema areas finally able to open their doors, it pays to dip into whether they have any customers to open the doors to. Fortunately for the theatrical exhibition industry in the U.S, the answer is a resounding, ‘Yes!’ Now we even have the stats to prove it- so BLAKE & WANG P.A top entertainment law firms Los Angeles will walk you through them. The National Research Group, a leading Hollywood entertainment polling firm, has been keeping an eagle eye on moviegoers since March last year, at the start of the pandemic shutdowns. Their main focus has been polling moviegoers about their comfort levels with attending the cinema. As of Thursday last week, we passed a milestone everyone has been waiting for. It’s no secret at this point that the sudden pandemic closures have crippled the exhibition industry and without huge buy-in from the moviegoing public, recovery will be difficult. It finally looks like that...

BLAKE & WANG P.A Entertainment Attorney Los Angeles were thrilled to announce earlier this week that L.A cinemas have been given the green light to reopen. Today, we look a little deeper at who won’t be turning on the lights any time soon. With L.A moving to the ‘red tier’, indicating 2 million citizens vaccinated and an overall reduction in COVID-19 cases and transmissions, cinemas are finally free to reopen at a measly 25% capacity. All the same, this represents a giant leap forward for the U.S’s largest movie market. Coming so soon on the heels of New York City reopening, this restores a huge chunk of the nation’s movie-going market, and should provide some much-needed impetus to the exhibition industry as a whole. While it’s not exactly a return to normal, at least hope for a recovery is on the way. We’ve seen- and reported on- many key L.A venues that have pushed to turn the lights on as soon as possible. By 26h March (or very shortly after), we will likely see a huge swathe ...

How do you campaign for something as illustrious as the Oscars when you can’t even meet up with the voters you’re trying to court? This is the key question that has plagued the movie industry this year. While much has been made about the more-open playing field created by 2020’s lack of Box Office Oscar-bait, BLAKE & WANG P.A one of the best entertainment law firms Los Angeles wants to take a closer look at the difficulties that have hit the Oscar campaign trail, too. Naturally, flashy premiers and private screenings have long been a tool to rocket a film to Oscar prominence. Much of this would typically fall on the theatrical industry, but with key areas like LA and NYC remaining shuttered for almost the entirety of the eligible period, and no major gatherings being allowed country-wide, we’ve seen little chance for this to occur. Another key tool in the Oscar promotion toolbox is the celebrity endorsement from prominent Academy members. Yet again, it’s difficult to publicize th...

  With disproportionate numbers of the entertainment workforce operating as freelance entities or contractors, there’s little surprise that it has been desperately hard-hit by COVID-19 related constrictions in our ability to work. With a new relief bill that finally caters to the needs of the entertainment industry on the table and heading to the senate, BLAKE & WANG P.A one of the best entertainment law firms Los Angeles takes a closer look at what is covered. First of all, we’d be remiss to not mention that a great proportion of the bill focuses on vaccine distribution and testing, which is sensible. However, there’s plenty for the hard-hit industry to enjoy too. Namely: Extended benefits : The weekly benefit increases by $100, and will be extended to end-August 2020. Gig workers, contractors, and freelancers will be eligible Housing assistance : $30 billion for rental assistance and $10 billion for mortgage relief are earmarked ‘Leave’ and retention : Tax credits for emplo...

Over the Lunar New Year public holiday, running February 11th-17th this year, we’ve seen the Chinese Box Office boom. Despite theaters still running with capacity restrictions, we see a bigger Box Office than 2019, greater ticket sales, and even more theatre screens in play than during the comparable 2019 season. With a slate of 7 solid pictures, including 2 big drawcards, and even a global top-performing movie, it’s a huge step forward for both the Chinese and global markets. BLAKE & WANG P.A best entertainment lawyers in Los Angeles dive into what this could mean for the U.S Box Office going forward. China was, of course, the first country to be hit by the novel COVID-19 virus strain. Unlike many Western nations, super-strict lockdowns were implemented, including 6 months of total cinema closures. Despite that shutdown, from July 2020 we saw them slowly reintroduce their public to cinemas with some imported new releases and library movies. They picked up speed with the wildly ...

We’ve finally seen what Disney+ had up its sleeves for European Originals. A dazzling slate of 10 shows, including those aimed for their general entertainment brand, Disney Star, has been released this week. It’s anticipated this will jump to 50 international titles by 2024. BLAKE & WANG P.A Entertainment Attorney Los Angeles dive in deeper. This planned rollout will see local content pitched to Disney’s 95 million subscribers, across their 58 territories. The first 10 slated shows will roll out in Italian, German, French, and Dutch. Supposedly, a UK slate of programming is also on the cards. This EU-focused bundle features comedy, drama and docu-series. While Disney+ will continue to carry the bulk of their family-friendly creations, Star will cater to an older audience, something like Hulu. Disney Star officially launches on 23rd February 2021 and will remain a title within the Disney+ bouquet. Eight of the ten slated foreign titles will stay on the Star network, hoping to act a...

  This week we see WGA West President David A. Goodman go on record as ‘very pleased’ that the 34-month agency campaign from the WGA has drawn to a close. David Goodman further states that they have ‘achieved their goal’, with the talent agencies representing their writers now sharing aligned goals with the WGA itself. It’s pretty clear they are glad to see issues such as packaging fees and agency-owned production entities put to rest, deeming them ‘problematic business practices’ from the start. As Goodman himself puts it, ‘a writer’s agent should make more only when his client does.’ While the core idea of packaging- bringing together the separate creative elements of a show in one bundled whole- is perhaps not all that worthy of worry, the WGA has long maintained that they create a conflict of interest for the agent. As a knock-on effect, the agent has an incentive to low-ball their writer-client in favor of agency-owned production interests. In fact, the WGA has claimed this to...