Best Supporting Lawyer
While they’ve never taken the stage to accept a Grammy, Emmy, or Oscar, four prominent Emory Law alumni are behind the scenes brokering deals for the artists, actors, production studios, and television programs receiving the awards. Negotiating film acquisitions, talent contracts, and managing licensing agreements is considered just another day of business for entertainment lawyers.
While they’ve never taken the stage to accept a Grammy, Emmy, or Oscar, four prominent Emory Law alumni are behind the scenes brokering deals for the artists, actors, production studios, and television programs receiving the awards. Negotiating film acquisitions, talent contracts, and managing licensing agreements is considered just another day of business for entertainment lawyers.
An entertaining option
With entertainment law you don’t know from one minute to the next what’s going to require your immediate attention,” said Kim Fitzgerald 88L, senior vice president, business affairs and legal, CBS Television Distribution.
“New things are always coming up or changing last minute, but that’s what makes this type of law so exciting.”
Fitzgerald has been with CBS collectively for thirteen years. Before Viacom and CBS Corp. became separate companies, she held the role of vice president, business affairs and legal at Paramount Pictures/CBS Paramount Television.
Now, she oversees the Sales Administrative and Legal Services department for the company’s syndicated television division. Her team interacts with every other department in the company managing licensing agreements, enforcing contracts, and developing payment plans with licensees, among other responsibilities.
“My job is very much about providing back office support, which is important to the operation of the division. If my department is not operating properly, the division won’t succeed,” she said.
Fitzgerald didn’t have a grand plan to get into entertainment law. When she started at Emory Law, she thought she would go into public service. “I interned at the DeKalb County District Attorney’s office and have the utmost respect for das, police officers, and investigators, but I was more jazzed about my corporate law classes. I felt like a traitor going into corporate law, but that’s where my passion was.”
Her career in entertainment law began when she served as associate general counsel for the cable network Black Entertainment Television (BET). She worked primarily as a production clearance lawyer, handling contracts for special programming. Later, she moved on to work for Viacom as senior attorney for legal affairs at Paramount Pictures.
“A law school professor once told me, if opportunity knocks at your door and you can learn something new from it, you should probably answer. I did that with bet and Paramount, and here I am today. It’s not something I set out to do, but it’s something that I really enjoy.”
Contrary to popular belief, Fitzgerald’s status as an entertainment lawyer does not mean she is surrounded by celebrities. “I love my job and feel blessed to work with the people I do in this industry, but I am not driving around Hollywood in a convertible with actors or walking the red carpet.”
Working the red carpet
Fellow alumnus, Laine Kline 90L, has walked down the famous red carpet at movie premieres, and last year he attended the Cannes Film Festival. He wasn’t there for the celebrity scene; he was there to work.
Kline serves as senior vice president of business and legal affairs for The Weinstein Co. (TWC), a multi-media company created by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films Corp. Kline negotiates all of the business and legal aspects of developing, producing, acquiring, and distributing movies for TWC.
“I negotiate deals with actors and directors and supervise nearly every aspect involved with making our movies, from independent financing to labor issues with teamsters,” Kline said. “I also advise executives on a range of issues that may arise during the film making process.”
Kline asserts that though the clientele he works with may be higher profile than with other areas of law, he considers entertainment law a business like any other. “The legal practice of entertainment law is no different than the contract laws you would apply to other industries,” he said. “In fact, my contract law course with [Emory Law Professor] Frank Alexander really taught me the fundamentals that I apply to every transaction that I do.”
Unlike Fitzgerald, Kline knew he wanted to practice entertainment law because of his love for film and his passion for the business. Before joining TWC, Kline worked for The Yari Film Group, an independent film company which produced the 2005 Academy Award-winning motion picture Crash. Since joining TWC, the company has produced and directed such critically acclaimed movies as Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko and The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington.
“Anyone in this business has to be a fan of the industry because it’s not filled with glamour, and it’s one of the most difficult businesses in the world,” he said. “But it is exciting and rewarding to be a part of a fantastic movie when it all comes together. When I see a powerful movie that either I or my company has been a part of, like Crash or Sicko."
The real deal
Kline said he enjoys the intellectual challenge of making deals with the various parties involved in the movies.
Former classmate, Linda Giunta Michaelson 90L, agrees, although the majority of deals she makes are for institutional clients in the entertainment industry.
Michaelson is a partner in the Entertainment and Media and the Corporate Practice Groups at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP. She represents major motion picture studios, including Sony Pictures and MGM, television networks, and other domestic and international entertainment and communications companies.
“One might expect that every corporate transaction has the same issues, but that is not true,” Michaelson said. “Every client and every target company is unique with its own set of issues that provides an interesting overlay on the typical transaction. There is an element of collaboration that I don’t think exists in litigation. Many corporate deals are like puzzles. It’s all about finding the creative solution that fits the circumstance.”
Michaelson knew from the beginning that she wasn’t cut out to be a litigator. At the end of her second year at Emory Law, she knew she would be happier as a transactional lawyer. “I enjoyed business and negotiating and thought corporate law was a great fit,” she said.
Her career began in the Los Angeles office of Dewey Ballantine LLP. After nearly six years, she joined Hill Wynne Troop & Meisinger, a mid-size firm with a strong presence in the entertainment industry.
“At Dewey Ballantine I was really motivated by large complex transactions. When I moved to Hill Wynne, most of their larger deals were in the entertainment industry, so I spent the majority of my time working with our entertainment clients and developed a base of knowledge of the industry.”
Hill Wynne merged with Akin Gump in 2001, and in 2003 Michaelson left the firm with a few of her colleagues to start the entertainment practice at Sheppard Mullin.
Let the rhythm move you
A typical day for Michaelson is spent with clients and opposing counsel negotiating agreements to buy or sell companies. A typical day for Cliff Lovette 82L is spent making deals between recording artists and record companies.
Lovette heads The Lovette Entertainment Law Group Ltd, a private boutique entertainment law firm in Atlanta.
The firm represents more than forty clients in music, film, television, radio, game-development, literary, digital media, and related sectors. Lovette’s various clients include Usher, Organized Noize Productions, the estate of Lisa Lopes, Sean P, Fathom Studios, and other independent film and digital media producers.
“Entertainment lawyers are matchmakers, deal-makers, counselors, and strategists,” Lovette said. “Sometimes our task is to introduce clients and talent to distributors, production labels, or investors. We bring the parties together, make a deal, and advise our clients every step of the way to protect their interests. We also may help a client grow their career by developing a strategy to build upon their personality and status.”
Lovette jumped right into entertainment law after graduating from Emory Law. He started his own practice and managed local talent in Atlanta, until he was offered a senior associate position with Katz, Smith & Cohen. While there, Lovette handled legal work for Jimmy Buffet, B.B. King, and Willie Nelson.
His work with Joel Katz led to his recruitment by multi-Grammy Award winning producers Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and Antonio “LA” Reid to serve as senior vice president business and legal affairs for LaFace Records, a small joint-venture record label. For nearly six years, Lovette negotiated all major label agreements for the company.
Lovette started his practice again in 1999 and enjoys his work as much today as he did when he began his career nearly twenty-five years ago. “I got into entertainment law because I had a creative impulse and enjoyed being around creative people. Most of my clients aren’t overly businesssavvy and rely heavily on my expertise and my intention of protecting them. I get great satisfaction from working with those who are grateful.”
No, Fitzgerald, Kline, Michaelson and Lovette have not received the most prestigious awards in the entertainment industry; but if you listen closely to those giving the acceptance speeches, you may just hear someone say how grateful they are to have them working on their behalf.
Holly Cline is a freelance writer in Atlanta. Photography by Jon Rou and Scott Wile, Emory Photography.