We Are Weil Winter 2014 Alumni Outreach and Engagement Five Alumni Who MEDIA MAVERICKS Made It in Hollywood TAKE ON TINSELTOWN Share Their Stories PLUS: Careers Beyond Weil n General Counsel Q&A n Notable Representations in M&E IN THIS ISSUE 4 MEDIA MAVERICKS TAKE ON TINSELTOWN 7 M&E CAREER EXPLORATION PANEL 14 WEIL’S NOTABLE REPRESENTATIONS IN M&E 21 2015 NEW PARTNERS AND COUNSEL 23 GENERAL COUNSEL Q&A ON THE COVER (left to right): Ronald Wheeler Senior VP, Content Protection Fox Entertainment Group Beverly Frank Executive VP, Business Affairs & Operations 19 Entertainment Inc. Shola Ajewole Senior Director, Business & Legal Affairs Fox Sports Rozanna Tesler Fried Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs Fullscreen Jack Whigham Agent Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Media & Entertainment Issue We Are Weil The Lights, The Sets, The Lawyers . That’s Entertainment! or four decades and counting, Weil attorneys and alumni have been at the forefront of the largest, most complex deals, and precedent-setting litigations involving both traditional and new media. Only a handful of global law firms can even compare with our depth, breadth, history, and promise for developing the Fmedia and entertainment industry’s strongest legal talent. While our lawyers may not win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, or Tony for advising actors, directors, writers, musicians, designers, and broadcast and cable companies, we salute some of Weil’s many stars in this sector and devote this Media & Entertainment issue to their contributions. In the following pages, you will read where we interview one of many associates and alumni guidance about five former associates – Weil alums who serve in a chief on navigating to and through mavericks who showed spirit, legal officer role. In this issue, leading media giants like Viacom, independence, and originality by Joseph Salvo, General Counsel CBS, and Univision. packing their bags and heading out of HIT Entertainment, shares Finally, we share with you some of West to follow their passion and highlights of his career and the Firm’s historic representations, pursue careers in Hollywood. discusses the industry trends and emblematic of our depth in the Whether it was collaborating on pressing issues that keep him M&E space and led by veteran popular reality TV shows like engaged as counselor and business partners who have trained and Keeping Up with the Kardashians, advisor to the leading preschool developed hundreds of Weil working on marketing and concert entertainment company that owns attorneys, both past and present. In deals to promote the next American iconic brands like Barney, Thomas addition, this issue sheds light on Idol, or negotiating terms for the and Friends, and Bob the Builder. recent litigation wins and next movie project for actors like Our Media & Entertainment issue transactions led by rising star junior Colin Farrell and Spider-Man’s also keeps you abreast of firm partners who represent the next Andrew Garfield, our cover story, news, announcements, and events, generation to take on the industry’s Media Mavericks Take On such as the recent election of our most pressing issues. We hope that Tinseltown, will inspire and 2015 partners and counsel, a collectively, these stories will enlighten as to where Weil training WNBA Madison Square Garden reinforce Weil’s preeminence as the can take you. event for alumnae, and the latest go-to legal advisor to media and We also introduce a new feature, installment of our career entertainment giants for many the General Counsel Q&A column, exploration series, which provides years to come. Kito Huggins Director, Executive Administration and Global Alumni Programs 3 weil.com/alumni Media Mavericks Take On Tinseltown Five Alumni Who Made It in Hollywood Share Their Stories We AreWe WeilAre Weil his past September, five former associates who have successfully transitioned from law firm life to in-house and business roles at top media and entertainment companies convened for a networking “power luncheon” at BOA Steakhouse in West THollywood. They sat down with Kito Huggins, Director of the Firm’s global alumni program, and discussed the divergent paths they have taken, the high-stakes industry issues Media at the top of their minds, and the most fascinating projects of their career so far. which was “very demanding, but The Risk-Taker very rewarding because his client “There’s a list was absurd – it was, Tom Mavericks Jack Whigham Cruise, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, constant mantra Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Nicole Kidman.” Jack continued, Motion Picture Talent department “Kevin gave me enormous in our business co-head proximity to those kinds of artists. And then he allowed me to start that you start signing young artists and take Picture this. A young lawyer works gambles on some people, and they over every day Take On his tail off, lands a spot at one of paid off.” Jack has great admiration the world’s premier law firms. Not for all four partners – Richard with your client only that, he’s enjoying the ride, Lovett, Kevin Huvane, Bryan Lourd, and Doc O’Connor. – that you the work, even the long hours. “ Then one day he quits for a job One of the glamorous parts of underpromise in the mailroom of a Hollywood the job, of course, is the travel, Tinseltown talent agency. All right, it’s the best especially film festival-hopping – and overdeliver. known Hollywood agency. But Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto still. Who is this guy and what’s – bursts of dealmaking in New York going on? and London, and if you’re lucky, the Meet Jack Whigham, one of the awards circuit. “For me, there’s an most successful young agents enormous amount of travel, which I in Hollywood and a former Weil enjoy. It’s put me in everything from associate in the Miami office who meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev was recruited by Jeff Tabak and last summer in Russia to hear him cut his teeth in Structured Finance talk about the Reykjavík Summit, with the likes of Barry Frank, which he thinks could be a good Mike Bond, Nellie Camerik, and TV idea, to traveling to Cuba with Richard Morrison. Benicio Del Toro, and sitting with Che Guevara’s son, who showed “Being a lawyer and working at us around.” a place like Weil, there was an intensity that I was quickly able to The Talent Agent’s Key acclimate to easier – attention to Challenges detail, the ability to outwork people, And now as a rising connecting dots.” star at CAA and co- That experience provided Jack the head of the Motion discipline and diligence to learn Picture Talent the business of representing talent Department, Jack from the ground up. He quickly has his eye on the key caught the eye of CAA partner issues confronting Kevin Huvane, one of the biggest the business. The talent agents anywhere. He worked migration of some for Kevin for almost two years, of the best material 5 Jack Whigham from film to cable television is that definitely can usurp profits in recipe is sharing information. You one. Another is the even greater other places.” can only read so many projects, importance of specialized movies, All of these issues affect the and you’re constantly trying to such as “event” films – Batman, main job of the agent: advocating connect the dots of material to Spider-Man, the Marvel films – for clients and getting them the clients, and actors to directors and genre-specific films like best work, the best deals, and and studios.” And though CAA is comedies and horror films, which the longest careers possible, very competitive in the industry, attract lucrative and growing which includes convincing them within the agency “we’ve fostered a foreign sales in places like Brazil, that achieving longevity is harder generous team-oriented approach.” China, and Russia. with social media. The big stars But competition with other That means fewer dramas, which don’t always realize that they agencies is fierce. “Other agents are harder to get made, harder to lose privacy and mystery by being spend a lot of time calling your MEDIA MAVERICKS market, and don’t travel as well everywhere. clients to be disruptive. It’s one of overseas. The global market is Another way to serve clients is the businesses I’ve seen where growing enormously, and that’s to negotiate endorsements. “In there’s a very open agenda to why a lot of the studios are a perfect world the stars are disrupt a relationship. I don’t enjoy it focused on films that can play matched with the product they are – I try not to take part in it – but it’s internationally, which are usually actually passionate about or that part of this business.” movie-star-driven. they are organically associated So how do you keep your As for event movies, Jack knows with.” But in the end, actors need clients happy and less open to quite a bit about the Friday-night to work and make money, and “disruption”? Jack’s advice to drama of launching films that advertisers need to advertise. So attorneys serving clients: “There’s will either sink or swim over a other revenue streams – whether a constant mantra in our business single weekend. Films debuting on it’s an endorsement, short-term that you start over every day with cable TV at least have a life cycle. content, digital – all become part of your client – that you underpromise Having a balance between the two the mix. and overdeliver.” Agents also live platforms keeps him saner. Is he at the beck and call of with the knowledge that “often your Finally, digital and technology star clients? As far as Jack is clients don’t go to work unless you challenges are constant – how concerned, that’s a myth.