ABSTRACT
Team building for all content makers includes a range of advisors, accountants, consultants and, crucially, legal representation in the entertainment business. Working with lawyers can be both extremely valuable but also at times deeply frustrating. The best lawyers are those that always place their client first, and therefore always put their client’s interests before their own. The issue is not just a case of excellent legal advice and experience. Some of the best technical lawyers across the entertainment business happen to be the most damaging to deal making when they behave aggressively and lead with their ego. Most importantly, lawyers are there to advise, provide counsel, and to ‘paper’ deals – qualities that this chapter dwells on in detail. This means drawing up contracts (or responding to the opposite/corresponding sides’ paperwork) and then providing comments and advice on those contracts during the negotiation process. What less experienced producers sometimes do not realize is that they are the ‘principals’ in any negotiation, and the lawyers are advisors. A lawyer does not set the commercial terms of any agreement: only the principals can do that. Neither can a lawyer sign off and agree a deal unless specifically agreed by a ‘power of attorney’ letter in place. 234In this masterclass, the author talks with Abigail Payne, an entertainment lawyer and partner with Harbottle & Lewis, about a wide range of legal issues across the value chain, ranging from chain of title in development and intellectual property ( IP), all the way through to distribution contracts.
