ABSTRACT

Understanding the Business of Entertainment: The Legal and Business Essentials All Filmmakers Should Know is an indispensable guide to the business aspects of the entertainment industry, providing the legal expertise you need to break in and to succeed.  Written in a clear and engaging tone, this book covers the essential topics in a thorough but reader-friendly manner and includes plenty of real-world examples that bring business and legal concepts to life. Whether you want to direct, produce, write, edit, photograph or act in movies, this book covers how to find work in your chosen field and examines the key provisions in employment agreements for creative personnel.  If you want to make films independently, you’ll find advice on where to look for financing, what kinds of deals might be made in the course of production, and important information on insurance, releases, and licenses. 

 

Other topics covered include:

  • Hollywood’s growth and the current conglomerates that own most of the media
  • How specific entertainment companies operate, including facts about particular studios and employee tasks.
  • How studios develop projects, manage production, seek out independent films, and engage in marketing and distribution
  • The kinds of revenues studios earn and how they account for these revenues
  • How television networks and new media-delivery companies like Netflix operate and where the digital revolution might take those who will one day work in the film and TV business

As an award- winning screenwriter and entertainment attorney, Gregory Bernstein give us an inside look at the business of entertainment. He proves that knowing what is behind filmmaking is just as important as the film itself.

chapter |6 pages

INTRODUCTION

part |2 pages

SECTION 1 Law and Entertainment

chapter 1|46 pages

Copyright Law

chapter 2|16 pages

Music Copyright

chapter 3|12 pages

Copyright and Piracy

chapter 4|4 pages

International Copyright

chapter 5|28 pages

First Amendment Law

part |2 pages

SECTION 2 Entertainment Companies: Growth and Power

chapter 7|26 pages

Media Growth and Ownership

chapter 8|18 pages

Unions, Agents and Managers

part |2 pages

SECTION 3 What Studios Do

chapter 9|18 pages

Development

chapter 10|18 pages

Distribution

part |1 pages

SECTION 4 Money and Contracts

chapter 11|14 pages

Gross and Net Proceeds

chapter 12|36 pages

Entertainment Contracts

part |2 pages

SECTION 5 Voices

chapter 14|18 pages

Making It Into the Business