Entertainment Law

Entertainment law, which is sometimes referred to as ‘media law’, is really a specialized subset of business law. For example, the practice of entertainment law often involves questions of intellectual property, insurance, contract, agency, labour, and securities law–fields which all enter into play in many other business environments.

The field of entertainment law has grown exponentially in the last few years as the Internet has grown as a popular forum for the exchange of ideas — many of which are now presented in ways that previously were the exclusive domain of film, theatre, and radio. For example, how often do you see video clips or ‘podcasts’ available for download through your computer? Now, just about anyone can upload video or audio clips which become immediately available to the whole world to view or listen to. Only a handful of years ago unthinkable. One of the results of the Internet explosion is that areas of the law which typically would have been of concern only to entertainment industry professionals is now of concern to every business looking to publish on the ‘net.

One of the many ways in which we help clients, whether in the entertainment industry or not, take full advantage of entertainment-related properties and opportunities is by negotiating and drafting key contract documents. Such contract documents include:

• Licencing contracts;

• Option contracts;

• Talent and performance contracts;

• Agency contracts;

• Venue contracts;

• Co-production contracts;

• Conditional service contracts;

• Publishing contracts;

• Writing contracts;

• Advertising contracts; and

• Consignment and exhibition contracts

Every client dealing with an entertainment-related property will have slightly different interests and needs. Please call us with any questions.