This week I listened to an episode of “Lawyer to Lawyer”, hosted by Bob Ambrogi, who practices law in Massachusetts, focusing on media and technology law. In this episode, Ambrogi interviewed Gordon Firemark, a Los Angeles based lawyer who has his hands in a several areas of entertainment law.While most lawyers have one focus within entertainment, Firemark has a wide focus of theater, film and finance. He has a background in theater having been involved since junior high, and has been a sound technician in theater throughout the years.
During the podcast, Firemark and Ambrogi, touch on a variety of topics spanning entertainment law. One specific area I found interesting was their discussion on IP (intellectual property) and the common errors podcasters encounter when dealing with it. Firemark goes on to say that there are some common misconceptions people apply to IP when podcasting. He has noticed that many podcasters don’t think that fair use laws apply to their show because it’s not for profit, when in fact, that is not an accurate assumption. Another area he has helped navigate is web design. He mentions that companies often will hire a designer to make a big, new beautiful site, only to find a couple years down the road the owners of the stock photos used on that site are calling them out for not having the proper licensing.
Another discussion I found particularly intriguing was surrounding celebrities and moral clauses in their contracts with management teams. This was a timely discussion as earlier in the evening I was working on an assignment for my Advanced Entertainment Law class through Full Sail University, and had to assess an endorsement agreement for an athlete that had an undefined moral clause in it. After hearing Firemark discuss moral clauses and why they are important I had a better understanding of why a company would even request someone to sign it. What I gather is that a moral clause is not necessarily present in every contract, but might be present if a client has a history of running into the law, or causing trouble.
Firemark also gives a brief run down of how competitive the entertainment industry is especially when it comes to practicing law. He makes mention that many of the larger firms are cutting back on lawyers due to the economy and unless you are able to open your own smaller firm, it’s incredibly competitive to get into entertainment law.
From listening to this podcast I realize that practicing law I the entertainment industry can be grueling, and hard to break into, not unlike most aspects of the industry. In order to succeed you’ll need to work incredibly hard and make yourself stand out among the crowd, showing that your law skills surpass your competition.
Link to the podcast: Entertainment Law and the Challenges of Celebrity- http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/lawyer-2-lawyer/2010/10/entertainment-law-the-challenges-of-celebrity/
No comments:
Post a Comment